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Old 04-19-2013, 09:32 AM
 
Location: NW Arkansas
1,201 posts, read 1,924,467 times
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As an Irish person and a pacifist, I would appreciate you not spreading stereotypes about a whole group of people. This is no different than antisemitism or racism. You're doing exactly what you criticize Irish people for doing.
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Old 04-19-2013, 10:19 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia
11,998 posts, read 12,929,815 times
Reputation: 8365
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deezus View Post
That book was crazy...those guys were so violent and wild that the Mafia just decided to cut a deal with them rather than try muscle in on their territory. Surprised they didn't make a movie about that book, though I suppose the film State of Grace was sort of based on that era.
Haha yeah that book was crazy. Another pretty good read about an Irish/Irish-American gang is "Confessions of a Second Story Man". It's about a Philly gang that robbed houses of wealthy and well-known people all up and down the East Coast.

"From the 1950s to the 1970s, from Bar Harbor to Boca Raton, the ragtag crew known as the K&A Gang robbed wealthy suburban neighborhoods with assembly line skills. It was hard to imagine a more unlikely crew of successful thieves, writes Allen Hornblum. [They were] two-fisted, beer-guzzling, ear- and nose-biting hoodlums from a blue collar section of Philadelphia called Kensington. The gang infuriated homeowners up and down the East Coast, while baffling police. Confessions of a Second Story Man follows the gang as they move in and out of homes, courtrooms, and prisons, and even go on the run. Hornblum describes the transformation of the K&A Gang from a group of blue collar thieves to their work in conjunction with numerous organized crime families and their role in making Philadelphia the meth capitol of the nation. It is a compelling read about a fascinating bunch of hoodlums."

"State of Grace" looks like a cool film, I'll have to check that out.
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Old 04-19-2013, 11:18 AM
 
Location: Old Bellevue, WA
18,782 posts, read 17,355,865 times
Reputation: 7990
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveJew294 View Post
Irish Catholic gangs have terrorized the North East since the late 1700s. Irish strongholds through out the US including NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, various cities through out Ohio, Chicago and San Francisco and of course all of the suburbs and rest of the state, many Irish Catholics also are spread out through out the deep south.


Irish mobs and gangs were known as the most violent, deviant and evil by law enforcement even doing worse things than the current Mexican cartels and Eastern European mafia networks.


Mickey Featherstone, who stood average height with a skinny build, blonde hair and green eyes was known as the "most dangerous in New York City" by the FBI and NYPD in the 1970s responsible for dozens of murders.

Many cops experienced PTSD from reviewing crime scenes from the violent IRA connected Irish mob called the "Westies" who started in the early 1940s and worsened by the late 1960s. A video tape from 1979 showed a group of men including Charles Flynn, standing 6 feet 3 1/2 inches with a slim build, slicked back dark hair and dark blue eyes, Flynn was a Vietnam veteran who was drafted at the age of 20 in 1967, he was also a model in the early 1970s. It showed Flynn and a group of men brutally beating a man to death, Flynn seemingly enjoyed it and shouted out "Wooo" several times in the video tape, this man was also responsible for raping and disfiguring several women. Flynn has been serving a life sentence since the early 1990s for the murder of a Manhattan DA, Flynn is serving a life sentence in solitary confiment in the Colorado SuperMax prison at Florence, only reserved for the most evil of criminals.


Other Irish Catholic gang members were responsible for domestic bombing before it was known as terrorism through out the 1950s up until the early 1980s, the Irish invented the "nail bomb" which has been copied by Muslim terrorists.


I was told growing up the Irish usually appear to be very quiet or shy, but many have a evil streak and most Irish I have met in my life fit that description perfectly.
Maybe people don't talk about the Westies because it's 40-50 yr old news now. There was a book about them that I read maybe 25 yrs ago. They were no worse than some of the Italian gangsters. I think the Mexican cartels make both look tame. You didn't hear about mass decapitations being done by Italian or Irish gangs.
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Old 04-19-2013, 11:35 AM
 
9,961 posts, read 17,517,739 times
Reputation: 9193
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2e1m5a View Post
Haha yeah that book was crazy. Another pretty good read about an Irish/Irish-American gang is "Confessions of a Second Story Man". It's about a Philly gang that robbed houses of wealthy and well-known people all up and down the East Coast.

