"Featuring Whitey Bulger, Jack "Legs" Diamond, Dean O'Banion, George "Bugs" Moran, Owney Madden, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, Mike McDonald, Jimmy Walker, John Morrissey, Buddy McLean, Danny Greene, Mickey Featherstone, Tom Pendergast, Edward "Spike" O'Donnell, Jimmy Coonan, Mickey Spillane."--T.p.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [443]-451) and index.

Here is the true saga of the Irish American mob, from the mid-nineteenth century all the way to the present day. The heritage of the Irish American gangster was established in America long before that of the more widely portrayed Italian American mafioso, and has held strong through the modern age. In fact, the highest-ranking organized crime figure on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List is not a wiseguy, a Latin King, or a gangbanging Blood or Crip, but an old-style Irish American mob boss from South Boston. Combining storytelling with thorough research and a slew of never-before-published material, English presents a cultural history of the Irish American underworld.