Irish Westies
The Westies were an Irish organized crime unit than ran the streets of the Hells Kitchen section on the West side of Manhattan. These Westies committed extortion, mail fraud, illegal gambling, drug dealing, loan sharking, kidnapping, attempted murder, and of course murder. Throughout the sixties, seventies, eighties, two young “Westies” named Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone rose to prominence in New York City. ... Coonan’s alliance with the Italians did not go over well in the dominant Irish neighborhood of Hells Kitchen. ... While the two members of the Westies were in prison, Coonan’s wife made the weekly rounds in Hells Kitchen. ... Since that day, the Intrepid became the Westies’ private treasure. The wives of the Westies worked as ticket takers. ... The “Westies” that once ruled the streets of Hells Kitchen now live a different lifestyle.