The Irish Mob | Dublin | New York | Chicago | Boston - English

The Irish Mob is a website dedicated to tracking the history of organized crime, gangsters, mobsters, bootleggers, gun moll’s, showgirls and more. The majority of the stories published on this website are about the people, places and things connected to The Irish Mob from the Gangs of New York Era through the Prohibition Era right up to recent times.

So what is Charles “Lucky” Luciano doing with three Irish Hoods? In 1926 they were all brought in for questioning for Felonious Assault. What it was in connection with was an attempted robbery of Charles Haffman & Albert Levy. The Line up was Eddie Diamond, Jack “Legs” Diamond, Thomas “Fatty” Walsh & Charles “Lucky” Luciano.

What Is The Irish Mob?

The Irish Mob is the oldest organized crime group in the United States, in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish American street gangs—depicted in Herbert Asbury’s 1928 book The Gangs of New York—the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. cities, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Wikipedia

The Latest Stories

“Dapper Dan” McCarthy – Union Racketeer

by Owen Forsyth

"Dapper Dan" McCarthy was one of Dean O’Banions North Side gangsters, along with other such notorious names as Hymie Weiss, "Schemer" Drucci, “Bugs” Moran, "Nails" Morton & Louis “Two Gun” Altierre. Sometimes known as Handsome Dan McCarthy, "Dapper Dan" was mainly...

Kevin Kelly

by Owen Forsyth

Kevin Kelly was a member of the Westies who joined the gang in the late 1970's. He worked his way up through the ranks of the gang, starting off as an enforcer and debt collector. He would be used by the older members as muscle to collect their loans. In one instance...

The Fall of “Wild” Bill Lovett

by Owen Forsyth

After Bill Lovett had begun to clean house, taking out or removing the previous White Hand Gang leader's loyalists through a series of murders, shootings and stabbings. But none of it went opposed, Dinny Meehan the previous leader and Garry Barry still had friends...

Jacob Riis – Photographed The Gangs of New York

Jacob Riis was born in Denmark in 1849 and emigrated to the US in the 1870's, he was a pioneer in photography, a social reformer and journalist. He pioneered his use of photography and journalism to bring social changes in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where...

Thomas F. Byrnes – Head of the NYPD Detective Unit

Thomas F. Byrnes was an Irish-born NYPD officer, who served as head of the New York City Police Department detective department from 1880 until 1895. Byrnes gained national attention for his exploits and some credit him with the technique "The Third Degree" Born...

Monk Eastman From Public Enemy to National Hero

Edward "Monk" Eastman (1875 – 1920) was a New York gangster and founder of the Eastman Gang, which became one of the most powerful street gangs in New York City. Of course Monk Eastman wasn't Irish, he did live in a time when the Irish, Jews and Italians worked and...

The Whyos Gang

The Whyos Gang were a street gangs of New York, they were the city's dominant street gang during the mid-late 19th century. The gang controlled most of Manhattan from the late 1860s until the early 1890s. Consisting largely of criminals ranging from pickpockets to...

Lew Baker – The Man Who Shot Bill The Butcher

Lewis Baker was a patrolman in the New York Police Department who was employed as a "slugger" for Tammany Hall. He was involved in voter intimidation and election fraud during the 1840s and 1850s but he is mostly known as the man who shot & killed William "Bill...

Early Characters

The earliest recorded organised criminal gang in the United States was in 1825. They were based in one of the most notorious slums in the world at the time, The Five Points in New York’s Lower East Side.

Read about some of the craziest characters from the days of the Gangs of New York. People like Bill “The Butcher” Poole & John Morrissey, gangs like The Dead Rabbits, Whyos & Plug Uglies, places like Shang Drapers Dive Bar or Billy McGlory’s Armory Hall.

Prohibition Era

You will read about some of the most Notorious Names in Mob History on this website, Bosses, Hitmen and more. From New York to Chicago to Boston some of the biggest names all in one place.

Easy Money for Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll

With the police, media and his enemies all looking for him, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll had been hiding in Upstate New York, around Albany with rumors that he was working on an alliance with none other than Jack "Legs" Diamond, who himself had run into legal difficulties...

