Editing Westies

{{SHORTDESC:Irish-American organized-crime group in New York City}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = Westies
| also_known_as = Coonan's Crew<br>Westside Guys<br>Westside Irish Mob
| image = Ninth-north.jpg
| caption = Hell's Kitchen along Ninth Avenue in 2006; this contextual image does not depict gang members
| founder = [[James Coonan]] and associates
| founding_location = [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan]], New York City
| territory = Hell's Kitchen<br>Manhattan's West Side piers
| predecessor = Mickey Spillane's gang
| structure = Small Irish-American organized-crime crew
| ethnicity = Irish American
| membership = About 12–20 core members {{small|(historical estimate)}}
| activities = Loansharking<br>Labor racketeering<br>Narcotics trafficking<br>Extortion<br>Murder
| leader = [[James Coonan]]<br>[[Mickey Featherstone]] {{small|(second-in-command)}}
| notable_members = Kevin Kelly<br>James McElroy<br>William Bokun<br>Richard Ritter
| allies = [[Gambino crime family]]
| rivals = Mickey Spillane's gang
| status = Defunct
| years_active = Mid-1960s–late 1980s
| founded_date = Mid-1960s
| dissolved_date = 1988
| dissolution_cause = Federal racketeering convictions
}}

The '''Westies''' were an Irish-American organized-crime group based in [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen]] on Manhattan's West Side. Led principally by [[James Coonan]], with [[Mickey Featherstone]] as his second-in-command, the group operated from the mid-1960s until federal racketeering convictions dismantled its core in the late 1980s.<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>

==Name==
The federal appellate record also calls the organization “Coonan's Crew,” the “Westside Guys” and the “Westside Irish Mob.”<ref name="Coonan" /> Crime writer T. J. English has noted that “Westies” was a press label rather than a name the members used for themselves.<ref name="English" />

==History==
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit traced the group's formation to the mid-1960s, when Coonan and his associates challenged Mickey Spillane for control of criminal activity in Hell's Kitchen. Coonan's faction prevailed and became the neighborhood's dominant organized-crime group during the 1970s and early 1980s. Featherstone had become Coonan's principal lieutenant by the middle of the 1970s.<ref name="Coonan" />

The group's income came chiefly from loansharking, narcotics distribution, extortion of labor unions and control of rackets on the West Side piers. In the late 1970s it formed an alliance with the [[Gambino crime family]]. According to the appellate court, the Gambinos financed Westies loansharking and allowed the group to trade on the family's reputation; the Westies paid a share of proceeds from several rackets in return.<ref name="Coonan" />

The court record attributed repeated violence to the organization, including murders committed to collect debts, discipline associates and protect waterfront income. The gang also distributed cocaine during the 1980s and extorted payments connected to the International Longshoremen's Association and theatrical Teamsters locals.<ref name="Coonan" />

==Prosecution and collapse==
After being convicted in a murder that investigators later concluded he had not committed, Featherstone and his wife cooperated with law enforcement. Featherstone became an important government witness in the federal prosecution of Coonan and other members.<ref name="Coonan" />

On February 24, 1988, a federal jury convicted seven defendants associated with the Westies after a four-month trial. The convictions covered a racketeering enterprise involving murder, kidnapping, loansharking, gambling, narcotics, fraud and counterfeiting; Coonan was among those convicted.<ref>William M. Reilly, [https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/02/24/Federal-jury-convicts-Westies-gang-members/7656572677200/ “Federal jury convicts Westies gang members”], United Press International, February 24, 1988.</ref> The convictions and resulting prison terms ended the Coonan-era organization as a significant neighborhood gang. Later criminals were occasionally described as Westies, but reporting did not establish organizational continuity with Coonan's crew.<ref>Joseph Goldstein, [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/nyregion/westies-gang-said-to-not-exist-appear-in-extortion-case.html “Gang Said to Have Been Vanquished in '80s Makes Cameo in Extortion Case”], ''The New York Times'', December 3, 2012.</ref>

==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 1988]]