Editing Spillane Gang

{{SHORTDESC:Irish-American organized-crime group in Hell's Kitchen}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = Spillane Gang
| also_known_as = Spillane crew
| image = Ninth-north.jpg
| caption = Hell's Kitchen along Ninth Avenue in 2006; this contextual image does not depict gang members
| founder = [[Mickey Spillane (mobster)|Mickey Spillane]]
| founding_location = [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan]], New York City
| territory = Hell's Kitchen<br>Manhattan's West Side waterfront
| successor = [[Westies]]
| structure = Irish-American organized-crime crew
| ethnicity = Irish American
| activities = Illegal gambling<br>Loansharking<br>Hijacking<br>Labor racketeering<br>Extortion
| leader = [[Mickey Spillane (mobster)|Mickey Spillane]]
| notable_members = Thomas Devaney<br>Edward Cummiskey<br>Thomas Kapatos
| rivals = [[Westies|Coonan crew]]
| status = Defunct
| years_active = Circa 1960–1977
| founded_date = Circa 1960
| dissolved_date = 1977
| dissolution_cause = Killing of Spillane and senior associates<br>Takeover by James Coonan's crew
}}

The '''Spillane Gang''' was an Irish-American organized-crime group led by [[Mickey Spillane (mobster)|Michael “Mickey” Spillane]] in [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen]] and along Manhattan's West Side waterfront. Spillane controlled neighborhood rackets for much of the 1960s and 1970s, before his organization lost a prolonged struggle with [[James Coonan]] and the crew later known as the [[Westies]].<ref name="Coonan">[https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/u-s-v-coonan-895074928 ''United States v. Coonan''], 938 F.2d 1553, 1558–60 (2d Cir. 1991).</ref><ref name="English">T. J. English, [https://archive.org/details/westiesinsidehel0000engl ''The Westies: Inside the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob''] (St. Martin's Press, 1990).</ref>

==History==
Spillane emerged as Hell's Kitchen's principal Irish-American racketeer around 1960. His crew drew income from gambling, loansharking, hijacking, extortion and influence over waterfront and construction-related labor. ''The New Yorker'' later described Spillane as the neighborhood's “Gentleman Gangster” and reported that he ran rackets there for nearly two decades.<ref>Ben McGrath, [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/01/15/smoke-filled-room-west-side-coup “Smoke-Filled Room: West Side Coup”], ''The New Yorker'', January 8, 2007.</ref>

The Second Circuit's account in ''United States v. Coonan'' states that Coonan and his associates formed their organization in the mid-1960s specifically to wrest control of Hell's Kitchen from Spillane, then the predominant gang leader. The rivalry continued despite Coonan's imprisonment, and Coonan ultimately displaced Spillane's organization.<ref name="Coonan" />

During the 1970s, violence also surrounded control of West Side piers, unions and prospective construction business connected with the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Three prominent Spillane associates—Thomas Devaney, Edward Cummiskey and Thomas Kapatos—were killed during the conflict. Contemporary and later accounts connected their deaths to pressure from Italian-American organized-crime interests seeking access to West Side rackets.<ref>James Traub, [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/05/magazine/the-lord-s-of-hell-s-kitchen.html “The Lords of Hell's Kitchen”], ''The New York Times Magazine'', April 5, 1987.</ref><ref name="English" />

==Collapse==
Spillane moved from Hell's Kitchen to Queens as the conflict intensified. On May 13, 1977, he was shot and killed outside his home in Woodside. No claim about the identity of his killer is treated as conclusive here; later organized-crime histories have offered differing accounts of responsibility.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/16/archives/west-side-funeral-of-mob-figure-traces-divergent-paths-in-area.html “West Side Funeral of Mob Figure Traces Divergent Paths in Area”], ''The New York Times'', May 16, 1977.</ref><ref name="English" /> After Spillane's death, Coonan's organization became the dominant Irish-American crime group in Hell's Kitchen and developed an alliance with the [[Gambino crime family]].<ref name="Coonan" />

Although both organizations have been described collectively as the “Westside Irish Mob,” the appellate record treats Spillane's gang and Coonan's Westies as successive rival groups rather than a single uninterrupted organization.<ref name="Coonan" />

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Defunct organizations based in New York City]]
[[Category:Former gangs in New York City]]
[[Category:Gangs in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan]]
[[Category:Irish-American culture in New York City]]
[[Category:Irish-American organized crime groups]]
[[Category:Organizations established in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 1977]]