Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story Of The Irish American Gangster

By T.J English




The American mob has long been seen as run by Italians and their henchmen. Edgar-nominee English (Born to Kill) sets the record straight, emphasizing that Irish ingenuity first established the mob in the U.S. Close to two million Irish inundated the American Northeast in the aftermath of the Irish famine of the 1840s. "[T]he formation of a gang," writes English, "carried with it the whiff of a noble gesture," and the Irish personality--full of resentment, rebellion, suspicion and clannishness--mixed with poverty proved to be perfect for this new way of life. Prohibition--the high point for the Irish mob in America--first was viewed by the Irish as a WASP attack on their way of life, and eventually as a way to get rich. But Prohibition was also the beginning of the end of super-Irish gangsters. English covers the bootlegging escapades of Joseph P. Kennedy and--number one on the FBI Most Wanted List--Boston's Whitey Bulger. But there are also colorful details about the likes of "Mad Dog" Coll, "Two Gun" Crowley and mayors Walker of New York and Curley of Boston. This is an intense, erudite yet sometimes horrifying account of violent Celtic criminals who make the Dead End Kids look like choirboys.

Here is the shocking true saga of the Irish American mob, from the mid-nineteenth century all the way to the present day. History shows that the heritage of the Irish American gangster was established in America long before that of the more widely portrayed Italian American mafioso, and has held strong through the modern age. In fact, the highest-ranking organized crime figure on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List -- alongside Osama bin Laden -- is not a wiseguy, a Latin King, or a gangbanging Blood or Crip, but an old-style Irish American mob boss from South Boston.

In PADDY WHACKED, bestselling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader from Hell's Kitchen; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and untouchable Southie legend. This is an epic story of corrupt politics, wanton murders, gambling empires, notorious brothels, tough women, and hard-drinking pugilists from the underbelly of America's most dangerous cities -- including New York, Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and Cleveland.

Combining storytelling verve with thorough research and a slew of never-before-published material -- including new interviews with former gang members -- English presents a riveting, seamless cultural history of the Irish American underworld. He offers a brilliant portrait of a people who fought tooth and nail for a better life from the moment they arrived in America, whether it meant taking charge within the realms of law enforcement and politics -- from Tammany Hall to the White House -- or capitalizing on what opportunities they could in the darker world beyond the law. PADDY WHACKED is an irresistible tour of the undercarriage of our history -- a ride that stretches from the earliest New York and New Orleans street wars through decades of bootlegging scams, union strikes, gang wars, and FBI investigations ... and along the way deepens our understanding of the American experience.

Rick Porrello is author of To Kill The Irishman, the story of Danny Greene and the fall of the Cleveland mob and The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia the story of Angelo “Big Ange” Lonardo and the Cleveland Mafia.

Chapter 29

The mob's war with Danny Greene hits its peak in 1976. In August, only weeks after Eugene Ciasullo was bombed, feared underboss Leo Moceri received a threatening phone call.

"Leo you're dead," the unidentified caller said.

His girlfriend expressed concern over the call, but Leo laughed.

"If anyone wanted to kill me I wouldn't get a call about it," he told her. "They would just do it."

Two weeks after the phone call, Moceri disappeared. Several days later his Mercedes was found abandoned. In the trunk were a set of golf clubs that Leo had won. They were laying in a pool of blood infested with maggot larvae.

Other violence followed as Danny Greene sent out members of the Celtic Club to eliminate potential competition in the rackets, and settle old scores. On one evening, police arrested Keith Ritson and Kevin McTaggart. The men were cruising around the west side in a vehicle that was camouflaged to look like an unmarked detective's car. Ritson and McTaggart had a pistol, shotgun and several maps in their possession. Circled on the maps were locations of the homes of several of Greene's targets, including that of Eugene Ciasullo, Allie Calabrese, and Joseph B. Kovach Jr., former Teamster and employee of a prominent firechasing company. Kovach was shot to death six days later. Nobody was ever charged in that murder or the attempted murder of Ciasullo.

In the meantime, news of Leo Moceri's murder buzzed through the twenty-four La Cosa Nostra families in the United States. That a family underboss could be killed by outsiders was an major embarrassment to the Cleveland mob.

"Nardi's the brains behind it," Tony Delsanter suggested to Jimmy Fratianno. "This guy's gone fucking crazy since Johnny Scalish died. You know, he was never made and it really pissed him off. They hit Eugene and Leo first because they're the ones they feared the most. Now we've got a war on our hands."

"You guys need some soldiers," Jimmy said. "How long since you've made anybody?"

"Oh, shit, Scalish never made nobody for years and years. We need some young guys, new blood, some good workers."

"How about Ray Ferritto? Jimmy suggested. "He's a good man. Want me to give him a call?

"You know Jimmy, he's a good friend of Ronnie the Crab - Ronnie Carabbia. In fact, we had Ray at Mosquito Lake for one of our Fourth of July bashes. Yeah, give him a call. I'd like to talk to him."

Tall and thin, with salt-and-pepper hair, Raymond Ferritto was a bookie and professional burglar from Erie, Pennsylvania. Raymond entered the world of crime quite early. At age thirteen, he was convicted of burglarizing two gas stations and was sentenced to two years of probation. At age fourteen, Raymond was working at a bronzing factory when an accident caused the amputation of two of his toes. At age seventeen he left high school and joined the Marine Corps, but was discharged honorably a month later because of the injuries to his foot.

