I Heard You Paint Houses : Frank the Irishman Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Final Ride of Jimmy Hoffa

by BRANDT, CHARLES

• ISBN13: 9781586420772
• ISBN10: 1586420771
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Steerforth

Summary

HEARD YOU PAINT HOUSES is a fascinating account of a dark side of American history. The book's title comes from the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. Frank Sheeran lived a long, violent, passionate life. As a boy he took on older kids in bar fights so his dad could win free beer. During World War II he was a highly decorated infantryman with 411 days of active combat duty and a willingness to follow orders. "When an officer would tell you to take a couple of German prisoners back behind the line and for you to 'hurry back,' you did what you had to do." He became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino and eventually becoming one of only two non-Italians on the FBI's famous La Cosa Nostra list. He was also a truck driver who was made head of the Teamsters local in Wilmington, Delaware, by his good friend Jimmy Hoffa. When Hoffa disappeared on July 30, 1975, Sheeran became a leading suspect, and every serious study of the Hoffa disappearance alleges that Sheeran was there. For the first time the Irishman tells all a lifetime of payoffs (including hand-delivering bags of cash to Nixon's attorney general John Mitchell) and manipulation (supporting Joe Biden's election to the Senate with a Teamster action) for the book that would become his deathbed confession. He died on December 14, 2003. Sheeran also provides shocking new information on notorious mob hits: Joseph "Crazy Joey" Gallo blown away as he celebrated his forty-third birthday in New York's Little Italy; Salvatore "Sally Bugs" Briguglio long suspected of being a player in the plot to kill Hoffa. And offers new insights to the crusading of Robert Kennedy and the death of John F. Kennedy. This historic account is based on interviews of Frank Sheeran by Charles Brandt, who researched, cross-checked, and illuminated what Sheeran told him and turned it all into a gripping narrative that is sure to become an instant true crime classic.

Author Biography

CHARLES BRANDT is a former prosecutor and Chief Deputy Attorney General of the State of Delaware. A past president of the Delaware Trial Lawyers Association, Brandt is also listed in <i>Best Lawyers in America</i>. He is a frequent speaker on cross-examination and interrogation techniques for reluctant witnesses. He lives in Lewes, Delaware, with his wife and has three grown children.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Prologue "Russ & Frank"	1	(6)
Chapter One "They Wouldn't Dare"	7	(12)
Chapter Two What It Is	19	(5)
Chapter Three Get Yourself Another Punching Bag	24	(6)
Chapter Four Little Egypt University	30	(7)
Chapter Five 411 Days	37	(8)
Chapter Six Doing What I Had to Do	45	(8)
Chapter Seven Waking Up in America	53	(10)
Chapter Eight Russell Bufalino	63	(4)
Chapter Nine Prosciutto Bread and Homemade Wine	67	(11)
Chapter Ten All the Way Downtown	78	(8)
Chapter Eleven Jimmy	86	(8)
Chapter Twelve "I Heard You Paint Houses"	94	(10)
Chapter Thirteen They Didn't Make a Parachute Big Enough	104	(9)
Chapter Fourteen The Gunman Had No Mask	113	(11)
Chapter Fifteen Respect with an Envelope	124	(10)
Chapter Sixteen Give Them a Little Message	134	(10)
Chapter Seventeen Nothing More Than a Mockery	144	(11)
Chapter Eighteen Just Another Lawyer Now	155	(11)
Chapter Nineteen Tampering with the Very Soul of the Nation	166	(9)
Chapter Twenty Hoffa's Comedy Troupe	175	(11)
Chapter Twenty-One All He Did for Me Was to Hang Up	186	(8)
Chapter Twenty-Two Pacing in His Cage	194	(9)
Chapter Twenty-Three Nothing Comes Cheap	203	(10)
Chapter Twenty-Four He Needed a Favor and That Was That	213	(13)
Chapter Twenty-Five That Wasn't Jimmy's Way	226	(7)
Chapter Twenty-Six All Hell Will Break Loose	233	(11)
Chapter Twenty-Seven July 30, 1975	244	(4)
Chapter Twenty-Eight To Paint a House	248	(11)
Chapter Twenty-Nine Everybody Bleeds	259	(4)
Chapter Thirty "Those Responsible Have Not Gotten Off Scot-Free"	263	(8)
Chapter Thirty-One Under a Vow of Secrecy	271	(8)
Afterword	279	(13)
Sources	292