Legends of Winter Hill: Cops, Con Men, and Joe McCain, the Last Real Detective
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A lot of people cut from that same cloth helped get this story into print. My agent, Peter McGuigan of Sanford Greenburger, is patient, knowledgeable, and works tirelessly on my behalf. Pete Fornatale, who bought this book for Crown, continued to champion it even after going to work someplace else. My editor, Caroline Sincerbeaux, offered innumerable keen-eyed suggestions. Helen McCain, Joe McCain, Jr., Maureen McCain, and their kids, Joseph, Liam, and Lucas, treated me like a member of their family and provided heaps of great information and insight. Mark Donahue and his wife, Maureen, and their children, Connor and Julia, helped shape this book from start to finish. I could not have done it without them.
All of big Joe's friends came through in the clutch, as they always have: Metropolitan District Police assistant superintendent Al Seghezzi (ret.) and his wife, Mary; Mass. State Police Lieutenant Gene Kee and his wife, Ellen; Mass. State Police Major Mark Cronin (ret.); Secret Service Agent Stew Henry (ret.) and his wife, Diane; Attorney Joe Doyle and family; Brian and Michael O'Donovan and their families; Mike Kettenbach and family; Mass. State Trooper Bill “Battlin' Biff” McLean; Mass. State Trooper Al DiSalvo (ret.); Mass. State Trooper Dennis Febles; Mass. State Trooper Chris Brighton; Mass. State Trooper Mark Lemieux; FBI Special Agent Matt Cronin (ret.); Attorney Tom Peisch; William Simpkins of the Drug Enforcement Agency; and Boston Police Detective Jack Crowley (ret.) and his wife, Ellen.
Many individuals in law enforcement contributed to this project, including Mass. State Police superintendent Colonel Thomas J. Foley (ret.); Mass. State Police Detective Lieutenant John Tutungian (ret.); Mass. State Police Detective Lieutenant Paul Stone (ret.); Mass. State Police Sergeant Bob Beckwith; Detective Sergeant John Goodwin of the Revere Police and his family; FBI Supervisory Special Agent Patrick Gibbons; Chief Paul Donovan, Sergeant Sean Patton, Officer Jonathan Hoellrich, Sergeant Bill Teuber, Canine Officer Mike Robbins, Lieutenant Bill Ganley and Detective George Baker of the Salem, N.H., Police; Boston Police Detective Gerard McHale; Sergeant Mike Ewing, Detective Gus Flanagan, and Officer Rob Prindle of the Methuen Police; Sergeant Bob Clark and Detective Rueben Torres (ret.) of the Newark, N.J., Police; FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge William Chase and family; Chelsea Police E-911 operator Andrea Doherty; as well as Captain Dan Murphy (ret.), Officer Leo Martini, Officer Mike Kennelly, Officer Timmy Doherty, and E-911 operators Scott Lennon and Terry Medeiros of the Somerville Police.
Special thanks to Darrell M. Agnew of S.O.S. Services, Inc. in Kingston, MA, and investigator Kevin McKenna; you guys taught me a lot. I also want to thank attorneys Stephen Hrones and Jessica D. Hedges, who provided court documents and facts pertaining to Timothy Doherty v. Det. James Hyde, et al. Salem State College reference librarian Eleanor Reynolds, the staff of the Nevins Memorial Library in Methuen, Mass., and the West Roxbury Public Library helped me dig up a large number of elusive facts. Paul Marion, Keith Bowden, Frank Baker, Steve Whipple, J. D. Scrimgeour, and Joe “Dutch” Kurmaskie offered many useful suggestions and paced me through the early drafts. “Surfer” John Hearin, Bill Fitzgerald, the late Jeff Ness, Glenn Gallant, Bob Sheehan, Frank Posluszny, Norm Litwack, Jason Massa, Jim and Maryanne Connolly, and Tim Croteau encouraged the project and bought most of my drinks. For putting up with this book and all my quixotic endeavors, I'd like to thank John and Jackie Atkinson and family; Paul and Shirley Crane and family; Arthur and Natalie Wermers; Lawrence Berry and Peg Burr; John, Jodie, Matthew, and Katelyn Berry; Patrick, Deanna, and Owen Bower; Jill Atkinson; James Atkinson Jr.; Patricia Foxx, Eric Shaw, and my son, Liam.
One last Joe McCain story: It has been well established that Joe was a little clumsy at times. One morning, riding to play golf in Michael O'Donovan's brand-new Chevy Tahoe, big Joe asked his friend to stop at Dunkin' Donuts in Arlington. Returning with two cups of coffee and a blueberry muffin, Joe proceeded to scatter bits of the muffin over his shirtfront and onto the floor of O'Donovan's immaculate new truck.
In a calm voice, O'Donovan said, “Next time, Joe, you should get two muffins.”
McCain arched his eyebrows “Why's that?” he asked.
“One to eat, and one to crumble all over my fucking truck.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jay Atkinson is the author of Ice Time and Caveman Politics. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Newsday, Men's Health, The Boston Herald, The New York Post, and many other publications. He lives in Massachusetts.
Also by Jay Atkinson
NONFICTION
Ice Time: A Tale of Fathers, Sons, and Hometown Heroes
FICTION
Caveman Politics
The names of some of the subjects in this book have been changed.
Copyright © 2005 by Jay Atkinson
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN is a trademark and the Crown colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Atkinson, Jay, 1957–
Legends of Winter Hill: cops, con men, and Joe McCain, the last real detective / Jay Atkinson.
1. McCain, Joseph Elmer, d. 2001. 2. Police— Massachusetts— Somerville— Biography. 3. Detectives— Massachusetts— Somerville— Biography. 4. Private investigators— Massachusetts— Somerville— Biography. 5. Crime— Massachusetts— Boston area. I. Title: Joe McCain, the last real detective. II. Title.
HV7911.A2M323 2005
363.2'092— dc22 2004011605
eISBN 0-307-23782-6
v1.0
Table of Contents
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
EPIGRAPH
INTRODUCTION: “Somebody's Been Shot”
PROLOGUE: School of Hard Knocks
ONE: Joey and the Angels
TWO: The Wild, Wild East
THREE: The Strange Case of Joe Jr. and Mr. Hyde
FOUR: Redbones
FIVE: It All Comes Home to Papa
SIX: The Seventh Basic Investigative Technique
SEVEN: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
EIGHT: The Halls of Montezuma
NINE: Slow Walking
TEN: The Confidence Man
ELEVEN: The Chief Gets His Hair Cut
TWELVE: Cold, Cold Heart
THIRTEEN: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges
FOURTEEN: The Gentleman from Milton
FIFTEEN: You Never Come Around Much Anymore
SIXTEEN: Cyrano de McCainiac
SEVENTEEN: Incident in Fall River
EIGHTEEN: The Return of Billy Dennett
NINETEEN: Appointment with Dr. Sommerov
TWENTY: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
TWENTY-ONE: All You Need to Know
TWENTY-TWO: Hats on the Bed
TWENTY-THREE: Eddie Miami
TWENTY-FOUR: The Three-Hundred-Dollar Clowns
TWENTY-FIVE: One-fifty Gen-o
TWENTY-SIX: The Pride of the Mets
TWENTY-SEVEN: Flowers of Evil
TWENTY-EIGHT: The Third Man
TWENTY-NINE: Big Joe's Last Case
THIRTY: The Erin Society
THIRTY-ONE: The Punisher
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY JAY ATKINSON
COPYRIGHT PAGE