During his twenties, Ferritto was a bookmaker and vending machine route man in Erie. He was married in 1948, and fathered three children before he divorced in 1956. He remarried in 1957 and had one child. By that time Ferritto had moved to Warren, Ohio where he met Ronald Carabbia and Tony Delsanter. Carabbia was one of three brothers, all known as "the Crab" - a play on their last name - who had become prominent in Youngstown-area organized crime. Delsanter was a made Mafia member and associate of the Licavoli family. He managed the Cleveland mob's gambling interests in the Mahoning Valley.

In 1958, at age twenty-nine, Ferritto was arrested for burglary. He plead guilty and served three years of a three-to-five year sentence. Once out, Ferritto spent some time in the Cleveland area where he committed several burglaries with Allie Calabrese and Pasquale Butchie Cisternino.

By the late sixties, Ferritto had moved to Los Angeles where he was associated with a group of Cleveland hoods which included Julius Petro. In the forties, Petro wriggled free from a death sentence on a retrial in a murder case. Ferritto and Petro were associates of Jimmy Fratianno, who by that time was on his way up the ranks of the Southern California Mafia. Likewise, Ray Ferritto was trying to make a name for himself.

In 1969, Ferritto booked a flight from Los Angeles to Erie. He was driven to the airport by another burglar, originally from Cleveland. Accompanying the two, just for the ride, was Julius Petro. The accomplice wheeled the car into an airport parking garage spot. Ferritto waited for a plane to take off, thrust a gun to the back of Julius Petro's head and pulled the trigger. The single fatal report was muffled by the roar of the jet. The murder resulted from a conflict with a well-known and successful bookmaker in Los Angeles who used Petro as a muscler. Ferritto and his accomplice were likely candidates for the contract, since they both disliked Petro.

Prior to the hit at the airport, Ferritto tried to plant a bomb on Petro's car. While assembling the explosive, Ferritto accidentally detonated the blasting cap causing a minor injury to his leg. He opted for the "one-way ride" method of execution next. Petro's killing went unsolved for years, until a dramatic turn of events began to unfold.

In 1971, Ferritto was convicted of burglary, this time with explosives. He was sentenced to fifteen years and incarcerated at Chino Penal Institution for Men in Chino, California. Jimmy Fratianno also happened to be doing time at Chino and the two became friends.

In 1974, Ferritto was released from Chino and returned to Erie. He started booking again and also worked for a vending company which was owned by a cousin. By that time, Ray developed an ulcer serious enough to require partial removal of his stomach. To calm his nerves, he took handfuls of antacid tablets and even smoked marijuana.

In May of 1976, Ferritto received a call from Jimmy Fratianno who was visiting in Warren, Ohio.

"I'm in Warren Ray. I'd like to talk to you. It's important."

The next day Ferritto drove to Warren and met with Fratianno in the cocktail lounge of a motel. Fratianno was with a west coast insurance agent paying $5,000 to meet with Jackie Presser. The three exchanged greetings and the insurance agent left.

"They're having some problems in Cleveland," Fratianno explained. "Somebody's trying to muscle in. I think you should talk to Tony [Delsanter]. You might be able to make some money with him."

"Yeah but what's in it for me?" Ferritto asked.

"Well if you're interested, I can set up a meeting with Tony and you can talk about it then."

Two weeks later Fratianno telephoned Ferritto in Erie and arranged a meeting. The next evening Fratianno, Ferritto and Delsanter met at Cherry's Top of the Mall Restaurant in Warren.

"You guys have something to discuss," Fratianno said. "I'll leave you alone."

Jimmy walked over and sat at the bar. Ferritto and Delsanter sat down at a table, exchanged amenities then lowered their voices to just above a whisper.

"Has Jimmy told you about the problems we're having Ray?" Delsanter asked.

"Just that somebody's trying to muscle in on the gambling."

"There's two," Delsanter explained. "John Nardi and Danny Greene and they've gotta be taken care of."

"I'm interested Tony but what's in it for me?"

"I'll have to ask Jack because he's the boss."

Greene was too big a prize for an exclusive contract. In the beginning, Ferritto was unaware that other attempts were being made to kill Greene and Nardi. But they had become such a persistent threat to Licavoli and his mob family that several characters were interested in killing him. It was assumed that the successful assassin would be greatly rewarded and gain instant respect in the underworld. Ferritto didn't hear from Carabbia or Delsanter for several months. In the meantime, the situation in the Cleveland underworld approached near chaos.

Before Ferritto could accept the contract to kill Greene and Nardi, Butchie Cisternino and convicted bank robber Allie Calabrese went after him. They tried to kill Nardi in Little Italy with a high-powered rifle. Another attempt was made a few days later when a shotgun blast was fired at Nardi from a moving car.

Nardi granted an interview to a reporter inquiring about a rumor that Licavoli and he were feuding.

"I'm not feuding with anybody," Nardi laughed. "That's ridiculous. Why would I feud with Jack White? The man is a friend of mine. I've known him all my life. Besides, what would we feud about? I could see if there was a million dollars in this town, but there isn't. What are you going to take over? Headaches?"

