Customer Reviews

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First lets get one thing straight. The movie and book "Sleepers" has been proven to be fiction with a little bit of fact mixed in. Those two criminals in it were based on a composite of other Westies. This book is the real deal. It tells the frightening story of one of the most vicious group of thugs who ever walked the streets of New York (the other being the infamous DeMeo crew- see the book "Murder Machine"). The only fault I have with this book is that the author sanitizes Mickey Featherstone a little too much. Retired Detective Joe Coffey who busted Featherstone said it best about him on 60 Minutes "You wouldn't want to get into an argument with him (Featherstone) over a parking space." As other reviewers have previously mentioned, the Westies (and that was never really their name - they were known as the Coonan Crew) were long on muscle and short on brains and too many of them wound up as drunken drug addicts. They also lacked the organization and the tradition that the Italian mob families had - which helped lead to their early demise. This book is a great companion book to the previously mentioned "Murder Machine" as there are a cross over of many of the characters from one book to the other. Roy DeMeo like Jimmy Coonan and Coonan's feared sidekick Eddie "the Butcher" Cummiskey, specialized in dismembering the corpses of people who ran afoul of him. It was DeMeo who negotiated the alliance between the Westies and the Gambino's. English doesn't go to far into the Coonan-DeMeo relationship though only to refer to him as "a feared mafia enforcer." The story of the meeting in Brooklyn's "Tomasso Restaurant" between Paul Costellano and his goombahs and Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone as told in both this book and "Murder Machine" would be hysterical if it wasn't so murderously serious. A great read for a rainy Saturday morning and for people with strong stomachs.

Those who get a little too wrapped up in "The Sopranos" should read books like "The Westies" every now and then just to remind them of what havoc real life organized crime can inflict. The book chronicles the rise and fall of the Irish gang of the same name that was every bit as bloodthirsty as John Gotti's more famous crew. The gang occupied New York City's since regentrified Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. Mystery author Lawrence Block effectively used the Westies lore in creating the character Mickey Ballou in the Matthew Scudder private detective series. The fictional Ballou could be Jimmy Coonan or Mickey Featherstone, the real life chieftans of the gang, who were known for dismembering victims and dumping their bodies in the East River.

"The Westies" is a brutally violent story and one that makes good reading for anyone who likes real life organized crime stories. The prose and the reporting are a cut above average for this type of book.

T. J. English did a great job of packing 20 years or so of the escapades of a bunch of West Side psychopaths into this book, and bringing it all to a head with their 1987-88 RICO trial. Throw in just enough Hell's Kitchen background from the late 1800's to the 1960's to give one a sense of place, a smattering of contemporary Italian mob activity for perspective, a broad brush sweep of what was happening on the law enforcement side of the Westies' activities, numerous gangster "war" stories, a chapter or two from the criminal lawyers' point of view, even a street map of landmarks from the book, and you've got a mighty fine true-crime read. Sure, some of the stories may be somewhat exaggerated - or even complete fiction - since apparently the lion's share of the book is based on Mickey Featherstone's recollection and testimony, but English doesn't shy away from letting the reader know about Featherstone's proclivity for telling tall tales and his sometimes tenuous touch with reality. It appears that the author took care to research and corroborate what he could. English tells a good story himself, and the tales he recounts have a realistic feel. The only way to improve the paperback version of this book would be to pack in more photos (there are about 20). But I'm not complaining. Read it and enjoy!

I found that this book has value not only as a True Crime text, but also from a sociological perspective. T.J. English gives a backround on the Hells Kitchen nieghborhood and the migrations that caused it to change for the worst. He is fair and unprejudiced, but that might result in the characters being sanitized.
The Westies were a brutal, violent gang, and of that there's no doubt. They dismembered corpses in the bathtub, burned buildings, threw people in the Hudson, among other things. They ran all sorts of criminal rackets in a nieghborhood where the Irish were actually a minority after WWII. By 1965, almost all the people there were Spanish-speaking.
The Westies were full of muscle, but they lacked intelligence, which is why they were only a vassal of the Italian mob. Note the way they "forget" to check on their boss durring what could have been a rub-out. It was replayed in the movie "State of Grace," and while I found the 1990 film "State of Grace" to have been based on this book, I think "Ash Wednesday" is a much better period piece, set in the 1970's Hells Kitchen.
Those of you who want to learn more about crime, gangs, and ethnicity in New York should read this book. It's difficult to relate to because the nieghborhood isn't realy there anymore, replaced by new buildings (the Hells Kitchen locations for West Side Story were all torn down and replaced by Lincoln Center). But if you're looking for the origins of crime in a city (and its demise), this book is extensive, rock-solid and unbiased.

After fifteen years in publication this book "The Westies" still holds its power. I read it when it came out and was blown away. Reading it again years later I am still impressed with the intimacy and also the historical framework for the story. The book has aged like fine Irish whiskey. Combine"The Westies" together with "Paddy Whacked," another book by T.J. English, and you have the full story of the Irish American gangster that puts these TV shows like "Brotherhood" and "Black Donnellys" to shame.

This book may be the best true-life mob book ever written. No kidding. What makes it so amazing is that it is both intimate and epic -- intimate in its portrayal of the lives and emotions of Mickey Featherstone and the other main characters, and epic in the way it presents the history and sociaology of the neighborhood and city where they operated. This book reads like a great novel. T.J. English humanizes the story. It's as good or better than "The Sopranos."

Being the daughter of one of the characters in the book, I can honestly say that save for a very few technical errors and omissions, the book is totally in sync with the facts. An easy and fast read, I especially appreciated the inclusion of a broad overview of the history of Manhattan's West Side Mafia. T.J. English is to be praised for his thorough research and accuracy. I also laud him for an objectivity rare to be seen anywhere in journalism, written or otherwise. I take this opportunity to thank him for a job well done, as well as reconfirming to me some positive traits about my father, which are a comfort to me now that he's passed on.

I think the book is really interesting reading. It keeps you really involved in the Irish Mob (Westies) One of the reasons I think that it kept me really involved is because I can relate to the book since I am from Hell's Kitchen as a little boy and my family is mentioned in the book on how they killed my dad. It is very sad but true. These guys who were doing the killings all deserve the death penaltly.

This book is Unbelievable! The things that go on and how they've been researched is amazing. T.J. English does a great job of making you seem that you've known these guys for years. The crimes and murders are so insane that you might not believe they even happened. You think the "Mafia" is tough? Read about these guys, it will absolutely blow your mind how these New York west side kids grew up, survived and eventually controlled half of the greatest city in the world.

This book is a very exciting story to read. Really enjoyable story and well written.

However, some of the info on the Gambino family is wrong. Nino Gaggi's age is off by about 15 years. Roy Demeo was a Soldier and not a Capo. Danny Grillo was not a made guy, only an associate. Paul Castellano was not Carlo Gambino's nephew, he was his brother-in-law and cousin.

These are easily verifiable, known to everyone tidbits that were wrong. Why do all the research for a non-fiction book and then get sloppy with the little stuff? It calls into question the accuracy of the entire book.