Privacy Policy. [2] His conviction eventually came in February 1982, after using counterfeit currency at a massage parlor - he was traced because the girl remembered seeing his name tattooed on his forearm, and he was sentenced to six years. The Westies: Inside the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob - amazon.com Kevin Kelly (Westies), Anthony Senter (DeMeo crew), Carmine "The Snake" Persico (Boss of the Colombo Crime Family) Michael "Mickey Boy" Paradiso ( Gambino Crime Family Capo). Dose anyone know what Micky looks like now? Kevin Kelly effectively took over the day to day running of the Westies when Jimmy Coonan moved to New Jersey. Updated: Nov. 17, 2021 Francis T. "Mickey" Featherstone (born September 2, 1948) is a former Irish American mobster and member of the Westies, an organized crime syndicate from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan in New York City, led by James Coonan. Authorities said Leone was a loanshark and a bookie who created no-show jobs and took kickbacks from dockworkers on the Hudson River piers that border the Irish gang's territory in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan's West Side. On April 25, 1985, 41-year-old Holly was walking down a New York street when a man stepped out of a car and shot him five times, using a gun with a silencer. Irish mobster Danny Greene took on the Cleveland Mafia. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. In late November, McElroy and Kelly also paid a visit to their leader, Morgenthau said. Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. Mickey Featherstone is an American Criminal. He volunteered for combat in Vietnam and would claim he spent time killing with the Special Forces. Defense Lawyers' Complaints. There were witnesses to the shooting, all of whom described the shooter as a man fitting Featherstones description. From a New York Times-bestselling author: A true story of Irish gangsters in Manhattan--"A harrowing account of big city crime" (Library Journal). Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang. Law enforcement attributed at least 30 unsolved murders to the gang and the innocuous-looking Mickey Featherstone was recognized as one of their most vicious members. According to our records, Mickey Featherstone is possibly single. Featherstone and Coonan had a falling out over the latter's alliance with the Gambino crime family, which Featherstone saw as a betrayal of all the Irish-Americans in Hell's Kitchen. Francis Mickey Featherstone was born on West 43rd Street on Sept. 2, 1948. Support The National Registry of Exonerations , The Contribution of Forensic and Expert Evidence to DNA Exoneration Cases, Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States, 2022, Government Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent, Witness Recantations: Preliminary Findings, May 2013, Exonerations in the United States: 1989 - 2012, Tell us about an Exoneration that we missed, Tell Login He had a low boiling point to start with and if alcohol was involved, and it often was, Mickey had the potential to explode. The shooter, Featherstone learned, was Billy Bokun. In neighborhood saloons, Featherstones paranoia and violence kept pace with his level of inebriation, but he largely managed to evade consequences for his violent escapades. Francis (Mickey) Featherstone, an admitted killer who turned informer, has won his freedom, largely in return for testifying against his former associates in a violent gang called the Westies. We start getting into the deep water on talking about the Westies and their activities in the late 1970's early 1980's. Congrats to him for being the first multi-million dollar illiterate trader. 2 mo. Public DomainGambino boss Paul Castellano. Then in April 1985, he was shot and killed on a New York City street by a man using a silencer. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. But the Westies eventual downfall would come thanks to Mickey Featherstone himself, after he was framed for the murder of Michael Holly by Coonan in 1985. [1] Rather than serving his sentence he instead told prosecutors that Bokun had committed the murder, and he became an informant. Until his release last week, Mr. Featherstone had been held in custody on his racketeering charge and for a parole violation involving his earlier conviction in a counterfeiting case. The ruthless reputation of the gang came to the notice of the Gambino family, and boss Paul Castellano, who summoned Coonan and Featherstone to a meeting in a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn restaurant in 1978. After his conviction, Featherstone quickly concluded that Westies members and Kenneth Aronson had colluded to set him up to take the fall for Hollys murder. He made it clear that he is not in it for the money but to let the public be aware of the TRUTH and most of all how he was framed by his lawyers, the westies, friends, and the NYPD for the Holly Killing. Mickey Featherstone news, gossip, photos of Mickey Featherstone, biography, Mickey Featherstone girlfriend list 2022. He is famous for Irish American mobster and Vietnam Vet. 44. r/Mafia. Featherstone was born on West 43rd St.,[1] one of nine children. Featherstone was linked by two eyewitnesses, as well as circumstantial evidence, as the car driven by the shooter was traced to the trucking company where Featherstone was employed. Nevertheless, his temper was infamous and if alcohol was involved, he was especially prone to violence. Shes the 2nd from the right, looks just like him. Morgenthau said in their heyday there were 30 Westies, but that number has been reduced to 10 or 15 as many of them have been jailed or killed. The DEA ranks him as one of the top 10 drug traffickers in US history. She said the Government explained the scope and value of his cooperation, along with the severity of his offense. We have no records . He has since been living in anonymity in the federal witness protection program. Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory. It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. [3][4] He received a medical discharge in 1967 after just a year, claiming to have hallucinations. Aussie tourist 'very sorry' for drunken, nude rampage in Indonesia. The Westies, now officially on record with the Italian American mob, were allowed to use the Gambino name and reputation, and construction profits would be shared, including those from the forthcoming Jacob Javits Convention Center. He has to be up there in age, 58 maybe, 60 maybe? Neil Patmore is a former police officer, and private investigator. Can you list the top facts and stats about Mickey Featherstone? ', Asked if she was a member of the Westies, he responded, 'She's hardly a member of anything at all.'. ''This sentence is an act of trust which you have earned,'' the judge told Mr. Featherstone. The shooter, Featherstone had learned, was William Billy Bokun, the brother of Hollys alleged victim, John Bokun. He would act out frequently while in the hospitals, leading to him being restrained and injected with thorazine. Public DomainJimmy Coonan, the ruthless leader of the Westies in the 1970s. In April 1986, Featherstone was convicted of Hollys murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Kevin Kelly - The Irish Mob April 28 (UPI) -- A British piercing enthusiast broke his own Guinness World Record when the number of flesh tunnels in his face increased to 17. Mickey Featherstones Oldest Son Was in Kuwait before 9/11 and is now married to a School Teacher, His 2nd son Just received a Medal of Bravery from the armey his oldest daughter is married and has her own business and his youngest daughter is in college on a Athletic Schollarship. As a freelance writer, he spends his time writing about true crime. But now, Coonan realized he could kill two birds with one stone. Morgethau said the gang began as gamblers and loansharks but have committed 28 murders, five of which have been solved. He was in the westies but went into witness protection in the 80s or 90s. [2] The police suspected him of a series of mob contract killings. Coonan held Holly responsible for Bokuns death, but his murder was repeatedly put off over the years. Mickey looks like a piece of shit, as always. Featherstone's penchant for violence and intimidation caught the eye of Coonan and Featherstone became Coonan's right-hand man by 1976. He never saw combat. By the late 1970s, the Westies had also become an enforcement arm of the equally feared Gambino family, carrying out assigned executions and sharing in weekly profits. Outside the courtroom, Coonan's lawyer Lawrence Hochheiser said, 'She's a housewife her only crime is being his wife.' The became hired killers in the 1970s, authorities said. [4] Mickey Spillane, the mob leader in Hell's Kitchen at the time, was shot five times outside his apartment in August 1977, and Featherstone was arrested but acquitted for his killing. Prior to the murder of Michael Holly, Featherstone had been charged with at least three other murders, but each time he had entered pleas of insanity and was acquitted. Feather stone was CONVICTED of murder in 86 so he was off the street minimum in 1985 in which Alite was 23 a steroid pimple faced wannabee in Queens and mixing with guys in Manhattans Hell's Kitchen? Francis Mickey Featherstone, a leader of New York Citys Irish organized crime gang known as the Westies, was set up by other members of the gang to take the fall for the 1985 murder of Michael Holly. After effectively destroying the Irish mob in Manhattan, 38-year-old Mickey Featherstone entered the witness protection program and has lived under the radar ever since. Some of the loons that the boards attract never cease to amaze me. The following day, Featherstone was arrested and eventually charged with Hollys murder one of the few murders he, ironically, didnt commit. Judge Sweet said at the sentencing of Mr. Featherstone that the sentence involved an effort to balance ''a violent past, a redemptive present and an uncertain future. Featherstone concluded that Coonan and other Westies members had set him up for Hollys murder. Morgenthau said the gang thought Leone 'manipulated the reporting of sports bets and deprived the Westies and the Gambinos of their share in the proceeds.'. Mickey Featherstone was second-in-command to Jimmy Coonan, leader of the Westies, an extremely violent Irish mob that operated in Hells Kitchen, Manhattan, in the 1970s and 1980s. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. [1][2] He began spending time in saloons like Club 596 and Sunbrite that were hangouts for the Westies.[2]. April 28 (UPI) -- A South Carolina woman won a $300,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket just three years after winning a $250,000 lottery jackpot. Reality of Hell's Kitchen Is Playwright's Material He also said he'd been ordered to carry out the murder in a wig, which he believed was meant to make him look like Mickey. When Steins torso washed up a few days later, a member of the gang was overheard saying we should have cut the lungs open according to the Associated Press. The Westies reign of terror was largely built on the back of, The Westies, a gang long known to law enforcement officials, if not to the public, as one of the most savage organizations in the long history of New York gangs. The End of The Westies - The Irish Mob to add information, pictures and relationships, join in discussions and get credit for your contributions.