The following is a list of famous Irish American gangsters from the last 150 years.
These gangsters were just as feared as their Itailian rivals leaving a trail of bodies as they shaped the US underworld forever.
This is a list of Irish American mobsters which includes organized crime figures of predominantly Irish American criminal organizations or individual mobsters from the early 1850's to the present.
• Died between 1900 and 1950
• Died between 1950 and 1980
• Died between 1980 and 2016
• Still alive
(See also Top 30 Richest Gangsters in Ireland)
(See also Top 20 Notorious Female Gangsters)
(See also Top 10 Richest Gangsters Of All Time)
(See also Top 13 Notorious Mexican Drug Lords)
(See also Top 15 Richest Drug Lords of All Time)
(See also Top 25 Extremely Notorious Gangsters)
(See also 10 Most Powerful Female Crime Lords Ever)
(See also Top 10 Most Notorious Female Drug Kingpins)
Died between 1900 and 1950
| Name: | Notes: |
| Dan Carroll | Life: 1883–1946 (aged 62–63) Years active: 1920–1933 Organized crime figure who controlled in bootlegging Boston with partner Charles "King" Solomon during Prohibition. |
William "Dinty" Colbeck
 |
Life: 1890–1943 (aged 52) Years active: 1919–1943 William "Dint" Colbeck (November 17, 1890 – February 17, 1943) was a St. Louis politician and organized crime figure involved in bootlegging and illegal gambling. He succeeded William Egan as head of the Egan's Rats bootlegging gang in the early 1920s. On February 17, 1943, Dint Colbeck was found machine-gunned to death in his car at the corner of Ninth and Destrehan streets in St. Louis. The exact motive for his murder was unclear; he might have been killed by crime bosses wanting to eliminate a potential rival or by someone nursing a grudge from the old days. No one was ever charged in Colbeck's murder. |
Eddie Diamond
 |
Life: 1899–1929 (aged 34) Years active: 1921–1929 Eddie Diamond (June 9, 1902–January 14, 1930) was the brother of the notorious gangster, Jack "Legs" Diamond. He died of tuberculosis, in Saranac Lake. |
Jack "Legs" Diamond |
Life: 1897–1931 (aged 34) Years active: 1921–1931 Jack "Legs" Diamond (born John Thomas Diamond; July 10, 1897 – December 18, 1931), also known as Gentleman Jack, was an Irish American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein, Diamond survived a number of attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the "clay pigeon of the underworld". In 1930, Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?" On July 1, 1933, Diamond's widow, Alice Kenny Diamond, was found shot to death in her Brooklyn apartment. It was speculated that she was shot by Diamond's enemies to keep her quiet. |
John M. "Cockeye" Dunn |
Life: 1910–1949 (aged 38) Years active: 1920's–1949 John M. "Cockeye" Dunn (August 24, 1910 – July 7, 1949 Ossining, New York) was a New York mobster involved in the numbers racket and labor racketeering as a top enforcer for his brother-in-law Eddie McGrath. He was convicted together with Andrew "Squint" Sheridan of the 1947 murder of Greenwich Village hiring stevedore Anthony "Andy" Hintz, and executed by electric chair on July 7, 1949, aged 38. |
William "Big Bill" Dwyer |
Life: 1883–1946 (aged 63) Years active: 1920's–1930's William Vincent Dwyer (1883 – December 10, 1946), known as "Big Bill" Dwyer, was an early Prohibition gangster and bootlegger in New York during the 1920s. He used his profits to purchase sports properties, including the New York Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates of the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National Football League. He eventually was brought down by the U.S. government through legal actions, leaving Dwyer penniless at the end of his life in 1943. On December 10, 1946, Big Bill Dwyer, the “King of the Rum Runners” died at the age of 63. Dwyer was reportedly penniless at the time of his death, his only asset being the roof over his head. |
| William "Jellyroll" Egan | Life: 1884–1921 (aged 37) Years active: 1900's–1921 William Egan (June 7, 1884 - October 31, 1921) was a St. Louis politician and organized crime figure involved in bootlegging and illegal gambling. His brother was the namesake of the infamous Egan's Rats. While standing out in front of his Franklin Avenue saloon on Halloween night, 1921, Willie Egan was fatally shot by gunmen in a passing automobile. It was said he gasped the names of his killers to Dint Colbeck, who rushed to his aid just after the shooting. Colbeck announced to his men that the shooters were James Hogan, John Doyle, and Luke Kennedy. The ensuing gang war rocked St. Louis and claimed well over a dozen lives (including those of Doyle and Kennedy). |
| Maurice "Mossy" Enright | Life: ???–1920 (aged ???) Years active: 1911–1920 Maurice "Mossy" or "Mossie" Enright (d. February 2, 1920) was an Irish-American gangster and one of the earliest Chicago labor racketeers in the early 20th century. Enright remained in control of the city's labor unions into the early months of Prohibition until his death on February 2, 1920, when he was gunned down near his South Side home (most likely by rival Timothy "Big Tim" Murphy or Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. Enright's death occurred shortly before the death of James "Big Jim" Colosimo). |
Richard "Richie" Fitzpatrick |
Life: 1880–1904 (aged 23–24) Years active: 1890's–1904 Richard "Richie" Fitzpatrick (1880–1904) was a top gunman in the Monk Eastman gang, as well as a former member of the Five Points Gang, during the late 1890s until his death in 1904. He is best known however for the method of eliminating an Eastman rival where he would meet with the person in question and, after being searched, would inform them that he would not follow Eastman's orders instead seeking to defect to the rival gang and as he excused himself to use the bathroom he would retrieve a planted gun and return surprising the person shooting the victim down. This would later inspire the famous scene in The Godfather Saga. On November 1, 1904 while attending a peace conference at a Sheriff Street saloon in the New York Chrystie Street neighborhood, Fitzpatrick was shot to death before the peace talks began. |
Charles "Vannie" Higgins |
Life: 1897–1932 (aged 34–35) Years active: 1910's–1932 Charles "Vannie" Higgins (1897 – June 19, 1932) was a New York mobster and one of the most prominent bootleggers during the Prohibition era. Known as "Brooklyn's Last Irish Boss", Higgins was notorious for his escapes from law enforcement. On the night of June 18, 1932, after attending his daughter's tap dance recital at the Knights of Columbus clubhouse in Prospect Park, Higgins was gunned down in the street while trying to protect his 7-year-old daughter. He was taken to the Methodist Episcopal Hospital by a local patrolman and, despite police attempts to question him, Higgins refused to answer any questions regarding the shooting and died the following afternoon. |
Danny "Dapper" Hogan |
Life: 1880–1928 (aged 47–48) Years active: 1900's–1928 "Dapper" Danny Hogan (ca. 1880 - December 4, 1928) was a charismatic underworld figure and boss of Saint Paul, Minnesota's Irish Mob during Prohibition. Due to his close relationships with the officers of the deeply corrupt St. Paul Police Department, Hogan was able to act as a go between, overseeing the notorious O'Connor System. On December 4, 1928, Dapper Dan got behind the wheel of his Paige coupe and turned on the ignition. A bomb located beneath the floorboards detonated and blew off his right leg. He slipped into a coma at the hospital and died nine hours after the blast. He was given a funeral worthy of Prohibition-era Chicago and was buried in Calvary Cemetery. His widow, Leila Hogan, was heard to say, "I am sure there will be justice. If Danny had lived, he would have gone on the one leg they left him and taken care of it himself." |
John Patrick Looney |
