The Westside Irish Crew - “The Arsenal Mob”!

[maxiestern11]

I’ll like to create a format of the entire Irish crews circa 1930’s-1960’s......
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NOT Mickey Featherstone, Jimmy Coonan and that crazy bunch. But rather Eddie McGrath, Hughie Mulligan, etc.
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Can anyone/will anyone help develop this page and let’s try and create a “structure” as similar in design as the Italian model goes.
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A hierarchy so to speak that would realistically show how they operated during that era.
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They were strong in their fields. And operated for the most part in accord with traditional OC.

........Whatya say lets see what we can put together fella’s?
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I don’t know who on this forum has background knowledge related to this. But regardless, if a few of us collaborate I think we might be able to make something cool

[Dwalin2014]

There are some good charts of the Irish waterfront mob groups at the beginning of the book "Dock boss" by Neil G.Clark. There are 4 major groups listed:

1) The McGrath-Dunn mob
2) The O'Mara group
3) The Yanowsky gang
4) The Bowers mob

The nickname "The Arsenal mob" was given to the Yanowsky group after Yanowsky went to prison and the group (temporarily headed by Frank Peraski and Albert Ackalitis) was arrested with an arsenal of weapons.

[Brickhouse101]

My understanding of the various Irish Mobs is that there was never any structure per se. You have a boss and maybe he has his number two and in turn there may be a few higher level guys who oversee a number of underlings. Same can be said of nearly every semi-organized criminal group out there. Lack of this structure in Irish groups is precisely why LCN was able to overtake them and remain viable to this day. The organization and ritualistic aspects of LCN are what makes it perpetual. There is/was no comparable Irish structure or ritualistic culture to speak of.It’s apples and oranges. That being said, if you just want to throw up membership lists of Irish criminal groups there are numerous prior threads on this site detailing these groups.

[maxiestern11]

Here’s a good start; just need to put them in their proper pecking order. I know there are a lot more names, but this is a base to work from at least

————————————————-
Union Local # 1730 - ILA
265 West 14th Street, NYC
[Westside-North River Docks area]
Formed in the 1930’s Westside NYC
—————————————————-
William (Big Bill) Mc Cormack
Edward McGrath
John (Cockeyed) Dunn
Cornelius (Connie) Noonan
Frank(Machine gun Sonny)Campbell
Joe (Heels) Murphy
Austin Furey
Matt English
Albert (Ackey) Ackalitis
Hugh Gillen
Hugh (Hughie) Mulligan
Johnny Bowers
Michael (Mickey) Bowers
Joe Kress
Thomas (Teddy) Gleason
Michael (Mickey) Spillane
Louis (Bongy Farrell) Bongiorno - a shop Stewart #1730

[maxiestern11]

Their operating areas I’d say were wherever the Irish had a heavy population: Hell’s Kitchen, Sunnyside-Woodside, Jackson Heights, Queens Village..... along Queens Blvd a bit and under Roosevelt Ave.
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Hugh Mulligan and Machine-Gun Sonny Campbell were very active in Queens as well as Manhattan. Some of the others were strictly Westside Manhattan guys.

[Clark]

Dwalin2014 is right about the "Arsenal Gang" name. It was a newspaper headline used to describe the remnants of the Yanowsky group after their arrest. It ended up sticking around much like "The Westies" moniker.

It would be difficult to make a hierarchy chart as the Irish groups were usually fluid crews rather than having an organizational structure. From the 1930s to the 1950s, you can put together a rough list of prominent players based on territories, but it gets really murky into the 1960s as the big West Side industries died out. Also, the whole Eddie McGrath to Hughie Mulligan to Mickey Spillane to Jimmy Coonan narrative that we often see isn't really correct.

For the list you posted above, ILA 1730 was a charter that the Dunn-McGrath gang created in the late 1930s. The actual union hierarchy would look something like this (Note: this doesn't include mostly all the members of the gang, but rather just the ones involved in this particular local):

ILA Local 1346-2 became AFL 21510, Motor and Bus Terminal Checkers, Platform and Office Workers, in 1937 and later ILA 1730, Inland Terminal Workers, in 1949. They were originally based in Greenwich Village and were a union for the various shipping terminals that the docks delivered to. By the 1950s, mostly all the terminals were in New Jersey.

