That was the one thing that stood out to me in the book. However, the two soon proceeded with their real plan by brutally murdering and butchering Dugan. He had also spent almost a year on the FBI most wanted fugitive list after being a stowaway on an International Longshoremen's Association freighter to Itagua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to avoid a murder charge. Johnny Eng, AKA Onionhead or Machinegun Johnny, was the leader of the Flying Dragons street gang in the 1980s, controlling heroin in the Chinatown area of New York. A longtime gangster of the Manhattan's Westside ghetto known as Hell's Kitchen, Cummiskey served under Mickey Spillane following his release from prison. Follow my Instagram @MOONEYDashCamhttps://www.instagram.com/mooneydashcam/Follow me on tiktok @mooneydashcamhttps://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJ5EQm4A/For business inquiries you can get in touch at mooneydashcam@gmail.comAlso dont forget to leave me some suggestions for future videos in the comments. he is the son of the notorious gangster Jimmy Coonan of the Westies, the Irish Mob in New York. Although Coonan failed to hit anyone he shot upon he was now well known amongst the Hells Kitchen crew. Coonan soon continued his criminal career by creating the Westies gang. An eighth defendant was acquitted of all charges as the five-month trial ended. Click on the join beside the channel to receive special benefits!If you want to keep up with what BOTRWT does, why not follow our social media's?Twitter: @bldontherzrwire Instagram: @bldontherzrwire If you want to donate to our cause to promote a healthy lifestyle, and change the lives of everyone one day at a time, click one of the links below! Proud father of a son that went into military and served in Afghanistan/Iraq. The following day, Coonan and Cummiskey went out for a drink with Billie Beattie at the Sunbrite Bar. He would usually tell neighborhood youths about his criminal escapades from his violent past interjected with humor that left his audience laughing. The main differences between most early 20th century American businessmen and Holstein? I know John Thomas Coonan personally. During the early 1970s, Coonan recruited a gang of young Irish hoods and they began kidnapping, beating, and murdering any Spillane loyalists. But that simply is not the whole story. Why AI Has Some Viewers Asking Which Film Actors Are Real. In addition, the jury found Coonan participated in most of the racketeering acts charged against him, including seven murders. The New York Daily News August 23, 1976 death notice for Cummiskey reports "Edward was the son of Edward Cummiskey Sr. and Mary Cummiskey nee Hyndes. This WASP (white, anglo-saxon, protestant) who became the Dean of the underworld in Tampa, Forida didnt have the usual rough upbringing associated with American mobsters. Those who chose Coonan were immune from these harsh activities because Spillanes gang was on the run and unable to retaliate. Coonan was incarcerated and began serving a 75-year prison term in 1988. Paul Castellano, who was the Godfather of the Gambinos, requested a meeting in an Italian restaurant with the leader of the Westies, Jimmy Coonan, in an attempt to reel in the gang's worst excesses. Edward was born in 1934. Today. Curley was like a younger brother to Cummiskey, as both had started out as small-time Irish hoods in Hell's Kitchen. His gang soon outgrew the old Irish mob led by Spillane. Along with Bouras, Curro was also killed whilst Martonaro and Blavat escaped with minor injuries. In 1986, the police arrested Mickey Featherstone for the murder of Michael Holly. Although Coonan wounded no one, Spillane understood that the younger hoodlum was not to be taken lightly. In retaliation and to set Mickey Featherstone up to take the fall, Billy Bokun, Johns brother got a car identical to Mickey Featherstones and put on a long haired wig and fake mustache to look like Featherstone. Coonan and a number of the Westies gang owed money to a popular Jewish loan shark named Ruby Stein. The younger Bokun, 30, of Manhattan, who was convicted of drug dealing as well as racketeering, tried to comfort his weeping, cursing father. James Coonan was born on December 21, 1946 into a working class/lower middle class Irish-American family in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, the second of four children of John Coonan, an accountant who ran a tax office on West 50th Street, and his wife Anna, who was of partial German descent and who worked at John Coonan's office. Investigators assume the killing had Gambino approval. In addition to the Coonans, both of Hazlet, N.J. and Bokun, the others convicted