Nordeast Boys - Utopia was a Neighborhood in Minneapolis (Paperback)

Based on real people and true events, Nordeast Boys is a story of two brothers and a best buddy whose lives are forever altered after dramatic encounters with drugs. Rocky starts experimenting with alcohol and drugs at an early age, and by seventeen, his experimentation escalates into heroin addiction. Drafted at the height of the Vietnam war, he gets kicked out of the Army for dubious reasons. He struggles for years before kicking his habit and beginning a twelve year period of sobriety, during which he establishes a Narcotics Anonymous group to help others battle their addictions. Rocky earns a good job and accumulates wealth and property; yet he loses everything when he relapses and becomes addicted to the most insidious drug of all. Rocky's older brother Brett strives diligently to escape his environment and modest upbringing. He works his way through college, gets married, performs an honorable stint in the Army, and begins a promising career. Along the way he gets involved in some harrowing situations; including being tricked into smoking near-pure, Vietnamese heroin, a physical and emotional disaster. As a result, Brett vows never to touch drugs again. Brett's best-buddy Charlie is a street-wise kid looking for an easy buck. Charlie tries marijuana on a dare. Not only does he enjoy it, he realizes its profit potential. Passing on an opportunity to attend college, he begins dealing marijuana and amphetamine pills, eventually evolving into a major drug lord selling heroin and other narcotics. But Charlie's Catholic upbringing plus his family's knowledge of his livelihood cause him shame and he begins using heroin to alleviate his anxiety. Following a friend's overdose and a painful end to his marriage, Charlie's emotional load becomes too heavy and he teeters on the brink of suicide. One of these men will experience a profound, unexpected event - transforming his life forever. Who will it be?