English, T. J. Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster. New York: Regan, 2006, 442 p.p
Throughout his career T.J English has written five books and a multitude of articles for the LA Times, The New York Times, Playboy, and a variety of other magazines and newspapers. All of his books (The Westies, Born to Kill, Havana Nocturne, and The Savage City) and articles cover some aspect of the criminal world, whether it be the criminal themselves, or the act that they carry out. T.J English was awarded the New York Press Club Award for Best Crime Reporting back in 2010 and had already written two books about organized crime which shows that he is more than qualified to write a book about Irish American Gangsters as a
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Another misconception I had was that gangsters/mobsters controlled only corrupt policemen and judges when in fact, they controlled people at all levels of the government, occasionally even the president. Important characters like president James K. Polk, the Kennedy’s, and several senators had a relationship with Irish American gangsters that contributed to the politician as well as the gangster’s success. Their strongest relationships though, were with the police force. Becoming a policeman was encouraged by the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants because “who better to take on the dangerous, low-paying job than a Paddy?” (61) And so, Irishmen who often had grown up with famous mobsters ended up as the majority of the police force; mobsters not only gained more power in the local area due to this, but the stage was now set for corruption at all levels as well.
In addition to the educational facts, I also learned some neat fun facts about gangsters and their traditions. “Old Smoke Morrissey” was the first true Irish Mob Boss, and as such he was the one who established the looks, desires, and attitude that we derive our stereotypes from. He started the tendency of wearing striped suits, hats, big rings, and pocket watches, as well as having a well-kept beard and hoping to be accepted by aristocratic society through money. The famous book The Great Gatsby was actually inspired by the mixture of glamour and danger that
The British have reigned over the Irish so long and so cruelly that they have left Ireland in “state of dependence” psychologically, politically, and economically. In other words, the “ideology of Protestant consumption” has “actually eroded” the self-confidence and sense of worth of the Irish so badly that it has left Ireland a nation unable to sustain itself (Mahoney). England is eating up Ireland. But this tribulation cannot be blamed solely on the British. Swift cleverly condemns the British aristocracy for their mistreatment of the Irish people while also criticizing the Irish people for allowing this exploitation.
During the period of prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was made illegal, through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Throughout this time in American history gangsters were common and were constantly increasing in every city but one in particular stood out from all the others making a significant impact on American history. Scarface, Alphonse Capone or more commonly known as Al Capone; who was the most infamous gangster, taking advantage of the era of Prohibition, ran an organized crime association in Chicago during the 1920s. He was responsible for over 500 murders; he had 700 men under his control and earned $60 million a year for bootlegging. Capone, who was glamorised in media and shown as charitable to the helpless was also controlling and violent and became an iconic figure of the successful American gangster who insisted he was just ‘supplying the public demand’.
Gish Jen’s “Who’s Irish” tells the story of a sixty-eight-year-old Chinese immigrant and her struggle to accept other cultures different from her own. The protagonist has been living in the United States for a while but she is still critical of other cultures and ethnicities, such as her son-in-law’s Irish family and the American values in which her daughter insists on applying while raising the protagonist’s granddaughter. The main character finds it very hard to accept the American way of disciplining and decides to implement her own measures when babysitting her granddaughter Sophie. When the main character’s daughter finds out that she has been spanking Sophie she asks her mother to move out of the house and breaks any further contact
During the 1920s, organised crime was a major issue plaguing federal authorities, as well as the American people. This took place in most big cities across the United States, particularly in Chicago, Illinois, where gangsters such as Al Capone, Bugs Moran and Johnny Torrio dominated all aspects of life. However, at this time, authorities also faced problems from the government through corruption and scandalous actions.
Once the organized crime families were established they were the main contributors to the illegal “Bootlegging” of alcohol. During the 20’s there was a great deal of violent crimes. Most of them could be connected back to the organized crime families. Alphonse Gabriel “Al” Capone was a gangster who led illegal activities such as the smuggling and the bootlegging of alcohol during the prohibition. Even though he had a tough exterior he was a caring man he was the first to open up a soup kitchen in Chicago (hammer). Capone’s estimated annual revenue was around 100 million dollars. He had many men working for him such as Frank Nitti, August Pisano and Louis Morganno. He supplied Chicago with most of its alcohol. (Capone: the man and his era).
