Patrick Nee
Encyclopedia
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.
speaking village in the Connemara
, County Galway
. He has recalled,
Nee's four maternal aunts had already emigrated, three to Boston and one to Pittsburgh, influencing the Nees' decision to settle in Boston. Nee's father emigrated to America in 1952 and for a year worked as a laborer. He got a house together for his family and sent his wife the passage money a year later. Their cousins drove them down to Cork, where they boarded an English cruise ship
for the trip to America, settling in South Boston, Massachusetts
. Nee became a member of the Mullen Gang
at the age of 14 and fought in several turf battles. He has recalled,
Upon reaching adulthood, Nee enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps
. He arrived in Vietnam
with the 4th Marine Brigade in 1965 and saw combat at Phu Bai.
On May 13, 1972, South Boston gang boss Donald Killeen
was shot to death by Mullen gang enforcers Jimmy Mantville and Tommy King outside his home in suburban Framingham, Massachusetts
. The leadership of the Killeen faction then devolved on James J. "Whitey" Bulger.
However, Bulger and his fellow Killeens fled the city in the aftermath of their boss's murder, fearing that they would be next. Instead of murdering Bulger, however, Nee arranged for the dispute to be mediated by Howie Winter
and Patriarca crime family
captain
Joseph Russo. After a sit-down at Chandler's restaurant in the South End, Boston, the two gangs joined forces, with Winter as overall boss.
According to Nee,
Also according to Nee,
After Winter was convicted of fixing horse races in 1979 the leadership of the gang fell on James "Whitey" Bulger. Nee responded by relocating to Charlestown, Massachusetts
and concentrating his energy on raising money and smuggling guns to the Provisional IRA. He has written that Bulger frequently urged him to cut his links to the IRA, saying that it was too great a risk for not enough profit.
However, Nee remained an occasional associate throughout the years and masterminded a 1984 attempt to smuggle seven tons of AK-47
assault rifles to the Provos. With Bulger's assistance, the guns were loaded aboard the Valhalla, a fishing trawler from Gloucester, Massachusetts
. However, the Irish Government had learned of the scheme via Sean O'Callaghan
, a police informant in the IRA's Southern Command. As a result, the cargo was intercepted by a combined force of the Irish Navy and the Garda Síochána
. The Valhalla's crew was arrested by U.S. Customs agents immediately after returning to Gloucester.
The failure of that attempt led Bulger to torture and murder John McIntyre, a member of the Valhalla's crew who had informed on the scheme to U.S. Customs agents and had agreed to wear a wire on Bulger and Nee. Nee has admitted to bringing McIntyre to the South Boston house where Bulger, Stephen Flemmi
, and Kevin Weeks
were waiting for him. He claims that he believed they were only going to talk to him and that he was disgusted to return later and find the trio about to bury McIntyre's ravaged body in the basement.
Nee fled Boston after being informed by Bulger that Federal agents were looking for him. After several years in hiding, he was arrested in 1987 and served an 18-month sentence in Federal prison.
After his release in 1989, Nee was disgusted by McIntyre's murder and, motivated increasingly by Irish nationalism
, he decided to cut his links to Bulger. He put together a crew of his own and began planning armed robberies to raise money for the IRA. He was arrested by the FBI during an armored car robbery in Abington, Massachusetts
on January 13, 1990. He was sentenced to 37 years in Federal prison, but was released after April 2000.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
-American immigrant, former member of the Mullen Gang
Mullen Gang
-Gang members:Paulie McGonagle was a Boston mobster and onetime leader of the Mullen Gang, a South Boston street gang involved in burglary, auto theft, and armed robbery. During the war against Donald Killeen and his brothers, McGonagle successfully led the Mullens in a string of shootings which...
, 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...
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 languageIrish 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 village in the Connemara
Connemara
Connemara is a district in the west of Ireland consisting of a broad peninsula between Killary Harbour and Kilkieran Bay in the west of County Galway.-Overview:...
, 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...
. He has recalled,
"Our family had it tough in IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, sure, but I'm not going to tell you any of that Angela's AshesAngela's AshesAngela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank McCourt's impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, New York and Limerick, Ireland, as well as McCourt's struggles with poverty, his father's...
crap to try to gain your sympathy. We might not have had many good clothes, but Ma washed them every day. There was always good food. In fact, Ma never let my brothers and I go to bed hungry. And I remember falling asleep every night to a penetrating fire that burned until early morning."
Nee's four maternal aunts had already emigrated, three to Boston and one to Pittsburgh, influencing the Nees' decision to settle in Boston. Nee's father emigrated to America in 1952 and for a year worked as a laborer. He got a house together for his family and sent his wife the passage money a year later. Their cousins drove them down to Cork, where they boarded an English cruise ship
RMS Britannic (1929)
RMS Britannic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line, the company's third ship to bear the name. She was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast. She was launched on 6 August 1929. Like her running mate , Britannic was a motorship powered by diesel engines. She measured 26,943 gross tons and was ...
for the trip to America, settling 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...
. Nee became a member of the Mullen Gang
Mullen Gang
-Gang members:Paulie McGonagle was a Boston mobster and onetime leader of the Mullen Gang, a South Boston street gang involved in burglary, auto theft, and armed robbery. During the war against Donald Killeen and his brothers, McGonagle successfully led the Mullens in a string of shootings which...
at the age of 14 and fought in several turf battles. He has recalled,
"My progression to crime was as easy as a baby's transition from crawling to walking. I didn't have an epiphany; I never sat down and had a soul searching experience in which I decided that being a criminal was my goal in life. It just seemed natural - there was a lot of money to be had if you spent the time planning the jobs right. The more I hung with the Mullens, the easier it was to go out on jobs. I'd simply ask if they needed another guy."