Nardi denied that Danny Greene worked for him. "We're just friends. I'm friends with everybody." Nardi was asked about friends and associates reputed to be in the Mafia. "The newspapers say they're in the Mafia. I don't know that. I never ask anybody their business."

Nardi knew there was indeed something to feud about. Whoever succeeded in taking over the Cleveland La Cosa Nostra throne, would inherit control of the billion dollar Teamster pension fund, and thousands monthly from the Las Vegas skim and gambling operations in Youngstown and Cleveland.

In the meantime, Nardi's word out on the street was quite different than the story he gave the reporter.

"Everyone who took shots at me is gonna go," he threatened.

After learning of the murder attempts on Nardi, Ray Ferritto phoned Ronnie Carabbia to find out what was happening with the plans they had made. Another meeting was set up and again Ferritto drove to Warren. Tony Delsanter, Ronnie "the Crab" Carabbia and Butchie Cisternino were there. Also present was John Calandra.

Other than having a one-entry police record, John Calandra was an unlikely figure to be involved in the mob's war with Greene and Nardi. Sixty years old and still working at his Collinwood tool and die shop, he was in poor health as was the small white poodle that he would often be seen toting around affectionately. Apparently, Calandra's close friendship with Licavoli was the basis for his involvement.

The men shook hands and sat down for a short meeting and then dinner.

"I've read there have been attempts on John Nardi. Is the deal still good?" Ferritto asked.

"It's still good," Calandra answered.

"Ray we've had problems getting a schedule on Greene and Nardi," Delsanter added. "Their moves are erratic and we can't pin them down."

"There's been a lot of people calling about Leo," Calandra said. "They want to know what's happening and if anything is being done."

The meeting ended with an agreement that Ferritto would assist in trying to get a schedule on Greene.

Two weeks after Nardi was shot at, Greene's men wired a bomb to the ignition of Allie Calabrese's Lincoln Continental. Calabrese lived on a quiet street in Collinwood and made a habit of parking his car at a neighbor's house since he didn't have a driveway. He left his key in the car in case it had to be moved. Up until this time, the mob's war with Danny Greene had been without innocent casualties. That ended when Calabrese's 50-year-old neighbor Frank Pircio got up to leave for work. Calabrese's car was blocking Pircio's so he hopped in the Lincoln to move it, and was killed in a horrific explosion.

Not only were bombs being used in the Mafia war with Nardi and Greene, they had become a favorite weapon in Northeast Ohio gangland. It was about this time that Cleveland was dubbed "bombing capital of the United States" by a newspaper. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was so inundated with blast investigations that they tripled their manpower in northeast Ohio.

A month after Frank Pircio was killed, Ronnie Carabbia telephoned Ray Ferritto and arranged another meeting at Cherry's Restaurant. The next evening, Ferritto drove to Warren where he met with Tony Delsanter, Jack Licavoli, Butchie Cisternino and Carabbia.

The men exchanged greetings, took a table in the bar area and spoke softly.

"Jack, Ray is interested but he wants to know what's in it for him," Delsanter explained.

"Don't worry Ray, we'll take care of you," Licavoli promised. "We can pay you one lump sum or we could make you. If you'll go to Detroit we'll make you and give you 25% of the Warren and Youngstown gambling profits. You won't have to worry about money for the rest of your life."

"Okay, when you're ready, call me," Ferritto said.

"In the meantime, Butchie will do the legwork," Licavoli added. And if a chance comes up to get Ritson and McTaggart, hit them too.

Just as casually as that, the decision was made. Licavoli now had a proven killer to take care of John Nardi, the Irishman and his Celtic Club lieutenants. The four got up, took a table in the dining room and ordered dinner.

Copyright ©2002 Rick Porrello

Irish charm and gangland violence come together in this engrossing biography of Dublin godfather Martin Cahill. Irish journalist Williams recounts Cahill's rise from poverty to infamy as Ireland's most notorious crime boss, dubbed "the General" for his audacious and meticulously planned robberies. Cahill was a brutal thug (he literally crucified one underling he suspected of having crossed him) but also devoted lover (to his wife and her sister), a pillar of the slum communities where he grew up, and, as his fame for his spectacular jewelry and art heists grew, something of a folk hero. Combining thorough research and well-paced storytelling, Williams brings to life Cahill's exploits, his long war of wits with the often inept Irish police, and the clannish underworld where criminal gangs, IRA commandos, Protestant paramilitaries and police officials conducted their battles on weirdly intimate terms. Along the way he paints a picture of Dublin's social transformation in the 1970s and 80s, as an epidemic of heroin and guns, fueled by the conflict in Northern Ireland, brought big-city crime to its formerly safe and sleepy streets. Blending lurid picaresque and off-hand sociological insights, this is a stylish and thoughtful addition to the true-crime canon.

From Booklist

Williams takes readers along on an incredible ride as he traces the rise and fall of underworld Mob boss and working-class hero Martin Cahill. Rising through the ranks in Ireland, Cahill eventually reaches beyond his native Dublin to include an international network of fences and a lucrative money-laundering scheme based in London and Manchester. Constantly outwitting and humiliating the authorities, Cahill became a legend in the 1980s, his brutality seemingly mitigated by his success and bravado. Acclaimed by the public and reviled by the police, he enjoyed a reputation and a career that could only be curtailed by the IRA. Eventually stepping on the wrong toes, Cahill became a marked man who had finally met his match. Sharing its subject with two Hollywood movies, this riveting true-crime biography truly reads like a piece of fiction. Margaret Flanagan

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

In the spring of 1988, Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill set out to write the story of two infamous brothers from the insular Irish enclave of South Boston: Jim "Whitey" Bulger and his younger brother Billy. Whitey was the city's most powerful gangster and a living legend--tough, cunning, without conscience, and above all, smart. Billy, president of the state Senate, was a political heavyweight in Massachusetts. These facts alone make for an intriguing story, but as Lehr and O'Neill found out, this was only the beginning.

