Synopses & Reviews
No one can deny that mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi are two of the most brutal killers in American history—not even the two gangsters themselves. However, of the various murders for which Bulger has been convicted, the jury has denied the Davis family closure for the slaying of Debbie Davis, Flemmi’s beautiful young girlfriend who went missing in 1981, and whose remains were found nearly twenty years later under the Neponset River Bridge in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Now serving a life sentence, Stephen Flemmi testified in 2003 in graphic detail how he lured Debbie to a house in South Boston where Bulger jumped from out of the shadows and strangled her to death. Flemmi then extracted her teeth and buried her body by the Neponset River while Bulger watched. Bulger wanted Debbie dead, Flemmi claimed, because she knew that the two men were meeting with an FBI agent named John Connolly. That, and he might have been a little jealous of the time Flemmi and Debbie were spending together. Throughout his trial, Bulger stubbornly insisted that he never would have committed the dishonorable act of killing a woman. In the end, it was one stone-cold murderer’s testimony against another’s.
In Impact Statement, veteran journalist Bob Halloran looks at the devastating impact Bulger and Flemmi have had on the Davis family, whose longstanding relationship with the two mobsters cost them a father, two sisters, and a brother. Through up-to-the-minute coverage of Bulger’s criminal trial and extensive interviews with Debbie’s brother Steve Davis, a one-time protégé of Flemmi’s and now an outspoken advocate for the victims’ families, Halloran has pieced together this unique and compelling story of a family’s ongoing quest for justice.
Synopsis
When twenty-six-year-old Debbie Davis ended her relationship with Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, she paid the ultimate price. Lured to an apartment in South Boston, she was strangled in the basement. This is the story of how her family is fighting back.
Synopsis
As the biggest criminal trial since the Boston Strangler draws nearer, the publics fascination with the life and crimes of mob boss Whitey Bulger continues to heat up. Many stories have been told about the murders Whitey and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi committed, and the tacit permission they received from the FBI. But never before has the story been told from the point of view of one of the victims families—until now.
Impact Statement is the first book to provide background into the family of a victim and their own compelling history and experiences, their decades-old fight for justice, the momentous victory over the US government, and their angry quest for the closure that Bulgers trial may provide.
Author Bob Halloran will have front-row access to the trial and the ensuing media blitz, as he observes the trial alongside Steven F. Davis, perhaps the most outspoken advocate for the victims families. The murder of Daviss sister, Debbie, is what keeps Flemmi jailed to this day, and remains the most horrific and arbitrary killing committed by Bulger and Flemmi.
Steven Daviss colorful commentary and reflective admissions of his own criminal past will reveal how he was once a protégé of Flemmis, and how the Davis familys longstanding relationship with Flemmi cost them a father, two sisters, and a brother. Such is the devastating impact Bulger and Flemmis violence had not only on their own families, but many others as well.
Synopsis
One Family’s Passionate Quest to See Justice Served and Bring Closure to the Death of a Beloved Sister
About the Author
Bob Halloran is a television journalist who is currently the weekend anchor for Boston’s ABC affiliate WCVB-TV Channel 5. He has written four books, including Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward, Destiny Derailed: The Story of the 2003 Boston Red Sox, and Breakdown. He lives in Milton, Massachusetts, with his wife, Eileen, also an investigative television reporter, and their children.