The Irishman: Frank Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa | Charles Brandt

The book documents the deathbed confessions of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, a high-ranking International Brotherhood of Teamsters official, hitman, and close associate of mob bosses Russell Bufalino and Angelo Bruno. Based on five years of recorded interviews, Brandt details Sheeran’s claim that he personally carried out the July 30, 1975 execution of former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa in a Detroit house, while also offering insider accounts of mob involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the murder of Joey Gallo, and union corruption.

Charles Brandt was a seasoned trial lawyer, medical malpractice investigator, and former Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Delaware. His extensive background in cross-examination, criminal interrogation, and forensic evaluation allowed him to independently corroborate key details of Sheeran's testimony against FBI files, wiretaps, police logs, and grand jury records over a five-year investigation.

Originally published under the title "I Heard You Paint Houses"—a mob euphemism for contract killing—the book served as the sole source material for Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated Netflix film The Irishman (2019), starring Robert De Niro as Sheeran, Al Pacino as Hoffa, and Joe Pesci as Bufalino, prompting the book's retitling for international re-release.

The text is widely analyzed as a pivotal, highly debated work in modern American true crime literature. While former federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials—including the lead FBI investigators on the Hoffa case—have debated the absolute veracity of every claim, Brandt’s rigorous legal documentation and forensic recreation of mob operations make it a central reference point in twentieth-century organized crime studies.

The narrative exposes the deep, systemic interlock between organized crime cartels, union pension funds, and political institutions during mid-century America. Through Sheeran’s life, Brandt illustrates how industrial labor unions were weaponized as financial leverage by mob families, showing how the intersection of power, greed, and organized violence ultimately destroyed the very union leadership Hoffa built.

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