John Connolly, a rising FBI agent and fellow "Southie," had known the Bulgers since boyhood when Whitey rescued him from a playground fight. After investigating organized crime in New York, Connolly was reassigned to the bureau's Boston office in 1975, and was determined to make a name for himself by relying on his old connections. He succeeded in a big way by lining up Whitey as an FBI informant in an effort to bring down the Italian Mafia--a major coup for both the FBI and Connolly. In exchange, Bulger received protection. Though heavily involved in extortion, intimidation, assassination, and drug trafficking, Connolly's "good bad guy" did not receive so much as a traffic infraction for over 20 years. In time, however, the deal changed, and information began flowing the other direction, with Bulger manipulating Connolly and a small group of corrupt FBI agents to further his nefarious network. The criminals and the lawmen eventually became virtually indistinguishable.

Black Mass expertly details the twists and turns of this complex story, painting a vivid portrait of Boston's underbelly and its inclusive political machine, as well as exposing one of the worst scandals in FBI history. It's also an examination of loyalty--to family, home, and heritage--and "a cautionary tale about the abuse of power that goes unchecked." As a final favor, Connolly tipped off Bulger that he was to be indicted on racketeering charges in 1995, allowing him time to go on the lam (he's reported to have access to secret bank accounts across the country). He was added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted List" in 1999. --Sharon M. Brown

From Publishers Weekly

A triumph of investigative reporting, this full-bodied true-crime saga by two Boston Globe reporters is a cautionary tale about FBI corruption and the abuse of power. Gangster James "Whitey" Bulger ruled Boston's Irish mob, and his wary collaboration with the Italian Mafia, which he detested, was the cornerstone of the city's balkanized criminal underworld. (His younger brother, Billy Bulger, was the iron-fisted president of the state senate and later president of the University of Massachusetts.) Few suspected that Whitey Bulger and his partner, crime boss Stevie Flemmi, were both FBI informants; their squealing helped the FBI to put a score of mobsters in jail and wipe out the Angiulo crime family. Here O'Neill and Lehr (Pulitzer winner and Pulitzer finalist, respectively, and coauthors of The Underboss: The Rise and Fall of a Mafia Family) maintain that overzealous FBI Agent John Connolly, who was Whitey's handler, and Agent John Morris, Flemmi's handler, "coddled, conspired and protected the mobsters in a way that for all practical purposes had given them a license to kill." FBI agents looked the other way while Bulger and Flemmi went on a 1980s crime spree that, according to witnesses, included extortion, bank robberies, drug trafficking and a string of unsolved murders. This complex, dramatic tale climaxes with a 1998 federal hearing that found that Connolly and Morris had essentially fictionalized FBI internal records to downplay the stoolies' crimes while overstating their value to the Bureau. In 1999, a grand jury probe launched by Attorney General Janet Reno led to Connolly's arrest on charges of racketeering and obstruction of justice (he's now out on bail). Also named in the indictment were Flemmi, already arrested by state police in 1995, and Bulger, now a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. This in-depth look at the FBI's war against the Mafia includes the first-ever secret recording of a Mafia induction ceremony, complete with pricking of fingers and blood oaths. (June)

Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

All due respect to the Gambinos and the Genoveses, but the Italian mob families aren’t the only gangsters to make for compelling memoirs. In terms of relentless ruthlessness and its obsession with the almighty dollar, the Irish mob of Boston’s James "Whitey" Bulger could match its New York counterparts hit for bloody hit. For decades, Edward J. MacKenzie, Jr. (a.k.a. Eddie Mac) was a drug dealer, enforcer, and key associate of Bulger (on the lam as this book was published). Mac's first-person account of those years is rife with more gory details per page than the entire last season of The Sopranos.
By the brutal code of honor and loyalty in the streets, the candid dishing of such dirt marks MacKenzie as a world-class rat, second only to Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the man who put John Gotti away. But Eddie Mac has some justification in spilling the beans; in exchange for his tips, the Feds turned a blind eye toward his crimes. (It's also worth nothing that Bulger himself was an informant for the FBI.) The author certainly doesn’t portray himself as any sort of hero or "gangster with a heart of gold." Witness his charming account of one of many attempts to "enlighten" a wayward associate: "Probation notwithstanding, I had to open Steve’s eyes a little. I headed over to Dunkin’ Donuts and bought a cup of coffee for $1.24. Medium, black, scalding hot. . . .Steve was still in his car, sleeping like a baby. The window was down and he had his head against the door, hands under his cheeks. I poured the hot coffee down the side of his face, making sure to get some on his eyeballs. . . I swear if I’d had enough money to buy the gasoline that day that’s what I would have done. . . but I’d only had $1.30, so the coffee had to do."

