Jimmy Coonan
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James Michael Coonan (born December 21, 1946) is an Irish-American
mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...
and racketeer from
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
who served as the boss of the
Westies The Westies were a New York City-based Irish-American organized crime gang, responsible for racketeering, drug trafficking, and contract killing. They were partnered with the Italian-American Mafia and operated out of the Hell's Kitchen neighbo ...
gang, an Irish mob group based in
Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, or Midtown West on real estate listings, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, ...
, from approximately 1977 to 1988. Coonan was incarcerated and began serving a 75-year prison term in 1988.


Biography

James Coonan was born on December 21, 1946, into a middle class
Irish-American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...
family in the
Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, or Midtown West on real estate listings, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, ...
area of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. He was the second of four children of John Coonan, an accountant who ran a tax office on West 50th Street, and his wife Anna, who was of partial German descent and who worked at John Coonan's office. He was raised in a five-room walk-up apartment on West 49th Street. By his teenage years, Coonan stood five feet, seven inches tall and had a stocky build, with broad shoulders and a thick neck. An amateur boxer and street fighter, he dropped out of school aged seventeen and embarked on a career in organized crime. When Coonan was a young man, his father John was kidnapped, pistol-whipped and severely beaten by Mickey Spillane, a well-known mobster who frequently employed the kidnap-for-ransom racket of local merchants to their families. Author T.J. English has credited this event in several books as Coonan's motivating factor in the takeover of the
Westies The Westies were a New York City-based Irish-American organized crime gang, responsible for racketeering, drug trafficking, and contract killing. They were partnered with the Italian-American Mafia and operated out of the Hell's Kitchen neighbo ...
. Coonan was the bodyguard/apprentice of
loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at Usury, extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of debt collection, collection, and generally operates criminal, outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, ...
Charles (Ruby) Stein according to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' article that alleged he was "known and feared on the West Side as a murderer and kidnapper". Coonan wanted more, and several West Side neighborhood thugs gathered around him, including Francis "Mickey" Featherstone. By 1976, Coonan and Featherstone were engaged in taking over Spillane's territory, culminating in the 1977 shooting of Spillane, for which Featherstone was arrested and acquitted, and the death of Stein. According to testimony given in 1987 by ex-Westies member turned informant William Beattie, Stein was killed and beheaded in 1977 in a move to erase Coonan's debt and prove the Westies power through viciousness.'The more bodies you had the more monstrous you looked'
William M. Reilly,
United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
(October 21, 1987)
In 1979, Coonan was tried and acquitted for the murder of Harold Whitehead, but convicted on weapons charges and sentenced to four years in federal prison. After his release he resumed power, but was arrested for murder in 1986.Alleged Westies boss charged with murder
Barbara Goldberg,
United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
(November 20, 1986)
In 1988, Coonan was convicted of racketeering under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was e ...
(RICO) and sentenced to 75 years in prison with the judge's recommendation of denying parole. Yugoslavian mobster Boško "The Yugo" Radonjić succeeded Coonan as leader of the Westies.How a Pandemic Loan Fraud Took Down a Serbian Crime Boss With NY Mafia Ties
Ben Feuerherd and Bruce Golding, '' The Messenger'' (August 24, 2023)
He and his wife Edna (b.1942; Julia Edna Crotty) lived in Hazlet and
Keansburg, New Jersey Keansburg ( )Felzenberg, Alvin''Governor Tom Kean: From the New Jersey Statehouse to the 9-11 Commission'' p. 5. Rutgers University Press, 2006. . Accessed July 25, 2012. "In 1884, after congressman and future U.S. senator John Kean, Tom Kean's ...
, before his incarceration. Coonan is imprisoned at Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania. He has a full term date of November 17, 2061 and a mandatory release date of June 1, 2030.“I’m Not That Person Anymore” — Former Westies Gang Leader Jimmy Coonan Appeals for Home Release
Ariel Pacheco, w42st.com (August 24, 2023)
Coonan was first eligible for parole in 1998. In a February 2023 parole hearing, Coonan asked to be considered for release, citing his mentorship to other inmates, advancing years, time served, exemplary disciplinary record and ill-health. According to court papers, he lost all his teeth in prison, and suffers from partial deafness, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a form of skin cancer. In a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 18, 2023, Joseph Corozzo and Thomas Mirigliano, defense attorneys for Coonan, requested that he be released to home confinement under the
First Step Act The First Step Act, formally known as the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, is a bipartisan criminal justice bill passed by the 115th U.S. Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in ...
. Corozzo and Mirigliano asked that he be released in order to provide care for his elderly wife, Edna, who was described as "in declining physical and neurological health", at their home in Hazelet, New Jersey.Brutal ‘Westies’ Irish Mob Boss Wants Out of Prison, Cites Gentrified Hell’s Kitchen in NYC
Ben Feuerherd and Bruce Golding, '' The Messenger'' (August 22, 2023)


Notes


Bibliography

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References


External links


Inmate Locator - James Coonan
Federal Bureau of Prisons website
James and Edna Coonan's 1989 appeal brief
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coonan, James 1946 births Living people 20th-century American criminals 20th-century prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government 21st-century prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government American crime bosses American male criminals American gangsters of German descent American gangsters of Irish descent American people convicted of murder American prisoners and detainees Criminals from Manhattan Gambino crime family Gangsters from New York City People convicted of murder by the United States federal government People convicted of racketeering People from Hazlet, New Jersey People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan People from Keansburg, New Jersey Westies (New York gang)