Irish Mob Wars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Irish Mob Wars refers to incidents of internal warfare that occurred within the Irish Mob. These are normally either fought between gangs, for control of a particular territory, or within gangs, for leadership of the gang.
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[edit] Boston
[edit] Charlestown Mob vs. The Winter Hill Gang
The Boston Irish mob wars was a conflict in the 1960s between the two dominant New England Irish-American organized crime gangs in Massachusetts: the Charlestown Mob in Boston, led by brothers Bernard, George and Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin, and the Winter Hill Gang of Somerville (just north of Boston) headed by James "Buddy" McLean. It was widely believed to be started when Charlestown's George McLaughlin tried to pick up the girlfriend of Winter Hill associate Alex "Bobo" Petricone, also known as actor Alex Rocco. McLaughlin was then beaten and hospitalized by two other Winter Hill members. After this Bernie McLaughlin went to Buddy McLean for an explanation. When McLean refused to give up his associates Bernie swore revenge but was soon killed by McLean in Charlestown City Square. The war resulted in the eradication of the Charlestown Mob with its leaders, Bernie McLaughlin, Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin, Stevie Hughes, and Cornelius Hughes all having been killed. George McLaughlin, the one who started the war, was the only one who survived by being sent to prison. McLean was also killed, by Charlestown's Hughes brothers, and leadership of The Winter Hill Gang was taken by his right hand man, Howie Winter. The remnants of the Charlestown Mob were then absorbed into the Winter Hill Gang, who were then able to become the dominant non-mafia gang in the New England area.
[edit] New York
[edit] Michael Spillane vs. James Coonan
This was a power struggle for control of the Westies gang of New York that lasted from 1966 until 1977. The war was between two factions. Michael Spillane was the boss of the Hells Kitchen area of New York whose position was challenged by James Coonan, an up and coming gangster in the Irish mob. There was a long history between Spillane and Coonan involving an affair between Spillane and Coonan's mother. The Westies were split with some loyal to Spillane and others loyal to Coonan. It is said that Coonan started the war by shooting up an apartment with Spillane in it. Coonan then started kidnapping associates of Spillane, these associates were either held for ransom or executed.
In the 1970's, with the Westies already weakened by years of internal warfare, a war started to brew between the Westies and the Genovese crime family over control of a construction site in Hells Kitchen. The Genovese family moved quickly, murdering Spillane's top three lieutenants in 1976. This prompted Coonan to form an alliance with the Gambino family over fears that he too would be executed. The Gambino family then murdered Spillane in 1977, allowing Coonan to take over the Irish mob in New York. Afterwards, the Westies were left in control of Hells Kitchen (paying 10% of their profits to the Gambino family), and the Genovese family were left to control the construction site they had wanted control over, paying part of their profits from the racket to the Westies.
[edit] In Pop Culture
In T.J. English's book title Paddy Whacked A chapter titled "Irish Vs. Irish" is follows the Irish Mob Wars in Boston and Hells Kitchen New York.
[edit] References
- Teresa, Vincent with Thomas C. Renner. My Life in the Mafia. Doubleday and Company Inc., 1973. ISBN 1-56849-377-0
