He was blond haired and baby-faced. After his conviction, Featherstone quickly concluded that Westies members and Kenneth Aronson had colluded to set him up to take the fall for Hollys murder. On Dec. 21, he received a suspended sentence with five years of probation after Federal and state authorities sent letters commending his cooperation to Judge Robert W. Sweet, who sentenced him in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Mickey Featherstone girlfriend, wife list. Cookie Notice They pulled over, either to do cocaine or because one of them asked him to. [4] Mickey Spillane, the mob leader in Hell's Kitchen at the time, was shot five times outside his apartment in August 1977, and Featherstone was arrested but acquitted for his killing. He had a low boiling point to start with and if alcohol was involved, and it often was, Mickey had the potential to explode. This Featherstone is littlebit like leonetti - talks clearly, calmy, but what a psycho!
Mickey Featherstone Wiki, Biography, Age, Career, Relationship, Net Anyone can read what you share. Mr. Featherstone also provided information in other investigations, and testified in the continuing trial of several men accused of committing murders and other racketeering acts as part of the Gambino crime family. The district attorney said they were 'very brutal. '', ''During the 40 years of your life,'' Judge Sweet told Mr. Featherstone, ''you have experienced violence as a child, as a student in our city schools, as a soldier in Vietnam, as a criminal on the streets and as a killer and an enforcer of one of the most feared gangs in our city.'' DeSantis amid feud over self-governing privileges. Francis T. "Mickey" Featherstone (born September 2, 1948) is a former Irish American mobster and member of the Westies, an organized crime syndicate from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan in New York City, led by James Coonan. He had been discharged from the army in 1967, suffering from hallucinations, and spent years in and out of a mental hospital.
Some of the loons that the boards attract never cease to amaze me. But the Westies now had an enemy in Featherstone. #opensource #serverless. From a New York Times-bestselling author: A true story of Irish gangsters in Manhattan--"A harrowing account of big city crime" (Library Journal).
Circumcision, Serial Killing, Criminal Behavior and American Medical Francis (Mickey) Featherstone, an admitted killer who turned informer, has won his freedom, largely in return for testifying against his former associates in a violent gang called the Westies. Coonan liked what he had seen from Featherstone, and recruited him as second in command, all while the Westies upped the violence, leaving behind a string of often dismembered corpses. Relationships. Morgenthau said the gang thought Leone 'manipulated the reporting of sports bets and deprived the Westies and the Gambinos of their share in the proceeds.'. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. [1] He spent time in a series of mental hospitals, being released in 1975. Outside the courtroom, Coonan's lawyer Lawrence Hochheiser said, 'She's a housewife her only crime is being his wife.' Yeah, Featherstone is a strange character. Scan this QR code to download the app now.
Or, as was the case with Mickey Featherstone, you find you've been chosen as the fall guy for a power grab within the gang. There where a series of gruesome murders taking place in the neighborhood and Jimmy Coonan and, This week we are starting a multi-part series with Justin Rimmel of the Mysterious Circumstances Podcast to talk about one of the most violent, brutal crime organizations in New York City from the 60's-80's The Westies.
Reality of Hell's Kitchen Is Playwright's Material Law enforcement attributed at least 30 unsolved murders to the gang and the innocuous-looking Mickey Featherstone was recognized as one of their most vicious members. Despite a notably sweet and boyish face, Mickey Featherstone, a Vietnam veteran who had talked his way into the Green Berets at just seventeen years old, was known as one of the most vicious and ruthless members of the gang. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. Featherstone was linked by two eyewitnesses, as well as circumstantial evidence, as the car driven by the shooter was traced to the trucking company where Featherstone was employed. I would say unlikely. Judge Sweet stressed that Mr. Featherstone testified as a major witness in a trial that ended early this year in the conviction of seven members of the Westies, including James Coonan, the gang's leader, who received a sentence of 75 years in prison. In the mid-1970s, Coonans Westies seized control of organized crime from predominant West Side gang leader, Mickey Spillane. After deciding to cooperate with the authorities, Mr. Featherstone pleaded guilty to a Federal racketeering charge, admitting his participation in four murders, five murder conspiracies and additional acts of loan-sharking, drug dealing and other crimes. It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. After effectively destroying the Irish mob in Manhattan, 38-year-old Mickey Featherstone entered the witness protection program and has lived under the radar ever since. But the Westies eventual downfall would come thanks to Mickey Featherstone himself, after he was framed for the murder of Michael Holly by Coonan in 1985. Support The National Registry of Exonerations , The Contribution of Forensic and Expert Evidence to DNA Exoneration Cases, Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States, 2022, Government Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent, Witness Recantations: Preliminary Findings, May 2013, Exonerations in the United States: 1989 - 2012, Tell us about an Exoneration that we missed, Tell
The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob - Goodreads Francis Mickey Featherstone was born on West 43rd Street on Sept. 2, 1948. Put this image on your website to promote the show -, Report inappropriate content or request to remove this page. The shooter, Featherstone had learned, was William Billy Bokun, the brother of Hollys alleged victim, John Bokun. Courtroom. The institution kept Featherstone working on the ward, out of General Population, for his own safety. This pic is of edna. [2] His mother helped with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and his father was a United States Customs Service officer. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. His biological father is Jewish and mother Catholic. Alleged Westie's boss Jimmy Coonan, taken in 2015 in prison. According to The National Registry of Exonerations, Francis "Mickey" Featherstone was a member of the violent Irish organized crime gang known as the Westies, who sought power in the underworld of New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood from the 1960s to the late '80s. For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. For example, Featherstone got probation for shooting a man in the arm, and when he killed a man outside a bar in 1971, Featherstone beat the rap with an insanity plea.
