From a New York Times-bestselling author: A true story of Irish gangsters in Manhattan"A harrowing account of big city crime" (Library Journal). Despite a notably sweet and boyish face, Mickey Featherstone, a Vietnam veteran who had talked his way into the Green Berets at just seventeen years old, was known as one of the most vicious and ruthless members of the gang. Mickey Featherstone is an American Criminal. [1] He served in heavy combat and then as a stock clerk. 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. In the late 1970s, the Westies began collaborating with the Gambino family and its notorious Mafia, with the Westies functioning as an enforcer arm of the Gambino ring carrying out assigned executions and sharing in weekly profits. 2 mo. These convictions marked the demise of the reign of the Westies. Mickey, whose memories of Vietnam torture him daily, is his enforcer. 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. Who is he dating right now? The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. Judge Sweet stressed that Mr. Featherstone testified as a major witness in a trial that ended early this year in the conviction of seven members of the Westies, including James Coonan, the gang's leader, who received a sentence of 75 years in prison. Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory. Shout Box: Site Links >Help Page >More Smilies >GBB on Facebook >Job Saver >Godfather Website >Scarface Website 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. Irish mobster Danny Greene took on the Cleveland Mafia. Mickey Featherstone relationship list. It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. Can you list the top facts and stats about Mickey Featherstone? Feb 13, 2011 #28. It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. Mickey Featherstone, a short, slight 38-year-old with a blond mop and an almost-adolescent expression, had been charged with at least three other murders during the previous 17 years, but he was . Morgethau said the gang began as gamblers and loansharks but have committed 28 murders, five of which have been solved. He was blond haired and baby-faced. When someone laid eyes on him in person the reaction was usually disbelief, with his violent notoriety disproportionate to his small physical stature. Contract murders are a relatively new enterprise, they said. [1] Rather than serving his sentence he instead told prosecutors that Bokun had committed the murder, and he became an informant. He was born on the upper West Side and his mother worked with the VFW and his father was a U. S. Customs officer. Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang. On Dec. 21, he received a suspended sentence with five years of probation after Federal and state authorities sent letters commending his cooperation to Judge Robert W. Sweet, who sentenced him in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The following day, Featherstone was arrested and eventually charged with Hollys murder one of the few murders he, ironically, didnt commit. According to The National Registry of Exonerations, Francis "Mickey" Featherstone was a member of the violent Irish organized crime gang known as the Westies, who sought power in the underworld of New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood from the 1960s to the late '80s. Ron DeSantis and other officials . The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law. After his conviction was overturned, he struck a deal with the authorities to inform on his own organization. In the following decade, the Westies teamed up with the infamous Sicilian Mafia, becoming a militant arm of the Gambino family. He was a model prisoner, seen daily picking fine lint off of his perfectly made bunk to pass inspection, and starting arguments with others for not polishing their door frame brass. Defense Lawyers' Complaints. The three, James McElroy, 36, William Bokun, 29, and Kevin Kelly, 31, allegedly killed Leone in Guttenberg, N.J., on Feb. 11, 1984. 44. r/Mafia. Featherstone concluded that Coonan and other Westies members had set him up for Hollys murder. Federal officials said Friday that Mr. Featherstone was released from custody on Dec. 23, two days after he was given probation on a racketeering charge involving the Westies, a gang that terrorized an area of Manhattan west of Eighth Avenue between 42d and 57th Streets. It finally happened folks and it was a blast! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Featherstone, This week we finish up our series with Justin Rimmel from Mysterious Circumstances talking about the downfall of one of the most violent gangs in the history of NYC. Through his work in the Westies, Art secured Billy Beattie and another Westies member . Mickey looks like a piece of shit, as always. 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. [1] He spent time in a series of mental hospitals, being released in 1975. Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. 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. 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. Led by Jimmy Coonan and, From an introduction made by his long time friend Tom Sheer, Joe Poletto was introduced to Art Ruffles, special agent in charge of the FBIs organized crime unit in charge of the Gambino, DeMeo and Westies cases. Help us build our profile of Mickey Featherstone! DeSantis amid feud over self-governing privileges. The Westies reign of terror was largely built on the back of Featherstones ferocious reputation. In April 1986, Featherstone was convicted of Hollys murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. She was able to record Bokun describing the shooting of Michael Holly while wearing a wig as Featherstone. He has to be up there in age, 58 maybe, 60 maybe? Billy Bokuns attorney was Kenneth Aronson, the same attorney who had represented Featherstone in Hollys murder trial. 