Life: 1865–1947 (aged 81–82) Years active: 1909–1925 John Patrick Looney (1865–1947) was a gangster in the Rock Island, Illinois area during the early 20th century. He began his career as a successful lawyer, but soon became involved in illegal activity. At the height of his power he controlled much of the gambling, prostitution, illegal liquor and protection rackets in Rock Island. Through his newspaper Rock Island News, he was able to blackmail and intimidate his opponents. Looney was later charged and convicted of the murder of Willam Gabel and prosecuted in Galesburg. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison and served 8½ years. Looney died in 1947 at a tuberculosis sanitarium in El Paso, Texas. Looney served as the model for John Looney, a major character in Max Allan Collins' graphic novel Road to Perdition. The character was renamed John Rooney and portrayed by Paul Newman in Sam Mendes' 2002 film adaptation. In the film, the war between loyal lieutenant Dan Drost is the basis for the war between Michael Sullivan and John Rooney. |
Michael Cassius McDonald |
Life: 1839–1907 (aged 67–68) Years active: 1860's–1907 One of the earliest organized crime figures in Chicago. (born: 1839 in Niagara Falls, New York; – died: March 9, 1907 in Chicago) During a 50-year career in the underworld, journalists, gangster, mayors and even one president of the United States took orders from Chicago original crime boss. (At a private meeting in the White House he persuaded President Chester Arthur to pardon a colleague convicted in a Ponzi scheme.) Michael Cassius McDonald died with his former wife, Mary, at his side and $2 million in assets. |
Frank McErlane |
Life: 1894–1932 (aged 37–38) Years active: 1910s–1932 Frank McErlane (February 1894 – October 8, 1932) was a Prohibition-era Irish American gangster. He led the Saltis-McErlane Gang, allied with the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone Gang, against rival bootleggers, the Southside O'Donnell Brothers. He is credited with introducing the Thompson submachine gun to Chicago's underworld. The Illinois Crime Survey called him, "the most brutal gunman who ever pulled a trigger in Chicago." In the fall of 1932, Frank fell ill with pneumonia. In his delirium, he was convinced that rival gangsters were coming to his hospital room to kill him; it took four attendants to hold him down in his rage. Frank McErlane died at the age of 38 on October 8, 1932. When a reporter interviewed one of Frank's former associates after his death, he had this to say about McErlane, "I don't remember that he ever did anything good in his life. I don't believe he had a friend left." |
Myles O'Donnell |
Life: 1894–1933 (aged 38–39) Years active: 1910s–1933 Myles O'Donnell (1894 – March 10, 1933) was an Irish American bootlegger and mobster during the Roaring Twenties in Chicago during Prohibition. He was most famous for being the founder of the West-side O'Donnell Mob aka the Westside O'Donnells or West-side gang (no relation to the South Side O'Donnells, a rival gang). Sometime in early 1933, Myles O'Donnell was shot by a bartender during a drunken argument. Myles killed the bartender, but the bartender put a bullet into one of Myles' own lungs, which had to be removed in order for him to survive the injury. He contracted pneumonia soon after and died on March 10, 1933. |
Dean O'Banion |
Life: 1892–1924 (aged 32) Years active: 1910–1924 Charles Dean O'Banion (July 8, 1892 – November 10, 1924) was an Irish-American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known as Dion O'Banion, although he never went by that first name. He led the North Side Gang until he was murdered by Frankie Yale, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi in 1924. The O'Banion killing sparked a brutal five-year gang war between the North Side Gang and the Chicago Outfit that culminated in the killing of seven North Side gang members in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. In the early years of the "Public Enemy" era, Dean O'Banion and other Irish mobsters of the previous decade served as the basis for many gangster films of the 1930s. James Cagney, for example, based his character on O'Banion and his lieutenant Earl "Hymie" Weiss in the 1931 film The Public Enemy. The third season of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire featured a fictional version of O'Banion as well. |
"Big" Jim O'Leary |
Life: 1869–1925 (aged 56) Years active: 1900's–1920's James Patrick O'Leary (1869 - January 23, 1925) was a gambling boss and saloon owner in Chicago. His parents were Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, in whose barn the Great Chicago Fire is alleged to have begun. Despite numerous raids by police, O'Leary was found guilty of gambling only one time during his thirty-year career. The perception was that O'Leary, along with gambling bosses Mont Tennes and "Hot Stove" Jimmy Quinn, controlled the Chicago Police. James Patrick O'Leary died in Chicago of natural causes at the age of 56 on January 23, 1925. |
| James M. Ragen, Sr. | Life: 1880–1946 (aged 66) Years active: 1890's–1946 James Matthew Ragen, Sr. (August 9, 1880 – August 15, 1946) was an Irish businessman and co-founder of the Chicago-based street gang and political club Ragen's Colts. While driving down State Street, Ragen was ambushed at Pershing Road and was seriously wounded in the arms and legs by a shotgun blast from syndicate gunman on June 24, 1946. Taken to a nearby hospital, Ragen signed an affidavit identifying the gunman before his death on August 15, following a mysteriously administered dose of mercury. The affidavit was lost however when State Attorney William Touhy was unable to prosecute against those named by Ragen. |
| Andrew "Squint" Sheridan | Life: 1902–1949 (aged 46–47) Years active: 1942–1947 New York mobster and enforcer for labor racketeer Joe Ryan. Right-Hand Man of Edward J. "Eddie" McGrath. Executed in prison in 1949. |
Frank Wallace |
Life: 1904–1931 (aged 26–27) Years active: 1920's–1931 Frank Wallace (1904 – December 22, 1931) was an Irish-American gangster from South Boston, who ran the Gustin Gang in Boston during the Prohibition in the United States. Wallace was the last Irishman to run the illegal rackets in Boston until, agreeing to a "sit down" with Italian mobsters Joseph Lombardi and Phillip Bruccola to resolve the recent hijacking of beer shipments by the Gustins, he and lieutenant Bernard "Dodo" Walsh were ambushed and killed as they entered their rivals' headquarters at the C.K. Importing Company on December 22, 1931. After this, the Italians were in control until the 1960s, when the Irish gangsters James "Buddy" McLean, Bernard "Bernie" McLaughlin, and the other Irish gang leaders broke away and took over the rackets. For the next 30 years, The Winter Hill Gang would be the top gang of the area. |
| Danny Walsh | Life: 1893–1933 (aged 39–40) Years active: 1920–1933 Daniel L. "Danny" Walsh (c. 1893 – February 2, 1933?) was an organized crime figure in Providence, Rhode Island involved in bootlegging during Prohibition. He was the top underworld figure in southern New England, and last major Irish-American gangster in the region, until his kidnapping and apparent murder in 1933. Despite efforts by law enforcement, Walsh's body was never recovered. |
Died between 1950 and 1980
| Name: | Notes: |
| Michael "Mickey" Bowers | Life: 1901–1966 (aged 64–65) Years active: 1920–1966 (1901 – June, 25 1966) New York labor racketeer who, with his cousin Harold Bowers, was a major power on the New York waterfront though the ILA's notorious "Pistol Local" based in Hell's Kitchen. He was a member of the Westies. |
Elmer "Trigger" Burke |