of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy were: James Jimmy Mack McElroy, 42; Richard Muggsy Ritter, 50; Thomas Collins, 53, and his wife Florence, 52, all of Manhattan. The Irish-American gang led by Jimmy Coonan and Francis (Mickey) Featherstone aligned itself with the Gambino crime family and enforced its racketeering schemes with a campaign of murder and dismemberment until the NYPDs Intelligence Division brought them down. [10], He and his wife Edna (b.1942; Julia Edna Crotty) lived in Hazlet and Keansburg, New Jersey, before his incarceration. Featherstone and Coonan were tried for the murder of a Hells Kitchen barman in 1979 but were acquitted, not for want of evidence; one juror perjured himself at trial and a key witness just so happen to take his own life riiiight. When Coonan was 18 his father was kidnapped by local mobster Mickey Spillane. . After many years on the run in Peru, Battle was indicted back in the US on racketeering charges, having amassed more than $1 billion from drug trafficking, illegal gambling and loan sharking. If your enemies catch you, your face will get blown off. years back I had read.I read one of Featherstone's kids joined military.There is an youtube video of Eddie Cummiskey's son in a street fight in New York.He beat the hell out of some guy that was . Murray Humphries somehow managed to impress Capone enough to get himself recruited into the organization he had just robbed blind. The Westies murdered Stein, dismembered him, and threw the remains in the Hudson River. He passed out and when he awoke, he found they had given him a circumcision. One, he was black. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Jimmy was ashamed that his father was treated like this and he swore revenge against Mickey Spillane. When Mickey returned to the notoriously violent, Irish dominated Hells Kitchen area of New York, his violent tendencies continued. The Irish Mob: Mickey Spillane And Jimmy Coonan Younger The Elder 3.57K subscribers Subscribe 27K views 3 years ago This episode explores the lives of Mickey Spillane, known as "the last of the. All defendants face up to 20 years apiece on both racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. Is this the same man I know? He now lives under an assumed name somewhere in the USA.[2]. Roy DeMeo, his Gambino contact, was murdered and Coonans Gambino family connection became Daniel Marino, a capo from Brooklyn. Birns was born in Czechoslovakia in 1907. In the 1970s Coonan worked as an enforcer and bodyguard for loanshark named Ruby Stein. Humphries quickly falling into to the favourite pastimes of early twentieth century kids in Chicagofist fighting and burglary. 10 Fruits, Nuts, And Vegetables You Did Not Know, 10 People Who Were Completely Right But Were Ignored, 10 Worst Massacres Of African-Americans [DISTURBING IMAGES], 10 Things You May Not Have Known About The Land Of Pangaea, 10 Things You May Not Have Known About The Center Of, 10 Things You Might Not Know About The Incas, 10 Things You May Not Have Known About Guns, Top 10 Churches Where God Is Not Worshiped, 10 Historical Shoe Rituals and Superstitions You Might Not Know About, 10 Unusual and Incredible Reinterpretations of Classic Artworks, 10 Ancient Fertility Treatments You Wouldnt Want to Use Today, 10 Inventive Ways People Survived Winter Before Electricity, 10 Bleak Facts about Victorian Workhouses, 10 Amazing Archeological Discoveries Made by Dogs, Top 10 Terrible Facts About Ghislaine Maxwell. Cookie Notice He turned states witness in 1987, his testimony helping to bring down the Westies, seeing many members, including Coonan himself, sent to prison. James Coonan was a baby boomer born December 21, 1946. By 1976, Coonan and Featherstone were engaged in taking over Spillane's territory, culminating in the 1977 shooting of Spillane, for which Featherstone was arrested and acquitted, and the death of Stein. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. During this incarceration Featherstone was injected with Thorazine. The hit was probably ordered by his greatest rival, famous Florida gangster Santo Trafficante Sr.