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Irish Mob
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The Irish Mob is an organized crime group in the United States, in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish Americanstreet gangs—depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1928 book The Gangs of New York—the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. cities, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
Irish Mob
Founded Early 19th century
Founding location United States
Years active Early 19th century – Present
Territory United States, Canada, Ireland
Ethnicity Primarily Irish, Irish American
Criminal activities Racketeering, arms trafficking, murder, hijacking, and drug trafficking
The Irish Mob also has a strong presence in Ireland; however, unlike in the United States, the group has only been present in Ireland from the 1960s and onwards. Predominantly active in Dublin and Limerick, the group most often works under crime families focusing on the drug trade.
United StatesEdit
New YorkEdit
Pre-prohibitionEdit
Irish-American street gangs, such as the Dead Rabbits (led by future Congressman John Morrissey) and Whyos, dominated New York's underworld for well over a century. Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s, however, they faced competition from recently arrived Italian and Jewish gangs. The Five Points Gang (led by Paul Kelly) would rise to prominence during the early 1900s, strongly rivaled by the Hudson Dusters, the Gopher Gang, and others during the period.
In the early 1900s, with Italian criminal organizations such as the Morello crime family encroaching on the waterfront, various Irish gangs united to form the White Hand Gang. Although initially successful in keeping their Black Hand Italian rivals at bay, unstable leadership and infighting would lead to their eventual downfall. The murders of Dinny Meehan, Bill Lovett, and Richard Lonergan led to the gang's disappearance by 1925. The waterfront was then taken over by Italian mobsters Vincent Mangano, Albert Anastasia, and Joe Adonis. The Irish mob, however, reemerged in Coal Country and remained strong.
ProhibitionEdit
During the early years of Prohibition, "Big" Bill Dwyer emerged among many in New York's underworld as a leading bootlegger. However, following his arrest and trial for violation of the Volstead Act during 1925 and 1926, Dwyer's former partners were split among Owney "The Killer" Madden, the English-born former leader of the Gopher Gang, and Frank Costello against Jack "Legs" Diamond, "Little" Augie Pisano, Charles "Vannie" Higgins and renegade mobster Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll.
The WestiesEdit
The Westies are an Irish American gang hailing from Hell's Kitchen on the West Side of Manhattan.
The most prominent members have included Mickey Spillane, Eddie McGrath, James Coonan, Mickey Featherstone, James McElroy, and Edward Cummiskey.
In the Irish/Italian Mob War of the 1970s, the Irish mob saw an increased threat from the Italian Mafia as the Genovese crime familysought control over the soon-to-be-built Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Since the convention center was located in Spillane's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, Spillane refused to allow any involvement by the Italians. Although the Italian gangsters greatly outnumbered the members of the Irish mob, Spillane was successful in keeping control of the convention center and Hell's Kitchen. The Italians, frustrated and embarrassed by their defeat to Spillane, responded by hiring a rogue Irish-American hitman named Joseph "Mad Dog" Sullivan to assassinate Tom Devaney, Eddie "the Butcher" Cummiskey, and Tom "the Greek" Kapatos, three of Spillane's top lieutenants.
Also around this time, a power struggle emerged between Mickey Spillane and James Coonan, a younger upstart from Hell's Kitchen. In 1977 Spillane was murdered in a hail of bullets by assassins from the Genovese crime family. This prompted Coonan to form an alliance with Roy DeMeoof the Gambino crime family. The Genoveses decided that the Westies were too violent and well-led to go to war with and mediated a truce via the Gambinos.
Coonan was imprisoned in 1986 under the RICO act. Featherstone became an informant after his arrest in the early 1980s.
BostonEdit
ProhibitionEdit
Boston has a well-chronicled history of Irish mob activity, particularly in the heavily Irish-American neighbourhoods like Somerville, Charlestown, South Boston ("Southie"), Dorchester and Roxbury where the earliest Irish gangsters arose during Prohibition. Frank Wallace of the Gustin Gang dominated Boston's underworld until his death in 1931, when he was ambushed by Italian gangsters in the North End. Numerous gang wars between rival Irish gangs during the early and mid 20th century would contribute to their decline.
The Winter Hill GangEdit
The Winter Hill Gang, a loose confederation of Boston-area organized crime figures, was one of the most successful organized crime groups in American history. It controlled the Boston underworld from the early 1960s until the mid-1990s. It derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, north of Boston, and was founded by first boss James "Buddy" McLean.
While Winter Hill Gang members were alleged to have been involved with most typical organized crime related activities, they are perhaps best known for fixing horse races in the northeastern United States. Twenty-one members and associates, including Howie Winter, Joe McDonald, Johnny Martorano, and Sal Sperlinga were indicted by federal prosecutors in 1979. The gang was then taken over by James J. "Whitey" Bulger and hitman Stephen Flemmi and was headquartered in South Boston. Bulger's criminal associates consisted of Kevin Weeks, Patrick Nee, and John "Red" Shea.
The present Winter Hill Gang operates in secrecy and often avoids drawing public attention and scrutiny. With the activation of RICO law, the Winter Hill Gang's ranks were quickly thinned with federal indictments against key players like George Hogan and Scott "Smiley" McDermott. The Winter Hill Gang quickly disbanded in the early 2000s after many of the federal indictments failed to stick due to a lack of evidence and cooperating witnesses, making room for younger predecessors like Tommy "Two Guns" Attardo, Sean "Irish Car Bomb" McKenna, and Mickey "Mean Machine" Murphy to join the ranks.