Although MacKenzie has not one but two ghost writers (Karas is a contributor to People magazine and the author of The Onassis Women, while Muscato is a self-described "strategic communications consultant"), the prose never rises above the level of the sleaziest pulp fiction. But that of course is exactly its appeal, and fans of the true-crime genre will find Street Soldier a supreme pleasure, guilty or not. --Jim DeRogatis

From Publishers Weekly

Former mobsters turning around and spilling their guts is nothing new, but this memoir is more than just true crime sensationalism or conscience-cleaning confessional. Instead, it's a window into an inconsistent world created by inner-city masculinity and the innate need to belong. While one-time drug dealer MacKenzie dispels the myth of James Whitey Bulger being a cross between Don Corleone and Robin Hood by portraying him as a murdering, child molesting, drug pusher who ratted on his own gang before disappearing, he admits to looking up to Bulger (who went into hiding in 1995 and is on the FBI's most-wanted list) and feeling proud doing his boss's dirty work. But Bulger's story, the essence of evil, takes a back seat, playing the foil to MacKenzie's tale of an internal struggle of good versus evil that speaks to America's obsession with the duality of mobster life. MacKenzie's brutally honest account of a childhood branded by absentee parents, foster homes, physical and sexual abuse and poverty is moving. He deftly walks the fine line of sentimentality, rarely blaming others for his transgressions while giving a chillingly detailed account of the role his past played in constructing his personality of contradictions: athlete-hood, husband-philanderer, role model drug dealer, parent-child, gangster-rat. Presenting these contradictions, MacKenzie's straightforward writing (with People magazine contributor Karas and communication consultant Muscato), shifts momentum like a street fight, weaving between the fantastic world of crime, violence and sex and the reality of their counterparts: prison, death and pregnancy. Permeated with the feeling that the now clean author still relishes the charge of criminal life, the memoir contains the edginess of a great thriller. Photos. Map not seen by PW.

Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hell's Kitchen, a section of Manhattan west of Eighth Avenue between 34th and 59th Streets infamous for poverty and gang-related crime which dates back to the 19th century, was taken over in the late 1960s by the "Westies" mob. The name--used by the press and the police, not by the mobsters themselves--designated a group of ruthless and vicious hoodlums, led by Jimmy Coonan and Francis (Mickey) Featherstone, who cut up the bodies of victims to dispose of them more readily. Once in power, Coonan caused considerable grumbling in the mostly Irish gang when he allied his men with the Gambino crime family. Next, Coonan arranged to have rival Featherstone charged with a murder; found guilty, he became a witness against the Westies, joined by other gang turncoats. In early 1988 Coonan and several of his henchmen were convicted of assorted crimes and imprisoned. English, who covered the trial for the Irish Voice , ably traces the Westies' rise and fall. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.

Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information

From Library Journal

Irish-led criminal gangs have a long history on Manhattan's West Side (formerly known as Hell's Kitchen), the latest being "the Westies," seven of whom were recently convicted of racketeering and murder charges. Based primarily on the testimony of feared mob enforcer Mickey Featherstone, portrayed here rather sympathetically, journalist English dramatically re-creates the Westies' violent tale. Less organized and more small-time than the Mafia--only top gangster Jimmy Coonan really prospered--the Irish mob was no less vicious. An attempt to frame Featherstone on a murder charge led to the gang's demise. This is a harrowing account of big city crime. Recommended. Doubleday and Literary Guild alternates.

Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Kansas City Star
"The book already has impressed law enforcement officials enough to jump start the case. . . . It's a terrific read."

Review

"'I Heard You Paint Houses'" is one of the best accounts of the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, former Teamsters union boss and one of the most powerful men in America.
...One of Sheeran's virtues was his gift as a storyteller; one of his flaws was his tendency to murder - in mobster jargon, "to paint houses." ...From what Sheeran said, it is assumed that he painted several houses for Hoffa. And as a reward, he was able to climb the ladder in the union, until he was made head of the Teamsters local in Wilmington, Del. Although he professed his loyalty to Hoffa - he said on one occasion, "I'll be a Hoffa man 'til they pat my face with a shovel and steal my cufflinks" - Sheeran acknowledged that he was the one who killed the Teamsters boss...On July 30, 1975, Hoffa disappeared. Sheeran explains how he did it, in prose reminiscent of the best gangster films. "Jimmy Hoffa got shot twice at decent range - not too close or the paint splatters back at you - in the back of the head, behind his right ear," said Sheeran. And then, this magnificently laconic finale: "My friend didn't suffer."
- Associated Press

"Brandt's book gives new meaning to the term 'guilty pleasure.' . . . Sheeran's account of Hoffa's killing certainly appears credible."
- New York Times Book Review

"Sheeran's confession that he killed Hoffa in the manner described in the book is supported by the forensic evidence, is entirely credible and solves the Hoffa mystery."
- Michael Baden, M.D., former Chief Medical Examinaer of the City of New York

"I'm fully convinced - now - that Sheeran was in fact the man who did the deed. And I'm impressed, too, by the book's readability and by its factual accuracy in all areas on which I'm qualified to pass judgment. Charles Brandt has solved the Hoffa mystery."
- Prof. Arthur Sloane, author of Hoffa

"The book already has impressed law enforcement officials enough to jump start new activities in the case . . . It's a terrific read."
- Kansas City Star

"Unlike similar claims by many other self-confessed executioners, law enforcement authorities say Sheeran may well be telling the truth."
- Jerry Capeci's Gang Land News

"A page-turning account of one man's descent into the mob."
- Delaware News Journal

I wrote and self published - because Irish publishers were not interested - a book in 1997 titled The Mob. The History of Irish Gangsters in America. It has since been reprinted several times and is on Empire Records recommended list. Check it out. It is better than Paddywhacked. Not because I wrote it, but because of its content.

