Mickey Spillane

Michael J. Spillane (July 13, 1933 – May 13, 1977) was an Irish-American mobster who controlled Hell's Kitchen in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. Spillane, the so-called “Gentleman Gangster", was a marked contrast to the violent Westies mob members who succeeded him in Hell's Kitchen. Life Spillane was born on July 13, 1933, to Michael Anthony Spillane and Margaret Curran.As a child, he excelled academically and was skipped two grades at the Sacred Heart Grammar School in Hells Kitchen. At the age of 12 he was awarded a full scholarship to attend Rice High School in Manhattan. With his father having died a few years earlier, Spillane left Rice after two years to help support his mother. At 16 or 17, he attempted to rob a movie theater, but was shot by a police officer. He spent four years in prison. After his release from prison, Spillane started as a numbers runner for various organized crime figures in Hell's Kitchen. In 1960, Mickey took over the rackets left to him by his predecessor Hughie Mulligan. He married Maureen McManus, the daughter of the powerful Hell's Kitchen Democratic district leader Eugene McManus.