10 American Mobsters Who Were Not Italian Americans Featherstone was stunned to finally be convicted of a murder, and not just because he had dodged so many guilty verdicts in the past. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Author T.J.. He never saw combat. Kevin Kelly effectively took over the day to day running of the Westies when Jimmy Coonan moved to New Jersey. Mickey Featherstones Oldest Son Was in Kuwait before 9/11 and is now married to a School Teacher, His 2nd son Just received a Medal of Bravery from the armey his oldest daughter is married and has her own business and his youngest daughter is in college on a Athletic Schollarship. And now, in April 2023, Carlson is gone too, even more abruptly than his predecessor, though perhaps under a similar cloud.Once again, the ouster is being crowed about by liberals who really . Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an . He was born on the upper West Side and his mother worked with the VFW and his father was a U. S. Customs officer.
He also said he'd been ordered to carry out the murder in a wig, which he believed was meant to make him look like Mickey. Francis "Mickey" Featherstone, a leader of New York City's Irish organized crime gang known as the Westies, was set up by other members of the gang to take the fall for the 1985 murder of Michael Holly. The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in federal court against Florida Gov. New York law enforcement attributed at least thirty unsolved murders to the Westies in the 1970s and 1980s, and they were known as an extremely violent group, even by gang standards. By the late 1970s, the Westies had also become an enforcement arm of the equally feared Gambino family, carrying out assigned executions and sharing in weekly profits. Featherstone had served in the Vietnam War, but was discharged in 1967 after hallucinations landed him in a mental hospital.
Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. He went on trial with Coonan for the killing of a barman, but they were acquitted in December 1979 after one witness killed himself and another refused to testify. [1] He was shocked at receiving his sentence of 25 years in prison, and concluded that he had been framed by his own gang. The website is updated daily, frequently with exonerations that occurred in the past. Well never sell your personal information. Mickey Featherstone: The Dangerous Hitman Currently Free In Witness Protection.
Mickey Featherstone: The Dangerous Hitman Currently Free In - Grunge At first, it appeared that he had won. Mickey Featherstone was second-in-command to Jimmy Coonan, leader of the Westies, an extremely violent Irish mob that operated in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a house mom for his first couple of yrs in the WPP and he is now a day trader investing only personal funds. Free Podcast Hosting with custom domain. Nebraska students toss water balloons for Guinness World Record. Featherstone returned with a rifle and shot one of the brothers John Riley in the arm, for which he was arrested and probationed. In the mid-1970s, these two longtime friends take the reins of New York's Irish mob, using brute force to give it hitherto unthinkable power. The Westies grew out of a Hell's Kitchen bootlegging mob formed by former Cotton Club owner Owen Madden, authorities said. Dog missing for 26 days walked 40 miles to his former home. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The became hired killers in the 1970s, authorities said. Mickey Featherstones Oldest Son Was in Kuwait before 9/11 and is now married to a School Teacher, His 2nd son Just received a Medal of Bravery from the armey his oldest daughter is married and has her own business and his youngest daughter is in college on a Athletic Schollarship. Back in Hells Kitchen, Featherstone soon found himself involved in more serious forms of criminal mischief. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. We start getting into the deep water on talking about the Westies and their activities in the late 1970's early 1980's. On April 25, 1985, Billy Bokun (John Bokuns brother), wearing a wig to look like Featherstone, approached Holly on a crowded street and killed him, firing five bullets into his back. One day you're a made man, the next, you're sleeping with the fishes. It finally happened folks and it was a blast!