President: Cornelius Noonan
Vice-President: John "Cockeye" Dunn (Executed)
Succeeding Vice-President: Austin Furey
Original Business Agent: Leo Tocci (Murdered)
Succeeding Business Agent: John "Cockeye" Dunn (Executed)
Secretary-Treasurer: Thomas "Teddy" Gleason (Future longest serving ILA President)

AFL 21512 was the New Jersey local that was merged into ILA Local 1730 in 1949. It's structure was:
President: Frank Sheridan
Vice-President: William Quinn
Business Agent: Andrew "Squint" Sheridan (Executed)

Here is some info on the other people you mentioned:
William (Big Bill) Mc Cormack- Friends with many West Side criminals and very influential, but not involved in any traditional rackets. Was the owner of Penn Stevedoring.
Edward McGrath- Was heavily involved in ILA 1730, but on paper he was an Organizer for the ILA.
Frank Campbell- Was a member of the old Yanowsky group and partners with Albert Ackalitis. After his release from prison, he aligned himself with the Dunn-McGrath group and was later linked to Hugh Mulligan, and also various ILA locals in New Jersey.
Joseph Murphy- Another member of the old Yanowsky group, he remained very involved with both Ackalitis and Campbell well into the late 1960s.
Matt English- He was an ex-con who had membership in ILA 1730. Not really a member of any group or a serious criminal.
Albert Ackalitis- A one-time leader of the old Yanowsky group. An incredibly important waterfront figure who later transitioned into the Operating Engineers union once he was barred from the docks.
Hugh Gillen- A trucking executive. Not a member of any gang.
John Bowers- Official of ILA Local 824 and later the President of the ILA after Teddy Gleason. Son of Mickey Bowers. Never convicted of a crime.
Michael Bowers- The top criminal operating in Hell's Kitchen from the 1940s to the early 1950s.
Joseph Kress- A member of the old Yanowsky group. He was released from prison in the 1940s and then attempted to rob Frank Erickson. After serving his second sentence for the failed hold-up, he never reappeared again on the West Side and apparently relocated.
Michael Spillane- Was only really ever closely connected to Hugh Mulligan rather than any of the above. He was a lot younger than the other names you mentioned so he wouldn't have been around for the golden age on the waterfront.
Louis (Bongy Farrell) Bongiorno - He was a shop steward at one of the 1730 barns. The only reason his name comes up in police reports is because he occasionally drove Connie Noonan around (who also happened to be the ex-boyfriend of Bongy's wife). He was involved in loansharking, gambling etc. though.

Hope that gives you some idea!

[maxiestern11]

Dwalin2014 is right about the "Arsenal Gang" name. It was a newspaper headline used to describe the remnants of the Yanowsky group after their arrest. It ended up sticking around much like "The Westies" moniker.

It would be difficult to make a hierarchy chart as the Irish groups were usually fluid crews rather than having an organizational structure. From the 1930s to the 1950s, you can put together a rough list of prominent players based on territories, but it gets really murky into the 1960s as the big West Side industries died out. Also, the whole Eddie McGrath to Hughie Mulligan to Mickey Spillane to Jimmy Coonan narrative that we often see isn't really correct.

For the list you posted above, ILA 1730 was a charter that the Dunn-McGrath gang created in the late 1930s. The actual union hierarchy would look something like this (Note: this doesn't include mostly all the members of the gang, but rather just the ones involved in this particular local):

ILA Local 1346-2 became AFL 21510, Motor and Bus Terminal Checkers, Platform and Office Workers, in 1937 and later ILA 1730, Inland Terminal Workers, in 1949. They were originally based in Greenwich Village and were a union for the various shipping terminals that the docks delivered to. By the 1950s, mostly all the terminals were in New Jersey.

