All Souls: A Family Story From Southie

Given the widespread dominion of crime boss Whitey Bulger, whose criminal enterprises held sway over South Boston during the 1970s and 1980s, residents of “Southie” maintained a strong code of silence when it came to dealing with their own internal troubles, and there was an intense level of social censure against being a “snitch”; talking to the police or even reporting crimes was highly frowned upon, and those who conformed to this code earned the ultimate mark of respect in Southie, even if keeping quiet meant serving a life sentence in prison. This fanatically tight-lipped mentality arose partly because of Whitey Bulger’s encouragement and partly because of the Irish nationalism that many of Southie’s citizens clung to during this time frame. 

This omnipresent code of silence manifests in a variety of different ways in MacDonald’s memoirs of his tumultuous childhood in Southie but is particularly prominent within his account of his family dynamics. For example, several of Michael’s siblings—such as Kevin and Kathy—were actively engaged in criminal activities of one kind or another throughout their childhood and adolescence. Kathy succumbed to the influences of addiction, while Kevin developed considerable skills in a life of confidence games and drug dealing, gradually escalating his activities until he become a close associate of Whitey Bulger himself.