I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Final Ride of Jimmy Hoffa Hardcover - 2004

First line

I asked my boss, Russell "McGee" Bufalino, to let me call Jimmy at his cottage by the lake.

Media reviews

"'I Heard You Paint Houses'" is one of the best accounts of the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, former Teamsters union boss and one of the most powerful men in America.
...One of Sheeran's virtues was his gift as a storyteller; one of his flaws was his tendency to murder - in mobster jargon, "to paint houses." ...From what Sheeran said, it is assumed that he painted several houses for Hoffa. And as a reward, he was able to climb the ladder in the union, until he was made head of the Teamsters local in Wilmington, Del. Although he professed his loyalty to Hoffa - he said on one occasion, "I'll be a Hoffa man 'til they pat my face with a shovel and steal my cufflinks" - Sheeran acknowledged that he was the one who killed the Teamsters boss...On July 30, 1975, Hoffa disappeared. Sheeran explains how he did it, in prose reminiscent of the best gangster films. "Jimmy Hoffa got shot twice at decent range - not too close or the paint splatters back at you - in the back of the head, behind his right ear," said Sheeran. And then, this magnificently laconic finale: "My friend didn't suffer."
- Associated Press

"Brandt's book gives new meaning to the term 'guilty pleasure.' . . . Sheeran's account of Hoffa's killing certainly appears credible."
- New York Times Book Review

"Sheeran's confession that he killed Hoffa in the manner described in the book is supported by the forensic evidence, is entirely credible and solves the Hoffa mystery."
- Michael Baden, M.D., former Chief Medical Examinaer of the City of New York

"I'm fully convinced - now - that Sheeran was in fact the man who did the deed. And I'm impressed, too, by the book's readability and by its factual accuracy in all areas on which I'm qualified to pass judgment. Charles Brandt has solved the Hoffa mystery."
- Prof. Arthur Sloane, author of Hoffa

"The book already has impressed law enforcement officials enough to jump start new activities in the case . . . It's a terrific read."
- Kansas City Star

"Unlike similar claims by many other self-confessed executioners, law enforcement authorities say Sheeran may well be telling the truth."
- Jerry Capeci's Gang Land News

"A page-turning account of one man's descent into the mob."
- Delaware News Journal