Francis T. "Mickey" Featherstone (born September 2, 1948) is a former Irish American mobster and member of

the Westies The Westies were a New York City-based Irish American organized crime gang, responsible for racketeering, drug trafficking, and contract killing. They were partnered with the Italian-American Mafia and operated out of the Hell's Kitchen nei ...

, an

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

syndicate from

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, led by

James Coonan James Michael Coonan (born December 21, 1946), nicknamed "Jimmy C", is an Irish-American mobster and racketeer from Manhattan, New York who, from approximately 1977 to 1988, served as the boss of the Westies gang, an Irish mob group based in Hell ...

. Featherstone committed several mob killings before he was convicted in 1986 of a murder he had not committed. Facing almost 25 years in jail, he became an informant and brought down Coonan's gang.

Early life

Featherstone was born on West 43rd St., one of nine children. His mother helped with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and his father was a

United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted c ...

officer. He had blond hair and was often said to be baby-faced. He served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

as member of the

Green Berets The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mis ...

aged just 17 after lying about his age. He served in heavy combat and then as a stock clerk. To his disappointment, he was pulled from combat duty, he was involved in criminal mischief with his friends and was disciplined for many drunken pranks. He received a medical discharge in 1967 after just a year, claiming to have hallucinations.

Return to Hell's Kitchen

When a group from New Jersey, called the Riley brothers, entered Hell's Kitchen a fight started with the outsiders. Featherstone returned with a rifle and shot one of the brothers John Riley in the arm, for which he was arrested and probationed. After borrowing Coonan's gun, he shot dead Linwood Willis in a confrontation outside a bar in 1971, but was found not guilty due to insanity. He spent time in a series of mental hospitals, being released in 1975. He would act out frequently while in the hospitals, leading to him being restrained and injected with

thorazine Chlorpromazine (CPZ), marketed under the brand names Thorazine and Largactil among others, is an antipsychotic medication. It is primarily used to treat psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Other uses include the treatment of bipolar dis ...

. He began spending time in saloons like Club 596 and Sunbrite that were hangouts for the Westies.

The Westies

Featherstone's penchant for violence and intimidation caught the eye of Coonan and Featherstone became Coonan's right-hand man by 1976.

Mickey Spillane Frank Morrison Spillane (; March 9, 1918July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, whose stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have ...

, the mob leader in Hell's Kitchen at the time, was shot five times outside his apartment in August 1977, and Featherstone was arrested but acquitted for his killing. The police suspected him of a series of mob contract killings. He went on trial with Coonan for the killing of a barman, but they were acquitted in December 1979 after one witness killed himself and another refused to testify. His conviction eventually came in February 1982, after using counterfeit currency at a massage parlor - he was traced because the girl remembered seeing his name tattooed on his forearm, and he was sentenced to six years. Featherstone did time in the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield Missouri on the psychiatric ward in 1982. He was a model prisoner, seen daily picking fine lint off of his perfectly made bunk to pass inspection, and starting arguments with others for not polishing their door frame brass. The institution kept Featherstone working on the ward, out of General Population, for his own safety. Featherstone and Coonan had a falling out over the latter's alliance with the Gambino crime family, which Featherstone saw as a betrayal of all the Irish-Americans in Hell's Kitchen.

Turning informer

Featherstone was convicted in March 1986 for the April 1985 murder of Michael Holly, despite being innocent of this particular murder, which was a revenge attack probably carried out by another of the Westies, Billy Bokun. He was shocked at receiving his sentence of 25 years in prison, and concluded that he had been framed by his own gang. Rather than serving his sentence he instead told prosecutors that Bokun had committed the murder, and he became an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

. His wife Sissy co-operated with the District Attorney's office to tape incriminating conversations with gang members, including Bokun. In September 1986, Judge

Alvin Schlesinger Alvin may refer to: Places Canada *Alvin, British Columbia United States *Alvin, Colorado *Alvin, Georgia *Alvin, Illinois * Alvin, Michigan *Alvin, Texas *Alvin, Wisconsin, a town *Alvin (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community Other ...

overturned Featherstone's conviction. His testimony at Coonan's racketeering trial during 1987–88 helped to bring down Coonan's gang. He pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge and received a suspended sentence of five years' probation from Judge

Robert W. Sweet Robert Workman Sweet (October 15, 1922 – March 24, 2019) was an American jurist and United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education and career Sweet ...

due to his cooperation with the authorities. He was freed in December 1988 and went into a

witness protection Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...

program.

Early life

Return to Hell's Kitchen

The Westies

Turning informer

References

Further reading