Life: 1918–1958 (aged 39–40) Years active: 1941–1956 New York mobster and freelance assassin. Trigger (1918 – January 9, 1958) also known as Machine gun Burke, the cold-blooded hit man named Elmer Francis Burke can not be considered a Boston mobster, but history tells us there is a Nexus some how. As the public records so reflect, when he was brought here for special assignment in the disposal business in 1954, he made his short stay particularly memorable. He was arrested for the murder of Poochy Walsh, convicted and sentenced to death in the Electric Chair. On January 9, 1958, he was electrocuted at Sing Sing Prison in New York. |
Edward "The Butcher" Cummiskey |
Life: ???–1976 (aged ?) Years active: 1950's–1976 Edward "Eddie The Butcher" Cummiskey (d. August 20, 1976) was a New York mobster and enforcer for mobster Mickey Spillane during the 1950's and 60's. Later served as a mentor for Jimmy Coonan and other members of the Westies. He was shot at point blank range and killed by Joseph "Mad Dog" Sullivan while drinking at the Sunbrite bar on August 20, 1976. His death would be one of many ordered by Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno seeking to eliminate high ranking and veteran members of Spillane's organization. |
Ronald Dermody |
Life: ???–1965 (aged ?) Years active: ???–1965 Ronald P. Dermody was an Irish-American gangster from Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of Whitey Bulger's bank robbing team. Dermody, the son of gangster Joe Dermody, at some point in the early 1960s, made the mistake of falling in love with the girlfreind of Winter Hill Gang member James "Spike" O'Toole. So Dermody, despite his ties with the gang, made a deal with Charlestown mobster, and enemy of Winter Hill Gang leader James "Buddy" McLean, George McLaughlin. The deal was, if McLaughlin would take care of O'Toole, Dermody would do the same with McLean. Unfortunatly, for Dermody, he agreed to kill McLean first. He took a shot at McLean, but missed, and Dermody went into hiding in Cambridge. He then called crooked FBI agent H. Paul Rico for help. Rico agreed to meet Dermody at the Watertown-Belmont line, a spot Rico picked, to discuss his problem. Rico then called one-time informant Buddy McLean and told him about the meeting. Dermody showed up to the meeting, as scheduled, and was met there by Buddy McLean who shot him dead on the spot. |
Tom Devaney |
Life: ???–1976 (aged ?) Years active: 1960's–1970's Tom Devaney (died July 20, 1976) was a New York mobster and an enforcer to Mickey Spillane during the 1960's and 70's. As Spillane's chief lieutenant, Devaney played a leading role in the growing animosity between Spillane and the Genovese crime family as well as the gang war against James Coonan. Sullivan observed Devaney for eight weeks, then disguised himself with an afro wig and skin dye, followed Devaney into a bar-and-grill in Midtown Manhattan and shot him in the head. Tommy Devaney was an exhibition worker on the West Side who was murdered by George Barone because "he was interfering with us" as George told prosecutor in court. Barone got only an assist for that slaying, which was carried out by a gunman named Joe "Mad Dog" Sullivan, who shot Devaney as he sipped a cold beer in a midtown bar after attending a wake across the street. Devaney's death marked the beginning of the end for Spillane's operation. Spillane himself was murdered the following year. |
Daniel "Danny" Greene |
Life: 1933–1977 (aged 43) Years active: 1960's–1977 Daniel John Patrick "Danny" Greene (November 14, 1933 – October 6, 1977) was an Irish American mobster and associate of Cleveland mobster John Nardi during the gang war for the city's criminal operations during the 1970s. Competing gangsters set off more than 35 bombs, most attached to cars in murder attempts, many successful. Greene had gained power first in a local chapter of the International Longshoremen's Association, where he was elected president in the early 1960s. Greene pushed into Cleveland rackets and began competing with the Sicilian Mafia for control of the city. He set up his own group called the Celtic Club, complete with enforcers. On May 17, 1977, Greene's longtime ally John Nardi was killed by a bomb, planted by Pasquale Cisternino and Ronald Carabbia. After Nardi was murdered, a mafia boss, James Licavoli, arranged a ceasefire with Greene, hoping to kill the other man off-guard. Shortly after their meeting, Greene muscled in on a large West Side gambling operation originally run by Nardi. Greene offered Licavoli a percentage, but it was declined. On October 6, 1977, Greene went to a dental appointment at the Brainard Place office building in Lyndhurst, Ohio. Members of the Mafia had tapped his phone and were aware of the visit. After Greene visited a dentist and left the office building, he approached his car. The automobile parked next to his exploded, killing Greene instantly, the carbomb was believed to have been planted by a hitman known as Ray Ferritto. In the aftermath of Greene's murder, the FBI intercepted some conversations through its Title III hidden-microphone surveillance at Licavoli's house. Licavoli, his right-hand man John Calandra, and an unidentified male were complaining about Nardi, Frank Embrescia and Frank Brancato. In the aftermath of Danny Greene's murder, his hitman Ray Ferritto was arrested by Cleveland police, and subsequently was targeted by Licavoli. Ferritto surrendered himself to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and struck a deal in order to gain protection. This all led to the Mafia Commission Trial, which put Mafia Families from all over the United States, especially all of New York's 5 Families - the Gambino crime family, the Genovese crime family, the Colombo crime family, the Lucchese crime family, the Bonanno crime family, on trial. This trial practically ended the existence of the Cleveland Mafia. In 1998, Rick Porrello, a former Cleveland-area police lieutenant, wrote To Kill The Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia (1998), about Greene's engagement with the Mafia. He won a national Non-Fiction award for the book. It was adapted as a movie first entitled The Irishman: The Legend of Danny Greene. In 2011, the biopic Kill the Irishman, which loosely chronicles Greene's life, was released to favorable reviews. It was directed by Jonathan Hensleigh and starred Ray Stevenson as Greene. |
Cornelius Hughes |
Life: 1930–1966 (aged 36) Years active: 1950's–1966 Cornelius "Connie" Hughes (d. May 25, 1966) was an Irish-American mobster from Charlestown, Massachusetts and one of the most feared assassins of the 1960's, doing hits for Charlestown's "The McLaughlin Brothers" gang with his brother Stevie. He assassinated Somerville, Massachusetts Irish gang leader James "Buddy" McLean during the Boston Irish Gang Wars which left over forty men dead from both Somerville and Charlestown. He was later shot to death in his car by Somerville's "Winter Hill Gang" assassins, "Cadillac" Frank Salemme and Joseph "The Animal" Barboza, while driving in the suburban neighborhood of Revere, Massachusetts. Connie Hughes age 36 died from a fusillade of automatic weapons fire and died at the scene on May 25, 1966. |
Stephen Hughes |
Life: 1927–1966 (aged 39) Years active: 1950's–1966 Boston mobster and, with his brother Corneilius Hughes, a hitman for the McLaughlin Brothers. On September 23, 1966, Stephen Hughes and another Charlestown (“THE TOWN”) gangsters were gunned down while driving along Route 114 in Middleton, Massachusetts just outside of Boston in the mid-afternoon in board daylight. Stephen was 39 years old. |
| Donald Killeen | Life: 1923–1972 (aged 48) Years active: 1950s–1972 Donald Killeen (September 14, 1923 – May 13, 1972) was an Irish-American mob boss who controlled criminal activity, primarily bookmaking, in South Boston, during the 1960's and 1970's. He was killed outside his home in suburban Framingham, Massachusetts, on May 13, 1972, as he was called away by an associate on his son Gregory's fourth birthday. He left the house saying he was going to fetch a newspaper but in reality was going to get his son's present, a toy fire engine, in the trunk of his 1971 Chevrolet Nova. As Donald went to fetch a gun stashed underneath the driver's seat of his car, a gunman pulled open the car door and jammed the machine gun in his face before squeezing off fifteen rounds. |