[10]. In 1966, Coonan fired a machine gun at Spillane and his associates from atop a Hell's Kitchen tenement building. Featherstone became disillusioned with Coonan and the Westies after they forged a closer alliance with the Gambino crime family; Featherstone wasnt too keen on non-Irish mobsters and resented the way other groups used the Westies as glorified errand boys. Eto entered the witness protection programme, relocated to Georgia where he lived a long, event free life. Phillips is a storyteller, actor and writer living in rural West Wales. The police and FBI suspected him of a series of mob contract killings. (completely optional)Chad's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Razor-Wire-Prison-Memoir/dp/B08NJR548L/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1\u0026keywords=blood+on+the+razor+wire\u0026qid=1625283431\u0026sr=8-1Check out our website:www.myfreedomfighters.comPaypal.me/ChadMarks2020Cashapp: $ChadMarks102 This Serbian mobster turned journo was an arch opportunist, driven in part by the love he held for his native Serbia, (along with his love of stealing shiny objects). The hit-squad killed 68 members of Spillanes gang with most of them killed by being gunned down. Jimmy C. purchased a machine gun and got on top of a Hells Kitchen tenement building waited for Micky Spillane. In 1920, the still blew up as Birns mother was near it and killed her, leaving young Shondor to first have to live in a Jewish orphanage before eventually being taken in by his grandmother. Thanks to a long history of films, books and TV shows focussed on mob families like the Corleones and the Sopranos, as well as a host of real stories covered in films like The Untouchables, Goodfellas and, of course, the ultimate classic gangster flick Gotti starring John Travolta, when we think about American organised crime, we think Italian. Later that evening, Paddy Dugan came across Dennis Curley walking around the streets of Hell's Kitchen and shot Curley twice in the head, killing him instantly. Your email address will not be published. Coonan now was getting national attention. Edward "Eddie The Butcher" Cummiskey Jr. (1934 Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan to August 20, 1976 Chelsea, Manhattan) was a New York mobster who served as a mentor to Jimmy Coonan, leader of the Westies. A trial on any single act in this indictment would have resulted in an acquittal, said Coonans lawyer, Gerald Shargel. To be convicted of racketeering, each defendant had to be found to have committed at least two of the 28 racketeering acts cited. One month after his birth, Birns family emigrated to New York city. Cummiskey, the so-called "Butcher of Hell's Kitchen" taught young Coonan the "art" of body dismemberment, using Paddy Dugan as the textbook. he learned that he had been set up and framed by his own gang. Humphries didnt follow that path, but certainly made use of many lessons in how the judicial system worked, becoming an arch manipulator of law enforcement and gatherer of political influence. Then, it was finally time to begin building the Jacob Javits Center in Hell's Kitchen, which would turn into a tremendous money maker. Its just a matter of the government, piling it all together. This led to the arrest of Featherstone on a murder charge. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. Dont tell me to shush 3/8 John Bokun angrily told a marshal. This page is not available in other languages. Coonan's niece Alberta Sachs was party to the murder, providing the knives and helping with the cleanup. [5], Chelsais Bouras piloted the Greek mob of Philadelphia through the turbulent 70s, forging a close tie with Raymond Martorano (pictured), a soldier for the citys longstanding crime family the Scarfos, and overseeing loan sharking, gambling and methamphetamine operations. He left for England and acquired an English accent years ago. In Japanese, the word is nezumi but that also means mouse in English. Shane McCarthy, Gil Adler (Superman Returns) and Frank Baldwin are developing a feature version of T.J. Englishs mob tale The Westies and will produce through McCarthys Blue Engine Entertainment and Gil Adler Prods. He formed an alliance with a man named Mickey Featherstone and a few former members of Hells Kitchen who were afraid of Coonan. They have captains and each of the captains have their own crew. T.J. English described Cummiskey as, "curly black hair, piercing blue eyes, and the cockiness of a bantam rooster, Cummiskey looked and sounded like a gangster from the 1920s". His wife, Edna, 44, was convicted of loansharking and tax charges. [3][4], Coonan was the bodyguard/apprentice of loan shark Charles (Ruby) Stein according to The New York Times article that alleged he was "known and feared on the West Side as a murderer and kidnapper". Frankos also fingers Chuckie. Watch. Only one defendant, John Halo, was acquitted on all charges. He was blond haired and baby-faced. Coonan reportedly killed a loan shark victim who could not pay his debt, dismembered him and cut off his hands. this awesome character was inspired by one of the most fascinating men in 20th century African American history: Casper Holstein. With the bad blood between Coonan and Featherstone, Coonan decided to set Featherstone up for