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Inside The Murder Of Actress Lana Clarkson And Her Heartbreaking Final Hours, This Medieval Warrior Died During The Battle Of Visby And Scientists Just Recreated His Wound In All Its Gory Glory, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The DEA ranks him as one of the top 10 drug traffickers in US history. Join. Featherstone's penchant for violence and intimidation caught the eye of Coonan and Featherstone became Coonan's right-hand man by 1976. Featherstone contacted prosecutors from his trial and convinced them that the shooter may have been Billy Bokun, wearing a wig to look like Featherstone. In the early 1980s, Featherstone spent periods of time in mental hospitals, before returning to the Westies. Login All NRE reports represent a moment in time. According to The National Registry of Exonerations, Francis "Mickey" Featherstone was a member of the violent Irish organized crime gang known as the Westies, who sought power in the underworld of New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood from the 1960s to the late '80s. His sole wound occurred during a drunken orgy when his buddies, as a joke, circumcised him. Re: (Video) Mickey Featherstone - 60 Minutes Interview [ Re: ronnie_little ] #681434. Contract murders are a relatively new enterprise, they said. According to our records, Mickey Featherstone is possibly single. gb1993 2 yr. ago Left to Right. Until his release last week, Mr. Featherstone had been held in custody on his racketeering charge and for a parole violation involving his earlier conviction in a counterfeiting case. If it is the first time you login, a new account will be created automatically. He was in the westies but went into witness protection in the 80s or 90s.
Francis T. Featherstone - National Registry of Exonerations Pre 1989 Federal officials said Friday that Mr. Featherstone was released from custody on Dec. 23, two days after he was given probation on a racketeering charge involving the Westies, a gang that terrorized an area of Manhattan west of Eighth Avenue between 42d and 57th Streets. Julia Coonan pleaded innocent to conspiracy charges in state Supreme Court in Manhattan and Judge Peter McQuillan set $50,000 bail. Shes the 2nd from the right, looks just like him. He was circumcised. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. Mr. Featherstone indeed served in Vietnam - as a stock clerk. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. He was charged with three murders over the years, but was always able to get acquitted after pleading insanity. He had his wife Sissy record some conversations with Westie Billy Bokun, brother of John, in which he admitted to killing Holly. Featherstone and Coonan had a falling out over the latter's alliance with the Gambino crime family, which Featherstone saw as a betrayal of all the Irish-Americans in Hell's Kitchen.
Mickey Featherstone - Wikipedia Anonymous. [2] After borrowing Coonan's gun, he shot dead Linwood Willis in a confrontation outside a bar in 1971, but was found not guilty due to insanity. Morgenthau said that in November 1983 Julia Coonan visited her husband, who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator, in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., and the two hatched the plot to kill the victim.
How feared was Mickey Featherstonereally? Featherstone, despite standing 57 with wide blue eyes, shaggy blonde hair, and a boyish face, soon developed a killers reputation that might not have been apparent from his appearance alone. Who is Mickey Featherstone dating? Judge Sweet said at the sentencing of Mr. Featherstone that the sentence involved an effort to balance ''a violent past, a redemptive present and an uncertain future. Ron DeSantis and other officials . The evidence seemed overwhelming, and the next day Featherstone was booked. Increasingly drunk on a regular basis, Featherstone was disciplined by the armed forces for various acts of criminal mischief, and after only a year, claiming to suffer from hallucinations, was medically discharged in 1967. Defense Lawyers' Complaints. Francis T. "Mickey" Featherstone (born September 2, 1948) is a former Irish American mobster and member of the Westies, an organized crime syndicate from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan in New York City, led by James Coonan. Authorities said Leone was a loanshark and a bookie who created no-show jobs and took kickbacks from dockworkers on the Hudson River piers that border the Irish gang's territory in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan's West Side.
Admitted Westies Killer Who Informed Is Free - New York Times After all, Featherstone had killed men in neighborhood bars in front of witnesses multiple times and beat the charges.