Owen Vincent Madden |
Life: 1891–1965 (aged 73) Years active: 1900's–1940's Owen Vincent Madden, known as Owney Madden and nicknamed "The Killer" (December 18, 1891 – April 24, 1965) was a leading underworld figure in Manhattan, most notable for his involvement in organized crime during Prohibition. He also ran the famous Cotton Club and was a leading boxing promoter in the 1930's. Leaving behind racketeering, Madden settled in Hot Springs, Arkansas which had become known as a haven for various criminals, with a corrupt city government and police force. He also became involved in local criminal activities, especially illegal gambling. The Southern Club became a popular nightspot for mobsters; Charles Luciano was apprehended there in 1935. Madden became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1943, and eventually married the daughter of the city postmaster. He lived in Hot Springs until his death in 1965. Michael Walsh's And All the Saints is a fictionalized account of Madden's life, told in the first person, from his arrival in New York to his decampment for Hot Springs in 1935. Madden was portrayed by Bob Hoskins in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club. The character Owney Maddox, the Arkansas mob boss targeted by gunslinging DA's Investigator Earl Swagger in Stephen Hunter's novel Hot Springs, is modeled on Madden's later years. Orville Halloran, character from Daredevil Noir (see Marvel Noir), is modeled after Madden. Madden appears as a character in William S. Burroughs' screenplay The Last Words of Dutch Schultz. In HBO's prohibition gangster drama Boardwalk Empire Madden is portrayed by Fredric Lehne. Madden is a main player in the 2014 novel The Wife, The Maid and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon which is a fictionalized account of the disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater. |
Bernard "Bernie" McLaughlin |
Life: ???–1961 (aged ?) Years active: 1950's–1961 Bernard "Bernie" McLaughlin (d. October 1961) was an Irish-American gangster from Charlestown, Massachusetts, and leader of "The McLaughlin Brothers" gang. In October 1961, Buddy McLean, Alex Rocco, and corrupt police officer Russell Nicholson found Bernie in front of the Morning Glory cafe in Charlestown and shot him dead. Despite the large crowd, not one witness agreed to violate the neighborhood code of silence and the three went free. Soon after, Russ Nicholson was taken from the street and murdered by Bernie's brothers Punchy and Georgie. |
Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin |
Life: 1917–1965 (aged 48) Years active: 1950's–1965 Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin (May 16, 1917- October 20, 1965) was an Irish-American mobster and member of the Charlestown Mob, led by his brother Bernard McLaughlin. After surviving many assassination attempts, one where he lost his right hand and another where he lost half his jaw, Punchy was on his way to John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse for his brother George's murder trial when he was shot dead at the Spring Street Metropolitan Transit Authority Loop in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. |
James "Buddy" McLean |
Life: 1930–1965 (aged 35) Years active: 1950's–1965 James Joseph "Buddy" McLean (January 26, 1930 – October 31, 1965) was an Irish-American mobster and the original boss of the Somerville, Massachusetts-based "Winter Hill Gang" during the 1960s. McLean was well known throughout the Greater Boston area as an unstoppable street fighter. He accumulated injuries including several scars on his neck and face as well as a damaged left eye. A friend of Buddy once said, "He looks like a choir boy, but fights like the devil". Leading the Winter Hill Gang against their Charlestown rivals for more than two years, McLean was finally shot dead by Stevie Hughes as he left the 318 Club on Broadway, Winter Hill. He was succeeded by Howie Winter then, later, by James "Whitey" Bulger. |
Hughie Mulligan |
Life: ???–1973 (aged ?) Years active: 1950's Hughie Mulligan was a New York mobster and bookmaker who headed criminal activities of the "Irish Mob" in Hell's Kitchen during the 1950s. His protégés included Jimmy Burke, an associate of the Lucchese crime family, and his eventual successor Mickey Spillane. The gang that Mulligan controlled was the predecessor of the notorious "The Westies" gang. Mulligan died of natural causes. |
Joseph Vincent "Newsboy" Moriarty |
Life: 1910–1979 (aged 68) Years active: 1923–1972 Joseph Vincent Moriarty (June 1910 – February 26, 1979), also known as Newsboy Moriarty, was an Irish American mobster in Hudson County, New Jersey who controlled the numbers game. Around 1975, while serving another prison term on betting charges, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 1976, in his mid-60s, his sentence was commuted by New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne. Moriarty died three years later, on February 26, 1979 in Christ Hospital, Jersey City. |
Russell C. Nicholson |
Life: 1931–1964 (aged 32–33) Years active: 1961–1964 Boston police officer and associate of the Winter Hill Gang. Russell C. Nicholson (d. May 1964) was a member of Somerville, Massachusetts' "Winter Hill Gang" and was rumored to be the driver for James "Buddy" McLean during the assassination of Charlestown gangster Bernard McLaughlin. Nicholson was later murdered by surviving members of "The McLaughlin Brothers" Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin and George McLaughlin for his involvement in their brother's murder. |
| Carleton O'Brien | Life: 1903–1952 (aged 48–49) Years active: 1920's–1952 Carleton O'Brien (1903 Providence, Rhode Island – May 1952) was an organized crime figure involved in bookkeeping and policy operations in Rhode Island. Formerly listed as Public Enemy No. 1 by state officials, O'Brien was one of the last independent racketeers as the Patriarca crime family began establishing themselves in Providence. He was also an associate of bank robber Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe and was involved in the planning of the Great Brinks Robbery during the early 1950s. On the evening of May 1952, after returning from a local roadhouse, his body was found in the backyard of his Cranston home (although other accounts claim he was gunned down during the afternoon in a street in Pawtucket) after being shot and killed by an unidentified gunman. |
Edward "Spike" O'Donnell |
Life: 1889–1962 (aged 72) Years active: 1910's–1940's Chicago mobster and leader of the Southside O'Donnells during Prohibition. Edward J. "Spike" O'Donnell (b. Novemeber 29, 1889 – d. August 26, 1962) was the only gangster from the Capone era to retire from the rackets, make money as a coal/oil executive, pioneer the Chicago paving of streets, maintain his political clout and die of natural causes. Spike O'Donnell was an elder statesman of the sidewalks on 79th Street at Loomis, where he held court with White Sox great Buck Weaver and other worthies. |
James "Spike" O'Toole |
Life: 1929–1973 (aged 43) Years active: 1950's–1973 James "Spike" O'Toole (December 7, 1929 – December 1, 1973) was an Irish-American Charlestown Mob associate and criminal from Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was a close friend of the leader of the Winter Hill Gang of Somerville, Massachusetts, James "Buddy" McLean. In 1973, O'Toole was released from prison after serving a sentence for acting as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Dorchester bank clerk William Sheridan following an armed robbery. When O'Toole was leaving gangster's Edward Connors' saloon in South Boston, Martorano ran over O'Toole with his car. O'Toole later died from his injuries. Martorano testified that James "Whitey" Bulger ordered the hit on O'Toole. |