Red Kane kills the Yellow Kid in court – Egans Rats St. Louis

Red Kane or Thomas Kane as he was known as, was a leading figure in one of the most vindictive gang wars to have ever happened in St. Louis. Red Kane was sentenced to serve a 12 year term in prison for the murder of Fred “Yellow Kid” Mohrle, who Kane had shot and...

Mad Dog Coll v Borrelli

February 12, 1930, the Schultz-Coll war began with the shooting of Carmine Borelli, one of Dutch Schultz’s top lieutenants, and Mayme Layton aka Mary Smith, on Inwood Ave, the Bronx. Apparently Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll believed Borelli knew of Coll’s war plans against...

When They Tried To Whack Eddie Diamond

Legs Diamond had one soft spot in life, his brother Eddie. He would have sacrificed everything he owned to bring him back to health. Tuberculosis had ravaged Eddie as well as other members of his family. Eddie had been sent to various sanatorium to try get cured but...

John Patrick Looney

John Patrick Looney was a gangster in Rock Island, Illinois during the early 20th century. Looney served as the model for John Looney, a character in Max Allan Collins' graphic novel Road to Perdition. The character was renamed John Rooney and portrayed by Paul Newman...

Easy Money for Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll

The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties. The Prohibition Laws, the Eighteenth Amendment & Volstead Act, had just been passed banning the sale of alcohol across the United States but it was largely ignored in the cities, New York, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis etc.Before Prohibition...

Spike O’Donnell – The Southside O’Donnells

James Edward O’Donnell or better known as “Spike” O’Donnell he was born on November 29,1889, O’Donnell was one of the few gangsters from the Capone era to retire from the rackets, pioneer the Chicago paving of streets, maintain his political clout and die of natural...

Charlotte “Lottie” Kreisberger / Coll

The quintessential mob moll, a street wise German Jewish girl Lottie Kreisberger was first Vincent Coll's girlfriend and later wife. She channeled Mad Dog Coll's aggression to terrorize New York—from innocent bystanders to bosses like Owney Madden & Dutch Schultz....

Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll

Originally from Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland the Coll family emigrated in New York in 1909 Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll joined up with with Dutch Schultz‘s gang and quickly rose through the ranks; by the late 1920s, he was an enforcer and assassin for the gangster....

Prohibition Era

You will read about some of the most Notorious Names in Mob History on this website, Bosses, Hitmen and more. From New York to Chicago to Boston some of the biggest names all in one place.

Jimmy whacks Whitey Whitehead in the Plaka Bar

Harold "Whitey" Whitehead was a native of Queens but knew many of the Hell's Kitchen crowd, he was 38 years and had curly brown hair and by all accounts he was "an arrogant prick". Jimmy Coonan knew him from drinking in his 596 bar in Hell's Kitchen, in fact Whitey...

“Shanghai” Kelly’s Birthday Bash in the Barbary Coast

In the mid 1850's three ships sat stationary on San Francisco Bay with no crew on board. The captains of the ships had notoriously bad reputations, and the sailors around the town gave these captains a wide berth. The three captains desperate to get sailors onto their...

Ned Kelly – Bucket Head Ned – The Outback Outlaw

In a bit of a break we can have a look at Australia and one of the most famous gangsters / outlaw of them all Ned Kelly or Buckethead Ned. He was the son of Irish parents, his father Red Kelly had been a convict who had been sent to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in...

Easy Money for Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll

Legs Diamond & The Hotsy Totsy Club

After a shooting in Legs Diamond and his partner Charlie Entratta's speakeasy bar, The Hotsy Totsy Club at 1721 Broadway, between 54 & 55th Streets in New York City, where 1 died after being shot in the head and another died later in hospital after being shot...

Notorious Names

From tough guys like Pat Nee from Boston to Jimmy Coonan, Mickey Featherstone & The Westies gang all the way to the biggest name of them all James “Whitey” Bulger, who was Boss for more than 20 years and went on the run for a further 16.

About This Site

This website is for educational purposes only, all information is as reliable as the sources it came from and not presented as undeniable facts, just a resource for helping readers look into the history of the Irish Mob. All images belong to their respective owners. From time to time there will be graphic content, such as crime scene’s etc.

I am an amateur writer and I research these stories from various sources and try to put together some interesting articles as a hobby. I always did like the stories about the Mafia and eventually found my way into reading and learning about the Irish Mob, Whitey Bulger in particular and from there I started to learn about other characters and writing about them.