Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster; T.J. English

I like T.J. English’s work when it comes to mafia/gangster histories, he’s become a go-to for me when my true crime itch has me turning to organized crime. He always does a thorough job with research and has a great ability to take information that spans decades and tie it together through the people and groups to craft a surprisingly linear “story”, if you will. But this is hardly the “untold” history of the Irish American Gangster. It is, however, a very dense complete history of the organization that took me over a month to finally finish reading.

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There was nothing wrong with this book; it’s full of history spanning over 150 years, and ultimately, I think that was just too much. It’s an overview of the whole organization, and while some of the men and women who first started the Irish mob here in the states may be unknown, many of the people covered in this book have had their stories told in exquisite detail. For example, Joe Kennedy and his involvement with the Italian mafia to get JFK elected, “Whitey” Bulger, and heck, the author himself has a whole book on the Westies alone. Hardly untold stories, even if they are interesting. This book is more of a sampling, an introduction to some of the major players in the various gangs. Once you’re properly teased with some of these histories, then you can go out and find scores of books to get a better in-depth look at what this leader of that gang did in order to influence politics in a given area—the specialty of the Irish American gangster. I learned a lot from this book, but I never felt like I got a complete picture of any one organization or “influential” person. I think if this hadn’t pretended to be the “untold” history, I may have felt a bit differently about the material come the end, but since that didn’t happen, I’m giving this book 3 stars, but may consider reading his “Westies” or Whitey Bulger books eventually.