| Joseph Ryan | Life: 1884–1963 (aged 78–79) Years active: 1920's–1955 Joseph Ryan, "Boss Joe" - New York labor racketeer and organized crime figure. The ILA or International Longshoremen Association began as a labour union that was legitimate within the region of the Great Lakes. Its purpose was to assist dockworkers to get their fare share from their employers. It later expanded to east cost and a council was created by 1914 for New York District. Very soon, the ILA went o to become a mob stronghold, got manipulated by few of the most dangerous Irish mobsters of those days among whom Joseph Ryan was regarded to be the most prominent. In 1955, after being convicted and fined, he never was seen near the waterfronts. |
Michael "Mickey" Spillane |
Life: 1934–1977 (aged 42) Years active: 1959–1977 Michael J. Spillane, much better known as Mickey Spillane, (July 13, 1933 – May 13, 1977) was an Irish-American mobster from Hell's Kitchen, New York City. Spillane, who was called the "last of the gentleman gangsters," was a marked contrast to the violent Westies mob members who succeeded him in Hell's Kitchen. Spillane was no relation to the author Mickey Spillane, or to the wrestler Michael Spillane. On May 13, 1977, Spillane was killed outside his apartment in Queens. It has long been rumored that DeMeo murdered Spillane as a favor to Coonan, who subsequently took over as the boss of the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob. Spillane is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. The Spillane family owns a bar in Hell's Kitchen called "Mickey Spillane's Hells Kitchen" on 49th Street and 9th Avenue. |
Roger Touhy |
Life: 1898–1959 (aged 61) Years active: 1920–1933 Roger Touhy (September 18, 1898 – December 16, 1959) was an Irish-American mob boss and prohibition-era bootlegger from Chicago, Illinois. He is best remembered for having been framed for the 1933 faked kidnapping of gangster John "Jake the Barber" Factor, a brother of cosmetics manufacturer Max Factor, Sr. Despite numerous appeals and at least one court ruling freeing him, Touhy spent 26 years in prison. Touhy was released in November 1959. He was murdered by the Chicago Outfit less than a month later. Roger Touhy's killers were never identified. One historian has suggested that Murray "The Camel" Humphreys was behind the assassination, having never forgiven Touhy for humiliating him in 1931 or for comments made about him in Touhy's recently released autobiography. Others believe the killers to have been Sam "Momo" Giancana, Marshall Caifano or Samuel "Teets" Bataglia, all former members of the 42 Gang which had fought Touhy on the back roads of northwestern Cook County in 1931-1933. |
Died between 1980 and 2016
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James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke |
Life: 1931–1996 (aged 69) Years active: 1949–1982 James Burke (born James Conway), also known as Jimmy the Gent, and The Irishman (July 5, 1926 – April 13, 1996), was an American gangster and Lucchese crime family associate who is believed to have organized the 1978 Lufthansa heist, then the most lucrative cash theft in American history, and also believed to have either committed or orchestrated the murders of many of those involved in the months following. He is the father of small-time mobster and Lufthansa heist suspect, Frankie Burke, as well as of Jesse James Burke, Catherine Burke (who married Bonanno crime family member Anthony Indelicato in 1992), and another unidentified daughter. Burke inspired the character "Jimmy 'The Gent' Conway", one of the main antagonists in the 1990 movie Goodfellas, played by Robert de Niro. He died of lung cancer within Roswell Park Cancer Institute, located in Buffalo, NY; medically transferred from Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, NY in 1996 while serving 20 years to life for murder in a New York State prison. He would have been eligible for parole in 2004. |
Kevin Hanrahan |
Life: 1956–1992 (aged 39) Years active: 1970's–1980's Kevin T. Hanrahan (June 25, 1953-September 18, 1992) was a mobster in Providence, Rhode Island, and freelance enforcer for the Patriarca crime family. A longtime career criminal in southern New England's underworld, Hanrahan was often used by the Patriarcas for collections and assault in Federal Hill as well as being suspected by authorities to have been involved in numerous gangland slayings throughout the 1970s and 1980s (specifically the murder of Raymond "Slick" Vecchio). He would be in and out of prison during the 1980s on charges including jury tampering, intimidating witnesses, drug trafficking and counterfeiting. He was shot and killed by two gunmen on the corner of Atwells Avenue while walking to Federal Hill's The Arch in Providence on the night of September 18, 1992. Although he had told friends he was expecting a "big score", it is suspected Hanrahan may have been a victim of the war between the Providence and Boston factions of the Patriarca crime family. |
Henry Hill, Jr. |
Life: 1943–2012 (aged 69) Years active: 1955–1980 Henry Hill, Jr. (June 11, 1943, Brooklyn, New York, U.S. – June 12, 2012, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) was a New York City mobster. Between 1955 and 1980, Hill was associated with the Lucchese crime family. In 1980, Hill became an FBI informant and his testimony helped secure fifty convictions, including that of mob capo (captain) Paul Vario and James Burke on multiple charges. Hill's life story was documented in the true crime book Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi. Wiseguy was subsequently adapted by Martin Scorsese into the critically acclaimed film Goodfellas, in which Hill was portrayed by Ray Liotta. Hill died in a Los Angeles hospital on June 12, 2012, one day after his 69th birthday. Hill's girlfriend for the last 14 years of his life, Lisa Caserta, said: "He had been sick for a long time....his heart gave out." and CBS News reported Caserta saying: "he went out pretty peacefully, for a goodfella." She said Hill recently suffered a heart attack before his death and that Hill died of complications from longtime heart problems related to smoking. Hill's family was present when he died. |
Richard Kuklinski |
Life: 1935–2006 (aged 70) Years active: 1954–1986 Richard Leonard Kuklinski (half Irish) (April 11, 1935 – March 5, 2006) was an American contract killer who was convicted for five murders. Kuklinski was given the nickname "Iceman" for his method of freezing a victim to mask the time of death. The 6'5" (196 cm), 250 pounds (115 kg) Kuklinski lived with his wife and children in the suburb of Dumont, New Jersey. Prior to his arrest, his family was apparently unaware of Kuklinski's double life and crimes. A New Jersey Police task force was formed after Kuklinski was suspected of two murders. An eighteen month long undercover investigation led to his arrest. Kuklinski was a contract killer for Newark's DeCavalcante crime family and New York City's Five Families of the American Mafia. After his murder convictions, Kuklinski took part in a number of interviews during which he claimed to have murdered from over 100 to 250 men (his "recollections" varied) between 1948 and 1986. Three documentaries, two biographies and a feature film have been produced on Kuklinski based on his interviews and the results of the task force that brought Kuklinski to justice. Many claims were substantiated by author Phillip Carlo in over 240 hours of interviews and dozens of cases Kuklinski helped New Jersey police clear after his incarceration. In a 1991 interview, Kuklinski recalled one of the few murders he later regretted committing: It was a man and he was begging, and pleading, and praying, I guess. And he was 'Please, God'n all over the place. So I told him he could have a half an hour to pray to God and if God could come down and change the circumstances, he'd have that time. But God never showed up and he never changed the circumstances and that was that. It wasn't too nice. That's one thing, I shouldn't have done that one. I shouldn't have done it that way. Kuklinski died at age 70 on March 5, 2006, in a secure wing at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. Film Michael Shannon plays Kuklinski in the 2012 film The Iceman based on Anthony Bruno's book The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer.] The film also stars Winona Ryder as Kuklinski's wife (renamed Deborah), Ray Liotta as Roy DeMeo, Stephen Dorff as Richard's younger brother Joey, and Chris Evans as Robert "Mr. Softee" (renamed "Mr. Freezy") Pronge. |
