Question on Valachi's "Real Thing"

[BeatiPaoli]

To Everyone: I am plodding through Joe Valachi's stream-of-consciousness tome "The Real Thing" as presented on that fine site MafiaHistory.com. During the first 160 "pages", he often refers to the "Irish mob." From the context, I don't think it is an actual mob made up of Irishmen, since the few individuals he cites by name have Italian surnames. Unless I missed something along the way (which is certainly possible), I don't believe Valachi expounded on the origin/background of this group of people he labeled as the "Irish mob." I am hoping someone on this Forum could enlighten me, and explain what (?ethnic) group to whom Valachi is actually referring, and from where within the city these individuals are located?

Regards,

BeatiPaoli

[B.]

He talks about them in his book as well if I remember right. They were a group of mixed ethnic hoodlums in East Harlem that included "Irish" (no idea what some of these guys' actual ethnicity was and haven't looked into them but that's how Valachi perceived them) and Italian guys, including Valachi. They ran into problems with the local mafia element, especially Joe Rao, and Valachi was accused of being the driver during an attempted hit on Rao and overall simply being too close to the Irish guys (keep in mind Valachi wasn't "with" the mafia yet).

I haven't had a chance to read the recent Informer issue on Valachi but I imagine Hunt and co. tried to look into them more.

[JoelTurner]

explain what (?ethnic) group to whom Valachi is actually referring, and from where within the city these individuals are located?

I think he could have been referring to the Hudson Dusters. They were an old-time gang based in Manhattan. I don’t think that they were exclusively Irish.

Here’s who he names as members:

From the Irish mob there was the Dutchman, Pete Hestler, Steve Folley, Frank LaPuma, Nick the Burglar and Joe Rao, who came from 116th St, Mike Coppolo [sic]
[…]
I don't mean Dutch Schultz, this was a different Dutchman, I don't remember his name

Rao & Coppola are known. While I couldn’t find the others, LaPuma & “Dutch” (TN: Ludwig Augustine) appear to have been a hold-up gang:



While incarcerated, he meets a “Brother Mac” who was with this Irish Mob:

Brother Mac […] was a very important fellow and that he was with the Irish mob

This was William McNamara. He’s identified by that nickname in several places, notably in the Wikipedia article on the Hudson Dusters. Interestingly, in 1916, he was arrested for a murder alongside a “Dutch”:



He names their leader as a Nick Caputo:

The big guy of this outfit, I mean the Irish mob, was Nick Caputo, who was the brother of Patsy.

I think that these men (Dutch, McNamara, LaPuma, etc.) could have been a part of the Hudson Dusters but I strongly doubt that Rao/Coppola were in it. He also says that the latter was part of The Big Six, a pickpocket group led by Ciro Terranova, which makes more sense to me.

[BeatiPaoli]

To B.and JoelTurner:

Thank you very much for the timely replies and the information! I appreciate it very much!

I must admit plodding through these 900 "pages" is time consuming, but certainly interesting and worth it!

Regards,
BeatiPaoli