TwitterFrancis T. Mickey Featherstone was a member of the Irish mob until he was framed for a murder he didnt commit and turned informant. Help us build our profile of Mickey Featherstone!
NYC tour covers the violent history of Hell's Kitchen and - amNewYork Kelly is a fugitive who has been indicted for the attempted murder of a carpenter's union official.
THE LORD'S OF HELL'S KITCHEN - The New York Times The Wild Westies' last stand? - IrishCentral.com The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law. Westie members murdered and dismembered him in the back of Coonans bar, then threw his remains in the Hudson River. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. April 28 (UPI) -- A Nebraska high school said it broke a Guinness World Record when more than 1,000 students participated in a water balloon toss event. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Through his work in the Westies, Art secured Billy Beattie and another Westies member . Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory. After DeSantis pushed a last-minute repeal of the company's prized status through the legislature, he romped to . The title should be changed to 'The True Crime Classic About Mickey Featherstone's Time As Part Of New York's Notorious Irish Mob'. Led by Jimmy Coonan and, From an introduction made by his long time friend Tom Sheer, Joe Poletto was introduced to Art Ruffles, special agent in charge of the FBIs organized crime unit in charge of the Gambino, DeMeo and Westies cases. The District Attorneys office agreed to work with Featherstones wife, Sissy Featherstone, to see if they could obtain evidence confirming Featherstones claims. [1] His testimony at Coonan's racketeering trial during 198788 helped to bring down Coonan's gang. 'That's the way they get the message out.'. Disney sues Florida Gov. Witnesses described a man who looked a lot like Featherstone. Grow up. After his conviction was overturned, he struck a deal with the authorities to inform on his own organization. Scottish Island for sale with asking price of $188,000. Lol. In the mid-1970s, these two longtime friends take the reins of New York's Irish mob, using brute force to give it hitherto unthinkable power. The following day, Featherstone was arrested and eventually charged with Hollys murder one of the few murders he, ironically, didnt commit. Morgenthau said in their heyday there were 30 Westies, but that number has been reduced to 10 or 15 as many of them have been jailed or killed. He has to be up there in age, 58 maybe, 60 maybe? On March 25, 1977, Westie John Bokun was shot dead by police after an argument with another Hells Kitchen resident, Michael Holly. Then in 1985, Coonan, fearing a power grab by Featherstone, set him up to take a fall for murder. He is also working with Movie Director Sheridan on a movie about the Westies called Emerald City that will be out in 2008 He expects to make some fierce funds from this. ago. The Westies, now officially on record with the Italian American mob, were allowed to use the Gambino name and reputation, and construction profits would be shared, including those from the forthcoming Jacob Javits Convention Center. In this case, he was not only innocent of the crime, he also knew who had done it. Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang. Connect any celebrity with Mickey Featherstone to see how closely they are linked romantically!
Books of The Times; The Rise and Fall of a Thoroughly Vicious Gang There were witnesses to the shooting, all of whom described the shooter as a man fitting Featherstones description. Feather stone was CONVICTED of murder in 86 so he was off the street minimum in 1985 in which Alite was 23 a steroid pimple faced wannabee in Queens and mixing with guys in Manhattans Hell's Kitchen? Based on the car and the eyewitness identifications, Featherstone was convicted of Hollys murder in April 1986 and sentenced to spend 25 years to life in prison. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Featherstone, This week we finish up our series with Justin Rimmel from Mysterious Circumstances talking about the downfall of one of the most violent gangs in the history of NYC. Asked if she was a member of the Westies, he responded, 'She's hardly a member of anything at all.'.
Mickey Featherstone dating history - Who's Dated Who? This book is a lot more focused on one man's role (Mickey Featherstone) in the Westies, rather than the Westies as a whole. [4], Featherstone was convicted in March 1986 for the April 1985 murder of Michael Holly, despite being innocent of this particular murder, which was a revenge attack probably carried out by another of the Westies, Billy Bokun. Aussie tourist 'very sorry' for drunken, nude rampage in Indonesia. From a New York Times-bestselling author: A true story of Irish gangsters in Manhattan"A harrowing account of big city crime" (Library Journal). It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. Mickey Featherstone, a short, slight 38-year-old with a blond mop and an almost-adolescent expression, had been charged with at least three other murders during the previous 17 years, but he was . They not only kill people they dismember them,' he said. When Steins torso washed up a few days later, a member of the gang was overheard saying we should have cut the lungs open according to the Associated Press.
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