Irish-American organized crime outfits are still active and form the backbone of organized crime in South Boston and the greater Boston area.
Irish Mob WarEdit
The Irish Mob War is the name given to conflicts throughout the 1960s between the two dominant Irish-American organized crime gangs in Massachusetts: the Charlestown Mob in Boston, led by brothers Bernard and Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin, and the Winter Hill Gang of Somerville (just north of Boston) headed by James "Buddy" McLean and his associates, Howie Winter and Joe McDonald. It is widely believed that the war began when George McLaughlin tried to pick up the girlfriend of Winter Hill associate Alex "Bobo" Petricone, also known as actor Alex Rocco. McLaughlin was then beaten and hospitalized by two other Winter Hill members. Afterward, Bernie McLaughlin went to Buddy McLean for an explanation. When McLean refused to give up his associates, Bernie swore revenge but was soon killed by McLean in Charlestown City Square.
The war resulted in the eradication of the Charlestown Mob with its leaders, Bernie and Edward McLaughlin, and Stevie and Connie Hughes all having been killed. George McLaughlin, the one who started the war, was the only one who survived by being sent to prison. McLean was also killed, by Charlestown's Hughes brothers, and leadership of The Winter Hill Gang was taken by his right-hand man, Howie Winter and mentor, Joe McDonald. The remnants of the Charlestown Mob were then absorbed into the Winter Hill Gang, who were then able to become the dominant non-Mafia gang in the New England area.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, another mob war was taking place in South Bostonbetween two other Irish-American gangs: the Killeen Gang, which controlled bookmakingand loansharking, and the Mullen Gang, which was made up of thieves. In 1972, mob boss, Donald Killeen, was murdered and the remaining members of both organizations were absorbed into the Winter Hill Gang. One of Killeen's key enforcers was Whitey Bulger. In 1973, Bulger was appointed by Winter to operate the South Boston rackets. Throughout the 1970s, Bulger used his influence to have rival mobsters murdered. Among his victims were Spike O'Toole, Paul McGonagle, Eddie Connors and Tommy King.
FBI corruptionEdit
During the 1970s and 1980s, the FBI's Boston office was largely infiltrated through corrupt federal agent John J. Connolly, by which Whitey Bulger was able to use his status as a government informant against his rivals (the extent of which would not be revealed until the mid to late 1990s). This scandal was the basis for the book Black Mass and served as an inspiration for the fictional film The Departed.[1]
PhiladelphiaEdit
Pre-prohibitionEdit
The prominent Irish street gang pre-twentieth century were the Schuylkill Rangers headed by Jimmy Haggerty, whose boyhood home was located on Arch Street in the area between Eighteenth and Nineteenth Street known as "McAran's Garden".
After numerous arrests for theft and similar offenses, Haggerty and Schuylkill Ranger Hugh Murphy were convicted of the robbery of a Ninth Street store and sentenced to ten years imprisonment on December 12, 1865. He was pardoned by Governor Andrew G. Curtin eight months later, in part to Haggerty's political connections and his promise to leave the country upon his release, and lived in Canada for a brief time before returning to the city to resume his criminal career. Haggerty remained a major underworld figure in Philadelphia until January 1869 when he was arrested on several counts of assault with intent to kill; during his arrest, he shot the arresting police officer.[2] He was caught trying to escape from prison but was later released on bail and fled the city. Staying in New York City for a brief time, he returned to Philadelphia in April to surrender himself to authorities after the wounded police officer had received "hush money". He won both court cases against him, but was ordered at the second trial to return to the Eastern State Penitentiary by the District Attorney for violating the terms of his release. While his lawyers argued the ruling, Haggerty disappeared from the courthouse during a recess in what was suspected to have been a planned escape.[2]
ProhibitionEdit
Daniel "Danny" O'Leary fought with Maxie Hoffover control of Philadelphia's bootlegging throughout Prohibition. Jack "Legs" Diamondwas a prominent mobster in both Philadelphia and New York City.
Post-World War II and the K&A GangEdit
In the years following World War II, the K&A Gang was the dominant Irish gang in the city's underworld. A multi-generational organised crime group made up of predominantly Irish and Irish American gangsters, the gang originated from a youth street gang based around the intersections of Kensington and Allegheny, which grew in power as local hoods and blue collar Irish Americans seeking extra income joined its ranks. In time, the group expanded and grew more organised, establishing lucrative markets in gambling, loan sharking, and burglary.
The gang moved into the methamphetaminetrade in the late 1980s and expanded into the Fishtown and Port Richmondneighborhoods.[3] John Berkery, a member of the K&A burglary crew, became leader of the gang, and was influential in expanding the drug trade. In 1987, Scarfo crime familysoldier Raymond Martorano, Berkery, and dozens of others, were indicted for their involvement in a large methamphetamine ring.[4]
ChicagoEdit
ProhibitionEdit
The successors of Michael Cassius McDonald's criminal empire of the previous century, the Irish-American criminal organizations in Chicago were at their peak during Prohibition, specializing in bootleggingand highjacking. However, they would soon be rivaled by Italian mobsters, particularly Al Capone and the Chicago Outfit.
The organizations existing before Prohibition – including the North Side Gang, which included Dion O'Banion, Bugs Moran, Hymie Weiss, and Louis Alterie; the Southside O'Donnell Brothers (led by Myles O'Donnell) with the McKenna Crime family; the Westside O'Donnell's; Ragen's Colts; the Valley Gang; Roger Touhy; Frank McErlane; James Patrick O'Leary; and Terry Druggan – all were in competition with Capone for control of the bootlegging market.
