This is a quintessentially American story that is both important and unforgettable. One reason it is important is that it affirms the adage: "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Another is that, the deep FBI and police corruption begged the question: Who guards the guards themselves? But also, no matter how distorted morally, this story is still somehow a perverse but generic template for ethnic  "ghetto success:" Two brothers from a " "disposable" part of inner city Boston make good; one through "low hard crime" (Whitey was a serial murderer, bank robber, extortionist, and a "top echelon" FBI informant; while Billy, on the other hand, engaged in grafts and payoffs, illegal political procedural maneuvering, patronage, nepotism, "no show jobs," extortion, racketeering, sweetheart and unholy deals, arson and insurance scams, as well as political blackmail and business frauds.). The mantra of Boston corruption at the time was: "Nothing on the level; every thing a deal, and no deal too small."