Gordon O'Brien |
Life: 1947–2008 (aged 60–61) Years active: ???–2008 Gordon O'Brien (c. 1947–2008) was a Taunton mobster and associate for the Patriarca crime family. Long a presence in southern New England's underworld, O'Brien had extensive contacts with the Patriarcas in Federal Hill and, with Kevin Hanrahan, helped Fall River mobster Timothy J. Mello make connections with the Patriarcas. O'Brien was serving a state prison sentence for smuggling heroin to Martha's Vineyard until he was granted parole in 2008. He died several months after being released. |
Francis "The Irishman" Sheeran |
Life: 1920–2003 (aged 83) Years active: 1955–1982 Francis “Frank the Irishman” Sheeran (October 25, 1920 – December 14, 2003) was a labor union official who was accused of having links to the Bufalino crime family. In his capacity as a high official in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sheeran was a leading figure in the corruption of unions by organized crime. Shortly before his death, Sheeran also confessed to killing Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa. Author Charles Brandt would detail what Sheeran told him about his alleged murder of Hoffa in his 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses. Sheeran died on December 14, 2003, in a nursing home near Philadelphia. He also claimed to have been part of the provisioning of the anti-Fidel Castro forces involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion and had intimate knowledge about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. According to Sheeran, Jimmy Hoffa wanted Kennedy dead as his brother Bobby Kennedy, the Attorney General of the United States, was harassing him. The assassination of President Kennedy was a Mafia hit, according to Sheeran, who did not actively participate in the plot, but who transported three rifles to the alleged assassins via David Ferrie. Brandt describes in his book how the old and ill Sheeran told him that he was the man who shot Jimmy Hoffa upon Mafia orders. Sheeran would also confess to killing Hoffa to Fox News reporters. While investigators did find traces of blood in the Detroit house where Sheeran confessed he killed Hoffa, they also determined it may have been too old for conclusive testing. Additionally, Sheeran claimed to have been the triggerman behind another famous mob-related murder, that of Crazy Joe Gallo. An eyewitness to the Gallo hit was discovered by Charles Brandt and confirmed that Sheeran was the shooter at Umberto's Clam House. Martin Scorsese is set to direct a movie regarding Sheeran's life entitled The Irishman. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci are attached to the project. |
| Vincent "Vinny" Lynch | Life: 1940–1986 (aged 45–46) Years active: 1961–1986 AKA Hollywood, racketeering Columbo. |
Still alive (2016)
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Edmund "Eddie" Boyle |
Life: 1965– (aged 50–51) Years active: 1983–2003 Over the years, as they've prosecuted mob associate Edmund "Eddie" Boyle in federal courts on both sides of the East River, the feds have changed the name of the crew he ran with several times. His reputed associates haven't changed. Merely the name of the gang the feds say he's been part of as he's allegedly robbed and burglarized banks all around the town. Longtime Gambino family associate Edmund "Eddie" Boyle says he quit the mob a decade ago and shouldn't be behind bars today. To back up his claim, he's offering an unusual witness: the wife of his former mob supervisor. A prolific bank burglar, Boyle was acquitted of a murder rap in 2010, but was hit with a 20-year sentence for an unrelated racketeering conspiracy conviction, Boyle was found guilty of being part of a Gambino family racketeering enterprise. But he claims that mob wife Catherine Carbonaro backs up his assertion that he officially withdrew from that entity more than five years before his 2008 indictment. In court papers, he has asked Manhattan Federal Court Judge Colleen McMahon to dismiss the indictment, either before or after an evidentiary hearing, as a matter of law, and to free him from prison immediately. |
James J. "Whitey" Bulger |
Life: 1929– (aged 86) Years active: 1952–1995 James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr. (born September 3, 1929) is a former Irish mob boss from South Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Local folklore depicted Bulger as a Robin Hood-style social bandit dedicated to protecting the neighborhood and its residents. Based on grand jury testimony from Kevin Weeks' former associates, U.S. prosecutors indicted Bulger for 19 murders. Bulger is the brother of former President of the Massachusetts Senate Billy Bulger. Beginning in 1975, Bulger served as an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). On December 23, 1994, after being tipped off by his former FBI handler about a pending indictment under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Bulger fled Boston and went into hiding. For 16 years, he remained at large. For 12 of those years, Bulger was prominently listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. On June 22, 2011, Bulger was arrested outside an apartment in Santa Monica, California. On June 12, 2013, Bulger went on trial for 32 counts of racketeering, money laundering, extortion, and weapons charges; including his complicity in 19 murders. On August 12, 2013, he was found guilty on 31 counts, including both racketeering charges, and was found to have been involved in 11 murders. On November 14, 2013, Bulger was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus five years for his crimes by U.S. The character of Frank Costello (played by Jack Nicholson) in the 2006 Martin Scorsese film The Departed is loosely based on Bulger, though the plot of the movie is adapted from the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The song "Money Dance" written by Rick Ross has a reference to Whitey Bulger. "Hug my attorney and then we do the money dance/ Whitey Bulger or a soldier out in Vietnam." |
James Coonan |
Life: 1946– (aged 69) Years active: 1962–1988 James "Jimmy C" Coonan (born December 21, 1946) is an Irish-American mobster and racketeer from Manhattan, New York who began serving a 75-year prison term in 1988. In 1979, Coonan was tried and acquitted for the murder of Harold Whitehead, but convicted on weapons charges and sentenced to four years in federal prison. After his release he resumed power, but in 1988 was convicted of racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and sentenced to 75 years in prison without any possibility for parole. He lived with his wife, Edna, in Hazlet and Keansburg before his incarceration. |
Timothy Connolly |
