Paddy Whacked - The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster (T.J. English, 2005)

This book turned out to be very interesting, and not only because it discussed my wife's grandfather's gangster behaviors (he's shown below on a page with his business competitor, Al Capone). It's helpful in understanding how the Irish came to be disproportionately represented in politics, police and fire departments, etc., which in turn helps explain how in the 20th century it came to be "cool" to be considered Irish, why St. Patrick's day became a big deal in the U.S., ensuing marketing and merchandising, etc. (I've actually wondered about this ever since attending ND.)

Anyway, my take is that the Irish arrived in the U.S. in the wake of the potato famine at a time when the major urban centers were growing to critical mass along the size parameters with which we're familiar today. The author explains that many of the Irish were used to organizing underground in relation to their English overlords, and transferred this skill set to the U.S. Overt vote-buying via taking care of neighborhoods; ability to run criminal enterprises by the critical combination of controlling key politicians, police and judges.

The Italians came along and eventually took over the criminal side of things, but deferred to the Irish as a practical matter in controlling government and political posts. The Irish had demonstrated great skill in this - plus they spoke English much better.

One element is the high degree of prejudice that the Irish experienced - which is interesting to think about in light of current immigrant issues. The prejudice caused them to band together, and also freed them to pursue activities that were, let's say, outside the mainstream.

It seems that these groups were incredibly effective at running criminal activities, including a very high (and increasingly public) level of "vice" activities that were being gotten away with (because of paid-off cops and judges). This led to a backlash - various anti-corruption efforts culminating in Prohibition in 1919. Which completely backfired.

I didn't really think of how Prohibition gave these gangsters access to the really big money. Overnight, a product with national demand was outlawed. Who better to fill the demand than the only well-organized criminal gangs? It seems that Prohibition gave the groups a scope and cash-generating capability that would have been beyond their imaginations a few years earlier. In turn this led to more aggressive warfare among gangs.

This was the period in which Spike O'Donnell turns up, fresh out of jail from a bank robbery in 1926 and instigator of beer wars for several years. Too bad, the author gives him little space in the book; describes Spike as "an established pick-pocket, burglar, labor slugger, and killer (he was twice tried for murder and accused of several others), Spike was also a religious man who rarely missed Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church." Also notes the usual, i.e. that he was the first target of a Thompson submachine gun (or "tommy gun") in the beer wars, favored polka-dot ties and a felt fedora, survived at least 10 attempts on his life, etc.

Anyway, it's all very interesting, including stories about how Joe Kennedy made stacks of money running booze in the Prohibition (and how this leads to the theory of mob involvement in the JFK assassination); how the phrase "slip a mickey" came out of Mickey Finn's place in Chicago, where folks were regularly robbed with this technique; how Hollywood glamorized the Irish gangster via stars like James Cagney; how "On the Waterfront" was based on a true story of corruption on the docks. Etc.