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''I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa'' is a 2004 work of narrative nonfiction written by former homicide prosecutor, investigator and
defense attorney A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various j ...
Charles Brandt Charles Brandt is an American former investigator, writer, and speaker. He wrote Frank Sheeran's memoir '' I Heard You Paint Houses'', the basis for the 2019 film ''The Irishman'', directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Al P ...
that chronicles the life of Frank Sheeran, an alleged mafia hitman who confesses the crimes he committed working for the
Bufalino crime family The Bufalino crime family,''Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: Traditional and Non-Traditional''. Pennsylvania Crime Concession. April 15, 1988 also known as the Pittston crime family,Devico, Peter J. ''The Mafia Made Easy: The Anatomy and Culture o ...
. The title is in reference to, according to Sheeran, the first conversation he had with Hoffa over the phone, where Hoffa started by saying, "I heard you paint houses"—a mob code meaning: I heard you kill people, the "paint" being the blood splatter from the gunshot. Later editions of the book contain 71 pages of back matter largely detailing independent corroboration of Sheeran's confessions that came to light after the book was first published. Sheeran's supposed confessions to killing
Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975; declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. F ...
and
Joe Gallo Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), also known as "Crazy Joe", was an Italian-American mobster and Caporegime of the Colombo crime family of New York City. In his youth, Gallo was diagnosed with schizophrenia after an arrest. He so ...
have been disputed by "The Lies of the Irishman", an article in '' Slate'' by Bill Tonelli, and "Jimmy Hoffa and 'The Irishman': A True Crime Story?" by
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class i ...
professor
Jack Goldsmith Jack Landman Goldsmith III (born September 26, 1962) is an American legal scholar. He is a professor at Harvard Law School who has written extensively in the fields of international law, civil procedure, federal courts, conflict of laws, and nat ...
, which appeared in ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
''. Chip Fleischer, the book's publisher, wrote a reply to Tonelli's piece, also published in ''Slate'', calling the magazine's decision to run the article with a title he claims is not supported by the facts "irresponsible in the extreme, not to mention damaging."


Adaptation

The book is the basis for the 2019 film '' The Irishman'', which was directed by
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
and starred Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran.


References


External links

* * * 2004 non-fiction books Non-fiction books adapted into films Non-fiction books about Italian-American organized crime Works about the American Mafia Jimmy Hoffa {{crime-book-stub