murder. During his time as boss of the Westies, they gained a reputation as a vicious crew of murderers. Roy DeMeo was a close friend of James Coonan and as a favor to Coonan he found Spillane and murdered him. He was a habituate of the Sunbrite Bar on 10th Avenue and 50th in Chelsea, Manhattan and The Market Diner in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. Humphries decided that fighting fire with fire was the best plan, hijacking a Capone truck at gunpoint. If the authorities catch you, your habits will blow up in your face. NEW YORK (AP) _ Seven people were convicted Wednesday on federal racketeering charges for taking part in the violent activities of a murderous gang known as the Westies, which terrorized Manhattans Hells Kitchen neighborhood for 20 years. 1991)", "7 Westies Given Sentences Of Up to 75 Years in Prison", "Prosecutor Says Gang Terrorized Hell's Kitchen", James and Edna Coonan's 1989 appeal brief, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Coonan&oldid=1151269070, 75 years' imprisonment and a $1 million fine, This page was last edited on 22 April 2023, at 23:47. From time to time, the Westies worked for the Gambino crime family as a contract killer squad. After Danny Grillo and Jimmy Coonan clipped Ruby Stein, Big Paul and Funzi Tieri had a mini sit down to discuss the volatile 'West Side Irish Mob'. 3.0 out of 5 . Coonan authorized the hit of Michael Holly while Billy Bokun was dressed as Mickey Featherstone. His son Clifford was charged and later found not guilty of being involved in a drunken bar brawl on September 21, 2009, in Hell's Kitchen. Coonan, 41, was found guilty of attempted murder, murder conspiracy, loansharking, extortion and income tax evasion among other crimes. Crime, of course. if you want to support the channel, we have multiple options for you. I know John Thomas Coonan personally. Born July 31, 1965, Hell's Kitchen. He won a brutal turf war with mobster Ignacio Antinori who, in 1940, was gunned down whilst enjoying his morning coffee at a restaurant. Unlike most crime figures of the age, Holstein slowly stepped away from the criminal life, eventually retiring in 1937 after he was arrested for his involvement in gambling, spending just 1 year in jail.[3]. Since his death, and the slaying of other prominent Greek mobsters in the 80s, the Greek mob has struggled to regain any foothold in the American underworld.[6]. Like. [3] Author T.J. English has credited this event in several books as Coonan's motivating factor in the takeover of the Westies. Coonan, looking for a more feared and respected gangster like Cummiskey on his side, decided to use Dugan to lure in Cummiskey. Although reportedly on good relations with both Spillane and Coonan (despite rumors of Cummiskey defecting to 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. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Two, he made his money via illegal gambling. The key prosecution witness, former No. Featherstone became a valued contract killer for the Westies, working under the direct order of gang leader Jimmy Coonan. Tony the Greek claims he told the FBI in 1986 that Hoffa was killed by alleged Irish mob boss Jimmy Coonan in a house near the Detroit suburb of Mount Clemens. He volunteered for combat in Vietnam and would claim he spent time killing with the Special Forces. Coonan and Cummiskey soon became known associates, as Cummiskey taught Coonan the "tricks of the trade". Engs brutal reign came to an end in 1993 when he was sentenced to 24 years in jail, having to pony up $3.5 million in fines and giving up his massive Pennsylvania estate as further punishment. Coonan and Featherstone dragged a guy out of a bar and forced him into a van and masturbated on him as a form of intimidation. According to lore, the carton contained Dugan's penis, which was later rumored to have been placed in a pickle jar and kept in a refrigerator. During the early 1970s, Cummiskey took on a young protg by the name of James "Jimmy C" Coonan, a violent younger generation Irish hoodlum who wanted to take out the old-timer Mickey Spillane. This story of Jimmy Hoffa's death first entered the public consciousness in 1989 when Donald Frankos gave an interview to Playboy Magazine where he claimed that Hoffa was killed by a New York Irish mafia boss by the name of Jimmy Coonan and buried at the home field of the New York Giants and New York Jets football teams. Unable to make a decent living, Birns family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where his mother set up an illegal alcohol still in their apartment during Prohibition. Allegedly, they brought the head of Dugan with them, set it down on the bar stool, ordered his