The Westies
  • Published: 1 September 2008
  • ISBN: 9780553819564
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 544
  • RRP: $29.99

The Westies

Inside New York's Irish Mob

Formats & editions
EBook
14 Jan 2016
Paperback
17 Jan 2023
Paperback
1 Sep 2008
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First UK publication for this true crime classic about New York's notorious Irish mobsters.

Even among the Mob, the Westies were feared. Out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs - James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone - the gang dominated the decaying slice of New York City's West Side known as Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s and '80s. Excelling in extortion, numbers running, loansharking and drug-peddling, they became the most notorious gang in the history of organized crime. The then prosecutor Rudolf Giuliani called them 'the most savage organisation in the long history of New York street gangs'. Upping the ante on brutality and depravity, their speciality when it came to punishment and killings was dismemberment. Their reign lasted almost twenty - their end would come as their own violent natures got the best of them and precipitated a downfall as infamous as their rise. This revised and updated edition, brings the story of the Westies up to date with 'where are they now' snapshots of the men - and women - of the Westies.
  • Published: 1 September 2008
  • ISBN: 9780553819564
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 544
  • RRP: $29.99
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About the author

T.J. English

T.J. English is a noted journalist and screenwriter and the author of several books including The Havana Mob and Old Bones and Shallow Graves.

Also by T.J. English

The Savage City
The Havana Mob
See all

Praise for The Westies

A fast-moving tale of criminal corruption in which, for a change, the good guys win... English pulls no punches

LA DAILY NEWS

Sterling social history... the author's skillful reporting makes the most of his subject

NEW YORKER

Will shock even the most hardened readers

PLAYBOY

First-rate, dramatic and compelling

NEW YORK NEWSDAY

A fascinating look into an Irish-American criminal enterprise that may not have rivalled the Mafia in sophistication, but certainly surpassed them in terror

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Some very bad boys

NEW YORK MAGAZINE
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