Life: 1958– (aged 57) Years active: 1976–1995 Timothy A. Connolly 3rd (born May 27, 1958), aka "Timmy Connolly" and "TC", is a former South Boston bar owner and mortgage broker, who wore a wire inside the infamous Winter Hill Gang and helped the federal government indict their two leaders, James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen Flemmi ("The Rifleman"). The public was led to believe that Tim Connolly was merely a businessman and an innocent victim of one of Jim Bulger's many extortions. But in truth, Tim Connolly was secretly a "made member" of the Winter Hill gang and a high ranking lieutenant in this Bulger crime family. One ex-FBI agent who requested anonymity said this about Tim Connolly: "TC outfoxed the foxes. He got to them before they got to him. That takes balls and smarts." |
| Arthur "Butchy" Doe, Jr. | Life: 1960– (aged 55–56) Years active: –present Arthur "Butchy" Doe, Jr. (born 1960) is an Irish-American mobster from Charlestown, Massachusetts. His father was Arthur Doe, Sr. who was killed in the late 1960s in Boston. |
| George Donahue | Life: 1909– (aged 107 (?), date of death unknown (?)) Years active: ??? New York labor racketeer. |
Francis "Mickey" Featherstone |
Life: 1949– (aged 66) Years active: 1970's–1980's Francis T. "Mickey" Featherstone (born June 3, 1949) is a former Irish American mobster and member of the Westies, an organized crime syndicate from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan in New York City, led by James Coonan. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. Facing a quarter of a century in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang. He was freed in December 1988 and went into a witness protection program. |
James "Jimmy Pez" Flynn |
Life: 1934– (aged 82) Years active: 1978–present James P. "Jimmy" Flynn (born February 5, 1934) is an American teamster and film actor. He was a reputed member of the famous Winter Hill Gang. He has been in films including Good Will Hunting, The Cider House Rules and What's the Worst That Could Happen?. Flynn appeared in many films shot in the New England area. In show business he goes by the name 'James P. Flynn'. Flynn was cast as a judge in the Boston-based film Good Will Hunting in 1997. Later, he acted in the 1999 film The Cider House Rules and What's the Worst That Could Happen? in 2001. He was also a truck driver for movie production equipment during the filming of My Best Friend's Girl in 2008. Boston actor Tom Kemp remarked: "[The film The Departed] wouldn't be a Boston movie without me, a Wahlberg, and Jimmy Flynn from the teamsters." |
| George "Georgie Boy" Hogan | Life: 1952– (aged 63–64) Years active: 1980's–present 2000–2009: George "Georgie Boy" Hogan: Boss of the Winter Hill Mob, (Headquarters in South Boston) The fifth and currently final boss of the Winter Hill Gang is in his seventh year at the top his name is George "Georgie Boy" Hogan. He was a top member of John "Red" Shea's drug crew, and was indicted along with Shea, but, due to the fact that it was his first offense and he spent four months in federal lock up before he was given bail, Hogan copped a plea deal and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was given time served, six months in home confinement and five years probation. After this he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by Whitey Bulger and began to run Shea's drug crew. In early 2000, he became the Winter Hill Gang's new boss. |
Edward "Eddie Mac" MacKenzie, Jr. |
Life: 1958– (aged 57–58) Years active: 1983–1990 Drug dealer and enforcer for James "Whitey" Bulger and the Winter Hill Gang. In October 2014, MacKenzie pleaded guilty to 13 counts, including RICO conspiracy, racketeering, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Edward ”Eddie Mac” MacKenzie, Jr. will spend the next 12 years in jail. |
James "Jimmy" Martorano |
Life: 1941– (aged 74) Years active: 1960's–1995 James "Jimmy" Martorano (born December 10, 1941) is an Irish-Italian American organized crime figure with ties to the Winter Hill Gang of South Boston, Massachusetts and a member of the Patriarca crime family as of 1995. Martorano is the younger brother of notorious "hitman" and later government witness, John Martorano. In 1995, Martorano and six other men were indicted as active participants in activities of the Winter Hill Gang and Patriarca crime family. Charges against Martorano included racketeering, extortion and conspiracy. |
John Martorano |
Life: 1940– (aged 75) Years active: 1964–1995 John James Vincent Martorano (born December 13, 1940) also known as "Vincent Joseph Rancourt", "Richard Aucoin", "Nick", "The Cook", "The Executioner", "The Basin Street Butcher", is a former hitman for the Winter Hill Gang in Boston, Massachusetts who has admitted to 20 mob-related killings. Arrested in 1995, Martorano was charged along with Flemmi and two Boston mafiosi on a massive racketeering indictment. However, he abruptly agreed to a plea bargain deal in 1999. In return for confessing his murders, Martorano received a reduced prison sentence of 14 years. In 2007, he was released from prison and given $20,000 to start a new life. On January 15, 2008, Martorano was interviewed by Steve Kroft on the CBS News television program 60 Minutes. Initially Martorano had agreed to have his friend Ed Bradley interview him, but Bradley died before this could occur. During the interview, Martorano expressed remorse for killing Elizabeth Dickson, the girl in the car in Dorchester. Although his friends Whitey Bulger and Stephen Flemmi are considered by many criminologists and investigators to be serial killers, Martorano told Bradley, "I might be a vigilante, but not a serial killer. Serial killers, you have to stop them. They'll never stop, they enjoy it. I never enjoyed it. I don't enjoy risking my life but if the cause was right, I would." In June 2013, John Martorano testified as a prosecution witness in the Whitey Bulger trial in Boston, Massachusetts. Personal life Martorano was married to Carolyn Wood, an Irish-American, with whom he fathered a son, John Martorano, Jr., and a daughter, Jeannie. Carolyn divorced him in 1975. |
Edward McGrath |
Life: 1906– (aged 110 (?), date of death unknown (?)) Years active: 1936–1959 Edward J. "Eddie boy" McGrath (born January 31, 1906, date of death unknown (?)) was an Irish-American gangster from New York City, who controlled the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob and the lucrative waterfront throughout the 1940s. Originally from the notorious Gashouse District on the East Side, McGrath worked as a truck driver for Owney Madden and Bill Dwyer. He was arrested numerous times throughout the 1920s and 30s for offenses ranging from burglary to murder. Eddie McGrath was forced to abscond from New York after Dunn and Sheridan were executed for the murder of a hiring stevedore named Andy Hintz in 1949 and the investigation of waterfront criminal activity subsequently began to escalate. He was sent to Miami as an ILA organizer at the behest of Meyer Lansky, where he spent the remainder of his life. The character of Johnny Friendly in On the Waterfront is loosely based on a composite of McGrath, Albert Anastasia, and an ILA organizer named Mickey Bowers. |
George McLaughlin |
Life: 1927– (aged 88) Years active: 1950's–1960's George McLaughlin (July 9, 1927– ) is an Irish-American mobster and a member of the "The McLaughlin Brothers" gang of Charlestown, Massachusetts. Georgie and his brothers (Bernie and Punchy) often worked as hitmen for their then partner, Buddy McLean. According to local legend, Georgie was responsible for the start of the Boston Irish Mob Wars when he drunkenly tried to grope the girlfriend of a member of Somerville's Winter Hill Gang. Georgie was given a savage beating for this and his brother Bernie was intent on revenge. Bernie went to Buddy McLean and insisted he be given the two men, when Buddy McLean refused Bernie swore revenge. The next day, Buddy awoke to find a bomb planted under his family car. Later that week, Buddy shot Bernie dead in Charlestown's city square in broad daylight. After this, George and brother "Punchy" murdered Russell Nicholson who was rumored to be McLean's driver in the shooting. Georgie was later arrested for killing a bank clerk and is still in prison. |
