Donald Killeen (September 14, 1923 – May 13, 1972) was an American

mob boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or near ...

who controlled criminal activity, primarily

bookmaking A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

, loansharking, and numbers in

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...

, during the late 1940s to the early 1970s.

Early life

Donald Killeen was born in 1923, and he was the eldest of four brothers, including Edward, George and Kenneth "Kenny" Killeen.

The Transit Cafe

Killeen owned and managed a bar called the Transit Cafe on West Broadway in South Boston. The Transit Cafe would later be taken over by

James J. Bulger James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bost ...

and managed by

Winter Hill Gang The Winter Hill Gang is a loose confederation of organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. The gang members and leadership are predominantly Irish-American and Italian-American descent. The organization itself derives its n ...

mob associate

Kevin Weeks Kevin Weeks (born March 21, 1956) is an American former mobster and longtime friend and mob lieutenant to Whitey Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based in the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachuset ...

. His organization included

Whitey Bulger James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bost ...

William S. O'Sullivan William S. O'Sullivan (January 31, 1928 – March 28, 1971) was an American loanshark and longtime enforcer for Donald Killeen, the head of the Irish mob in South Boston, Massachusetts. O'Sullivan also acted as a mentor to a young James J. Bulger, ...

, and Jack Curran. He engaged in a turf war with South Boston's

Mullen Gang The Mullen Gang was an Irish-American gang operating in Boston. 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, auto theft, and a ...

Personal life

Donald's brother George was the first brother to be murdered, found shot to death in the North End neighborhood in 1950. His murderers were never discovered. In 1971 when Kenneth chewed off the nose of Michael (Mickey) Dwyer, rival Boston gang member and former brother-in-law of

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

Commissioner Francis (Mickey) Roche, he wrapped it up with a cocktail napkin and sent it to

Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...

in a cab to Dwyer to be reattached. Donald's other brother, Edward, was found shot to death in 1968; it was listed by the county coroner as an apparent suicide. In 1968 he became a father to a son.

Death

He was killed outside his home in suburban

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popu ...

, on May 13, 1972, as he was called away by an associate on his son Gregory's fourth birthday. He left the house saying he was going to fetch a newspaper but in reality was going to get his son's present, a toy fire engine, in the trunk of his 1971

Chevrolet Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

. As Donald went to fetch a gun stashed underneath the driver's seat of his car, a gunman pulled open the car door and jammed the machine gun in his face before squeezing off fifteen rounds. Bulger was accused of the murder by longtime rumor. However, former Mullen gang member

Patrick Nee Patrick Joseph Nee (born December 22, 1944) is an Irish-American former mobster and Irish republican sympathizer. A former member of the Mullen Gang and the Winter Hill Gang, he is a Vietnam War veteran, and author of ''A Criminal and an Iris ...

stated that the murder was actually committed by Mullen enforcer Jimmy Mantville.

Aftermath

The last and youngest brother, Kenny Killeen, was jogging past a parked car with four men in it in the City Point neighborhood of Boston. the men in the car were

Stephen Flemmi Stephen Joseph Flemmi (born June 9, 1934) is an American gangster and convicted murderer and was a close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss Whitey Bulger. Beginning in 1975, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investig ...

and

John Martorano John James Vincent Martorano (born December 13, 1940; also known as "Vincent Joseph Rancourt", "Richard Aucoin", "Nick", "The Cook", "The Executioner", "The Basin Street Butcher") is an American former gangster and former hitman for the Winter Hi ...

. He said that Bulger called him over to the car and said, "It's over. You're out of business. No further warnings"—a message to not try to take over his brothers' rackets or avenge their deaths.

Early life

The Transit Cafe

Personal life

Death

Aftermath

Further reading