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Irish Mob

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The Irish Mob, or Irish Mafia, is one of the oldest organized crime groups in America, in existence since the early 1800s. Originating from the Irish street gangs, immortalized by author Herbert Asbury's 1926 book The Gangs of New York, the Irish Mob has appeared in most major US cities such as Boston, New York City, New Orleans, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Providence, Kansas City, St. Louis, Atlantic City and Chicago.

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Boston

While Boston has a long history of Irish organized crime, particularly in the heavily Irish-American neighborhoods like South Boston ("Southie"), Charlestown, and Somerville the earliest Irish gangsters arose during Prohibition as 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 (the death of Jewish bootlegger Charles "King" Solomon in 1933 would ensure control of Boston's underworld by North End mobster Philip Bruccola until 1950). Following Wallace's death, numerous gang wars between rival Irish gangs during the early and mid 20th century would contribute to the gradual domination of the Italian mafia within New England by the end of the 1960's following the end of the Winter Hill-Charlestown Mob wars.

The 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 derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts north of Boston. Members have included notorious Boston gangster James J. "Whitey" Bulger and hitman Stephen J. "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

While Winter Hill Gang members are alleged to have been involved with most typical organized crime related activities, they are perhaps most known for fixing horse races in the northeastern United States. Twenty-one members and associates, including Bulger's predecessor Howie Winter, were indicted by federal prosecutors in 1979.

The Winter Hill Gang also played a central role in the Boston Irish Mob Wars of the 1960s between Winter Hill leader James McLean and Bernard McLaughlin's Charlestown Mob.

New York

The Westies is the name of an organized crime gang hailing from the West Side of Manhattan, New York City, in particular from around the Hells Kitchen area. They were predominantly Irish American.

The most prominent members have included James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone. During the late 1970s they forged a loose alliance with the Gambino crime family, the Mafia faction that was ruled by Paul Castellano at the time. Coonan was also associated with Roy DeMeo, and DeMeo is thought to have murdered the previous Westie boss Mickey Spillane (no relation to the author of the same name) in order to let Coonan become the leader.

Coonan was imprisoned in 1986 under the RICO act, along with multiple charges of murder. Unusual for a gangster, Coonan had let his wife, Edna, become involved in his affairs, and she too was imprisoned. In addition Coonan had alleged links to John Gotti.

Mickey Featherstone became an informant after his arrest in the early 1980s.

The Irish-American gangster Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll is sometimes named as an early member of the Westies, although because of the solitary nature of his actions, Coll does not seem to have been a member of any specific gang.

Philadelphia

The Northeast Philly Mob also known as The K&A Gang is a multi-generational organized crime group made up of predominately Irish and Irish-American gangsters. Originally born as a youth street gang based around the intersections of Kensington & Allegheny, the group grew to include local hoods and blue collar Irish Americans looking for extra income. As time progressed the group expanded and grew more organized. They had setup lucrative markets dealing with gambling, loan sharking, and most famously burglary.

During the '50s, '60s, and '70s they were one of the most organized and successful burglary rings in the country.[link] Originally limiting themselves to mansions in luxurious Philadelphia suburbs they eventually expanded operations as far north as Maine and as far south as Florida.[link] They were also allegedly responsible for the Pottsville Hiest, a large safe robbery in which approximately half a million dollars was stolen. They also held links to many Irish-American lead unions most notably the Roofers Union.

The group shifted gears in the 1980s and expanded into neighborhoods beyond Kensington. It was also during this time that Italian Mafioso Ray Matorano, then K&A leader John Berkery, and over 36 others were indicted for their alleged involvement in a large methamphetam ring. John Berkery reportedly fled to Ireland but eventually struck a plea bargain.[link]

The group continued into the '90s without much publicity. It's alleged they were involved in hits and attempted hits of certain Italian Mafia figures.

In the 2000s the group has remained very much under the radar and some speculate reduced their activities immensely. In 2002 Ray Matorano upon his release from prison forged a plan to takeover the Philadelphia Mafia. To this end he requested backing from the five New York Families and enlisted the help of various biker gangs including the Pagans and Warlocks. It was also alleged he had hired a couple dozen hitmen from the Northeast Philly Mob for the forthcoming mob war. When Ray Matorano was shot and killed on the way to his doctor's office the war had ended before it got off the ground.[link]

The group is known to have links with the Italian Mafia, the Irish Republican Army, Biker Gangs, the Roofers Union, The Polish Mob and various independent drug and hijacking gangs of various European ethnicities.

Prominent former and current members include:

Chicago

The successors of Michael Cassius McDonald's criminal empire of the last century, the Irish-American criminal organizations in Chicago were at their peak during the Prohibition era where they specialized in bootlegging and highjacking. However, they would soon be faced with rivalry from Jewish and Italian mobsters, particularly Al Capone who led the Chicago Outfit, in notoriety and ruthlessness.

The organizations existing before Prohibition included the North Side Gang, which included men like Dean O'Banion, Bugs Moran, and Louis Alterie as well as others including the Southside O'Donnell Brothers, the Westside O'Donnell's, Ragen's Colts, the Valley Gang, Roger Touhy, Frank McErlane and Jim O'Leary, among others, were in competition with Capone for control of the bootlegging alcohol.

Other cities

Irish mob in popular culture

Early Irish mob films, referred to as "The Mob", first appeared during the early "gangster" films of the 1930's and film noir of the 1940's indentified by actors such as James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh, Ralph Bellamy, Spencer Tracy, Lynne Overman, Frank Morgan popularly known as the "Irish Mafia" (although Bellamy and Overman were not of Irish descent) as well as stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson.

See also

External links

 

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