Don't Talk About Joe Mac

I always avidly await another book by Springs Toledo. I can count on him to explore dark and dangerous places, and trust that his heart and humanity will make it a trip worth taking. Don't Talk About Joe Mac is beautiful—the way a perfectly thrown left hook is beautiful. -- Eddie Muller, “The Czar of Noir,” TCM’s host of Noir Alley TV series, founder and president of The Film Noir Foundation, and producer and host of Noir City: The San Francisco Film Noir Festival
Toledo’s book is a revelation—for the quality of its investigation and the humanity with which it lays bare the life of a decorated World War II veteran, a husband and father, a gangster and prolific professional hit man. Joe McDonald is likely a name unknown outside the mean streets of the Boston underworld, but after reading Don’t Talk About Joe Mac, you will feel as though you know the man. Toledo has peeled back the onion to reveal the beating heart of a sentimental, old-school tough guy who killed people for a living. Brutal, masterfully written, unrelenting in its excavation of fresh information, and with startling disclosures, this book may be the best portrait of a certain type of twentieth century American street mobster ever to appear in print. Get this book now. -- T.J. English, New York Times bestselling author of The Westies, Havana Nocturne, and Where the Bodies Were Buried
Don't Talk About Joe Mac may well be the last of the great Boston Mob books. Springs Toledo delivers the whole package on the enigmatic Winter Hill boss—fine writing, familial insights from his daughter and many memorable stories. And he solves the mystery of the 1992 disappearance of Jimmy Sims, Joe Mac's partner in crime. A must-read for all Boston OC aficionados! * Howie Carr, New England’s undisputed talk radio king, New York Times best-selling author of The Brothers Bulger and Hitman, and columnist for the Boston Herald *
Whatever Springs Toledo writes I want to read. He’s that kind of a writer. * Robert Atwan, editor of numerous literary anthologies and series editor of The Best American Essays (1986 – 2023) *

Springs Toledo has crafted a masterpiece—a window into the machinations of Boston’s gangster class, a window revealing treachery, bloody betrayals, murders, and “disappearances.” At its center is Joe McDonald, a prolific killer and master of disguise whose deadly business is unheralded—by choice. His sources are outright amazing. If the opening doesn’t grab you, check to see if you have a pulse.
In 40 years of reporting true crime, organized and otherwise, never have I read a book like this.

* Ron Gollobin, Pulitzer-nominated investigative journalist, five-time Emmy award-winning investigative reporter, and crime reporter at WCVB-TV (Boston), 1975-1999 *
Springs Toledo's research would have been invaluable in our murder investigation of Roger Wheeler in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1981; his information is so detailed and complete it is obvious he had inside sources. * Mike Huff, former Detective Sergeant, Tulsa Homicide Unit, and lead detective on the decades-long World Jai Alai investigation *
With his Don’t Talk About Joe Mac, Springs Toledo has catapulted himself into the top ranks of true crime writers. Joe Mac, the much feared and revered head of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, even unsettled his rival—the psychopathic Whitey Bulger. Rife with rare interviews and sparkling, lyrical prose, Toledo’s page turner is a rigorously researched and unforgettable study of a killer with a code. * Gordon Marino, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, St. Olaf College, and author of The Existentialist’s Survival Guide (2018) *