About THE FENCE

From the bestselling author of Black Mass comes “THE FENCE: A Police Cover-up Along Boston's Racial Divide,” a gritty, riveting tale of violence, race and injustice within the ranks for the Boston Police Department.

Dick Lehr tells the true-life story of how Michael Cox, an African American plainclothes officer, was brutally beaten in 1995 by his fellow police officers when he was mistaken for a murder suspect. While he was being attacked, Kenny Conley—an Irish American officer from South Boston—was chasing down the actual murder suspect. Weeks later, Cox was waiting for an apology from the Boston Police Department and federal investigators were accusing Conley of lying when he denied seeing the beating. Both men had dedicated their lives to serving the Boston Police Department, and when they needed the BPD to stand up for them, they both came up against the infamous blue wall of silence.

THE FENCE follows Cox’s transformation from beating victim to lonely crusader for justice in his federal civil rights lawsuit against his assailants, the Boston Police Department and the city. Lehr conducted extensive interviews with everyone involved in the case: Michael Cox and his family, Kenny Conley and his family, the multitude of police officers that were at the scene of the attack, and local and federal officials among others. Readers come to know Boston, a city where tribalism and a troubled history of race relations are part of the fabric of the city.