The Westies

Inside New York's Irish Mob

By: T. J. English

Narrated by: James Anderson Foster

It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. In the mid-1970s, these two longtime friends take the reins of New York's Irish mob, using brute force to give it hitherto unthinkable power. Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. Mickey, whose memories of Vietnam torture him daily, is his enforcer. Together they make brutality their trademark, butchering bodies or hurling them out the window. Under their reign, Hell's Kitchen becomes a place where death literally rains from the sky. But when Mickey goes down for a murder he didn't commit, he suspects his friend has sold him out. He returns the favor, breaking the underworld's code of silence and testifying against his gang in open court.

From one of the writers behind NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street comes an incredible true story of what it means to survive in the world of organized crime, where murder is commonplace.

©2006 T. J. English (P)2017 Tantor

incredible

one of the best accounts of old time gangs and gangsters I have ever read.

Fascinating!

The Irish were every bit as violent as their Italian counterparts, maybe even more so!

The Westies

thoroughly researched and comprehensive account of a remarkable period in the history of crime in NTC

I enjoyed it alot it if you are from NYC

It ls a must read or listen too. If you are from NYC you will enjoy how describe Hells Kitchen past and what it become today

Documentary that reads like a novel.

This history of Hell's Kitchen and the Irish immigrants that formed an organized crime dynasty is well told, with great detail, and without politicization. The reader can form their own opinions as the events unfold. I especially like the follow up at the end that gives the reader closure on the participants.