Westside Irish Mob: Difference between revisions
Replace redirect with sourced overview listing the Spillane Gang and Westies Tag: Removed redirect |
Add Dunn-McGrath Gang and clarify O’Mara and Bowers waterfront connections |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{SHORTDESC:Term for Irish-American organized crime on Manhattan's West Side}} | {{SHORTDESC:Term for Irish-American organized crime on Manhattan's West Side}} | ||
'''Westside Irish Mob''', also written '''West Side Irish Mob''', is an informal term used for successive Irish-American organized-crime groups based | '''Westside Irish Mob''', also written '''West Side Irish Mob''', is an informal term used for successive and sometimes overlapping Irish-American organized-crime groups based on Manhattan's West Side. It may refer to: | ||
* The '''[[Dunn-McGrath Gang]]''', led by John “Cockeye” Dunn and Edward “Eddie” McGrath, which controlled waterfront loading and labor rackets from the mid-1930s into the postwar period. | |||
* The '''[[Spillane Gang]]''', led by [[Mickey Spillane (mobster)|Mickey Spillane]], which controlled neighborhood and waterfront rackets during much of the 1960s and 1970s. | * The '''[[Spillane Gang]]''', led by [[Mickey Spillane (mobster)|Mickey Spillane]], which controlled neighborhood and waterfront rackets during much of the 1960s and 1970s. | ||
* The '''[[Westies]]''', led by [[James Coonan]], which fought Spillane's organization and became dominant after Spillane's death in 1977. | * The '''[[Westies]]''', led by [[James Coonan]], which fought Spillane's organization and became dominant after Spillane's death in 1977. | ||
The federal appellate decision in ''United States v. Coonan'' listed “Westside Irish Mob” among the names used for Coonan's organization. The same decision separately described the Westies as having been formed to wrest control of Hell's Kitchen from Spillane, making | Closely connected waterfront organizations included the [[Timothy O'Mara Gang]] on the upper Chelsea piers and the [[Bowers Gang]] on the Hell's Kitchen piers. Neil G. Clark's history of the waterfront describes both as cooperating with the Dunn-McGrath organization rather than fighting it; the Bowers group was also connected to the Allied Stevedoring Corporation.<ref>Neil G. Clark, [https://books.google.com/books?id=83CcEQAAQBAJ ''Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the West Side Waterfront''] (Barricade Books, 2017).</ref> | ||
The federal appellate decision in ''United States v. Coonan'' listed “Westside Irish Mob” among the names used for Coonan's organization. The same decision separately described the Westies as having been formed to wrest control of Hell's Kitchen from Spillane, making those two groups successive rivals rather than one uninterrupted organization.<ref>[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> Crime writer T. J. English likewise treats Spillane's organization and Coonan's crew as distinct phases of Irish-American organized crime in Hell's Kitchen.<ref>T. J. English, [https://archive.org/details/westiesinsidehel0000engl ''The Westies: Inside the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob''] (St. Martin's Press, 1990).</ref> | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Latest revision as of 23:28, 18 August 2026
Westside Irish Mob, also written West Side Irish Mob, is an informal term used for successive and sometimes overlapping Irish-American organized-crime groups based on Manhattan's West Side. It may refer to:
- The Dunn-McGrath Gang, led by John “Cockeye” Dunn and Edward “Eddie” McGrath, which controlled waterfront loading and labor rackets from the mid-1930s into the postwar period.
- The Spillane Gang, led by Mickey Spillane, which controlled neighborhood and waterfront rackets during much of the 1960s and 1970s.
- The Westies, led by James Coonan, which fought Spillane's organization and became dominant after Spillane's death in 1977.
Closely connected waterfront organizations included the Timothy O'Mara Gang on the upper Chelsea piers and the Bowers Gang on the Hell's Kitchen piers. Neil G. Clark's history of the waterfront describes both as cooperating with the Dunn-McGrath organization rather than fighting it; the Bowers group was also connected to the Allied Stevedoring Corporation.[1]
The federal appellate decision in United States v. Coonan listed “Westside Irish Mob” among the names used for Coonan's organization. The same decision separately described the Westies as having been formed to wrest control of Hell's Kitchen from Spillane, making those two groups successive rivals rather than one uninterrupted organization.[2] Crime writer T. J. English likewise treats Spillane's organization and Coonan's crew as distinct phases of Irish-American organized crime in Hell's Kitchen.[3]
References
[edit]- ↑ Neil G. Clark, Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the West Side Waterfront (Barricade Books, 2017).
- ↑ United States v. Coonan, 938 F.2d 1553, 1558–60 (2d Cir. 1991).
- ↑ T. J. English, The Westies: Inside the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob (St. Martin's Press, 1990).