Upon reaching adulthood, Nee enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
. He arrived in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
with the 4th Marine Brigade in 1965 and saw combat at Phu Bai.
Criminal career
After his return to South Boston in October 1966, he rejoined the Mullen gang and became one of its leaders in a war against the crime family bossed by the Killeen brothers. He relates in his memoirs that his mother would henceforth regret not throwing him off the back of the immigrant ship in 1952.On May 13, 1972, South Boston gang boss 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...
was shot to death by Mullen gang enforcers Jimmy Mantville and Tommy King outside his home in suburban Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham is a New England town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 68,318 as of the United States 2010 Census. -History:...
. The leadership of the Killeen faction then devolved on James J. "Whitey" Bulger.
However, Bulger and his fellow Killeens fled the city in the aftermath of their boss's murder, fearing that they would be next. Instead of murdering Bulger, however, Nee arranged for the 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:...
and 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"...
captain
Caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...
Joseph Russo. After a sit-down at Chandler's restaurant in the South End, Boston, the two gangs joined forces, with Winter as overall boss.
According to Nee,
Nobody talked fault, although at first it was tense while we ran down the 'who killed who' list. Whitey was a defeated warrior looking to keep as much honor as possible. He knew the Mullens had courageous, fierce men willing to die for theirs, and he was perceptive. Deep down, Whitey knew that he couldn't take over for the Killeens without cutting the Mullens in on their bookmaking and loansharking. Tommy [King] and I felt victorious, but we didn't want to gloat. The meeting lasted for six hours. We ate good steaks, chasing them down with nothing stronger than ginger aleGinger aleGinger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavored with ginger. Dr. Thomas Cantrell, an American apothecary and surgeon, claimed to have invented ginger ale and marketed it with beverage manufacturer Grattan and Company. Grattan embossed the slogan "The Original Makers of Ginger Ale" on its bottles...
. It was business, and contrary to media stereotype, we weren't a bunch of lowlifes who sat around drinking beer all day and all night.
Also according to Nee,
The balance of the meeting was spent forming an alliance, and by far the hardest part was deciding whom to protect. After a war, each side usually gets to protect so many people from harm. Those who aren't protected are fair game for retribution and 'shake-downs.' Everything was split down the middle. All the horses, dogs, bookmaking, and loansharking were now going to be under our mutual control. This was the beginning of our relationship. Whitey and I were now officially partners and nobody at that table could ever have possibly imagined how this treacherous f--- would treat his partners.
After Winter was convicted of fixing horse races in 1979 the leadership of the gang fell on James "Whitey" Bulger. Nee responded by relocating 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 concentrating his energy on raising money and smuggling guns to the Provisional IRA. He has written that Bulger frequently urged him to cut his links to the IRA, saying that it was too great a risk for not enough profit.
However, Nee remained an occasional associate throughout the years and masterminded a 1984 attempt to smuggle seven tons of AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
assault rifles to the Provos. With Bulger's assistance, the guns were loaded aboard the Valhalla, a fishing trawler from Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...
. However, the Irish Government had learned of the scheme via Sean O'Callaghan
Sean O'Callaghan
Sean O'Callaghan is a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who became an informer for the Garda Síochána and who was later debriefed by the UK's MI5 in the Netherlands...
, a police informant in the IRA's Southern Command. As a result, the cargo was intercepted by a combined force of the Irish Navy and the Garda Síochána
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...
. The Valhalla's crew was arrested by U.S. Customs agents immediately after returning to Gloucester.
The failure of that attempt led Bulger to torture and murder John McIntyre, a member of the Valhalla's crew who had informed on the scheme to U.S. Customs agents and had agreed to wear a wire on Bulger and Nee. Nee has admitted to bringing McIntyre to the South Boston house where Bulger, Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Joseph "The Rifleman" Flemmi is an Italian-American mobster and close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss James J. Bulger. Beginning in 1965, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
, and Kevin Weeks
Kevin Weeks
Kevin Weeks is a former mobster of Irish-American descent and a longtime friend and confidant to James J. Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based out of the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts.After his arrest and imprisonment in 1999, he became a...
were waiting for him. He claims that he believed they were only going to talk to him and that he was disgusted to return later and find the trio about to bury McIntyre's ravaged body in the basement.
Nee fled Boston after being informed by Bulger that Federal agents were looking for him. After several years in hiding, he was arrested in 1987 and served an 18-month sentence in Federal prison.
After his release in 1989, Nee was disgusted by McIntyre's murder and, motivated increasingly by Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
, he decided to cut his links to Bulger. He put together a crew of his own and began planning armed robberies to raise money for the IRA. He was arrested by the FBI during an armored car robbery in Abington, Massachusetts
Abington, Massachusetts
As of the census of 2000, there were 14,605 people, 5,263 households, and 3,747 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,469.1 people per square mile . There were 5,348 housing units at an average density of 538.0 per square mile...
on January 13, 1990. He was sentenced to 37 years in Federal prison, but was released after April 2000.
Current status
Patrick Nee currently works as a union laborer in Boston and spends time with his two daughters and his grandchildren. He has done some work in the construction industry since his release. Contrary to many reports, he never worked on "The Big Dig" in Boston.External links
Resources
- T. J. English, Paddy Whacked; The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster, 2005.
- Patrick Nee, A Criminal and an Irishman, 2006.