Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, 1973, 1976-1978, 1985-1986, Undated

Scope and content:: This series consists of multiple manuscript drafts, notes, and galleys for Kennedy's third novel Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, published in 1978. The story introduces the Phelan family that figures prominently in five additional Kennedy books. Set in Albany during the Depression, Billy Phelan is a small-time gambler and bookie who becomes involved in the kidnapping of a local political boss' son. More than half of the folders in the series contain Federal Bureau of Investigation records of the actual John J. O'Connell, Jr. kidnapping and subsequent extortion case in 1933. The O'Connell family was heavily involved in Democratic Party politics in Albany. Kennedy also corresponded with the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the O'Connell kidnapping and received additional case records after the publication of Billy Phelan's Greatest Game.
Arrangement:: Arranged chronologically.

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