"From the 1950s to the 1970s, from Bar Harbor to Boca Raton, the ragtag crew known as the K&A Gang robbed wealthy suburban neighborhoods with assembly line skills. It was hard to imagine a more unlikely crew of successful thieves, writes Allen Hornblum. [They were] two-fisted, beer-guzzling, ear- and nose-biting hoodlums from a blue collar section of Philadelphia called Kensington. The gang infuriated homeowners up and down the East Coast, while baffling police. Confessions of a Second Story Man follows the gang as they move in and out of homes, courtrooms, and prisons, and even go on the run. Hornblum describes the transformation of the K&A Gang from a group of blue collar thieves to their work in conjunction with numerous organized crime families and their role in making Philadelphia the meth capitol of the nation. It is a compelling read about a fascinating bunch of hoodlums."

"State of Grace" looks like a cool film, I'll have to check that out.
If you want to read a really good book about Irish gangs in the US and haven't read it already--TJ English's Paddy Whacked(the author of the Westies as well) is another good read. It's very comprehensive and goes back to 19th Century Chicago through the Prohibition Era all the way up to the Westies and Whitey Bulger in Boston.

It's got a description of how the Irish controlled organized crime in most American cities up until the 1920s, when the Italians and Jews combined forces to shut them out of a lot of the rackets. Basically when Lucky Luciano organized the mob in New York, there were only a few big Irish gangsters that they were willing to cut a share to--the idea was that the Irish could be the cops and politicians and union leaders, but that independent Irish gangs would have to play by the rules of the Mafia. Except though in a few places on the East Coast the Irish gangs were so entreched that they were able to retain power in certain areas for years--like in Boston or Hell's Kitchen or neighborhoods in Philadelphia. Actually they controlled most of Boston for years and the Mafia's base in New Enlgand was mainly in Providence.
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Old 04-19-2013, 12:17 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia
11,998 posts, read 12,929,815 times
Reputation: 8365
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deezus View Post
If you want to read a really good book about Irish gangs in the US and haven't read it already--TJ English's Paddy Whacked(the author of the Westies as well) is another good read. It's very comprehensive and goes back to 19th Century Chicago through the Prohibition Era all the way up to the Westies and Whitey Bulger in Boston.

It's got a description of how the Irish controlled organized crime in most American cities up until the 1920s, when the Italians and Jews combined forces to shut them out of a lot of the rackets. Basically when Lucky Luciano organized the mob in New York, there were only a few big Irish gangsters that they were willing to cut a share to--the idea was that the Irish could be the cops and politicians and union leaders, but that independent Irish gangs would have to play by the rules of the Mafia. Except though in a few places on the East Coast the Irish gangs were so entreched that they were able to retain power in certain areas for years--like in Boston or Hell's Kitchen or neighborhoods in Philadelphia. Actually they controlled most of Boston for years and the Mafia's base in New Enlgand was mainly in Providence.
I've heard about that book before I think, I'll definitely check it out.

Yeah, I knew that Boston never really had a Mafia stronghold due to the Irish mob presence there. It's interesting that they just took over Providence instead. The Departed was such a great movie. My Uncle's brother was supposedly killed by the Irish mob in Boston but I don't really remember a centralized Irish Mob in Philly, probably due to the Mafia presence. I do remember that the 1980's-90's was a very violent time for the South Philly mafia.
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Old 04-20-2013, 11:05 AM
 
20,524 posts, read 15,899,172 times
Reputation: 5948
Ok; I'm of Irish family.

Things change and I'm gonna say once a man and woman have less than 4 kids; those kids are MUCH less likely to get in trouble for many reasons. That can be said about the Irish, the Italians, the Mexicans, the Germans, the Blacks and so on. Too; most troublemakers are usually young dudes; there ain't that many young ones in 2013 compared to 1973.
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Old 04-20-2013, 11:23 AM
 
73,002 posts, read 62,578,805 times
Reputation: 21899
Quote:
Originally Posted by Packard fan View Post
Ok; I'm of Irish family.

