The fun part of writing fiction is chasing the research White Rabbit down the rabbit hole. Doing research involves following the rabbit in hopes of finding information that will provide authenticity to the fictional world you’re creating. The danger is in enjoying the chase so much that you have difficulty knowing when it’s time to get back to that fictional world and start writing. Research is much more fun than writing first drafts.
When you do manage to force yourself back to the empty page, you’re faced with difficult choices. How many of the sparkling gems you’ve discovered are too many? And how many actually drive the plot rather than become a distraction?
Currently, I’m working on a private investigator crime story set in 1991 in Boston, a hotbed of Mafia activity. Having lived in Boston from the 1970s to the 1990s, I was very familiar with the setting, but I felt that additional research would be useful. A central figure during those years was James “Whitey” Bulger, brother of Billy Bulger, a State Senator who somehow managed to avoid being ruined by his gangster sibling. In my slide down the internet rabbit hole, I came across a story I hadn’t heard before. Alas, it didn’t fit into my fictional world, but I thought I’d share it here.
An episode of “Inside Edition,” a tv news program, popped up on YouTube with an announcement that Whitey Bulger and three friends had won more than $14 million in the July 1991 Massachusetts State Lottery. The story was followed by additional coverage that included raised eyebrows and sarcastic voices. Was the fix in? Several investigations were unable to prove the lottery had been rigged.
The significance of Whitey’s good luck was obvious. He was under investigation by the IRS and desperately needed to launder his illegally obtained funds. With the legitimate fortune the lottery provided, he was going to be able to show the IRS a noncriminal source for his wealth.
It was true that lottery was legitimate, but Whitey wasn’t the one who got lucky. He heard that a South Boston man he knew had bought the winning ticket and “persuaded” him to sign the ticket over to him and Whitey’s friends for a fraction of the value of the winnings.
After he collected four of the twenty annual payments, law enforcement was closing in and Whitey went on the lam. Ultimately the Bulger family was unable to collect the remaining lottery winnings. [https://crimereads.com/boston-true-crime-through-the-decades]
Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction.
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