The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston's Racial Divide

Reviewed by Kam Auresfor RebeccasReads (07/09) "The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston's Racial Divide" is authored by Dick Lehr "who was a reporter for the Boston Globe for nearly two decades, where he won numerous journalism awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize." Therefore, it is not surprising that this true crime book that tells the tale of a police cover-up is a high-quality piece of work. The author included a couple of helpful tools in the beginning of the book. The first is a map of the neighborhoods with markings of where all of the incidents took place. Lehr also has a list of all of the characters in the book along with a brief description of who they are. I referred to this list often while reading the book just to refresh my memory as there were so many people involved in the crimes that it was hard to keep track of everyone. I was not familiar with the Boston incident so the story presented was new to me. I found the events that occurred to be shocking and disturbing. Lehr did an excellent job of presenting the facts in the case and drawing information from interviews to compile this complete and concise work. As I did not know of the events prior to reading the book, I became completely engrossed in Lehr's writing to find out what was going to happen and found the book to be a very hard one to put down. "The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston's Racial Divide" is one of the better true crime books that I have read in awhile.

I know this sounds cliche but it's true, I literally could not put this book down. I finished it in 2 days, even delayed my weekend trip to finish it! This book is so well written and riveting, I was on the edge of my seat feeling like I couldn't read it fast enough. So much was revealed in this book that unfortunately (for Kenny Conley especially) wasn't revealed at trial, which many people need to understand exposes the many flaws in our "justice" system. Fortunately for Kenny, he had connections especially because he was a police officer, but what about Joe Citizen? It's clear that if you don't have a lot of money to buy justice (because you can't get it without money), your next best bet is to have lots of friends in high places. Most of us don't qualify. Sadly, I live in the Boston area, although I know this issue is a national one, but the race issue is far from over, is quite likely worse than ever now. My significant other is Black and was a victim of police testilying 4 years ago (overwhelming evidence proves it, but he didn't have the means to get good counsel), arrested and jailed for over 3 years. He's not gone to trial yet but as you will read in this book, testilying is so pervasive you could say that it's almost impossible to trust any police officer. This means, our lives and words (especially if you are a person of color) are up against this large well-paid and well-connected "fraternity," and its extension into the DA's office and even courts, that are more likely to lie to WIN (yeah, it's a big game) regardless of guilt. Yet the public in general is unknowingly more likely to believe a police officer simply because he/she believes police officers all uphold the law (thanks to shows like Law and Order). But in real life, most do not, this book reveals that fact, studies cited prove it overwhelmingly, as well as numerous other studies not mentioned. This is not about a few bad apples. Granted there are some good police officers but when an entire department sees itself as a "fraternity," the good ones have no choice but to turn a blind's eye or simply join the crowd, thus turning the whole bunch rotten.

I followed the twists and turns of this story when I lived in Boston, almost entirely through Dick Lehr's exceptional investigative journalism. Lehr has pieced together evidence from all of the people involved in this horrific tale of police brutality, police stonewalling, and the possibly innocent cop who was the one person convicted in the case. It has all the twists and turns of a good legal/crime thriller, but its even more powerful given that it actually happened. Lehr's writing in the Boston Globe over the years played a major role, perhaps the central role, in bring to public awareness all of the important questions raised by the case. Not surprisingly, the book is exceptionally well written, and tells the entire story in a single narrative for the first time. Highly recommended!

This is a great book. A tale of police corruption, intelligently and suspensefully retold by Lehr, which, frighteningly enough, is all true. If you like the urban noir of Richard Price's fiction, or the pace of Jonathan Harr's nonfiction "A Civil Action" - this book, as well as Lehr's previous "Black Mass," are "must-reads"! Stephanie Albano Weston, MA

'The Fence' by Dick Lehr 'The Fence' by Dick Lehr, co-author of the bestselling Black Mass, is a tremendous recount of one of Boston's most notorious episodes of police brutality and the disastrous effects of the 'blue wall' of silence. Two heroic and hero cops are at the center of this devastating tale: Michael Cox & Kenny Conley. One beaten for doing his job; one who suffers for the sins of other rogues. One black and one white. The story gets humming in the first 30 pages with the retelling of an unprecedented car chase through the toughest streets of Boston in search of suspects in a just committed murder. The subsequent (accidental) beating of a plain clothed black officer during the tumult that followed this chase, the police cover up and legal proceedings which resulted are reconstructed with an unparalleled eye for detail. Lehr, a former reporter for one of Boston's broadsheets, demonstrates a passion for the facts - and he remarkably gets them all straight in 'The Fence'. Considering the level of deception, beginning the early morning of the crime, continuing through the internal affairs investigation and later trials, I'm amazed the author was able to present this tale to the reader in such a clear and entertaining fashion. His sharp declarative sentences make one feel as if you're reading a wonderfully hard hitting piece of enterprise journalism...all too often missing in today's sea of journalistic mediocrity. Coming from a police family, it's difficult to read some of what is described in this book. However, it's equally critical, for police allies and critics alike, to understand the potential repercussions of the so-called 'blue wall'. When the wall goes up, law enforcement can fail, not only the public they're tasked with protecting and serving, but their own brothers in blue. All in all, this is an important and informative read which is worth every bit of it's price in hardcover. A+