The Westies: Who Killed the Gentleman Gangster?

Unfinished Justice: Inside the NYPD Cold Case Squad

For years, Mickey Spillane ran the Irish mob that controlled the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan. Behind the scenes, he controlled the area by ordering kidnappings and killings, but in public he always wore a dapper suit and an easy smile, earning the nickname of the Gentleman Gangster. When a new generation of Irish gangsters known as The Westies emerged, they had a different idea of how to run the neighborhood – and it didn’t include Spillane. So when Mickey’s body was found filled with lead, the cops assumed The Westies were behind the hit. But it’d take the NYPD almost two decades to clear the case.