Mickey Spillane (mobster)

For the author, see Mickey Spillane.

External images
	Police photograph of Mickey Spillane

Michael Spillane, much better known as Mickey Spillane (July 13, 1934 – May 13, 1977), was an Irish-American mobster from Hell's Kitchen, New York City. Spillane, who was called the "last of the gentleman gangsters," was a marked contrast to the violent Westies gang members who succeeded him in Hell's Kitchen.

Early life

As a young boy in Hell's Kitchen, Spillane started as a numbers runner for various organized crime figures in his neighborhood. In 1960, Mickey took over the rackets left to him by his predecessor Eddie McGrath, the waterfront racketeer and longshoremen's union leader. He married Maureen McManus, the daughter of the Democratic district leader Eugene McManus.

Though Italian mobsters dominated organized crime in the city, the Italian mob stayed out of Hell's Kitchen while Spillane was the boss. Oftentimes, Spillane would kidnap members of the Italian Mafia and hold them for ransom to raise money for his operations. Sometimes they were killed. Although he ran the rackets such as gambling, policy and loansharking. Sale of drugs flourished while Spillane was around, although he always denied involvement.

Spillane–Coonan rivalry and the Gambino crime family

In 1966, a young upstart named Jimmy Coonan attempted to take the neighborhood from Spillane, muscling in on his territory and murdering a Spillane underling. Ultimately, Coonan was sent to prison in 1967. When he was released from prison, Coonan sought to align himself with the Gambino crime family through an up-and-coming mobster from Brooklyn, named Roy DeMeo.

The 1970s saw an increased threat from the Genovese crime family, as Fat Tony Salerno sought control over the soon to be built Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Since the convention center was located on the West Side, Spillane stood his ground against the takeover by the Italians. Salerno responded by hiring an Irish-American hitman named Joseph "Mad Dog" Sullivan to assassinate Tom Devaney, Eddie "the Butcher" Cummiskey and Tom "the Greek" Kapatos, three of Spillane's chief lieutenants. By the mid-1970s, Spillane had moved his family out of Hell's Kitchen to Woodside, Queens, for fear for his safety.

On May 13, 1977, Spillane was killed outside his apartment in Queens. It has long been rumored that DeMeo murdered Spillane as a favor to Coonan, who subsequently took over as the boss of the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob.^{[citation needed]}

Spillane was no relation to the author Mickey Spillane, or to the wrestler Michael Spillane.

Family

Spillane had three children. Michael, Robert and Denise.

Robert, an actor, fell six stories to his death on July 10, 2010 in Manhattan, New York, when he leaned against his apartment window screen. The screen gave way while Robert was calling to his brother below, and he was unable to grab onto anything - as his arm was already in a sling from a previous injury.

References

• English, T.J. The Westies. St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1991. ISBN 0-312-92429-1
• English, T.J. Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-059002-5

Persondata
Name	Spillane, Mickey
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Short description
Date of birth	July 13, 1934
Place of birth
Date of death	May 13, 1977
Place of death