The End of a Violent Era: The Westies

The West Side of Manhattan, in New York City, had been associated with Irish gangsters long before Mickey Spillane, Jimmy Coonan, and Mickey Featherstone came along.  Hell's Kitchen, an apt nickname for the Irish neighborhood during the 19th and 20th Centuries, was known to be a typical immigrant haven, that's residents were fiercely loyal to one another.

Hell's Kitchen photo above from WikiMedia Commons, courtesy of Jim Henderson.  In the 1960s, the West Side of Manhattan was dying, and many believe the Westies gang, and other criminals, suffered the end of their enterprising when Hell's Kitchen was modernized.

For years, criminals used intimidation to extract money from the working people of the neighborhood.  Their shakedowns expanded to the docks along the Hudson river, and they pressured labor unions to give them a fair share of dues - all for "protection".  What was never said aloud was the Irish gangs offered protection from themselves, as well as the small-timers that might try shake downs of their own.

Mickey Spillane was the last big-shot gangster in Hell's Kitchen.  He was running numbers rackets, loan sharking, and financing other criminals, but he walked around the neighborhood like a popular politician.  Most of his time spent as boss of the Westies was lucrative and quiet.  That's probably why his gang didn't draw the attention of law enforcement the way the gang that came after did.

The new guys, particularly Jimmy Coonan, were throwbacks, too.  Unfortunately for their victims, they emulated the Irish gangs of yore that used violence to get what they wanted out of Hell's Kitchen, and they used it often and loudly.  Guys from Coonan's Westies were bold, reckless, and merciless.  They were just as likely to kill one of their own on the street as they were an outsider.  Much blood was spilled during Coonan's reign, and his enforcer, Mickey Featherstone, was perhaps the coldest of them all.

Source:  Public Domain

Jimmy Coonan, left, is incarcerated on RICO charges, and Mickey Featherstone, right, is in the US Government's Witness Protection Program.

Mickey Spillane's star in Manhattan began to fade as Coonan's group started to move in on his rackets. Spillane probably would have taken a peaceful road to retirement, if he hadn't been murdered on May 13, 1977.  No one was convicted of Spillane's murder, but most believe it wasn't Coonan himself that did it.

What Coonan had that Spillane did not was an Italian connection.  The Italian mobsters that operated in New York allowed the Irish Hell's Kitchen during Spillane's time.  When Coonan started to woo over some of Spillane's gang to his own, the Italians reached out to him.  In exchange for Gambino family sanction, Coonan would cut the Italians in on some of the Hell's Kitchen's extortion and other criminal rackets.  The resulting alliance between Coonan and Gambino leader Big Paul Castellano is probably the biggest reason Spillane was murdered.  He was the odd man out, and the only person standing in Jimmy Coonan's path to total criminal domination of Hell's Kitchen.

Prologue

The most important issue I faced when deciding to start this blog was glorification.  I want, and will make every effort, to convey that I'm not naive enough to think that real life organized crime is anything like what's glorified as entertainment.

Mobsters and gangsters are interesting to learn about.  Books and movies about them many times depict them in a fictional light, showcasing their criminal activity as exciting and rewarding.  The reality of the criminal underworld is very different.  For every big score, there are a hundred bad deals and problems with law enforcement.  When a person decides they want to be a part of organized crime, they are likely going to end up dead or incarcerated.

Gangsters and mobsters aren’t persons to be envied.  Many of them develop ulcers, high blood pressure, and other ailments from the stresses they incur every time they go out on the street.  Most of them make paltry earnings, having to kick up most of the money they ever see to those bosses above them.  To advance in one of these gangs or mobs, the person has to indenture themselves permanently to the organization.  They become slaves to crime, and many turn to law enforcement agencies as the only means to extract themselves.

The few that sell their souls and commit any act to get to the top are interesting figures.  They are not to be admired in any way.  Yet, their stories and character are worth taking a look at.  Some of them would have done well in a legitimate business environment.  Most of them grew up in the neighborhoods they become the scourge of.  They prey on their own, taking by force, and the citizens of the neighborhood put on their fake smiles and gushing praise, but live in anger and shame for what mobs and gangs take from them.

American racketeering has a long history.

The purpose of this blog is provide the reader with entertaining information and stories about gangsters and mobsters.  The author isn’t invested in the subject matter, having to glean information from written works, police and news releases, and, without question the best source, government agencies that followed these kingpins around for years, observing their movement, and ultimately for many, sitting them down for a debriefing when they finally tire of the dangerous games they play.

Another of my goals for this blog is to build it into something that isn’t just informative, but explorative, too.  So, though many gangsters and mobsters will be profiled here, there will be other material related to organized crime.  I view it as a learning process for me, as well as the reader.  The organizations, cities and neighborhoods where they operate, and the law enforcement agencies that chase them down will all be examined here.

This is indeed a blog, not a wiki.  If you’re looking to track down some general information on a gangster, I recommend http://organizedcrimeencyclopedia.wikia.com.  If you’re interested in exploring different aspects and persons of the criminal underworld in a casual format, then you’re in the right place.

The author of this blog isn’t an expert, record keeper, or chronicler.  The author is a blogger.  I will do my best to keep the facts straight, and to use care when giving opinions and insight.  I will rely heavily on the various authorities who prosecuted the many who were sent to prison.  Even gangsters and mobsters have rights as human beings to have their stories rooted in the truth.

Even though it’s more exciting to see them as Goodfellas and Godfathers, the truth is they are people, many of them bad people, who let themselves get wrapped up in a life of crime and violence.