President: Cornelius Noonan
Vice-President: John "Cockeye" Dunn (Executed)
Succeeding Vice-President: Austin Furey
Original Business Agent: Leo Tocci (Murdered)
Succeeding Business Agent: John "Cockeye" Dunn (Executed)
Secretary-Treasurer: Thomas "Teddy" Gleason (Future longest serving ILA President)

AFL 21512 was the New Jersey local that was merged into ILA Local 1730 in 1949. It's structure was:
President: Frank Sheridan
Vice-President: William Quinn
Business Agent: Andrew "Squint" Sheridan (Executed)

Here is some info on the other people you mentioned:
William (Big Bill) Mc Cormack- Friends with many West Side criminals and very influential, but not involved in any traditional rackets. Was the owner of Penn Stevedoring.
Edward McGrath- Was heavily involved in ILA 1730, but on paper he was an Organizer for the ILA.
Frank Campbell- Was a member of the old Yanowsky group and partners with Albert Ackalitis. After his release from prison, he aligned himself with the Dunn-McGrath group and was later linked to Hugh Mulligan, and also various ILA locals in New Jersey.
Joseph Murphy- Another member of the old Yanowsky group, he remained very involved with both Ackalitis and Campbell well into the late 1960s.
Matt English- He was an ex-con who had membership in ILA 1730. Not really a member of any group or a serious criminal.
Albert Ackalitis- A one-time leader of the old Yanowsky group. An incredibly important waterfront figure who later transitioned into the Operating Engineers union once he was barred from the docks.
Hugh Gillen- A trucking executive. Not a member of any gang.
John Bowers- Official of ILA Local 824 and later the President of the ILA after Teddy Gleason. Son of Mickey Bowers. Never convicted of a crime.
Michael Bowers- The top criminal operating in Hell's Kitchen from the 1940s to the early 1950s.
Joseph Kress- A member of the old Yanowsky group. He was released from prison in the 1940s and then attempted to rob Frank Erickson. After serving his second sentence for the failed hold-up, he never reappeared again on the West Side and apparently relocated.
Michael Spillane- Was only really ever closely connected to Hugh Mulligan rather than any of the above. He was a lot younger than the other names you mentioned so he wouldn't have been around for the golden age on the waterfront.
Louis (Bongy Farrell) Bongiorno - He was a shop steward at one of the 1730 barns. The only reason his name comes up in police reports is because he occasionally drove Connie Noonan around (who also happened to be the ex-boyfriend of Bongy's wife). He was involved in loansharking, gambling etc. though.

Hope that gives you some idea!

My compliments Clark!.... very interesting and informative. You obviously know your “Irish Mob” members and related history. I do understand that no chart per se can properly trace them as they were a somewhat disjointed bunch and fragmented. But what you did was very good.
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Any more significant guys in that crew that we should mention?

[JIGGS]

the whole Eddie McGrath to Hughie Mulligan to Mickey Spillane to Jimmy Coonan narrative that we often see isn't really correct.

Thank You.

William (Big Bill) Mc Cormack- Friends with many West Side criminals and very influential, but not involved in any traditional rackets. Was the owner of Penn Stevedoring.
Edward McGrath- Was heavily involved in ILA 1730, but on paper he was an Organizer for the ILA.
Frank Campbell- Was a member of the old Yanowsky group and partners with Albert Ackalitis. After his release from prison, he aligned himself with the Dunn-McGrath group and was later linked to Hugh Mulligan, and also various ILA locals in New Jersey.
Joseph Murphy- Another member of the old Yanowsky group, he remained very involved with both Ackalitis and Campbell well into the late 1960s.
Matt English- He was an ex-con who had membership in ILA 1730. Not really a member of any group or a serious criminal.
Albert Ackalitis- A one-time leader of the old Yanowsky group. An incredibly important waterfront figure who later transitioned into the Operating Engineers union once he was barred from the docks.
Hugh Gillen- A trucking executive. Not a member of any gang.
John Bowers- Official of ILA Local 824 and later the President of the ILA after Teddy Gleason. Son of Mickey Bowers. Never convicted of a crime.
Michael Bowers- The top criminal operating in Hell's Kitchen from the 1940s to the early 1950s.
Joseph Kress- A member of the old Yanowsky group. He was released from prison in the 1940s and then attempted to rob Frank Erickson. After serving his second sentence for the failed hold-up, he never reappeared again on the West Side and apparently relocated.
Michael Spillane- Was only really ever closely connected to Hugh Mulligan rather than any of the above. He was a lot younger than the other names you mentioned so he wouldn't have been around for the golden age on the waterfront.
Louis (Bongy Farrell) Bongiorno - He was a shop steward at one of the 1730 barns. The only reason his name comes up in police reports is because he occasionally drove Connie Noonan around (who also happened to be the ex-boyfriend of Bongy's wife). He was involved in loansharking, gambling etc. though.