Things change and I'm gonna say once a man and woman have less than 4 kids; those kids are MUCH less likely to get in trouble for many reasons. That can be said about the Irish, the Italians, the Mexicans, the Germans, the Blacks and so on. Too; most troublemakers are usually young dudes; there ain't that many young ones in 2013 compared to 1973.
There aren't as many young people now. However, there is something to consider. The bulk of where today's trouble makers come from are often broken homes, and often born outside of wedlock. With high birthrates on that end, trouble can still be made. Look at the prison population. Alot of those men grew up without fathers in the home.
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Old 04-20-2013, 11:54 AM
 
Location: Maryland
18,630 posts, read 19,413,661 times
Reputation: 6462
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveJew294 View Post
Irish Catholic gangs have terrorized the North East since the late 1700s. Irish strongholds through out the US including NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, various cities through out Ohio, Chicago and San Francisco and of course all of the suburbs and rest of the state, many Irish Catholics also are spread out through out the deep south.


Irish mobs and gangs were known as the most violent, deviant and evil by law enforcement even doing worse things than the current Mexican cartels and Eastern European mafia networks.


Mickey Featherstone, who stood average height with a skinny build, blonde hair and green eyes was known as the "most dangerous in New York City" by the FBI and NYPD in the 1970s responsible for dozens of murders.

Many cops experienced PTSD from reviewing crime scenes from the violent IRA connected Irish mob called the "Westies" who started in the early 1940s and worsened by the late 1960s. A video tape from 1979 showed a group of men including Charles Flynn, standing 6 feet 3 1/2 inches with a slim build, slicked back dark hair and dark blue eyes, Flynn was a Vietnam veteran who was drafted at the age of 20 in 1967, he was also a model in the early 1970s. It showed Flynn and a group of men brutally beating a man to death, Flynn seemingly enjoyed it and shouted out "Wooo" several times in the video tape, this man was also responsible for raping and disfiguring several women. Flynn has been serving a life sentence since the early 1990s for the murder of a Manhattan DA, Flynn is serving a life sentence in solitary confiment in the Colorado SuperMax prison at Florence, only reserved for the most evil of criminals.


Other Irish Catholic gang members were responsible for domestic bombing before it was known as terrorism through out the 1950s up until the early 1980s, the Irish invented the "nail bomb" which has been copied by Muslim terrorists.


I was told growing up the Irish usually appear to be very quiet or shy, but many have a evil streak and most Irish I have met in my life fit that description perfectly.
Newsflash it's 2013.
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Old 04-20-2013, 12:06 PM
 
Location: NW Arkansas
1,201 posts, read 1,924,467 times
Reputation: 989
Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner View Post
There aren't as many young people now. However, there is something to consider. The bulk of where today's trouble makers come from are often broken homes, and often born outside of wedlock. With high birthrates on that end, trouble can still be made. Look at the prison population. Alot of those men grew up without fathers in the home.
Yep. Instead of villainizing a whole ethnicity, while don't we look at the oppressive governments and institutions that are causing so many problems? What about systems/laws/governments that have forced oppressed and poor people throughout history to resort to crime to survive or have any sort of status in society? What about the Catholic church who tells people they are going to hell if they use contraception or the laws/institutions that force young women to get married and have lots of children when they aren't prepared to raise them in a healthy environment? What about the Catholic orphanages in Ireland that are rampant with sexual and physical abuse of innocent children?
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Old 04-20-2013, 12:16 PM
 
Location: Old Town Alexandria
14,492 posts, read 26,589,981 times
Reputation: 8971
If you want to sell a lie, do it through the press first. If the media and AP wants to demonize a group, everyone is supposed to follow suit. Apparently some groups are not mentionable (or protected).

It is good to be suspicious of what groups the media in this country chooses to demonize, they are usually incorrect.
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