For decades, starting in the 1950s, Raymond Patriarca ran the New England Mafia out of a storefront in Providence, Rhode Island. By 1980 he was seventy-two years old, and suffering from diabetes and heart disease. One night in December of that year his life intersected with that of Dr. Barbara Roberts, a thirty-six-year old single mother of three, who was the first female cardiologist to practice in Rhode Island. Asked by Raymond’s family to check on him after he was arrested on capital charges, Barbara—a naive Alice in Wonderland—entered a looking-glass world populated by pitfalls, moral ambiguities and dangers for which her devout upbringing had not prepared her. How did a former Catholic schoolgirl from a working-class family become the physician and defender of one Mafioso, and the mistress of another? How did her children handle these scandalous associations and the resulting hostile publicity—and what were the reactions of their fathers?
Expanding on the story first told in the popular Crimetown podcast, this memoir is a tale of motherhood, political activism, controversy, heartbreak and survival; it traces one woman’s trajectory against the backdrop of America’s 20th century upheavals.
* Hardcover and trade paperback editions coming soon! *
I applaud Barbara’s courage in stripping herself bare for the reader. This page-turner of a story will keep you on the edge of your seat, and will teach you valuable lessons about confronting controversy and adversity.
—Georgia Durante, author of "The Company She Keeps"
From good Catholic girl to football star’s wife, from heart doctor to national abortion rights activist, from women’s libber to Mafia doctor and mistress, Barbara Roberts has led an improbable life. Roberts takes the reader on a wild ride through her colliding worlds, as The Doctor Broad battles to survive and succeed in a man’s world.
—Mike Stanton, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of the New York Times bestseller "The Prince of Providence" and "Unbeaten: Rocky Marciano’s Fight for Perfection in a Crooked World"
Barbara’s latest work takes a down and dirty ride through the secretive world of organized crime in the 1980’s. Having just finished “VAULT,” a film about a mob robbery set in the same city and era, (Providence, Rhode Island, New England’s Wild West) I place this book on the must read list!
—Tom DeNucci, Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Actor and Director
Barbara’s a heart breaker and a rule breaker: From her strict Catholic upbringing to fighting for her place at an elite medical school to standing alongside Gloria Steinem, fighting for women’s rights and taking to the streets to fight against the Vietnam War. Her FBI file may only be matched by the men whose lives she would come to save, and whose secrets she would come to keep, as the cardiologist to the head of the New England Mafia. This book has it all, so take a life lesson from "The Doctor Broad."
—Marc Smerling, Emmy Award winner, Outstanding Documentary Series for HBO’s "The Jinx," co-producer of hit podcast, "Crimetown"
