Talk:James Coonan

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[edit] Cleanup

Someone needs to go through and edit this page so it meets the stylistic standards et al. 207.237.193.61 15:59, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Notability?

Is there any need for pages as small and useless as this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.110.109.208 (talk • contribs) 14:06, 2 April 2007

I agree and suggest this page be reccomended for deletion as it does seem rather pointless. --Pagren —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.110.109.208 (talk • contribs) 14:16, 2 April 2007
This is the worst written article ever. It rambles and digresses, and even when it's on topic, the sentence structure is nearly impossible to follow. This needs a serious clean up or a total rewrite.--128.186.153.249 20:41, 12 April 2007 (UTC)
Add the right tags, then. Jesus. --RavensIllusion 21:56, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
I disagree, Jimmy Coonan was mover and shaker in New York crime up until his arrest. The westies were definately a notable crime association and as Coonan was their long time leader, he is notable as well. That said, this article needs a lot of work. I've done a bit, but crime is not one of my focuses.--Lendorien 20:00, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Links

Please add more links.--76.22.68.69 03:52, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

I have attempted to rewrite this article a bit. I think that a lot of it still could be culled out, and there's a huge sourcing problem, especially since it claims that the subject committed multiple murders. I have placed those sections here until they can be sourced. Claiming a bunch of guys murdered someone is a big deal. We need to follow wikipedia policy here. Text is below. It can be readded when properly sourced.--Lendorien 18:13, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Dugan Murder

In the summer of 1975, Patrick "Paddy" Dugan, one of Coonan's more violent gang members, murdered his best friend and fellow gang member Denis Curley. Although Dugan was gang member like Curley, and a "good guy" by Westside standards, Coonan decided that Dugan had to go. This was in great part due to Eddie "the Butcher" Cummiskey who viewed Denis Curley as a little brother.[citation needed]

Cummiskey was an older and respected Westside gangster. Cummiskey wanted to murder Dugan himself, so, seeing the opportunity for a new recruit and to gain one of Spillane's top enforcers, Coonan offered Dugan as a peace offer. Coonan and Cummiskey murdered Dugan together and dismembered the body. Coonan's niece Alberta Sachs was told to wash up the blood that dripped on the tenement buildings floors in the hallway.[citation needed]

[edit] The Stein murder

In 1977, a few years after the Dugan murder, Eddie Cummiskey was murdered by Genovese Crime Family associate Joseph "Mad Dog" Sullivan.[citation needed]

As part of a power play, and perhaps in part to avenge Cumminsky's murder, Coonan put his focus on Charles "Ruby" Stein, a Jewish loanshark who was an Associate of the Genovese Crime Family. He was chosen, partially because Coonan owed Stein close to $50,000. Other Coonan associates, such as Gambino Family Soldato Danny Grillo, a member of Roy DeMeo's crew, owed $40,000 and other members of the Westies had similar debts. The elimination of Stien would erase the debts as well as remove a huge earner for the Genovese.[citation needed]

Along with associates Richie Ryan, Billie Beattie, Danny Grillo and Francis "Mickey" Featherstone, Coonan lured Stein to his club on the Westside. When Coonan arrived with Stein, Billie Beattie pretended to be on the payphone near the door, Richie Ryan was playing pin ball and Mickey Featherstone was sitting at a bar stool. Once the door closed, Beattie locked the door and closed the blinds. As Coonan sat down and got Stein to sit, Danny Grillo came out of the kitchen and shot Stein six times with a silenced pistol. Coonan, Beattie, Featherstone and Ryan added an additional bullet to make them all accomplices. After the hit, Coonan dismembered the body and had it dumped into the ocean.[citation needed]

A week later, Stein's torso was found on the shore in Brooklyn. The discovery of Stein's corpse led to a police investigation and the Genovese Crime Family now knew that Stein had not run off, but that someone had murdered one of their loansharks. [clarify]

[edit] Tony Salerno Meeting is apocryphal

The meeting with Tony Salerno never happened. Whoever wrote this page is confusing the truth with the screenplay of "State Of Grace" written by Denis McKintyre. Coonan and Featherstone had a sitdown with Paul Castellano, head of the Gambinos. The business with the phone call and the Westies running, armed to the teeth to the restaurant, never happened - only in the film. Read The Westies by TJ English, to separate fact from fiction. (TJC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.143.103.218 (talk • contribs) 19:36, 15 August 2007

That part of the article was cut quite some time ago actually. If you're knowledgeable about this subject, your help on revising this article would be appreciated as this version of it is simply a cut back version of a very poorly written and completely unsourced account. I revised it myself in May, but I'm not knowlegable about this subject. --Lendorien 13:58, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup TO DO - Aug 2007

The following issues have been identified as needing to be done on this article.

  • Article needs sourcing.
  • Article needs proper verification to be certain the information contained within is true and accurate.
  • Article may need to be completely rewritten based on verification.

--Lendorien 06:58, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Apparently resolved, though article is now a stub. --Lendorien (talk) 00:32, 27 February 2008 (UTC)