Even among the mob, the Westies were feared.  Rudolph Giuliani called the Westies "the most savage organization in the long history of New York street gangs."  Out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs, James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone, the gang rose out of the inferno of Hell’s Kitchen, a decaying tenderloin slice of New York City’s West Side.  They became the most notorious gang in the history of organized crime, excelling in extortion, numbers running, loansharking, and drug peddling.  Upping the ante on depravity, their specialty was dismemberment.  Their reign lasted almost twenty years – until their own violent natures got the best of them, precipitating a downfall that would become as infamous as their rise.  Newly updated, the most recent edition provides "where they are now" snapshots of the men and women of the Westies.