This the most realistic I seen. I never knew Huey M. was friends or had ever worked with Mickey Spillane.

Machine Gun Frank Cambell. Fuck. There's a name I aint read or heard of in years. Despite the nick nobody today would ever guess this old man was a top hoodlum. I thought he was part of the west side union the pistol mick ran? When would frank have been part of a union in Jersey? The 50s?

JIGGS

[UTC]

Dwalin2014 is right about the "Arsenal Gang" name. It was a newspaper headline used to describe the remnants of the Yanowsky group after their arrest. It ended up sticking around much like "The Westies" moniker.

It would be difficult to make a hierarchy chart as the Irish groups were usually fluid crews rather than having an organizational structure. From the 1930s to the 1950s, you can put together a rough list of prominent players based on territories, but it gets really murky into the 1960s as the big West Side industries died out. Also, the whole Eddie McGrath to Hughie Mulligan to Mickey Spillane to Jimmy Coonan narrative that we often see isn't really correct.

For the list you posted above, ILA 1730 was a charter that the Dunn-McGrath gang created in the late 1930s. The actual union hierarchy would look something like this (Note: this doesn't include mostly all the members of the gang, but rather just the ones involved in this particular local):

ILA Local 1346-2 became AFL 21510, Motor and Bus Terminal Checkers, Platform and Office Workers, in 1937 and later ILA 1730, Inland Terminal Workers, in 1949. They were originally based in Greenwich Village and were a union for the various shipping terminals that the docks delivered to. By the 1950s, mostly all the terminals were in New Jersey.

President: Cornelius Noonan
Vice-President: John "Cockeye" Dunn (Executed)
Succeeding Vice-President: Austin Furey
Original Business Agent: Leo Tocci (Murdered)
Succeeding Business Agent: John "Cockeye" Dunn (Executed)
Secretary-Treasurer: Thomas "Teddy" Gleason (Future longest serving ILA President)

AFL 21512 was the New Jersey local that was merged into ILA Local 1730 in 1949. It's structure was:
President: Frank Sheridan
Vice-President: William Quinn
Business Agent: Andrew "Squint" Sheridan (Executed)

Here is some info on the other people you mentioned:
William (Big Bill) Mc Cormack- Friends with many West Side criminals and very influential, but not involved in any traditional rackets. Was the owner of Penn Stevedoring.
Edward McGrath- Was heavily involved in ILA 1730, but on paper he was an Organizer for the ILA.
Frank Campbell- Was a member of the old Yanowsky group and partners with Albert Ackalitis. After his release from prison, he aligned himself with the Dunn-McGrath group and was later linked to Hugh Mulligan, and also various ILA locals in New Jersey.
Joseph Murphy- Another member of the old Yanowsky group, he remained very involved with both Ackalitis and Campbell well into the late 1960s.
Matt English- He was an ex-con who had membership in ILA 1730. Not really a member of any group or a serious criminal.
Albert Ackalitis- A one-time leader of the old Yanowsky group. An incredibly important waterfront figure who later transitioned into the Operating Engineers union once he was barred from the docks.
Hugh Gillen- A trucking executive. Not a member of any gang.
John Bowers- Official of ILA Local 824 and later the President of the ILA after Teddy Gleason. Son of Mickey Bowers. Never convicted of a crime.
Michael Bowers- The top criminal operating in Hell's Kitchen from the 1940s to the early 1950s.
Joseph Kress- A member of the old Yanowsky group. He was released from prison in the 1940s and then attempted to rob Frank Erickson. After serving his second sentence for the failed hold-up, he never reappeared again on the West Side and apparently relocated.
Michael Spillane- Was only really ever closely connected to Hugh Mulligan rather than any of the above. He was a lot younger than the other names you mentioned so he wouldn't have been around for the golden age on the waterfront.
Louis (Bongy Farrell) Bongiorno - He was a shop steward at one of the 1730 barns. The only reason his name comes up in police reports is because he occasionally drove Connie Noonan around (who also happened to be the ex-boyfriend of Bongy's wife). He was involved in loansharking, gambling etc. though.

