Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster (84 page)

Valachi, Joseph M.

Vale of Tears

Valley gang

Vanderbilt, Cornelius

Volstead, Andrew

Volstead Act;
See also
Prohibition

Walker, Jimmy

Betty Compton and

corruption revealed

elected NYC mayor

personality, style

resignation

Tammany Hall and

on Vincent Coll

Walker, William H.

Wallace, Danny

Walsh, Barney

Walsh, Daniel L.

Walsh, Hoggy

Walsh, Tom “Fatty,”

Ward, Mikey

ward boss, defined

ward heelers, defined

Warren Commission

waterfront

commercial bounty

gangster control

hiring bosses

Irish-Italian battle for

jobs

tribute system

World War II boon

See also
Port of New York

Waterfront Hearings

Weeks, Kevin

Weinberg, George

Weiss, Hymie

West Side O’Donnells

West Virginia primary

Westies

dismemberment practice

end of

internal discontent

Mafia alliance sealed

membership

name origin

Paul Castellano and

reputation

RICO case against

women running

See also
Coonan, James Michael “Jimmy”; Featherstone, Mickey

Wheeler, Roger

Whelan, Grover

Whitehead, Harold “Whitey,”

Whyos

criminal activity

Danny Driscoll and

Danny Lyons and

leaders

members

name origin

politicians benefiting from

prostitution ring

racketeering

Williams, Florence

Winchell, Walter

Winter, Howie

aligning Mullin/Winter Hill gangs

put away

race-fixing scheme

reputation

taking over Winter Hill Gang

Winter Hill Gang

Buddy McLean and

Bulger becomes boss

Charlestown boys war

Frank Benjamin killing

Hughes brothers and

McLaughlin brothers and

race-fixing scheme

See also
Bulger, James “Whitey”

Witness Protection Program

Wojciechowsky, Earl.
See
Weiss, Hymie Wolf, Mark L.

Wolf Hearings

Women’s Christian Temperance Union

World Jai Alai (WJA)

Young Democracy

Zicardi, Eli

About the Author

T.J. English is a noted journalist, screenwriter, and author of two previous books:
The Westies,
a national bestseller and
New York Times
Notable Book, and
Born to Kill,
which was nominated for an Edgar Award. A former writer for
Irish America Magazine,
English has also been published in
Esquire, Playboy,
and
New York
magazines. He lives in New York City.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Praise
for
Paddy Whacked

“An intense, erudite and yet sometimes horrifying account of violent Celtic criminals who make the Dead End Kids look like choirboys.”

—Publishers Weekly

“An admirable counterweight to the bullet-splattered romances of Mafia Lit…. Very entertaining.”

—Chicago Sun-Times

“At once a brilliant social history, a startling examination of the dark side of the American Dream, and a great rip-roaring yarn spun by a master storyteller…. English’s feat of tying it all together is nothing short of a literary triumph.”

—Thomas Kelly, author of
The Rackets
and
Empire Rising

“Entertaining…compelling…memorable…ambitious and rewarding.”

—New York Sun

“A riveting history of Irish thug life inextricably linked to some of America’s most cherished institutions.”

—Michael Patrick MacDonald, author of
All Souls: A Family Story from Southie

“The audacious, violent Irish American gangsters in these pages are fascinating, and the great revelation that unfolds here is their staying power.”

—Vincent Patrick, author of
The Pope of Greenwich Village
and
Family Business

“A fascinating combination of biography, ethnography, and social history…compelling, honest, startling.”

—Richmond Times-Dispatch

Copyright

PADDY WHACKED
. Copyright © 2005 by T.J. English. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition © AUGUST 2007 ISBN: 9780061868153

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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1.
In 1832 thousands of New Yorkers died during a cholera epidemic; the disease spread especially rapidly in tenement districts like Five Points, where outhouses and water wells were located far too close together. Cholera is a bacterial infection that spreads primarily through water contaminated by feces. Symptoms include a hellish fever and rice-like diarrhea in which the “rice” is, in fact, the interior lining of the victim’s colon flaking away. The result can be a slow and hideous death. (For an incisive overview of living conditions in Five Points and of the era in general see
Five Points
by Tyler Anbinder.)

2.
The author is indebted to Daniel Cassidy, head of the Irish Studies Program at the New College of California, for the Gaelic translations of gang monikers and terms in this book. As part of a study on early Irish gangs, Cassidy has undertaken the sizable task of translating
The Secret Language of Crime: The Rogue’s Lexicon
by George W. Matsell, Special Justice and Chief of the New York Police, first published in 1859.

3.
Another female gang member who rivaled Hellcat Maggie for notoriety was Sadie the Goat, so named for her head-butting proclivities. A member and eventually commander of the Charleton Street Gang, Sadie was best known for having had her ear chewed off in a fight with an Englishwoman, Gallus Mag, proprietor of the Hole-in-the-Wall bar. Sadie’s ear was later returned to her, and she kept it with her in a locket she wore around her neck at all times.

4.
As with most boxers, Old Smoke Morrissey did not stick to his pledge to retire. He fought one more time, a much-ballyhooed bout against John C. Heenan, held at Long Point, Canada in October 1858. Morrissey, true to form, was knocked down in this fight but came back to knock Heenan unconscious, winning the bout in twenty-two minutes for a side bet of $5,000. After the bout, he retired a second time and stuck to it, never fighting professionally again.

5.
William Poole was the basis for the character of Bill “the Butcher” Cutting, as portrayed so vividly by actor Daniel Day Lewis in the movie
Gangs of New York
.

6.
The official casualty totals for the Dead Rabbits/Bowery Boys riot of 1857 were 12 killed and 37 wounded, but the
Times
estimated the actual numbers to be two or three times higher. It was widely rumored that the gangs had taken away their own dead and secretly buried them in alleyways and tenement basements.

7.
This list appeared in Herbert Asbury’s
The Gangs of New York
and has been reprinted in virtually every book ever written about nineteenth century crime in America. In recent years it has even been printed on the front of t-shirts sold at St. Mark’s Place novelty shops and elsewhere around the city of New York, part of the perverse and enduring legacy of the gangs.