Operating in Hell’s Kitchen in the 1970s and ’80s, Francis “Mickey” Featherstone was one of the most feared hitmen in the Irish American mob.
TwitterFrancis T. “ Mickey ” Featherstone was a member of the Irish mob until he was framed for a murder he did n’t commit and turn informant .
Mickey Featherstone was second - in - bid to Jimmy Coonan , leader of the Westies , an extremely crimson Irish mob that operated in Hell ’s Kitchen , Manhattan , in the seventies and 1980s . practice of law enforcement attributed at least 30 unresolved murders to the gang — and the innocuous - looking Mickey Featherstone was recognized as one of their most vicious members .
An unbalanced humanity with a raging temper and a hair trigger , Mickey Featherstone was known to kill for small to no reason at all . Even among his murderous match , he was experience as a brutal killer .
TwitterFrancis T. “Mickey” Featherstone was a member of the Irish mob until he was framed for a murder he didn’t commit and turned informant.
Because of men like Featherstone , conviction of Westies members became increasingly hard to secure because possible witnesses were terrorise of them and their willingness to fleetly bolt down anyone who track them . By the former seventies , the Westies had also become an enforcement branch of the every bit fear Gambino family , carrying out depute carrying out and sharing in hebdomadal winnings .
But the Westies ’ eventual downfall would add up thanks to Mickey Featherstone himself , after he was framed for the execution of Michael Holly by Coonan in 1985 . Wrongfully convict of slaying , Featherstone sought to clear his name by becoming a political science witness .
No one could ’ve predicted that Featherstone , perhaps the gang ’s most violent and dedicated member , would be the one to put an end to the Westies , and perhaps the Irish mob in Manhattan , once and for all .
Public DomainJimmy Coonan, the leader of the Westies in the 1970s.
Young Mickey Featherstone Raises Hell In Hell’s Kitchen
Francis “ Mickey ” Featherstone was bear on West 43rd Street on September 2 , 1948 . At 17 , Featherstone lied about his old age and joined the regular army with dream of becoming a Green Beret . Featherstone stand out in training and joined the particular personnel , but was foiled to serve as a gunstock shop assistant while other recruit saw combat .
more and more intoxicated on a regular ground , Featherstone was disciplined by the armed forces for various acts of criminal roguery , and after only a year , claiming to get from hallucination , was medically assoil in 1967 .
Back in Hell ’s Kitchen , Featherstone presently found himself involved in more serious form of condemnable mischief . In neck of the woods saloon , Featherstone ’s paranoia and violence kept pace with his level of inebriation , but he largely manage to evade consequences for his vehement dangerous undertaking .
Public DomainGambino boss Paul Castellano.
For object lesson , Featherstone engender probation for hit a man in the arm , and when he killed a man outside a streak in 1971 , Featherstone pose the rap with an insanity plea . His maniac behaviour also saw Featherstone spending component part of the other 1970s in various genial hospitals .
Released to the street of Hell ’s Kitchen in 1975 , Mickey Featherstone formed an connection with another feared gangster , Jimmy Coonan , a endocarp - cold killer with a fierce reputation . Featherstone , despite tolerate 5’7″ with wide dark eye , shagged blonde whisker , and a boyish face , presently developed a killer ’s reputation that might not have been apparent from his appearance alone .
Nevertheless , his toughness was infamous — and if alcoholic beverage was postulate , he was specially prone to vehemence . Many people mistakenly underestimated Featherstone , give his small stature , making him even more dangerous .
Public DomainJimmy Coonan (right) in a prison photo circa 1990.
Those who knew Featherstone in the region often crossed the street when they saw him coming their way . After all , Featherstone had killed military personnel in neighborhood bars in front of witnesses multiple fourth dimension and beat the rush .
His Rise In The Westies
Public DomainJimmy Coonan , the leader of the Westies in the 1970s .
In the mid-1970s , Coonan ’s Westies seize control of unionised criminal offence from predominant West Side gang leader , Mickey Spillane . The Westies only numbered around 15 member , all Irish American , yet became the dominant criminal effect in Hell ’s Kitchen . Coonan liked what he had seen from Featherstone , and recruited him as second in bidding , all while the Westies upped the force , leaving behind a string of often dismembered stiff .
