Westies: Jimmy Coonan

[AStoltz]

Is their anyone out thier interested in this wild irish gang that
terrorized New York at one time. This wild gang was also involved with
Roy Demeo, a serious hands on killer....
Anyone want to cover these topics ???

[Molly Walsh]

I read a book about these guys a while back - can't remember
the title. Supposedly the Sean Penn/Gary Oldman flick
"State of Grace" was based on them, their gang, etc.

[Peter J. Kerrigan]

There's one book out that I read "The Westies", which focused on
Francis "Mickey" Featherstone. There's more, let me go look at Carl.
--
Peter J. Kerrigan
p...@mcs.com

[Ernest Volkman]

In <4cfhti$l...@news.mr.net> Molly Walsh <WAL...@gw.startribune.com>
writes:

The book was *The Westies* by T. J. English; it was not the basis for
the Sean Penn movie. Roy Demeo, a psychopath, headed up a large-scale
stolen car ring for the Mafia's Gambino Family and also carried out a
number (estimates run into the dozens) of killings. He had some
connections to the Westies, some of whose members worked for him in
stealing cars or killing people. It is not accurate to say that the
Westies *terrorized New York.* Their power base was relatively small,
in the old Irish neighborhood in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan,
on the lower West Side waterfront along the Hudson River. They scared
the hell out of people in that neighborhood, but had no influence
anywhere else in the city.

Ernest Volkman, author *Goombata: The Improbable Rise and Fall of John
Gotti and His Gang,* etc.

[10av...@gmail.com]

I've been to NY numerous times, and every time I make it a point to go to hells kitchen. I take my westies walk, go to all the spots in the book by T. J. English, just hang out and imagine a time when working class white folk used to roam these streets. The kitchen is totally different now, it's all rich yuppies, gays and some Ricans here and there. Was there last year the weekend the Market diner closed for good, it's sad but like Frankie says, that's life.