First published 2008
The Westies chronicles six decades in the life of an Irish-American criminal organization that dominated Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. From the 1960s through the 1980s, this gang maintained brutal control over the West Side's working-class streets. Bodies dropped from apartment windows in a neighborhood where violence became routine. The Westies enforced their rule through intimidation and murder, carving out territory in one of New York's most notorious districts. English follows the gang's rise and the men who led it through decades of crime and conflict. The story reveals how these Irish-Americans built their empire in Hell's Kitchen, where blue-collar residents lived alongside killers and the threat of death hung over daily life. This sweeping narrative captures the raw reality of urban gang warfare and the code of loyalty that bound the Westies together across generations of bloodshed.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, crime
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: gritty, intimate, suspenseful
Setting: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Period: 1960s, 1980s
Paperback · Bantam Books
Content warnings: graphic-violence, murder