Patrick Nee |
Life: 1943– (aged 69) Years active: 1966–1980's Patrick "Pat" Nee (born 1943) is an Irish-American mobster. A former member of the Mullen Gang, he is a Vietnam War veteran, and author of A Criminal and an Irishman; The Inside Story of the Boston Mob-IRA Connection. He put together a crew of his own and began planning Armored car robberies to raise money for the IRA. He was arrested by the FBI during an armored car robbery in Abington, Massachusetts on January 13, 1990. He was sentenced to 37 years in Federal prison, but was released after April 2000. Patrick Nee currently works as a union laborer in Boston and spends time with his two daughters and his grandchildren. He has done some work in the construction industry since his release. Contrary to many reports, he never worked on "The Big Dig" in Boston. |
Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme |
Life: 1933– (aged 82) Years active: 1957–1995 Francis P. Salemme [Salemmi], also known as "Cadillac Frank" and "Julian Daniel Selig" (born August 18, 1933), is a Boston, Massachusetts mobster who became a hitman and eventually the boss of the Patriarca crime family of New England before turning government witness. In November 2004, Salemme was arrested for perjury during a federal investigation of the 1993 murder of nightclub owner Steve DiSarro. Prosecutors alleged that Frank Salamme, Jr., had strangled DiSarro in a Sharon, Massachusetts home and Frank Salemme had helped dispose of the body. However, Frank, Jr. had died in 1995 and Frank, Sr. denied any involvement in the murder. On July 16, 2008, Salemme pleaded guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice and was sentenced to five years in prison. Since the plea deal gave Salemme credit for four years already served in prison, he was expected to be released in January 2009. As of February 2009, it is assumed that Salemme is out of prison and re-enrolled in the Witness Protection Program. |
John "Red" Shea |
Life: 1965– (aged 50) Years active: 1980–1997 John "Red" Shea (born August 12, 1965) is an Irish-American former mobster from Boston involved in narcotics and an associate of crime kingpin Whitey Bulger and the Winter Hill Gang during the 1980s and 1990s. He was indicted on cocaine trafficking charges in 1990 and served 12 years in prison. Before joining the Winter Hill Gang, he had to prove himself more than any other gang member, because he was a quarter English. Shea wrote a book called Rat Bastards; The Story of South Boston's Most Honorable Irish Mobster about his experience with the Winter Hill Gang. John Shea continued his writing career with the acclaimed young adult novel A Kid From Southie. The story was inspired by John's life, growing up with an alcoholic father, pursuing the dream of becoming a boxer, living a teenage romance as he navigates a world of organized crime in South Boston as by someone who experienced it. During a game of football with Wahlberg and actor Alec Baldwin on the set of The Departed, Baldwin accidentally fractured Shea's thumb. John continues to do national and local commentary for the news media, CNN, FOX and others on Whitey Bulger and additional stories about organized crime. |
Joseph "Mad Dog" Sullivan |
Life: 1939– (aged 76–77) Years active: 1950's–1983 Joseph "Mad Dog" Sullivan (born 1939) is an Irish-American gangster and notorious mob hitman. He started committing robberies at age 12, eventually graduating to murder. In and out of jail, including an escape from Attica, he continued to carry out hit orders from the mob, and was eventually given three life sentences, a veritable life sentence for a convicted killer in his seventies. It is believed that Sullivan killed between 20 to 30 people. A consummate professional, he trained before completing an assignment. "Two or three days before I would go to this park near my house and run, not fast, just jogging. I wanted to be by myself, prepare myself mentally, sort of go through a dry run," he later explained to the Centre Daily Times. Sullivan handled his final hit in 1981. He was hired to kill John Fiorino, a Teamsters Union official and reported mafia member. Waiting outside a restaurant near Rochester, New York, Sullivan shot Fiorino with a shotgun. Trying to flee the scene, his car got stuck in a snowbank. His associate, who was driving the car, was soon caught, but Sullivan escaped by hiding in the snow for roughly eight hours. After his eventual arrest, the police then linked him to two other murders that took place on Long Island. Sullivan was convicted of the Fiorino murder and two other killings in 1982. He was given three life sentences. Today, Sullivan is an inmate at Sullivan Correctional Facility located in Fallsburg, New York. He will be eligible for parole in 2069, a veritable life sentence for a convicted killer in his seventies. |
Kevin Weeks |
Life: 1956– (aged 59) Years active: 1978–1999 Kevin Weeks (born March 21, 1956) is an American former mobster and a longtime friend and confidant to Whitey Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based out of the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts. After his arrest and imprisonment in 1999, he became a cooperating witness. His testimony is viewed as responsible for the convictions of FBI agent John Connolly, as well as for forcing Bulger's right-hand man, Stephen Flemmi, to plead guilty as well. Since his release from prison, he has written the bestselling true crime memoir, Brutal: My Life in Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob. This was followed by Where's Whitey?, which was also written with Phyllis Karas, a fictional novel using Bulger as a character. Promotion for the book started on the day the FBI stepped up its efforts to catch Bulger with an advertisement; Bulger was caught two days later. Weeks was released from Federal prison in early 2005. After a major bidding war over his memoirs, he chose to collaborate with journalist Phyllis Karas (of People magazine). Weeks' account of his life with Bulger and Flemmi was published in March 2006. Actor Jesse Plemons portrayed Weeks in the 2015 film Black Mass. |
Howard T. "Howie" Winter |
Life: 1929– (aged 86) Years active: 1959–2012 Howard Thomas "Howie" Winter (born March 17, 1929) is an American mobster. He was the second boss of the infamous Winter Hill Gang. In 1975, James "Whitey" Bulger, a Winter Hill Gang Soldier, who had missed out on all the murders of the Irish Gang War through serving a sentence in prison for bank robbery, was released. Bulger soon served as one of Winter's Lieutenants handling South Boston for Winter because Winter "trusted" him. Within months Bulger would begin co-operating with FBI Agent and Southie native John "Zip" Connolly. Bulger fed Connolly information which helped put his rivals away and kept him on the streets and in most cases ahead of the game in Boston's underworld activities. In 1979 Winter's reign as Boss would end when information gathered by Bulger and Stephen Flemmi and forwarded on to agent Connolly placed many members and associates of the Winter Hill Gang under indictment on charges of money laundering, income tax evasion and horse race fixing. As a result Winter was sent to federal prison. He was released from prison in 1987. In 1993, he was caught dealing cocaine. When the FBI informed him that Whitey had been a snitch all those years and offered Winter a deal if he would inform on Bulger, Winter refused the deal telling the FBI he was no "rat", despite facing another decade behind bars, which he would serve, being released from prison in July 2002. 2012 Arrest Edit In 2012, Winter was arrested on charges of extorting money from two people. Winter and an accomplice repeatedly met with the victims at the Sons of Italy club in Medford and allegedly demanded that they each pay Winter $35,000. He was released on bail and the trial is still pending. |