ARLINGTON, Mass., Sept. 10, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- He ruled the Boston crime scene for 25 years. He baffled, brutalized and bribed anyone who got in his way. Then, when the heat was on, he disappeared, skipped town a free man. David Kales mixes the history of Boston with a gritty mob story of what could have been in The Phantom Pirate: Tales of the Irish Mafia and the Boston Harbor Islands (now available through AuthorHouse).
"This is a Boston story," Kales says. "The story of . . . the most ruthless gangster and feared crime boss to ever come off the streets of Boston. Some readers would no doubt recognize this man and his gang, so the names of the characters in this story have been changed to protect the dead and those who could become dead."
The Phantom Pirate is a fictionalized story of James Freney, a calculating Irish mob boss who rules the streets and outlying islands of the Boston Harbor with an ill temper and strong fist. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge of the harbor islands, Kales weaves historical accounts of pirates and plunder, smuggling and buried treasure, forts and dungeons, betrayal and murder with the rise and disappearance of an infamous gangster. Each chapter begins with a history of one of the islands, which relates dark secrets and strange events.
Kales traces Freney's roots from Ireland to Boston to the rough tenements of Southie. His father, a union organizer, influences his sons' lives with the hate he carries for the police who left him bleeding on the docks. Dan Freney, James' brother, ruled the political realm, while James controlled the underworld.
James is a common hood, "a kid with a mean streak and too much time on his hands." After a stint in Alcatraz, however, he returns and teams up with an Italian gangster, Robert Conti, and takes control of the powerful Winter Hill gang. He builds it into the Irish mafia, an empire of drug trafficking, arms smuggling and murder. How he managed to evade arrest is The Phantom Pirate's big secret.
The setting and history are real, but the interaction between characters is imaginary. The Phantom Pirate is a gritty, urban drama that explores what could have been.
A journalist, editor and freelance writer for more than 40 years, Kales has credits that include Newsweek, Forbes and INC Magazine. He worked as a foreign correspondent for Hearst Newspapers covering the Vietnam War and Southeast Asia. A recipient of a Carnegie Foundation grant from Columbia University School of Journalism, he is the author of Masters of Art, which he co-wrote with his wife, Emily, and All About the Boston Harbor Islands.
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