''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 A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

, investigator, and defense attorney Charles Brandt that chronicles the life of Frank Sheeran, an alleged

mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

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 spatter 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 and

Joe Gallo Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), also known as "Crazy Joe", was an Italian-American mobster and a captain in the Colombo crime family of New York City. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in his youth, Gallo became an enforcer in the ...

have been disputed by "The Lies of the Irishman", an article in ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' by Bill Tonelli, and "Jimmy Hoffa and 'The Irishman': A True Crime Story?" by

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

professor Jack Goldsmith, 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 ...

''. 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 November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

and starred

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

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 Bufalino crime family {{crime-book-stub