This is the autobiography of my friend Ricky, who I met on the Boston Common in 1975. We kept in touch, becoming life-long friends.

“Ricky Mac” became a heroin addict as a teenager growing up in South Boston, earning money for his drugs through street cons on unwitting victims. But as his habit grew he needed more and more money, expanding his business until he was eventually convicted and imprisoned for ten years for heroin distribution. He wrote his life story from his prison cell in solitary confinement, mailing thousands of pages to me over the years. I photographed and interviewed him regularly for decades, in and out of prison, so the book’s chapters are illustrated with my portraits. Although his prison stay broke up his family, he developed a good relationship with his son after he was released at age 54, and he was able to find and keep a “straight” job and stay sober for the rest of his life.

Ricky hoped his story would be a cautionary tale, reaching the young people he cared deeply about in a very different Southie from when he grew up. When he walked by the long lines at methadone clinics, Ricky was distressed by the large numbers of opioid addicts and the many unnecessary deaths. He hoped somehow he might save a life.

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