I have a question...who's interested in reading about New York’s Irish Mob?

I am not talking about guys like the legendary Vincent (Mad Dog) Coll, or has-beens like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone of the 1980s “Westies.”

I’m talking the “true” Irish Mob, the fellas who operated from their headquarters all along Manhattan’s Westside, from the West Village through “Hells Kitchen” to the Upper West Side…The old “Arsenal Gang,” comprised of Irish toughs like Eddie McGrath and “Cockeye” Dunn.

I ask because I'm considering resurrecting a project I started awhile back about the Irish “Mafia” that held a bloody grip over New York and New Jersey for nearly 80 years, from the 1910s up through the 1970s.

Thoughts?....

Owney Madden.

Yep. He was of English/Irish heritage if memory serves me. Owney also operated around that area, but I don't believe he was actually a part of "The Arsenal Gang, or their "Irish" crew, per se.

I wanna say he ran his own gang. But being of that heritage, I'm sure they all knew one another and worked together on occasion.

I think he was actually born in England. But I do think he was of Irish ancestry.

a welshman i think, an organized crime rarity.

I remember Joe Coffey saying that his father was a union official and and when he was a kid, they took a few shots at the family's apartment, and his mother called Mcgrath in Florida and the hit on his father was called off...

He said from that day on, he wanted to go after O.C.

I would love to read about them. Totally underrated in some ways. I think that's because they weren't included in the NCS.

He did an interview with his son and talked about that. I'm pretty sure it's on YouTube.

Chicago's "Curly" Humphreys was welsh I think you mixed them up.

Owen Madden was born at 25 Somerset St., in Leeds, England, on Dec. 25, 1891. His parents Francis and Mary (O’Neil), were also Leeds natives, but the search for work moved the family first to Wigan, then to Liverpool. Francis Madden had planned to take his family to the United States, but died when Owen, or "Owney," as he was called, was still an infant.

I remember watching Joe Coffey on a TV show about the mob when he recited that story....And as you mentioned, that became the impetus for him later going in law enforcement...and going after the mob.

Good info Hollander.

I'm glad to hear that Nitro. I agree with you. With the exception of the Whitey Bulger Gang in Boston, Danny Greene in Cleveland, and The Westies, of 1970s-80s Manhattan, the Irish mob never really gets enough play.

I'm gonna see what I can do to remedy that a bit. Let's see what I can put together for us.

I agree. During the late 19th and early 20th century there was a connection between Chicago's City Hall (which was controlled by the Irish mob at the time) and NY's Tammany Hall. So there must've been some type of Irish organization in the Big Apple too.

Without a doubt.

good catch ny mafia i did indeed cross the 2 up.

Thanks Vito...But as you know, we support one another here, and it's the total group effort that makes this forum as good as it is.

For those of you who are waiting for the Irish Mob story I promised you, don't worry, ok? Because I didn't forget about you. I just want you to know that. I promised this to you and I'm a man of my word.

To the contrary, we've got an ass-kicking storyline I'm still working on as well as a massive one-of-a-kind hierarchy chart (almost completed) thats chock-fill with hundreds of Irish hoodlums and dozens of their mugshots and photos depicting New York City's Irish Mafia....

The main reason we haven't released this yet has to do with specialty features we'd like for the design and layout of the chart and photo gallery. As you're probably aware, ButtonGuys of The New York Mafia is currently under major construction, expansion and redesign.

So we've decided to wait until the relaunch to post up the "Irish Mob" story and some other cool pieces we have for you. After all, if we're gonna do it, we wanna do it right, ok folks?

But have no fear....cause ButtonGuys is here! lol

The Irish Mob was a very important segment of the American underworld. Because, aside from Italian hoods who've become synonymous with organized crime over the years. Truth be told, the Irish were major forces in their own right.

There were, in fact, many very tough Irish hoodlums. Many accomplished Irish hoodlums. Much more than is generally known. In certain major cities there were also large "Irish Mobs" that rivaled the Mafia. A perfect example being right here in New York City.

When I get through with this project and it's complete, I think many readers will marvel at the strength of the Irish Mob and the depth of its players "bench."

Pegleg Lonergan and the White Hand controlled the Brooklyn Waterfront a hundred years ago. They had a long war with Frankie Yale, while Capone was still working for him. Eventually Yale was able to wrest control after Lonergan was killed as a victim of the Adonis Club massacre on 20th St near 3rd Ave in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Yep. The Irish, as we know, had come to America years before, decades before, the Italians, or the Jews, for that matter. And they were strong...no doubt about that.

What I've researched and put together is they're "crew," from the early 1910s, right up through the 1970s. They may have started out as rivals, but eventually, the Italians and the Irish worked side-by-side, if not, hand-in-hand, controlling the NY/NJ waterfront, docks, trucking, labor unions, and a host of other rackets.

CNote, all I can say is, if you like reading about Irish gangland history....then wait til' you see the extensive crew of theirs I was able to dig up and compose a hierarchy chart for. I actually surprised myself when I realized the size and breadth of it. lol

...You're gonna have a party. lol