I've got that book mate! Very good it is too! It broke the mould because no one had attempted to write about the Irish Mob before to my knowledge. Your contribution on here would be greatly appreciated bud! Hope to hear from you again soon!

Albert Donoghue, born in Ireland and brought up in London, was Reggie Kray's right hand man, his minder and chief executive. He was deeply implicated in their criminal rackets, collecting protection money and acting as paymaster to the other members of the firm. But then the Kray's made what was to be one of their most dangerous mistakes. They tried to get Donoghue to admit to the killing of Frank Mitchell. Albert, who had become increasingly appalled by the violent turn the Twin's business affairs had been taking, testified against them. His evidence landed the Kray's 30 years. In this book, Albert Donoghue reveals the shocking events he witnessed - it is the inside story of the Krays from a radically different standpoint. It charts the rise of the country's most notorious criminals, and their final descent into self-destruction.

A Criminal and an Irishman : The Inside Story of the Boston Mob-IRA Connection (Hardcover)
by Patrick Nee, Richard Farrell, Michael Blythe.

From Publishers Weekly

Nee served 18 months for planning the largest shipment of arms from America to the IRA in 1984. He was also an associate of the notorious mobster Whitey Bulger in South Boston. But Nee's insider account of his career as a thug and an IRA gunrunner proves less interesting than one might expect. The details of his youth and teenage descent into gang membership will sound familiar to most readers. And while Nee attempts to present himself as a genuine Irish patriot, saying others merely pay lip service to the cause of the IRA, those claims are less than convincing, given, among other things, his declaration that "[t]o this day, I'm not sure what was the deciding factor for me in linking our underworld activities with the IRA's cause. Maybe I was bored with Whitey." In the end, there is too little in this account (written with the help of journalist Farrell and screenwriter Blythe) to keep the attention of any but the most die-hard true crime buff. (Mar. 14)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Nee served two masters during his ascent through Boston's Mob hierarchy, for he was simultaneously deeply involved in running guns to the IRA. His gang superiors frequently warned him to back off or at least sublimate his IRA boosting to keep the heat off their primary endeavors, but Nee refused, eventually going to jail for gun-running. His story already has all the makings for a taut true-crime romp in the conflicts between Nee's IRA enthusiasm and the best interests of South Boston Mob kingpin Whitey Bulger, whose is-he-or-isn't-he homosexuality adds another layer of subterfuge. Yet Nee's telling of these tales is somewhat flat, possibly because his strong commitments make even a whiff of humor or irony inexpressible. Still, books about the post-1970 state of organized crime and its leaders aren't legion, making this book ipso facto a nice shelf mate to Rick Porello's To Kill the Irishman (rev. ed., 2001), on the Cleveland Mob at roughly the same time, and the various studies of John Gotti's NYC heyday. Mike Tribby
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This book is available on www.amazon.com

Brutal : The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob (Hardcover)
by Kevin Weeks, Phyllis Karas

George Anastasia, bestselling author of The Last Gangster
"Weeks lands a knockout punch with this compelling look at one of the most intriguing figures in the American underworld."

T. J. English, New York Times bestselling author of Paddy Whacked and The Westies
"Rarely have the nuts-and-bolts of ‘the gangster life’ been laid bare in such shocking, unvarnished detail."

Rat Bastards : The Life and Times of South Boston's Most Honorable Irish Mobster (Hardcover)
by John "Red" Shea

From Publishers Weekly

Shea—who at age 20 was the drug boss for South Boston Irish mobster James "Whitey" Bulger and later served 12 years in federal prison for drug trafficking (yes, he was given the opportunity to rat, but, "like a man," he didn't)—gives gangster honor a bare-knuckled workout in his memoir, a slick read dripping with the underworld holy trinity of sex, drugs and violence. Born in 1965 into a "fucked up family" in South Boston, Shea traded a foundering boxing career for a gig making $4,000 a night selling cocaine and marijuana. Before long, Bulger took him under his wing and, being a tough and honorable guy, Shea ascended the ranks and had a crew working for him before he was busted and did his time. To hear Shea tell the story, he's about the only guy in South Boston who can keep his trap shut—including Bulger, who turned rat and is now in hiding—once the cuffs are on. And though his unrelenting swagger can wear thin and the writing has lackluster moments, Shea's story is a bawdy page-turner in the Iceman tradition that true crime fans will enjoy. 16 pages of b&w photos.(Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

"...a slick read dripping with the underworld holy trinity of sex, drugs, and violence...a bawdy page-turner."

