Here’s our rundown of the best irish gangster/crime movies of all time.
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
IMDb: 8.5/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Anthony Anderson, Alec Baldwin
In Chicago in September 1936, a young con man seeking revenge for his murdered partner teams up with a master of the big con to win a fortune from a criminal banker.
IMDb: 8.3/10
Director: George Roy Hill
Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning
An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.
IMDb: 8.3/10
Director: Elia Kazan
Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger
Guilt-stricken after a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
IMDb: 8.0/10
Director: Martin McDonagh
Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds
A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
IMDb: 8.0/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan
Fraternal twins set out to rid Boston of the evil men operating there while being tracked down by an FBI agent.
IMDb: 7.9/10
Director: Troy Duffy
Stars: Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, David Della Rocco
Tom Regan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.
IMDb: 7.9/10
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (uncredited)
Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro, Jon Polito
A young hoodlum rises up through the ranks of the Chicago underworld, even as a gangster's accidental death threatens to spark a bloody mob war.
IMDb: 7.8/10
Director: William A. Wellman
Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.
IMDb: 7.7/10
Director: Ben Affleck
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck
Bonds of loyalty are put to the test when a hitman's son witnesses what his father does for a living.
IMDb: 7.7/10
Director: Sam Mendes
Stars: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Rob Maxey
As he plans his next job, a longtime thief tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent looking to bring him and his crew down.
IMDb: 7.6/10
Director: Ben Affleck
Stars: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner
After his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offenses, a low level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.
IMDb: 7.6/10
Director: Peter Yates
Stars: Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats
In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.
IMDb: 7.5/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly
A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core.
IMDb: 7.5/10
Director: David Cronenberg
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt
The real-life story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the police, the IRA, the UVF and members of his own team.
IMDb: 7.3/10
Director: John Boorman
Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Adrian Dunbar, Sean McGinley, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Terry Noonan returns home to New York's Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie's sister Kathleen. Soon, however, Terry is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his loyalties to others.
IMDb: 7.3/10
Director: Phil Joanou
Stars: Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright
The true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's.
IMDb: 7.2/10
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer
Young Danny Flynn is released from prison after 14 years after "taking the rap" for the IRA and tries to rebuild his life in his old Belfast neighborhood.
IMDb: 7.1/10
Director: Jim Sheridan
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Daragh Donnelly, Frank Coughlan, Sean Kearns
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
IMDb: 7.0/10
Director: Scott Cooper
Stars: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Joel Edgerton, Peter Sarsgaard
A variety of losers in Dublin have harrowingly farcical intersecting stories of love, greed and violence.
IMDb: 6.9/10
Director: John Crowley
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Kelly Macdonald, Colin Farrell
When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.
IMDb: 6.9/10
Director: Phillip Noyce
Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer
Two childhood friends from South Boston turn to crime as a way to get by, ultimately causing a strain in their personal lives and their friendship.
IMDb: 6.6/10
Director: Brian Goodman
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Goodman
The adventures of an investigator (Cagney) for the Bureau of Weights and Measures.
IMDb: 6.3/10
Director: John G. Blystone
Stars: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, James Burke, Edward Brophy, Henry Kolker
The MacManus brothers are living a quiet life in Ireland with their father, but when they learn that their beloved priest has been killed by mob forces, they go back to Boston to bring justice to those responsible and avenge the priest.
IMDb: 6.3/10
Director: Troy Duffy
Stars: Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Billy Connolly, Clifton Collins Jr., Julie Benz
South Boston Irish bad boy Danny Quinn returns back home from New York and gets stuck between his pals, who are supported by one Irish mafia clan, and his family, which are members of another.
IMDb: 5.3/10
Director: John Shea
Stars: Donnie Wahlberg, Rose McGowan, Anne Meara, Lawrence Tierney, John Shea