Hope that gives you some idea!

And John Bowers, Jr. is a Vice President of the ILA as a whole for governmental and legislative matters. He's a lawyer. Nice guy actually.

[maxiestern11]

UTC... is he the current VP? The Bowers have a long history with the ILA

[Clark]

[/quote]

This the most realistic I seen. I never knew Huey M. was friends or had ever worked with Mickey Spillane.

Machine Gun Frank Cambell. Fuck. There's a name I aint read or heard of in years. Despite the nick nobody today would ever guess this old man was a top hoodlum. I thought he was part of the west side union the pistol mick ran? When would frank have been part of a union in Jersey? The 50s?

JIGGS
[/quote]

I think that that whole Mulligan/Spillane relationship was overstated, but there was definitely some sort of working relationship. When Mulligan was convicted of contempt after they tapped the phones in every bar he used, Spillane was one of the others who was caught up in that and also convicted. I might be mistaken, but the same investigation led to other contempt convictions for Danny St. John, Connie Mahoney, a handful of the dirty cops Mulligan had around him, Mulligan's partner Red McGinnity, and ultimately Eddie McGrath years later. Spillane was really his own thing, but I think as the West Side died off, all the remaining guys came into each others orbit more often and a lot were connected to Mulligan because he had the connections and the cash.

You are totally right about Campbell. Everything that I have ever read, or anyone who knew him, says the same thing. When he was released from jail after his "Arsenal Gang" conviction, the McGrath-Dunn gang put him to "work" on Pier 18 as a hiring boss. At that time, he was member of ILA Local 1258, which McGrath/Dunng had controlled for a long time. After they cleaned up the piers in the early 1950s, he was banned. New York still hadn't passed laws putting restrictions on union officials, so he became President of ILA Local 1478 in New Jersey, which was a warehouse union that Charlie Yanowsky had started. He also had control over ILA 1823, a catch-all local that shared offices with 1478 and Heels Murphy was the Vice-President of. They were both really sketchy locals with small memberships.

By the late-1950s they started cracking down on convicted felons holding union leadership positions and he was outsed. For awhile, he was an FBI fugitive after being busted as the leader of a ring that was extorting meat vendors. While out on bail before his trial, Albert Ackalitis was shaking down ILA officials to pay for Campbell's defence and Campbell even got involved in that famous armored car robbery at the New Jersey church that Thomas Kapatos, Thomas Callahan, Harry Speditz etc. pulled. Campbell had backed out of the job during the planning phases and then died of a heart attack at home before his trial. At this time he was getting up there in age, but obviously wasn't slowly down.

You are totally right that he was also close with Mickey Bowers and all the ILA Local 824 crowd.

Maxie, John Bowers Jr. is still in that position now. I think he works at of Washington a lot. The current Executive VP is Dennis Daggett, who is the son of the President, Harold. Harold is the nephew of George Daggett, who was one of Eddie McGrath's best friends.

[maxiestern11]

Clark, wasn’t Daggett connected with the NJ ILA locals and also got in trouble with Tino Fiumara, Lawrence Ricci and that bunch? I seem to remember seeing that name

[Clark]

Clark, wasn’t Daggett connected with the NJ ILA locals and also got in trouble with Tino Fiumara, Lawrence Ricci and that bunch? I seem to remember seeing that name

Yes, he was part of that trial where Ricci was murdered. Ultimately, he and the others were found not guilty. Daggett is/was ILA 1804, which was a long-time Genovese local (George Barone, Douglas Rago etc.).

[maxiestern11]

Is he still a union official?

[Clark]

Is he still a union official?

President of the entire ILA now. One of his sons is the Executive VP (and being groomed to take over) and his other one is a District VP.