Why the Irish Mob Died and the Mafia Didn’t from Sit Down with Michael Franzese

Sit Down with Michael Franzese

Michael Franzese

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Why the Irish Mob Died and the Mafia Didn’t

35 minutes Posted Sep 29, 2026 at 9:14 pm.

The Irish Were First. So Where's the Irish Commission?00:35 Welcome — And a Quick Word on the Diddy Verdict01:33 Were the Westies Really an Organization?02:20 Why There Was Never an Irish Luciano03:38 What I Know About Jimmy Coonan04:05 The Forty Thieves — New York's First Gang Was Irish04:42 Dead Rabbits, Whyos, Gophers — They Owned the Street and City Hall05:44 The Westies — Hell's Kitchen, Coonan & Featherstone06:20 We Didn't Partner With Them Out of Fear06:56 Fat Tony Wasn't the Real Power. The Chin Was.08:15 A Feared Crew Dies With Its Leader08:47 What Made the Italians Different — The System10:14 Jimmy Got 75 Years. The Westies Went With Him.13:22 Whitey Bulger — Boss and FBI Informant15:00 Danny Greene and the Cleveland War16:13 My Verdict — Hierarchy Beats the Neighborhood Crew17:39 Why the Family Survives the Boss18:48 Could a Non-Italian Ever Be Fully Inside?20:28 Did We Use the Irish for Work We Wanted Distance From?21:51 Were the Westies Really Independent?23:14 They Had Killers and City Hall. We Built a System.23:53 Text Me — Who Was More Powerful?24:33 A Glass of Wine and a Slice25:56 A Warning for the Ladies — Please Be Safe29:42 Franzese Fam, Lives & Ministry Monday31:25 I'm Not Going to Hell for Anybody

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📲 Text me — who do you think was the more powerful organization? Make your case. I read them: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921

People, let me set this straight right now. The first real organized crime gangs in New York weren’t Italian. They were IRISH — decades before my people ever got off the boat. The Forty Thieves, the Dead Rabbits, the Gophers, the Hudson Dusters. They owned the docks, the unions, and City Hall. So here’s my question: if the Irish were first, why is there no Irish Commission? Why was there no Irish Luciano?

I knew these guys. I did business with the Westies. Jimmy Coonan was a stand-up guy — and I know more about Jimmy than most people do. Some of that I’ll get to. And I’ll correct a few things the legend gets wrong: the Gambinos didn’t partner with the Westies out of fear, and Fat Tony wasn’t the real power behind that deal.

We go through all of it — Hell’s Kitchen, Whitey Bulger and the biggest law enforcement scandal in mob history, Danny Greene in Cleveland — and then I give you my verdict. Because the answer to who won isn’t about who was tougher. A feared crew dies with its leader. An organization replaces him by Tuesday. That’s the whole difference.