The Brothers Bulger : How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century (Hardcover)
by Howie Carr

From Publishers Weekly

Although superior to some other tellings of the incredible story of how two brothers came to dominate Boston's political and criminal underworlds for decades, this account by veteran Boston Herald reporter Carr still falls short of being the definitive version he intended. The stranger-than-fiction rise to power of Billy Bulger, the longtime Massachusetts senate president, kingmaker and consummate deal maker, and his brother Whitey, a psychopathic killer who took over the city's Irish mobs, is compelling, but despite Carr's closeness to the story, he fails to bring his protagonists' inner world to life. For those broadly familiar with the corruption scandal that indelibly tarred the FBI because of the active role some of its agents took in protecting Whitey and enabling his brutalities, the author gives a detailed, hit-by-hit description of his crimes. Most readers from outside the Bay State will be almost as appalled at the wheeling and dealing of his "respectable" brother, who crossed path with presidents and presidential aspirants, and who extended his patronage practices to his subsequent position as president of the University of Massachusetts. (Feb. 23)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description

This fresh account of Massachusetts+sinfamous Bulger brothers unveils a stunning criminal alliance, and with its dual biography format, goes deeper than the New York Times bestselling Black Mass.For the first time, journalist Howie Carr reveals the -real+ story behind the infamous Bulgers-twobrothers from South Boston who grew up to control a state. With political corruption on one side and deadly force on the other, the Bulgers shared a diabolic and destructive alliance for decades. James -Whitey+ Bulger, -the bad son,+ blazed a murderous trail to become Boston+s most feared mobster and remains one of the FBI+s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. William -Billy+ Bulger, -the good son,+ wielded the gavel as president of the Massachusetts State Senate and the University of Massachusetts, but was eventually forced from bothpositions. The parallel stories of these two brothers, rich in anecdote and shocking in their revelations, read like an unholy hybrid of All the King+s Men and The Godfather.

Boyos : A Novel (Hardcover)
by Richard Marinick

From Publishers Weekly

Marinick's confident and brutally authentic first novel should appeal to devotees of hard-boiled crime and urban literary fiction. Set in and around "Southie," the South Boston working-class Irish-American enclave popularized by such novelists as George V. Higgins and Dennis Lehane, the story focuses on Jack "Wacko" Curran, a rising young player in the criminal underworld. Local "boyos" like Curran resent the steady influx of young working professionals, who are gentrifying the area and pricing the old-time residents out. Curran and his coked-out brother, Kevin, work for mob boss Marty Fallon, wholesaling drugs to a network of area dealers. Tired of giving Fallon a cut of every score, Jack dreams of replacing Fallon and figures that the bankroll from the armored-car heist he's planning will put him on his way. Trouble is, Danny King, Curran's getaway driver, has spilled the beans to Fallon. Meanwhile, things on the street are building to an all-out war. The police are systematically raiding the Irish mob joints in Southie and the Italians are hungry for revenge. A one-time Southie gang member and ex-con, Marinick writes what he knows in this visceral, accomplished debut.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description

Richard Marinick grew up running with the Southie gangs during the Whitey Bulger era, and learned to write during a ten-year prison stretch. He writes what he knows, and his shattering, utterly authentic first novel, Boyos is the result.

Robbin' Hood

After months of legal wrangling, the story of Philly's K&A gang finally gets published.

by Jessica Lussenhop

"This was never like a planned thing," says Chick Goodroe. "In the neighborhood where I grew up you became either a fireman, a policeman, a roofer or a burglar."

For Goodroe, a young man who enjoyed women, sleeping late and money, the latter occupation was the obvious choice. What followed were Cadillacs and Lincolns, strings of girlfriends, jewelry and eventually a fair share of jail time. But for a time, life was sweet.

"I used to carry a bag of jewelry. Small pieces. I'd meet you in a bar and I'd say, 'Gee, these earrings would look good on you,'" he says, smiling. "I wouldn't even know your name, but I'd be giving you jewelry. We called them 'whomp 'em' bags."

That way of life would also lead Goodroe, now in his 60s, to Temple professor Allen Hornblum, who for the past five years has been chasing down the urban legend created by Goodroe and the other members of Philadelphia's elusive Irish mob. The result is Hornblum's latest book Confessions of a Second Story Man: Junior Kripplebauer and the K&A Gang. Named for the intersection of Kensington and Allegheny in North Philadelphia where the men lived and played, the book profiles an underground world of crime different from the hierarchal Italian wiseguys. These were the "standup" guys, a gang of blue-collar Irish criminals whose story hasn't been told before.

"That's a sin of omission," says Hornblum, "because there was an Irish mob here and they did have a very unique brand of operation. They weren't killers. They weren't bank robbers as the Boston Irish were. They had a particular craft that they developed here, and that was burglary."

The book details the birth and development of a revolutionary and very lucrative way to burgle. In the '50s the K&A boys began targeting luxurious Philadelphia homes that contained furs, jewelry, coin collections and safes stuffed with cash, made all the more conspicuous by the glinting red lights of primitive security systems. Using an organized division of labor, the thieves would have the house cleaned out in minutes-its safe cracked, the goods tucked into pillowcases. The group could knock off a half-dozen houses in one night. Their efficiency baffled law enforcement.

"One of the things people don't realize is they were the foremost burglary ring in the '50s, '60s and early '70s," says Hornblum. "In some cases they had a bigger reputation in North Carolina and Florida and Maine than they did in Philly. They left Philly for greener pastures. They went where the money was. They'd leaked what they could out of Chestnut Hill and the Main Line and Rydal and those ritzy areas around the city."

The book depicts the gang as almost Robin Hoodish, trying to minimize confrontations and rationalizing that their real victims were the insurance companies. Unarmed, the men would break in, take what they pleased and turn the goods over to their fences.

