Edward Grillo - The Gambino-Westies Alliance

The Gambino-Westies Alliance

Shortly after joining the DeMeo's crew, Grillo helped form an alliance with a group of Irish-American mobsters known as The Westies. While in prison during the early 1970s, Grillo had met James 'Jimmy' Coonan, an Irish mobster who wanted to lead the Westies. After their release, both men stayed in contact. Coonan wanted to oust Westies leader Michael 'Mickey' Spillane, but needed money to fund a rebellion. Grillo reported Coonan's predicament to DeMeo, who decided to help Coonan. The DeMeo crew and the Coonan faction were soon committing hijackings together and splitting the profits. DeMeo also loaned Coonan large sums of money to build a portfolio of loanshark customers. On May 13 of 1977, Spillane was shot to death outside of his apartment building, reportedly by Grillo and DeMeo.

With Spillane gone, Coonan then sought to eliminate Ruby Stein, a bigtime loanshark with ties to the Genovese Family. Grillo and a number of Westies owed large amounts of money to Stein and were looking to escape these obligations. Grillo decided this was a good idea and proceeded to kill Stein without the permission or knowledge of his boss DeMeo, a serious violation of mob rules. Two days after Spillane's murder, Grillo shot Stein to death in a club owned by a Westie member. The corpse was then dismembered by the Coonan faction, packaged, and deposited into the ocean. This alliance between the Gambinos and the Westies would greatly benefit the Gambino family and ultimately lead to DeMeo becoming an official family member.