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. April 28 (UPI) -- Animal services officers in South Carolina responded to a home where a resident was shocked to find an alligator in his garage. It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said the gang was linked with the Gambino crime family, New York's strongest Mafia group, and served as 'hired guns' for the Gambinos, whose reputed leader, John Gotti, is standing trial in Brooklyn. Featherstone was convicted in 1986, but his conviction was reversed later that year when the actual shooter was identified. Mickey Featherstone news, gossip, photos of Mickey Featherstone, biography, Mickey Featherstone girlfriend list 2022. Wrongfully convicted of murder, Featherstone sought to clear his name by becoming a government witness. As they were interviewing employees, Mickey Featherstone walked right into their midst - short, slight and light-haired. Thanks to everyone who came out, we had a fantastic time. 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. Francis Mickey Featherstone was born on West 43rd Street on Sept. 2, 1948. 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. In late November, McElroy and Kelly also paid a visit to their leader, Morgenthau said. The shooter, Featherstone learned, was Billy Bokun. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This dichotomy was Mickey in essence. For more information, please see our Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. He had his wife Sissy record some conversations with Westie Billy Bokun, brother of John, in which he admitted to killing Holly. The Westies only numbered around 15 members, all Irish American, yet became the dominant criminal force in Hells Kitchen. Lol. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Micky and His Wife Missy are very happy living in a 2.5 millon home in Southwestern section of America where it seldom rains and almost never snows. TwitterFrancis T. Mickey Featherstone was a member of the Irish mob until he was framed for a murder he didnt commit and turned informant. 'They shared in the proceeds of gambling and loansharking on the West Side and they also have been used as hired guns for the Gambino family,' he said. After deciding to cooperate with the authorities, Mr. Featherstone pleaded guilty to a Federal racketeering charge, admitting his participation in four murders, five murder conspiracies and additional acts of loan-sharking, drug dealing and other crimes. No one couldve predicted that Featherstone, perhaps the gangs most violent and dedicated member, would be the one to put an end to the Westies, and perhaps the Irish mob in Manhattan, once and for all. [1] In September 1986, Judge Alvin Schlesinger overturned Featherstone's conviction. . Featherstone was born on West 43rd St.,[1] one of nine children. Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang. In 1977, a Westies member named John Bokun was shot and killed, and the Westies attributed this killing to Michael Holly, who moved out of town immediately after Bokuns death. Ron DeSantis for assailing Disney, which employees tens of thousands of their constituents, just to court MAGA voters. Those who knew Featherstone in the neighborhood often crossed the street when they saw him coming their way. 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. Witnesses described a man who looked a lot like Featherstone. After all, Featherstone had killed men in neighborhood bars in front of witnesses multiple times and beat the charges. [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. Relationship history. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. According to our records, Mickey Featherstone is possibly single. 'Fog of bees' briefly interrupts PGA Tour's Mexico Open. 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. His biological father is Jewish and mother Catholic. April 28 (UPI) -- An isolated private island off the coast of Scotland is for sale with an asking price of about $188,000. Thiscourtroom dramatells the story of ajury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of an 18-year old defendanton the basis ofreasonable do, Joe Poletto continues his conversation with Billy Beattie, founding member of the notorious Westies and Art Ruffles, FBI special agent in charge of the organized crime unit. Jimmy Coonan, the ruthless leader of the Westies in the 1970s. Even among his murderous peers, he was known as a brutal killer. The Westies have been linked with the Gambino crime family for the last eight to 10 years, Morgenthau said. Nevertheless, his temper was infamous and if alcohol was involved, he was especially prone to violence. We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. The evidence seemed overwhelming, and the next day Featherstone was booked. She was arrested Wednesday in her home in Hazlet, N.J. Three other members of the Irish gang were charged with carrying out the killing of Vincent Leone, 47, the recording secretary of Local 1909 of the International Longshoremen's Association. This book is a lot more focused on one man's role (Mickey Featherstone) in the Westies, rather than the Westies as a whole. He spent periods of time back in a mental hospital, but always returned to involvement with the Westies. ', Asked if she was a member of the Westies, he responded, 'She's hardly a member of anything at all.'