"My father used to be a fence for these guys," remembers Thomas Vaughan, a friend of Goodroe's and a former bartender in the K&A area. "Every time I came home from school I had a different television."

As time passed, so did the heyday of K&A. North Philadelphia changed dramatically, and policing tactics and home security became more effective. Meth was the new hot ticket. Today, with many of the K&A members either dead, imprisoned or settled into more legitimate lifestyles, Hornblum had his work cut out for him. The research began, appropriately, in a bar.

"I hang on occasion at a bar in Tacony with a lot of guys that came out of Kensington," says Hornblum. "And they would just whet my appetite with these characters and these stories. The more I heard the more enticed I became. So I finally threw myself out there and started tracking these guys down."

Hornblum's success with some of the "standup" guys-members of the gang reputed for their loyalty-wasn't universal. Though Junior, legendary for his refusal to talk to police, came to trust and help Hornblum, others did their best to halt progress on the book. Originally slated for release this past June, a slew of appearances and preorders were abruptly canceled when the publisher Temple University Press backed out.

"It was a situation where they got a threatening letter from somebody who was just a very, very small bit player in the book," says Hornblum, who's under orders from his lawyer not to comment on specifics of the situation. "But [Temple] wasn't used to confronting such a situation, and basically bailed on the book." Though Temple Press will say only that "certain issues arose with respect to the book," the Daily News ran a short blurb this past December identifying John Berkery as the "bit player" in question. The book describes Berkery as playing a role in a six-figure break-in known as the Pottsville Heist, and as one of the few Kensington boys with ties to the Italian mafia.

After months of uncertainty, Confessions finally comes out this week on Barricade Books, a company that specializes in "books that people are frightened about." Barricade's website touts Confessions as "the book the mob tried to suppress."

"We believe everything has a right to be heard if it's factual and accurate, and this book seems to be," says Barricade Books president Lyle Stuart. "If we have to go to court, we go to court. If we go broke doing it ... that's what I've been doing all my life. I've been publishing for 50 years, and I'm a First Amendment fanatic."

Confessions has given the elusive Irish mob its place in Philadelphia history, and it may also find its place on the silver screen. Vince Vaughn, Edward Norton and Tobey Maguire have all reportedly shown interest in a film adaptation.

But the excitement hasn't made Goodroe lose the characteristic cool he needed in the days of narrow escapes and police chases. Even the prospect of being depicted by one of Hollywood's A-listers hasn't gotten to him.

"Proud? I wouldn't go as far as to say proud. Would I feel shame? No. Do I feel remorse?" he says. "The remorse I would feel is because if I had to do it over again I would certainly have put a lot of the money away."

New pictures added 11/9/07

Finally T.J English's book The Westies has been released here in the UK and available from Amazon and all good book stores!




Book Description

First UK publication for this true crime classic about New York's notorious Irish mobsters.

Synopsis

Even among the Mob, the Westies were feared. Out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs - James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone - the gang dominated the decaying slice of New York City's West Side known as Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s and '80s. Excelling in extortion, numbers running, loansharking and drug-peddling, they became the most notorious gang in the history of organized crime. The then prosecutor Rudolf Giuliani called them 'the most savage organisation in the long history of New York street gangs'. Upping the ante on brutality and depravity, their speciality when it came to punishment and killings was dismemberment. Their reign lasted almost twenty - their end would come as their own violent natures got the best of them and precipitated a downfall as infamous as their rise. This revised and updated edition, brings the story of the Westies up to date with 'where are they now' snapshots of the men - and women - of the Westies.

From the Back Cover

Even among the Mob, the Westies were feared.

Born out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs – James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone – the Westies dominated Hell’s Kitchen in the 1970s and ’80s.

They were, in the words of then-prosecutor Rudolf Guiliani, ‘the most savage organization in the long history of New York street gangs’. They excelled in extortion, numbers running, loan sharking, drugs. Upping the ante on brutality and depravity, their speciality was dismemberment. And it was their own violent natures that precipitated a downfall as infamous and bloody as their rise.

Now published in the UK for the first time, T. J. English’s bestselling true-crime classic has now been revised and updated, providing ‘where are they now’ snapshots of the men – and women – in the Westies, and of those who brought them down.

About the Author

T.J. English is a noted journalist and screenwriter, and is the author of three other books: Old Bones and Shallow Graves, Born To Kill and just published, The Havan Mob. He has written for numerous publications, including Esquire and Playboy, while his screenwriting credits include work on NYPD Blue and Homicide. The Westies was his first book, became a US bestseller and launched its author's career as an expert on the multi-ethnic nature of organised crime in America. He lives in New York City.

I'm reading this right now and its a very good read! Some of its content is inaccurate though. For instance, the part with Jimmy the Gent Burke, he says that he masterminded this robbery from his prison cell for over two years, thats total BS! he was out of prison when this was proposed to him. if it wasn't for Henry Hill and Martin Krugman it most likely would have never taken place....

I'm reading this right now and its a very good read! Some of its content is inaccurate though. For instance, the part with Jimmy the Gent Burke, he says that he masterminded this robbery from his prison cell for over two years, thats total BS! he was out of prison when this was proposed to him. if it wasn't for Henry Hill and Martin Krugman it most likely would have never taken place...