Thieves of Charlestown

Thieves of Charlestown

The Shocking History of Boston's Most Notorious Neighborhood

$34.99

Publication Date: 16th September 2025

According to the FBI, more bank and armored-car robbers have come out of Charlestown, Massachusetts, than any other one-square-mile area in the world. With these robberies also came gangland violence... Read More
According to the FBI, more bank and armored-car robbers have come out of Charlestown, Massachusetts, than any other one-square-mile area in the world. With these robberies also came gangland violence... Read More
Description

According to the FBI, more bank and armored-car robbers have come out of Charlestown, Massachusetts, than any other one-square-mile area in the world. With these robberies also came gangland violence and corruption. Fictionalized in the movie The Town featuring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner, this is the true story of Charlestown and the thieves and gangsters who terrorized the community for decades.

On October 31, 1961, Bernie McLaughlin got shot dead in broad daylight in front of a hundred witnesses in the City Square section of Charlestown. Because of the ironclad code of silence in the Irish stronghold known as the “Green Square Mile,” no witnesses came forward. The murder ignited a bloody war between the McLaughlin Gang and Buddy McClean’s Winter Hill Gang that left more than sixty men dead.

Three decades later, as narcotics invaded Charlestown, and a concurrent Mob war raged between J. R. Russo’s North End crew and that of Patriarca-family boss “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, five thieves called the “No Name Gang” committed over a hundred heists across New England that cemented the enclave’s infamy. Grippingly cinematic and raw, Thieves of Charlestown delivers an unprecedented look at the real criminals who ruled the streets of “The Town.”

 

Details
  • Price: $34.99
  • Pages: 232
  • Publisher: Hamilcar Publications
  • Imprint: Hamilcar Publications
  • Publication Date: 16th September 2025
  • Trim Size: 6 x 9 in
  • ISBN: 9781949590906
  • Format: Hardcover
  • BISACs:
    TRUE CRIME / Organized Crime
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals & Outlaws
    HISTORY / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
Author Bio
Joe Bradley is a former gang-unit cop in Springfield, Massachusetts, with a Master's degree in criminal justice. He lives in Connecticut with his family.
Table of Contents

Charlestown

Prologue: Arthur “Butchie” Doe Jr.

Chapter 1: The McLaughlin’s

Chapter 2: The Offer

Chapter 3: Buddy’s Battles

Chapter 4: The Mac Attack

Chapter 5: The Salisbury Assault

Chapter 6: The Car Bomb

Chapter 7: A Halloween Surprise

Chapter 8: The Fallout

Chapter 9: Winter Hill Gang

Chapter 10: Burying The Ox

Chapter 11: The Hit

Chapter 12: The Kill Team

Chapter 13: The Animal

Chapter 14: An Eye for an Eye

Chapter 15: Teddy the Thief

Chapter 16: Putting Down the Dog

Chapter 17: A Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter 18: George’s Last Bender

Chapter 19: The Butcher

Chapter 20: Beating Punchy to the Punch

Chapter 21: Painting the Town Red

Chapter 22: A Charlestown: IRA Thing

Chapter 23: The Charlestown 99 Massacre

Chapter 24: Two For Good Measure

Chapter 25: Raymond Patriarca Sr.

Chapter 26: Rubber Lips Takes Control

Chapter 27: Clipping The Wild Guy

Chapter 28: The Medford Induction

Chapter 29: First Blood

Chapter 30: Unleashing the Psycho

Chapter 31: The Three Banditos

Chapter 32: Tip of the Iceberg

Chapter 33: The Blessing

Chapter 34: Ponzo’s Plight

Chapter 35: The Gunsmoke Clears

Chapter 36: End of an Era

Chapter 37: The Headache Eliminator

Chapter 38: The No Name Gang

Chapter 39: Murder in Hudson

Chapter 40: The Aftermath

Chapter 41: The Investigation

Chapter 42: The Unraveling

Chapter 43: All of This Ends

Chapter 44: The Arrests

Chapter 45: Town Oxy Bandits

Chapter 46: The Legacy Continues

Epilogue: Charlestown Today

According to the FBI, more bank and armored-car robbers have come out of Charlestown, Massachusetts, than any other one-square-mile area in the world. With these robberies also came gangland violence and corruption. Fictionalized in the movie The Town featuring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner, this is the true story of Charlestown and the thieves and gangsters who terrorized the community for decades.

On October 31, 1961, Bernie McLaughlin got shot dead in broad daylight in front of a hundred witnesses in the City Square section of Charlestown. Because of the ironclad code of silence in the Irish stronghold known as the “Green Square Mile,” no witnesses came forward. The murder ignited a bloody war between the McLaughlin Gang and Buddy McClean’s Winter Hill Gang that left more than sixty men dead.

Three decades later, as narcotics invaded Charlestown, and a concurrent Mob war raged between J. R. Russo’s North End crew and that of Patriarca-family boss “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, five thieves called the “No Name Gang” committed over a hundred heists across New England that cemented the enclave’s infamy. Grippingly cinematic and raw, Thieves of Charlestown delivers an unprecedented look at the real criminals who ruled the streets of “The Town.”

 

  • Price: $34.99
  • Pages: 232
  • Publisher: Hamilcar Publications
  • Imprint: Hamilcar Publications
  • Publication Date: 16th September 2025
  • Trim Size: 6 x 9 in
  • ISBN: 9781949590906
  • Format: Hardcover
  • BISACs:
    TRUE CRIME / Organized Crime
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals & Outlaws
    HISTORY / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
Joe Bradley is a former gang-unit cop in Springfield, Massachusetts, with a Master's degree in criminal justice. He lives in Connecticut with his family.

Charlestown

Prologue: Arthur “Butchie” Doe Jr.

Chapter 1: The McLaughlin’s

Chapter 2: The Offer

Chapter 3: Buddy’s Battles

Chapter 4: The Mac Attack

Chapter 5: The Salisbury Assault

Chapter 6: The Car Bomb

Chapter 7: A Halloween Surprise

Chapter 8: The Fallout

Chapter 9: Winter Hill Gang

Chapter 10: Burying The Ox

Chapter 11: The Hit

Chapter 12: The Kill Team

Chapter 13: The Animal

Chapter 14: An Eye for an Eye

Chapter 15: Teddy the Thief

Chapter 16: Putting Down the Dog

Chapter 17: A Dish Best Served Cold

Chapter 18: George’s Last Bender

Chapter 19: The Butcher

Chapter 20: Beating Punchy to the Punch

Chapter 21: Painting the Town Red

Chapter 22: A Charlestown: IRA Thing

Chapter 23: The Charlestown 99 Massacre

Chapter 24: Two For Good Measure

Chapter 25: Raymond Patriarca Sr.

Chapter 26: Rubber Lips Takes Control

Chapter 27: Clipping The Wild Guy

Chapter 28: The Medford Induction

Chapter 29: First Blood

Chapter 30: Unleashing the Psycho

Chapter 31: The Three Banditos

Chapter 32: Tip of the Iceberg

Chapter 33: The Blessing

Chapter 34: Ponzo’s Plight

Chapter 35: The Gunsmoke Clears

Chapter 36: End of an Era

Chapter 37: The Headache Eliminator

Chapter 38: The No Name Gang

Chapter 39: Murder in Hudson

Chapter 40: The Aftermath

Chapter 41: The Investigation

Chapter 42: The Unraveling

Chapter 43: All of This Ends

Chapter 44: The Arrests

Chapter 45: Town Oxy Bandits

Chapter 46: The Legacy Continues

Epilogue: Charlestown Today