. Coonan held Holly responsible for Bokuns death, but his murder was repeatedly put off over the years. April 28 (UPI) -- A Nebraska high school said it broke a Guinness World Record when more than 1,000 students participated in a water balloon toss event. More than 150 beverages delivered to woman's home without explanation. Francis "Mickey" Featherstone, a leader of New York City's 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. Public DomainJimmy Coonan (right) in a prison photo circa 1990. When Mickey returned to the notoriously violent, Irish dominated Hell's Kitchen area of New York, his violent tendencies continued. The Registry also maintains a more limited database of known exonerations prior to 1989. He volunteered for combat in Vietnam and would claim he spent time killing with the Special Forces. Westie members murdered and dismembered him in the back of Coonans bar, then threw his remains in the Hudson River. 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. Is he still alive? [1][2], When a group from New Jersey, called the Riley brothers, entered Hell's Kitchen a fight started with the outsiders. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. So she cant better her life due to her family history? Mickey Featherstone girlfriend, wife list. Mickey Featherstone was second-in-command to Jimmy Coonan, leader of the Westies, an extremely violent Irish mob that operated in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, in the 1970s and 1980s. All NRE reports represent a moment in time. Featherstone was convicted in 1986, but his conviction was reversed later that year when the actual shooter was identified. Grow up. Relationships. 501 1/2 43rd St. Mickey Featherstone, one of the most-feared Westies who had committed multiple murders before he even got into the gang, was raised in this building with nine brothers and sisters. 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. Chastising them for murdering two important Mafia loan sharks in Manhattan, Castellano told Coonan the Westies should pay the family 10 percent from all of their illegal proceeds and in turn, the Gambinos would finance the Westies loansharking operation. [3][4] He received a medical discharge in 1967 after just a year, claiming to have hallucinations. The DEA ranks him as one of the top 10 drug traffickers in US history. Coonan liked what he had seen from Featherstone, and recruited him as second in command, all while the Westies upped the violence, leaving behind a string of often dismembered corpses. Kelly is a fugitive who has been indicted for the attempted murder of a carpenter's union official. If it is the first time you login, a new account will be created automatically. In 1984 Vincent Leone, Jimmy McElroy and Kevin Kelly were travelling in Leone's car in New Jersey. S.C. woman wins $300,000 lottery prize -- her second jackpot in 3 years. For example, Featherstone got probation for shooting a man in the arm, and when he killed a man outside a bar in 1971, Featherstone beat the rap with an insanity plea. At first, it appeared that he had won. Kevin Kelly effectively took over the day to day running of the Westies when Jimmy Coonan moved to New Jersey. Aussie tourist 'very sorry' for drunken, nude rampage in Indonesia. '', ''During the 40 years of your life,'' Judge Sweet told Mr. Featherstone, ''you have experienced violence as a child, as a student in our city schools, as a soldier in Vietnam, as a criminal on the streets and as a killer and an enforcer of one of the most feared gangs in our city.'' Meet Mickey Featherstone, The Deranged Hitman Who Turned Informant And Helped Bring Down The Westies. Featherstone was stunned to finally be convicted of a murder, and not just because he had dodged so many guilty verdicts in the past. Mickey's trouble started in 1977 with the murder of a member of the Westies named John Bokun. Login Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang. He had been informed by Westies member Kevin Kelly the night before Hollys murder that Holly was going to be killed. It was very difficult for police and prosecutors to convict men associated with this group because witnesses were terrified of the members and their willingness to quickly kill anyone who crossed them. [2] He had blond hair and was often said to be baby-faced. Jimmy Coonan (right) in a prison photo circa 1990. #opensource #serverless. Shes the 2nd from the right, looks just like him. The became hired killers in the 1970s, authorities said. [2] His mother helped with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and his father was a United States Customs Service officer. 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. There were witnesses to the shooting, all of whom described the shooter as a man fitting Featherstones description. [1] He served in the Vietnam War as member of the Green Berets aged just 17 after lying about his age. With the new information provided by Featherstone in 1986, prosecutors were able to obtain indictments against eight members of the Westies, including leader Jimmy Coonan, and all but one were convicted. Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an . 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. However, Holly returned to New York City several years later. Put this image on your website to promote the show -, Report inappropriate content or request to remove this page. We start getting into the deep water on talking about the Westies and their activities in the late 1970's early 1980's. Thank you for helping to keep the podcast database up to date. Coonan's former underling, Francis 'Mickey' Featherstone, has pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge and is cooperating with authorities, leading to the recent spate of arrests. /r/Mafia features stories, interviews, documentary and news articles about organized crime around the world. Yet to those closest to him, Mickey was kind, devoted and generous to a fault. Mr. Featherstone also provided information in other investigations, and testified in the continuing trial of several men accused of committing murders and other racketeering acts as part of the Gambino crime family. There where a series of gruesome murders taking place in the neighborhood and Jimmy Coonan and, This week we are starting a multi-part series with Justin Rimmel of the Mysterious Circumstances Podcast to talk about one of the most violent, brutal crime organizations in New York City from the 60's-80's The Westies. April 28 (UPI) -- The PGA Tour's Mexico Open was briefly interrupted when a swarm of bees sent a group of golfers ducking in the grass. Outside the courtroom, Coonan's lawyer Lawrence Hochheiser said, 'She's a housewife her only crime is being his wife. They not only kill people they dismember them,' he said. According to our records, Mickey Featherstone is possibly single. Some of the loons that the boards attract never cease to amaze me. Anyone can read what you share. April 29 (UPI) -- An Australian tourist facing possible flogging after being accused of going on a drunken nude rampage in the Indonesian province of Ache says he felt "almost possessed" at the time. This pic is of edna. 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. 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. He went on trial with Coonan for the killing of a barman, but they were acquitted in December 1979 after one witness killed himself and another refused to testify. In May 1977, Jimmy Coonan owed a substantial amount of money to loan shark Ruby Stein and decided to forgive his own debt by murdering Stein. Mickey Featherstone was a complete nut case. McElroy and Bokun are in jail charged with other killings. It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. Mickey nolonger has bad nightmares and is FULLY RECOVERED and states his past is a blur. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Re: (Video) Mickey Featherstone - 60 Minutes Interview [ Re: ronnie_little ] #681434. Judge Sweet, noting that Mr. Featherstone had already served the equivalent of a five-year sentence on a murder charge that was later dismissed, said the probation on the racketeering charge included conditions that the defendant take part in counseling and rehabilitation programs. The Westies grew out of a Hell's Kitchen bootlegging mob formed by former Cotton Club owner Owen Madden, authorities said. They said that over the years it has been steeped in gambling and loansharking. Many people mistakenly underestimated Featherstone, given his small stature, making him even more dangerous. ''And he's in a pickle now where he has to lie.'' Mr. Moresco's own life is deeply enmeshed in that of the Hell's Kitchen where he grew up in. Connect any celebrity with Mickey Featherstone to see how closely they are linked romantically! He never saw combat. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. Cookie Notice 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
From a New York Times-bestselling author: A true story of Irish gangsters in Manhattan--"A harrowing account of big city crime" (Library Journal). 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. 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). Francis T. "Mickey" Featherstone 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. Nine gang members, including two of the three indicted Wednesday, are awaiting trial or serving prison terms. Left to Right. He was a house mom for his first couple of yrs in the WPP and he is now a day trader investing only personal funds. Then in April 1985, he was shot and killed on a New York City street by a man using a silencer. Alleged Westie's boss Jimmy Coonan, taken in 2015 in prison. They pulled over, either to do cocaine or because one of them asked him to. Back in Hells Kitchen, Featherstone soon found himself involved in more serious forms of criminal mischief. 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. Nicky Scarfo the former head of the Philadelphia crime family pictured in the late 80s, One of the most blood thirsty and paranoid bosses of his time. 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. His maniacal behavior also saw Featherstone spending parts of the early 1970s in various mental hospitals. 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? Florida Democrats skewered Gov. The title should be changed to 'The True Crime Classic About Mickey Featherstone's Time As Part Of New York's Notorious Irish Mob'. 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.
Parachute Ride Knott's Berry Farm,
Reborn As A Greek God Webnovel,
Poodle Bite Force,
Articles M