Hells Kitchens Irish Mob
Hell's Kitchen is a working class neighborhood on the west side of Midtown, Manhattan. At the turn of the century the area was largely an Irish and Germen enclave. Throughout the early years of the twentieth century, the most common activity for a young male was to be in some sort of gang. The most powerful of the early Hell's Kitchen gangs was the Gophers, named so because they usually met in tenement basements. It was mostly made up of Irish toughs from the West Side. At their peak in 1907, there was believed to be around some 500 members. Their main specialties were burglarizing shops and pool halls, and raiding the docks and the Hudson River Rail Road. Occasionally they would rent themselves out as enforcers for various political candidates, but most of their time was spent fighting among themselves and other gangs in the area. There was no real boss of the Gophers, because they were so turbulent very few of their leaders held the distinction for more then a few months. By prohibition the Gophers gang was depleted, and what was left of the Gophers was resurrected by the infamous Owney "the killer" Madden. Owney "the killer" Madden was born in Liverpool, England, of Irish Parentage, and moved to Hell's Kitchen at a young a
Jimmy Coonan led the most violent Irish gang Hell's Kitchen and New York has ever seen. After being released from jail in 1970 he started building up his own Irish gang so he could take over the rackets from Spillane. His gang soon outgrew the old Irish mob led by Spillane. Coonan's gang consisted of such crazy killers like Mickey Featherstone, who was Coonan's right hand man, Richie Ryan, Jimmy McElroy, Billy Beattie, Jackie Coonan, Kevin Kelly, Kenny Shannon, Paddy Dugan, Billy Bokun, Tommy Hess, and Denis Curley. Unlike the Spillane gang, which had a no drug law, the Westies (what they were know as in the media) under Coonan were mostly cocaine addicts and alcoholics. Jimmy may have sold drugs, but he never used them. Mickey Featherstone, Coonan's right hand man was born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, when he was 17 he joined the army and was sent off to Vietnam. When he got of the army during the 1970's he was involved in a few murders, but out because he was found insane and not fit for trail. He was only 5'8 and 160 lbs but he was fearless, and never backing down from a fight. In 1977 Coonan ordered the killing of mob associate and one of the most successful loansharkers in New York, Ruby Stein. The reason Coonan wanted him dead was because was in debt to Stein to the tune of $70,000, and supposedly a few other West Siders owed similar amounts. It was this murder were Coonan used the method of chopping up his victims body and keeping the hands for fingerprints. In1978, Paul Castellano, boss of the Gambino Crime family, wanted a sit down with Coonan. They made an alliance with each other; Coonan was allowed to use the Gambino name in his business dealings in exchange for 10 percent of every thing. Coonan also tried many unsuccessful times to kill Fat Tony Salerno. The reason was because, he heard that Salerno was going to try and take over the Convention Center. Several times Coonan, Featherstone, Ryan, and McElroy went out trying to find Salerno, but never spotted him. Coonan also tried to link up with an Irish gang up in Boston, led by his friend from Sing Sing, Pete Wilson. They met numerous times in New York and then flew to Boston to carry out a heist with Wilson and his boys. But after that they never got back together, because of all the events going on in Hell's Kitchen. From 1970- 1986 there was some 30 unsolved homicides. In 1979 Featherstone and Coonan were indicted for the murder of Whitey Whitehead, but were found not guilty, but Coonan got four years for gun possession, and Featherstone got six years for gun possession. During the 1980's the Westies fortune grew, narcotics and sports betting became the most profitable rackets while Coonan and Featherstone were away. When Featherstone got out of prison, he was angered at Coonan, because he had not t
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1878
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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