The Westies, T. J. English
The Westies, T. J. English
12 Rating(s)
List: $20.99 | Sale: $14.70
Club: $10.49

The Westies
Inside New York's Irish Mob

Author: T. J. English

Narrator: James Anderson Foster

Unabridged: 13 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/20/2017


Synopsis

It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. In the mid-1970s, these two longtime friends take the reins of New York's Irish mob, using brute force to give it hitherto unthinkable power. Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. Mickey, whose memories of Vietnam torture him daily, is his enforcer. Together they make brutality their trademark, butchering bodies or hurling them out the window. Under their reign, Hell's Kitchen becomes a place where death literally rains from the sky. But when Mickey goes down for a murder he didn't commit, he suspects his friend has sold him out. He returns the favor, breaking the underworld's code of silence and testifying against his gang in open court.

From one of the writers behind NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street comes an incredible true story of what it means to survive in the world of organized crime, where murder is commonplace.

About T. J. English

T. J. English is a noted journalist, a screenwriter, and the author of the New York Times bestsellers Havana Nocturne and The Savage City, as well as the Irish Mob Trilogy that includes The Westies, Paddy Whacked, and Where the Bodies Were Buried, which was nominated for an Edgar Award. He lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nancy on May 16, 2008

I first became interested in The Westies when I saw a program called "True Crime" on the History Channel. That particular episode was about the Westies and I was somewhat glued to my television (which is very rare ... usually I don't even turn the thing on any more). But this particular episode's st......more

Goodreads review by Patrick on February 09, 2017

New York Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob: murder, mayhem, extortion, drug abuse, sociopaths, and body dismemberment - what's not to like?......more

Goodreads review by Hans on September 02, 2018

Regardless of what some of the reviewers have written I found this to be a thoroughly riveting book, putting into good honest prose something which has in the past been sensationalised on celluloid and "pulp" type detective novels. Nowhere do we find the kind compassionate killer who cold bloodedly......more

Goodreads review by David on May 14, 2023

Probably the largest cast of characters I've ever had to wade through in a true crime book to get to the main event (more names and maps than Lord of the Rings up in this piece), but luckily they start killing each other and whittle down the roster relatively quickly. Also probably the most gruesome......more

Goodreads review by Tamara on August 20, 2018

Growing up hearing stories of Coonan and Spillane's conflict and the crazy days of Hell's Kitchen, this was a great book to find some well researched details on the legends I have often heard. It felt like the kind of book it is, a story pulled together from records and court documents, which don't......more