Two boys—John Connolly and James "Whitley" Bulger—grew up together on the streets of South Boston. Decades later, in the mid-1970s, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitley had become godfather of the Irish mob. Connolly had an idea, a scheme that might bring Bulger into the FBI fold and John Connolly into the Bureau's big leagues. But Bulger had other plans. Black Mass is the story of what happened between them—a dark deal to trade secrets and take down Boston's Italian Mafia in exchange for "immunity"—that spiralled out of control, leading to murders, drug dealing and racketeering indictments. Ultimately, in what would become the biggest internal scandal in the history of the FBI, Bulger would find himself at the top of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. Told in gripping narrative style by the Boston Globe reporters who covered the case from the beginning, Black Mass is a riveting epic crime story that is also a book about Irish America, about the pull of place, and about the ties that bind.