Wilfred J. Delaney (c. 1937 - August 4, 1964) was an American gangster and member of the McLaughlin Gang who was a friend and associate of Harold Hannon, a contract killer who had murdered

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Tommy Sullivan in 1957.

Biography

Delaney was born to second-generation Irish-Americans from Leinster, Ireland. He was known as a friend and criminal associate. He detested the old-fashioned and feminine-sounding name "Wilfred" among his friend and preferred to be called "Willy." By the age of 27 Wilfred had an arrest record for rape and armed robbery. While his friend Harold Hannon was the initial target of the murder, Delaney was unfortunate to be in the company of his friend. Casualties of the McLean-McLaughlin war that claimed dozens in the 1960s, Delaney and Hannon were strangled to death and their corpses were tossed into the Boston Harbor, where they were discovered by

longshoremen A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

the following day. Gang leader Buddy McLean used a female friend as a ruse to set up Wilfred. She enticed both Delaney and Hannon to come back to her South Boston apartment for sex. When Wilfred and Harold saw McLean with a few of his men in the girl's apartment they tried to escape but were quickly apprehended by the mobsters. The medical examiner later discovered during the autopsies of both men that the killers had used a

butane Butane () or ''n''-butane is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane is a gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Butane is a highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gas that quickly vaporizes at room temperature. The name but ...

blow torch and badly burned Hannon's genitals, allegedly to get information from him. After getting the information he wanted he strangled them both and dumped them in Boston Harbor. Delaney did not meet the same slow, agonizing, drawn-out death as Harold Hannon. Wilfred was made to swallow large amounts of

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s and was strangled after he drifted into unconsciousness.WIlfred J. Delaney
Encyclopedia of Boston Mobsters. Accessed September 1, 2012. The method used to murder Delaney mimics the murder methods of Mullen Gang mob associate Buddy Leonard, ordered 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 bartender Kenneth Conrad, murdered by

Louis Litif Louis R. Litif (December 5, 1934 – April 12, 1980), also known as Nicholas Noonan and Louis Woodward, was an American bookmaker from South Boston, Massachusetts. After running afoul of neighborhood Irish Mob boss Whitey Bulger, Litif was mur ...

References

External links

* http://www.thebrothersbulger.com/Wilfred%20J.%20Delaney.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Wilfred J. 1930s births 1964 deaths Year of birth uncertain People murdered by the Winter Hill Gang People murdered in Massachusetts Murdered American gangsters of Irish descent Deaths by strangulation in the United States Gangsters from Boston