James McElroy
James "Jimmy Mac" McElroy was an Irish American mobster and racketeer from Manhattan, New York, who was an enforcer for the Westies, a criminal organization that operated out of Hell's [Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen].
Biography
Jimmy McElroy was born in 1945 in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. He played hockey with many future Westies-aligned criminals at Hell's Kitchen Park and boxed at Boys & [Girls Clubs of America] with Eddie Cummiskey. He eventually started burglarizing commercial buildings in Lower [East Side, Manhattan], and cargo from warehouses in West Side, Manhattan.He rose through the ranks of a group known for counterfeiting, extortion and murder during the 1970s and 1980s.
A former boxer turned drug dealer, McElroy was known for being the driver of the infamous "meat wagon". Under the 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 when assaulting a Carpenter's Union official three blocks down from the Hudson River piers. Gotti was acquitted on all charges, and McElroy spent the rest of his life in prison.