The decades between 1860 and 1880, a small Irish gang emerged in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. Due to the prejudice and maltreatment of non-Anglo-Saxon immigrants in the United States, the Irish forced into working in horrible conditions for such little pay and barely any security or fair compensation when they were injured. The legacy the Mollies left behind was not only the gory truth about what happens when prejudices get in the way, but their battles were only the beginning in creating unions and labor strikes. The Molly Maguires serve as they martyr for the battered and abused workforce of the 19th century.
Even though gangs provide a sense of support, the "values" instilled in members are horribly dangerous to society. Murders and drive-by shottings go unpunished more often than not in areas like the Henry Horner Homes. Gangs have become powerful enough that high-ranking members who are forced to face the law are protected by high-priced attorneys and investigators (163).
The 1920s was a “time of great criminal activity, with prohibition laws in America and the world in an economic depression” (Nash, 1). Organized criminals such as American mobsters thrived during this time. Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger were the most well-known of the gangsters at the time, many of the common people looked to these criminals as “heroes”. There were a tremendous amount of people who turned to criminal activity; mostly because jobs were scarce and
Bootlegging, the distribution and dealing of an illegal substance, was becoming increasingly popular with liquor outlawed. Bootleggers would go to great extents to bring in liquor to their customers, prymarily speakeasy owners, as well as making sure they did not lose their customers to the other vaious gangs in the area. To ensure this threats were made to owners, gang wars began, and many murders occurred. (“Prohibition”) Those who became successful bootleggers became emmensly rich and powerful resulting in the expansion and flourishing of organized crime. Most organized crime leaders, gangsters, were wealthy and lived, at least on the outside, a sophisticated and exuberant life. In fact durning the Prohibition Era many people idolized bootlegging and gangs because it was a fast way to get rich and powerful.This would lead to an increase in the population of gangs. These gangs could be extremely dangerous and would kill many, ultimately causing an increase in homicide rates by 13% ("Organized Crime and Prohibition”). The reasoning behind the homicide rates going up is simple; as different mobs became more powerful in their areas and their range of illegal activities expanded they got more attention and this attention caused for rivalrys between different mobs and a higher police involvement in attempting to end the
Racketeers and gangsters competed for business, spawning a wave of violence across the nation” (Hanson 35). No place was more evident of this than Chicago.
The rising Irish presence and governmental power in the country’s cities troubled leading Americans for example the Boston Brahmins, who recognized the British aristocracy’s understanding of the Irish as a credulous, oblivious and volatile people who needed to be watched and controlled, if not banded from the country. Surely the crowds of poor, uneducated Irish packed into ethnic ghettoes, with traditions and on occasion a language that seemed unknown, colored the country native’s reaction. Chronic New York writer George Templeton Strong demonstrated the outlook of countless rich old-stock Americans. Coming up on a crowd of Irish ladies shouting ‘the keen’ which is the customary form of Gaelic expression of sorrow after a few of their men had
The criminal in the interview described the nature of one operation with Moran’s mob he was involved in. According to the operation they had to reload a load of whisky hi jacked on a track, while several surrounded the place with machine guns. Huge money was made by criminals gangs and murders were common as gangs fought each other in order to protect or expand their territories. Territorial disputes
Dubliners (1914), by James Joyce (1882-1941) is a collection of short stories representing his home city at the start of the 20th century. Joyce 's work ‘was written between 1904 and 1907 ' (Haslam and Hooper, 2012, p. 13). The novel consists of fifteen stories; each one unfolds lives of the different lower middle-strata. Joyce wanted to convey something definite about Dublin and Irish society.
With the introduction into gang life comes opportunities for wealth, women, status and power all with the convenient diffusion of any criminal or moral responsibility. Like any society, the secret world of criminal gangs has its own set of stringent expectations and rules that must be followed. In E. L. Doctorow’s Billy Bathgate, the secret world of Schultz’s New York gang empire is revealed through the eyes of the young protagonist, Billy Bathgate. During a time when the grave effects of the depression had trickled down into nearly every community, the opportunity to partake in the privy, elite, prosperous network posed by Schultz was the manifestation of all that Billy could hope for. In his short
The primary task for the Blacks and Tans was to make Ireland “Hell for the Rebels to live in.” It was reported that over 8000 black and tans had gone to Ireland, and while it was problematic to survive with the men who used the classical guerrilla style tactics against them, for those who