favorite whiskey, lit one of his cigarettes and put it in his mouth. The way he became part of Al Capones Chicago Outfit is pretty amazing, tantalisingly lacking in enough key info to render the tale legendary as opposed to simply a footnote in mob history. On Feb. 11, 1984, two Westies drove Leone to New Jersey, pulled over to offer him a hit of cocaine, and shot him in the head. Learn how your comment data is processed. In 1979 both Featherstone and Coonan were arrested but acquitted for the murder of a bartender named Harold Whitehead. At least 30 of Spillanes gang were killed by bombings. An off-duty policeman in the bar saw John Bokun shoot Michael Holly, then he shot and killed John Bokun. Jimmy Coonan (1977-1986)- Jimmy Coonan led the most violent Irish gang Hell's Kitchen and New York has ever seen. When Coonan was 18 his father was kidnapped by local mobster Mickey Spillane. ! The story is that the Genovese crime family sent a team of heavily-armed hitmen to kill off Spillanes gang. The racketeering charges alleged eight murders, four murder conspiracies and three attempted murders. James Coonan was born December 21, 1946 in Manhattan, New York. Convicted hitman Donald Frankos claimed that Irish mob boss Jimmy Coonan shot Hoffa in Michigan before dismembering his body with a power saw and meat cleaver, according to a 1989 Detroit Free press story. Growing up in Hell's Kitchen he played hockey with many future Westies-aligned criminals at Hell's Kitchen Park and boxed at Boys & Girls Clubs of America and eventually started burglarizing commercial buildings in Lower East Side, Manhattan and cargo from warehouses in West Side, Manhattan. Jimmie Grayson Coan. He set up a numbers game and quickly started raking in the big bucks$200,000 a week, with $3000 finding its way into the pockets of corrupt cops that allowed Eto to prosper. Coonan had a following amongst the younger Irish in the neighborhood (including Billy Beattie, Billy Bokun, Kevin Kelly, Jackie Coonan, Eddie Coonan, Mickey Featherstone, James McElroy, Joey Schultz, Richie Ryan and Tommy Hess) as well as earning the respect of some old timers such as Tommy Collins, who shifted their allegiance to Coonan from Spillane. James Coonan was a baby boomer born December 21, 1946. Featherstones violence caught the eye of Coonan. Instead of a cross, she hid an inverted pentagram in a flower engraved into the stone. Privacy Policy. Well, whatever the correct Japanese terminology, Chicago-based mobster Ken Eto blabbed to the feds about the Chicago Outfit. Part of the estate was reputedly used as a firing range by members of the Flying Dragons, honing their accuracy with machine guns. he was slain during the wild 1970s, blown up along with his fancy Lincoln Continental by a bomb planted (purportedly) by the Hells Angels, contacted by his former enforcer Danny Greene. Coonan is serving his time at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. [6][7], 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. Beattie was then instructed to go over to Dugan's apartment and bring down the carton of milk from the refrigerator. Several Westies owed money to Stein and were looking to escape these debts. Nobody hustles like the Hump Capone said. They do things for the Elders who all mostly live in Jersey! To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary,click here. The verdict came on the eighth day of jury deliberations. he is the son of the notorious gangster Jimmy Coonan of the Westies, the Irish Mob in New York. Islam Comes to Britain. Mickey Spillane: The Gentleman Gangster/Jimmy Coonan and the Westies Gang: Directed by Datha Keane. /r/Mafia features stories, interviews, documentary and news articles about organized crime around the world. By his teenage years, Coonan stood five feet, seven inches tall and had a stocky build, with broad shoulders and a thick neck. The Irish-American gang led by Jimmy Coonan and Francis (Mickey) Featherstone aligned itself with the Gambino crime family and enforced its racketeering schemes with a campaign of murder and. For more information, please see our With Robert Spillane, Jim McManus, T.J. English, Joseph Coffey. It would also see a string of gang members turn on their former friends too, Jimmy McElroy, Billy Beatie and Tony Lucich being the main ones Jimmy Coonan was sentenced to 75 years in prison on racketeering charges, including seven murders and other crimes. [2] When Coonan was a young man, his father John was kidnapped, pistol-whipped and severely beaten by Mickey Spillane, a well-known mobster who frequently employed the kidnap-for-ransom racket of local merchants to their families.

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