I read the book rogue mobster by mark silverman who claimed to be a winterhill gang somerville faction associate through his fathers connections to joe and leo mcdonald. In the book he says winterhill split into 2 fractions (somerville/southie) and joe donahue became boss/acting boss of the somerville faction, replacing joe mcdonald when he went into semi retirement. He even says while whitey was around the two factions had an uneasy relationship and were operating as seperate entities. The writer makes joe donahue out to be a very dangerous and feared. Having zero fear of whitey. More of a cautious, not to be trusted opinion of whitey. Saying the somerville factions policy towards southie and whitey was not to interact with him unless absolutely necessary.