Francis Thomas "Mickey" Featherstone (born September 2, 1948) is an American former mobster and the second in command of the Westies, an

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

syndicate from

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, ...

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 City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, led by

James Coonan James Michael Coonan (born December 21, 1946) is an Irish-American mobster and racketeer from Manhattan, New York who served as the boss of the Westies gang, an Irish mob group based in Hell's Kitchen, from approximately 1977 to 1988. Coonan wa ...

. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang.

Early life

Featherstone was born on West 43rd St., the youngest of nine children. His mother helped with the

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States Armed Forces, United States war veterans who fought in wars, Military campaign, campaig ...

and his father was a

United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted criminal in ...

officer. He had blond hair and was often said to be baby-faced. He served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

as member of the

Green Berets The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, is a branch of the United States Army United States Army Special Operations Comm ...

aged just 17 after lying about his age. He served as a stock clerk. He was involved in criminal mischief with his friends and was disciplined for many drunken pranks. He received a medical discharge in 1967 after just a year, claiming to have hallucinations.

Return to Hell's Kitchen

When a group from New Jersey, called the Riley brothers, entered Hell's Kitchen a fight started with the outsiders. Featherstone returned with a rifle and shot one of the brothers John Riley in the arm, for which he was arrested and probationed. After borrowing Coonan's gun, he shot dead Linwood Willis in a confrontation outside a bar in 1971. He was found not guilty due to insanity. He spent time in a series of mental hospitals, being released in 1975. He acted out frequently while in the hospitals, leading to him being restrained and injected with

thorazine Chlorpromazine (CPZ), marketed under the brand names Thorazine and Largactil among others, is an antipsychotic medication. It is primarily used to treat psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Other uses include the treatment of bipolar dis ...

. He began spending time in saloons like Club 596 and Sunbrite that were hangouts for the Westies.

The Westies

Featherstone's penchant for violence and intimidation caught the eye of Coonan and Featherstone became Coonan's right-hand man by 1976.

Mickey Spillane Frank Morrison Spillane (; March 9, 1918July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, called the "king of pulp fiction". His stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 ...

, the mob leader in Hell's Kitchen at the time, was shot five times outside his apartment in Woodside Queens in August 1977. Featherstone was arrested but acquitted for his killing. The police suspected him of a series of mob

contract killing Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

s. 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. In February 1982, he was convicted after using counterfeit currency at a massage parlor. He was traced because the girl remembered seeing his name tattooed on his forearm. He was sentenced to six years. Featherstone did time in the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield Missouri on the psychiatric ward in 1982. He was a model prisoner, seen daily picking fine lint off of his perfectly made bunk to pass inspection, and starting arguments with others for not polishing their door frame brass. The institution kept Featherstone working on the ward, out of General Population, for his own safety. Featherstone and Coonan had a falling out over Coonan's alliance with the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. ...

, which Featherstone saw as a betrayal of all the

Irish Americans 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 ...

in Hell's Kitchen.

Turning informer

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. He was shocked at receiving his sentence of 25 years in prison, and concluded that he had been framed by his own gang. Rather than serving his sentence he instead told prosecutors that Bokun had committed the murder, and he became an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

. His wife Sissy co-operated with the District Attorney's office to tape incriminating conversations with gang members, including Bokun. In September 1986, Judge Alvin Schlesinger overturned Featherstone's conviction. His testimony at Coonan's

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

trial during 1987–88 helped to bring down Coonan's gang. He pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge and received a suspended sentence of five years' probation from Judge Robert W. Sweet due to his cooperation with the authorities. He was freed in December 1988 and went into a

witness protection Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after trials, usually by police. While witnesses may only require p ...

program.

Early life

Return to Hell's Kitchen

The Westies

Turning informer

References

Further reading