In May 1977 , Jimmy Coonan owed a substantial amount of money to loan shark Ruby Stein — and decided to forgive his own debt by bump off Stein . Westie members mangle and dismembered him in the back of Coonan ’s bar , then cast his remains in the Hudson River . When Stein ’s trunk washed up a few days later on , a extremity of the crew was overheard saying “ we should have foreshorten the lungs open . ”
The Westies reign of terror was mostly make on the back of Mickey Featherstone ’s ferocious report . When someone laid eyes on him in person the response was usually mental rejection , with his violent notoriety disproportionate to his small physical height .
The Westies’ Bloody Alliance With The Gambino Family
Public DomainGambino boss Paul Castellano .
The pitiless repute of the crew came to the card of the Gambino family , and bossPaul Castellano , who summoned Coonan and Featherstone to a meeting in a Bay Ridge , Brooklyn restaurant in 1978 .
chastise them for dispatch two important Mafia loan sharks in Manhattan , Castellano separate Coonan the Westies should pay the crime syndicate 10 percent from all of their illegal proceeds — and in turn , the Gambinos would finance the Westies ’ loansharking operation .
The Westies , now formally “ on record book ” with the Italian American mob , were permit to use the Gambino name and repute , and building profits would be partake , including those from the upcoming Jacob Javits Convention Center . The Westies would also carry out some of the Gambino family ’s most gruesome dirty workplace .
In the early 1980s , Featherstone spend full point of sentence in mental hospitals , before returning to the Westies . By the mid 1980 ’s , Mickey Featherstone was convince that Coonan , living in New Jersey , had sold the neighborhood out to the Mafia , and bad blood fester . Then in 1985 , Coonan , fearing a powerfulness catch by Featherstone , set him up to take a surrender for slaying .
Mickey Featherstone Is Framed For Murder And Turns Informant
Public DomainJimmy Coonan ( right ) in a prison photograph circa 1990 .
On March 25 , 1977 , Westie John Bokun was shot dead by police force after an argument with another Hell ’s Kitchen resident , Michael Holly . Coonan held Holly responsible for Bokun ’s expiry , but his slaying was repeatedly put off over the year . But now , Coonan realized he could kill two bird with one Harlan F. Stone . On April 25 , 1985 , Billy Bokun ( John Bokun ’s brother ) , bear a wigging to look like Featherstone , come near Holly on a crowded street and killed him , firing five bullets into his back .
The following solar day , Mickey Featherstone was nail and eventually charged with Holly ’s murder — one of the few murders he , ironically , did n’t commit . Featherstone was connect by two eyewitness , as well as circumstantial grounds , as the automobile drive by the gunman was traced to the trucking party where Featherstone was engage . In April 1986 , Featherstone was convict of Holly ’s murder and sentenced to 25 class to life in prison .
Featherstone close that Coonan and other Westies member had set him up for Holly ’s execution . The shooter , Featherstone learned , was Billy Bokun . Meanwhile , the District Attorney ’s authority agreed to turn with Featherstone ’s married woman to obtain evidence confirming Featherstone ’s claim . She was able-bodied to record Bokun describing the shot of Michael Holly while wearing a wigging as Featherstone .
With this evidence , Featherstone ’s conviction was reverse in September 1986 according toThe National Registry Of Exonerations , and Featherstone fit to become an witnesser .
In 1988 , because of Featherstone’stestimony , eight of the crew ’s members were ultimately convict of racketeering and other offense related to their involvement in a RICO criminal enterprise — with Coonan himself get 75 geezerhood in prison .
After efficaciously destroying the Irish mob in Manhattan , 38 - year - honest-to-god Mickey Featherstone entered the attestant protection program and has lived under the radar ever since .
After teach about Mickey Featherstone , read howIrish mobster Danny Greene took on the Cleveland Mafiaor memorise about mobsterFrank “ The Irishman ” Sheeran .
