The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob

Even among the Mob the Westies were feared. Out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone the gang rose out of the inferno of Hells Kitchen a decaying tenderloin slice of New York Citys West Side. They became the most notorious gang in the history of organized crime excelling in extortion numbers running loansharking and drug peddling. Upping the ante on depravity their specialty was execution by dismemberment. Though never numbering more than a dozen members their reign lasted for almost twenty years-until their own violent natures got the best of them precipitating a downfall that would become as infamous as their notorious ascension into the annals of crime.