Irish Mob

One among the earliest organized crime groups in the United States, the Irish Mob has been in existence since the early 19th century. The origin of this group may be traced to Irish American street gangs that were immortalized by author Herbert Asbury's 1926 book The Gangs of New York. The Irish Mob has appeared in most major American cities, including Boston, New York City, New Orleans, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Providence, Kansas City, St. Louis, Atlantic City, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Chicago. In Canada, the West End Gang of Montreal is a force in the city's underworld. Internationally, history of Irish gang activities could be traced in Irish, English and Scottish cities including London, Liverpool, Manchester, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.

Irish Mob and FBI

The FBI fell into controversy when its Boston office was largely infiltrated through corrupt federal agent John J. Connolly. Whitey Bulger was able to use his status as a government informant against his rivals that didn't become public knowledge as late as mid to late 1990s, which was the background of 2006 movie The Departed and also the book, Black Mass.

Some of the Irish mob gangs like 'The Westies' were quite notorious for causing mayhem on the streets of New York's Hell's Kitchen district. 'The Winter Hill Gang' from Boston's Northend led by Howie Winter was also quite dreaded. Whitey Bulger, one of the most dangerous mobsters to walk the streets of Boston, not only infiltrated the ranks of FBI, but is still at large and on the FBI's most wanted list. Jimmy Coonan the infamous leader of 'The Westies' as a teenager became legendary for having as a teenager stood at the top of a tenement building and fired indiscriminately at rival gang leader Mickey Spillane and his men. They were among the most feared criminal Irish men in America.

Origin of Irish Mob

When Irish immigrants arrived in American cities, they were neither quite welcomed nor did the cities have an infrastructure to take care of them. They fell back on tribal cohesiveness that had governed their rural communities in Ireland. That's how they addressed their problem which partly took care of their survival needs. While the Irish new comers did not have status, they compensated the lack of it through the numbers that worked to their advantage. This allowed them to focus their power on a political level, almost exclusively through Democratic Party. The resulting political organizations were America's first political machines - organizations that used tight community organization to take power over local government and then used government patronage to maintain their power.

Irish Dominance in Building Trades

The Tammany machine in New York was the prototype of this style of politics. Bosses Tweed and Croker oversaw tightly controlled organizations that offered favors - food, clothing, social services - in exchange for votes. Once in power, they exchanged jobs for kick backs. The patronage jobs were largely in law enforcement and construction, which contributed to Irish dominance in building trades. It was during this period that the stereotype of Irish police officer became popular. The machine organizations were undeniably corrupt, but they did provide the services to the immigrant communities that they would not have had otherwise.

Irish Mob - an alternative path

While some immigrants responded to their tough conditions by becoming cops, others chose an alternative path. The Irish mob sought to make money from the chaos of the United States' fast growing cities. The Irish relied on old tradition of family and community loyalty as well as a tradition of rural terrorism. Irish mobsters organized gambling, prostitution and protection rackets in urban immigrant communities.

The Irish mob families never achieved great success but they did manage to survive well into the twentieth century. The Irish mob operated alongside the Mafia in several cities, notably Boston and Chicago. Many of them were active rumrunners during Prohibition.

The progressive gentrification of the Irish immigrant community, however, tended to undercut the appeal of crime. As more and more Irish families moved into the middle class, the gangsters lost the support network and opportunities offered by an insular immigrant community. Once second and third generation Irish-Americans found that they could go to college and become professionals, the power of the mob began to die out