A triumph of research and story telling

TJ English's "Paddy Whacked" joins the pantheon of excellent books on terrible subject -- gangsters. While English has done a great deal of original research for this book, he is also to be credited for compiling previously published, stories, profiles and items into a single breathtaking volume on Irish gangs and criminals in America.
English traces the most notorious criminals and gangs from the time of the great potato famine migration to present day. Starting with the story of mid 19th century boxer/politician/criminal John Morrisey, through the innumerable gangs of the later 19th century, through Owney Madden, Bugs Moran and others of the prohibition era, through Joseph Kennedy, to Whitey Bulger (currently still on the lam).
It will not surprise readers that so many of the featured figures met untimely ends, often violent ones. Readers will also see the relationship of Irish gangs with other ethnic groups, particularly the Mafia, and how the Irish gangs were eventually squeezed out of business by La Cosa Nostra. Also, the lines between organized crime and legitimate business are seen to be blurry -- a common and appropriate theme of recent works on criminal gangs.
English is a terrific storyteller. He has a knack for selecting the right stories about the right people to illustrate the overall tale and his pacing is excellent. At no point does "Paddy Whacked" lag.
English also puts his stories within the context of greater sociological, and political events of the times.
Many of the stories are graphic -- as they should be. It is easy to fall into the trap of romanticizing thugs and killers of the past, English never does, revealing the true brutality and selfishness of their actions.
"Paddy Whacked" is a triumph of research, compilation and story telling. It is at once an entertaining and important book.

the italians aint so tough

(i'm 13) This is a great book that shows how tough and brutal the Irish mob really was and still is. It goes from the time of the early Irish gangsters from Tammany Hall up to Whitey Bulger who is still on the FBI'S ten most wanted list. This book also has good infro on the war between the Irish and the italians in New York, Chicago, and Boston from Prohibition up 2 now. It also has some good info on the Westies, the Hell's Kithcen Irish gang on Manhattan's West Side which terrorized the place for 20 years. they were so powerful that the mafia had 2 make an alliance with them for fear of being overrun by 'em. If you want some good info on the Irish mob from the 1850's to Present day i would definately reccomend this book

Certainly Gives You a Different Light

And all this time I thought that the big time gangsters in this country came from Sicily. I guess that comes from the Godfather movies. Then this book said that the Most Wanted Gangster on the FBI's list was an old fashioned Irish American mob boss by the name of James Bulger.

I had to check, but sure enough on the FBI web site (www.fbi.gov) you can find the ten most wanted and there he is, just below Usama Bin Laden. Not only that, but there is a $1,000,000 reward for finding him (Bin Laden is worth $27,000,000).

This is, as best I can determine the first book devoted to the Irish American gangsters that's been published. The most interesting, by far, of the people discussed in the book are the Kennedy family. Papa Joe was quite a character, a flagrant womanizer, who made his fortune by importing bootleg whiskey that he supplied to Al Capone. This also puts a different impression on Robert Kennedy's attempt to blame "the Mafia" - Italian based, as the source of organized crime in the U.S.

This is quite a book, recommended to anyone who is interested in crime history, or even the political history of the Kennedys.