Mullen Gang - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Gang members

Paulie McGonagle (died November 1974) was a Boston mobster and onetime leader of the Mullen Gang, a South Boston street gang involved in burglary

Burglary

Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...

, auto theft, and armed robbery. During the war against Donald Killeen

Donald Killeen

Donald Killeen was an Irish-American mob boss who controlled criminal activity, primarily bookmaking in South Boston, Massachusetts, during the 1960s and 1970s...

and his brothers, McGonagle successfully led the Mullens in a string of shootings which finally ended with Killeen's murder in 1972. After a truce was arranged with Whitey Bulger and the remnants of the Killeen organization, McGonagle remained angry about Bulger's accidental murder of his younger brother, Donald McGonagle. It is believed that this was one of the reasons for his disappearance in November 1974. His body was later excavated from a shallow grave on Boston's Tenean Beach.

Tommy King (died 1975) was a Boston mobster and member of the Mullens during their gang war against Donald Killeen and his lieutenants Billy O'Sullivan

Billy O'Sullivan

Billy O'Sullivan is an Irish sportsman. He played hurling with his local club Ballygunner and with the Waterford senior inter-county team.-Early life:...

and James J. Bulger

James J. Bulger

James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr. is a former organized crime figure from Boston, Massachusetts.Local folklore depicted Bulger as a Robin Hood-style social bandit dedicated to protecting the neighborhood and its residents. Bulger allegedly masterminded a protection racket targeting drug kingpins...

during the early 1970s. Following Killeen's murder in 1972, he became an associate of Bulger and the Winter Hill Gang

Winter Hill Gang

The Winter Hill Gang is a structured confederation of Boston, Massachusetts-area organized crime figures, predominantly Irish-American with a small Italian-American faction. It derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts north of Boston. Its members have...

after his alleged involvement in the death of Paul McGonagle. In 1975, he disappeared following an altercation with Bulger in a Southie watering hole. He was suspected of having been killed by hitman John Martorano.

Patrick Nee
Patrick Nee
Patrick Nee is an Irish-American immigrant, former member of the Mullen Gang, Vietnam vet, and the bestselling author of the memoir A Criminal and an Irishman; The Inside Story of the Boston Mob-IRA Connection.-Early life:Nee was born in Ros Muc, an Irish language speaking village in the...

was born to an Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

speaking family in Rosmuc, County Galway

County Galway

County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

in 1943. He was brought to America by his parents in 1952 and became a member of the Mullens at the age of 14. He fought in several turf battles before joining the U.S. Marine Corps. He arrived in Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

in 1965 and saw combat at Phu Bai. After his return to South Boston in October 1966, he rejoined the Mullens and became one of their leaders in the war against the Killeen brothers. It was Nee who arranged the truce that ended the war by arranging a sit-down in Boston's South End. After being supplanted by Bulger, he moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...

and switched increasingly to smuggling arms to the Provisional IRA. He currently resides in South Boston and is the author of the memoir, "A Criminal and an Irishman."

Feud with the Killeen Gang

The Killeen brothers - Donald

Donald Killeen

Donald Killeen was an Irish-American mob boss who controlled criminal activity, primarily bookmaking in South Boston, Massachusetts, during the 1960s and 1970s...

, Kenneth, George and Edward - were an Irish-American crime family which ran the bookmaking and loansharking in South Boston, Massachusetts

South Boston, Massachusetts

South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. One of America's oldest and most historic neighborhoods, South Boston was formerly known as Dorchester Neck, and today is called "Southie" by...

. The Killeens controlled every illegal activity that emerged in South Boston for nearly two decades. They used muscle to make collections, and to make examples of those who didn’t pay in a timely fashion.

The Mullens, by contrast, were a loosely organized crew of thieves. But being in Southie, it was just a matter of time before they butted heads with the Killeens. The Mullens Gang were mostly thieves who stole from the ships that brought goods into Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...

and from the warehouses where they were stored. The crew was particularly talented and opportunistic, as likely to steal a truckload of Easter hams as one of televisions. They also had strength in numbers, the Boston Police Department

Boston Police Department

The Boston Police Department , created in 1838, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest police departments in the United States...

at one time estimated there were as many as sixty members.

In 1971, Donald Killeen's younger brother, Kenneth, bit off the nose of Mickie Dwyer, a member of the rival Mullen Gang, at The Transit, a local watering hole. Paulie McGonagle, Francis (Buddy) Leonard, Thomas King, and Dennis (Buddy) Roche went to The Transit (the Killeen Gang’s main base of operations) looking to confront the Killeens who had already left the bar. The presence of the Mullens at the Killeens headquarters was viewed as a direct challenge by Donald Killeen. A gangland war soon resulted, leading to a string of slayings throughout Boston and the surrounding suburbs.

Several weeks following the Transit incident, Killeen enforcers Billy O'Sullivan (mobster) and "Whitey" Bulger

James J. Bulger

encountered Mullen member "Buddy" Roache, brother of future Police Commissioner Francis "Mickey" Roache, in a bar on Broadway in South Boston. After a heated argument, Roache was shot and left paralyzed for life.

A short time later, Bulger and O'Sullivan killed Donald McGonagle. Donald was not a member on the Mullens and was killed by mistake. His brother, Paulie McGonagle vowed revenge and according to Patrick Nee

Patrick Nee

Patrick Nee is an Irish-American immigrant, former member of the Mullen Gang, Vietnam vet, and the bestselling author of the memoir A Criminal and an Irishman; The Inside Story of the Boston Mob-IRA Connection.-Early life:Nee was born in Ros Muc, an Irish language speaking village in the...

personally murdered O’Sullivan near his house at Savin Hill.

The killing of O’Sullivan revitalized the Mullins and the Killeens quickly found themselves outgunned and outmaneuvered.

On May 13, 1972, South Boston mob boss Donald Killeen was shot to death by Mullen gang enforcer Jimmy Mantville outside his home in suburban Framingham, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. The leadership of the Killeen faction then devolved on Bulger, who was then in hiding on Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...

. Rather than murdering Bulger as some Mullens, including Paulie McGonagle desired, Patrick Nee arranged for their dispute to be mediated by Howie Winter

Howie Winter

Howard Thomas "Howie" Winter is an American mobster. He was the second leader of the infamous Winter Hill Gang.-Early life:...

, the godfather of the Irish-American Winter Hill Gang

Winter Hill Gang

of Somerville

Somerville

-Places:United States*Somerville, Alabama*Somerville, Indiana*Somerville, Maine*Somerville, Massachusetts*Somerville, New Jersey**Somerville Circle, a traffic circle near Somerville, New Jersey*Somerville, Ohio*Somerville, Tennessee*Somerville, Texas...

and Joe Russo of the Patriarca crime family

Patriarca crime family

The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England crime family and the Providence crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in New England, specifically Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts, and is part of the Italian-American Mafia or "La Cosa Nostra"...

. After a sit-down at Chandler's restaurant in the South End, Boston, the two gangs joined forces with Winter as overall boss.

By 1973 Bulger was in control of the rackets in South Boston. He began to use his influence to remove opposition, by persuading Winter to sanction the murders of those rivals whom he viewed as having stepped out of line. These included former Mullens Spike O'Toole and Paulie McGonagle, who was murdered by Bulger and buried in a shallow grave in Boston's Tenean Beach. It is also alleged that Bulger had direct involvement in the murders of Eddie Connors, in January 1975 and Mullens, Tommy King and Buddy Leonard in November 1975.

Gang members

Feud with the Killeen Gang

Further reading