James "Jimmy Mac" McElroy (1945 - 2011) was an Irish American mobster and racketeer from

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 who was an enforcer for

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 ...

, a criminal organization that operated out of

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 ...

Biography

Jimmy McElroy was born in 1945 in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan area of

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 ...

. He played hockey with many future Westies-aligned criminals at Hell's Kitchen Park and boxed at

Boys & Girls Clubs of America Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization of local chapters which provide voluntary after-school programs for young people. The organization, which holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code, h ...

with Eddie Cummiskey and eventually started burglarizing commercial buildings in

Lower East Side, Manhattan The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

and cargo from warehouses in West Side, Manhattan. He rose through the ranks of a group known for counterfeiting,

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

and murder during the 70's and 80's. A former boxer turned drug dealer, McElroy was known for being the driver of the infamous "meat wagon" (a large van used by the mob to transport dismembered body parts). Under control of Jimmy Coonan he became the third highest-ranking member of the Westies during that time. In 1990 he testified against John Gotti to get a reduction in his racketeering charges, stating that he acted on orders from the Gambino

Boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

when assaulting a Carpenter's Union official three blocks down from the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

piers. Gotti was acquitted on all charges and McElroy spent the rest of his life in prison.

Death

In May 2011, McElroy died in federal custody. His body was transferred to New York where a funeral procession was held at The Church of the Holy Cross in the renamed Clinton neighborhood.

References

1945 births 2011 deaths American gangsters of Irish descent American gangsters American people who died in prison custody Mafia hitmen People convicted of racketeering People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan Criminals from Manhattan Gangsters from New York City Westies (New York gang) Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention {{Crime-bio-stub