Dunn-McGrath Gang

Dunn-McGrath Gang

West Side piers photographed in 1986; this contextual image does not depict gang members
Also Known As	Dunn–McGrath Mob Arsenal Mob (later usage; disputed)
Origins
Founder	John “Cockeye” Dunn Edward “Eddie” McGrath
Founding Location	Manhattan, New York City
Territory	Manhattan's West Side waterfront Chelsea piers
Lineage
Predecessor(s)	Joe Butler faction
Profile
Structure	Waterfront racketeering organization
Ethnicity	Irish American
Activities	Labor racketeering Cargo theft and hijacking Extortion Illegal gambling Murder
Politics
Leader	John “Cockeye” Dunn Edward “Eddie” McGrath Hugh “Hughie” Mulligan (New York boss, 1960s)
Notable Members	Cornelius “Connie” Noonan Andrew “Squint” Sheridan
Allies	Timothy O'Mara Gang Bowers Gang
Rivals	Charlie Yanowsky's faction
Activity
Status	Defunct
Years Active	Mid-1930s–1960s
Founded Date	Mid-1930s
Dissolved Date	1960s (decline)
Dissolution Cause	Execution of Dunn and Sheridan Waterfront investigations and reforms Decline of Manhattan's break-bulk piers

The Dunn-McGrath Gang, or Dunn–McGrath Mob, was an Irish-American waterfront racketeering organization led initially by John “Cockeye” Dunn and Edward “Eddie” McGrath. It controlled loading operations, labor influence and criminal rackets on sections of Manhattan's West Side waterfront from the mid-1930s into the postwar period. After McGrath withdrew to Florida, Hugh “Hughie” Mulligan became the later organization's New York boss during the 1960s. Some accounts call this postwar continuation the Arsenal Mob, although that name is applied inconsistently in the historical literature.

Origins and waterfront control

Dunn and McGrath emerged from the victorious Joe Butler faction after a violent struggle for the West Side docks during the 1930s. Journalist Daniel J. Wakin, summarizing Clark's research, identifies Dunn and McGrath as the leaders who achieved dominance after most of Charlie Yanowsky's rival faction had been killed or imprisoned.

The organization installed trusted men as boss loaders, profited from cargo handling and theft, and used violence to discipline longshoremen and rivals. In 1936, International Longshoremen's Association president Joseph Ryan helped Dunn and McGrath obtain a union charter, giving the group a formal base within waterfront labor. Clark estimated that the organization was responsible for more than thirty killings, although that figure is a retrospective historical estimate rather than a judicial finding.

“Arsenal Mob” name

Later crime-history websites have treated “Arsenal Mob” as another name for the Dunn-McGrath organization or its postwar continuation. Clark's book uses the label more narrowly for gunmen whom newspapers associated with the imprisoned Charlie Yanowsky after police found a cache of weapons in an apartment. Because the sources do not apply the term consistently, “Arsenal Mob” is included here as a qualified later alias rather than an uncontested contemporary name.

Within the later “Arsenal Mob” usage, Hugh “Hughie” Mulligan first served as McGrath's second-in-command or underboss and subsequently became the New York boss in his own right. After Dunn and Sheridan were executed in 1949, McGrath began making himself scarce in New York and directed some affairs from Florida. Clark's research shows that, by the 1960s, Mulligan had his own subordinates, bookmaking and loansharking operations, police-payoff network and Queens base, while McGrath became progressively less active after a 1964 visit to New York. McGrath retained residual influence from Florida, but describing Mulligan only as his deputy understates Mulligan's independent leadership of the New York organization during this period. A contemporary obituary likewise described Mulligan as a reputed police briber and major bookmaker.

O'Mara and Bowers connections

Available evidence does not support describing the Timothy O'Mara Gang as an enemy of Dunn and McGrath. Clark instead states that Timothy O'Mara's group, which controlled loading on Chelsea's upper piers—approximately Piers 61 through 74—worked closely with the Dunn-McGrath organization.

Clark also reports that O'Mara helped Dunn, McGrath and ILA president Ryan recruit the Bowers Gang to impose order on the Hell's Kitchen piers and Local 824. With support from the O'Mara and Dunn-McGrath groups, Michael “Mickey” Bowers's crew took control of hiring and other rackets there. The three organizations subsequently cooperated in gambling ventures and moved favored longshoremen among piers in their respective territories.

The Bowers organization was connected to the Allied Stevedoring Corporation. Clark identifies Allied as the gang's loading company. A federal appellate decision independently confirms that Michael Bowers, John Ward and John Potter were deeply involved in Allied's management and upheld their convictions for attempting to evade the corporation's 1951 income tax. The opinion also identified Bowers as a former president of ILA Local 824.

Decline

Dunn, Sheridan and an associate were convicted of murdering dissident longshoreman Anthony Hintz. Dunn and Sheridan were executed at Sing Sing in 1949. McGrath avoided conviction but began making himself scarce in New York and increasingly operated from Florida, where he continued to exercise remote influence. Mulligan became the New York boss of the later organization during the 1960s. Investigations, waterfront labor reforms and the eventual movement of cargo handling from Manhattan to container ports in New Jersey and Staten Island gradually ended the organization's power.

The Dunn-McGrath organization preceded the better-known Spillane Gang and Westies and represents an earlier phase of what is broadly described as the Westside Irish Mob.