and the Irish gangsters, responded by hiring a rogue Irish-American hitman named Joseph "Mad Dog" Sullivan to assassinate Tom Devaney, Eddie "the Butcher" Cummiskey, and Tom "the Greek" Kapatos, three of Spillane's chief lieutenants. By the mid-1970s, Spillane had moved his family out of Hell's Kitchen to Woodside, Queens, because of threats of violence against his children. In 1966, a young upstart named Jimmy Coonan began slowly muscling in on Spillane's territory. Ultimately, Coonan was sent to prison for ten years in 1967 for homicide. When he was released from prison, Coonan sought to align himself with the Gambino crime family through an up-and-coming mobster from Brooklyn, named Roy DeMeo. This would mark the beginning of the end for the Irish mob, as after Spillane's death, Coonan would eventually work for the Gambinos. Death On May 13, 1977, Spillane, aged 43, was killed outside his apartment in Queens. It has long been rumored that the DeMeo crew murdered Spillane as a favor to Coonan, who subsequently took over as the boss of the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob. Spillane is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York. Family Spillane had three children. Michael (Mickey), Robert and Denise. Robert, an actor, fell six stories to his death on July 10, 2010, in Manhattan, New York, when he leaned against his apartment window screen. The screen gave way while Robert was calling his brother. Mickey Spillane owns the bar in Hell's Kitchen called "Mickey Spillane's Hells Kitchen" on 49th Street and 9th Avenue. In popular culture Mickey Spillane is portrayed by Mark Noonan in a season one episode of the HBO television series The Deuce. See also List of unsolved murders References Books Clark, Neil G. Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the West Side Waterfront. Barricade Books, 2017. English, T. J. The Westies. St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1991. English, T. J. Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 1933 births 1977 deaths 1977 murders in the United States 20th-century American criminals American gangsters DeMeo Crew victims Male murder victims Murdered American gangsters of Irish descent People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan People murdered by the Gambino crime family People murdered in New York City Deaths by firearm in Queens, New York Unsolved murders in the United States American twins Westies (New York gang) Criminals from Manhattan Gangsters from New York City Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens)