Patrick Nee

Patrick Joseph Nee (born December 22, 1944) is an Irish-American former mobster and Irish republican sympathizer.

A former member of the Mullen Gang and the Winter Hill Gang, he is a Vietnam War veteran, and author of A Criminal and an Irishman; The Inside Story of the Boston Mob-IRA Connection.

Nee was born in Ros Muc, an Irish language speaking village in Connemara, County Galway.

He has recalled:

"Our family had it tough in Ireland, sure, but I'm not going to tell you any of that Angela's Ashes crap to try to gain your sympathy. We might not have had many good clothes, but Ma washed them every day. There was always good food. In fact, Ma never let my brothers and I go to bed hungry. And I remember falling asleep every night to a penetrating fire that burned until early morning."

Nee's four maternal aunts had already emigrated to the US, three to Boston and one to Pittsburgh, influencing the Nee family's decision to settle in Boston.

Nee's father emigrated to the U.S. in 1952 and for a year worked as a laborer.

He got a house together for his family and sent his wife the passage money a year later.

Their cousins drove them down to Cork, where they boarded an RMS Britannic for the trip to America, settling in South Boston, Massachusetts.

Nee became a member of the Mullen Gang at the age of 14 and fought in several turf battles.

He has recalled,

"My progression to crime was as easy as a baby's transition from crawling to walking. I didn't have an epiphany; I never sat down and had a soul searching experience in which I decided that being a criminal was my goal in life. It just seemed natural - there was a lot of money to be had if you spent the time planning the jobs right. The more I hung with the Mullens, the easier it was to go out on jobs. I'd simply ask if they needed another guy."

Upon reaching adulthood, Nee enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Not long after coming home from Vietnam, his brother Peter Nee was gunned down by Kevin Daily outside a bar.

Months later, Nee found the man who killed his brother.

He waited outside his house late one night.

He approached Daily, shooting him several times with a pistol blowing out his right lung, then he kicked him in the face and spat on him.

Kevin Daily survived the attack and Patrick Nee was arrested for attempted murder.

Upon seeing Patrick Nee in court, he claimed Nee was not the man who shot him.

Nee was released.

He relates, in his memoirs, that his mother would henceforth regret not throwing him off the back of the immigrant ship in 1952.

After his return to South Boston, in October 1966, he rejoined the Mullen gang and became one of its leaders in a turf war with the Killeen Gang.

In 1972, South Boston gang boss Donald Killeen was shot to death by Mullen gang enforcers Jimmy Mantville and Tommy King, outside of his home, in suburban Framingham, Massachusetts.

The leadership of the Killeen faction then devolved to James J. "Whitey" Bulger.

However, Bulger and the Killeens fled the city after the murder of their boss, fearing they would be next.

Instead of killing Bulger, however, Nee arranged for the dispute to be mediated by Howie Winter and Patriarca crime family captain Joseph Russo.

After a meeting at Chandler's restaurant, in the South End, Boston, the two gangs joined forces, with Winter as the overall boss.

According to Nee,

"Nobody talked fault, although at first it was tense while we ran down the 'who killed who' list. Whitey was a defeated warrior looking to keep as much honor as possible. He knew the Mullens had courageous, fierce men willing to die for theirs, and he was perceptive. Deep down, Whitey knew that he couldn't take over for the Killeens without cutting the Mullens in on their bookmaking and loansharking. Tommy [King] and I felt victorious, but we didn't want to gloat. The meeting lasted for six hours. We ate good steaks, chasing them down with nothing stronger than ginger ale. It was business, and contrary to media stereotype, we weren't a bunch of lowlifes who sat around drinking beer all day and all night."

Also according to Nee,

"The balance of the meeting was spent forming an alliance, and by far the hardest part was deciding whom to protect. After a war, each side usually gets to protect so many people from harm. Those who aren't protected are fair game for retribution and 'shake-downs.' Everything was split down the middle. All the horses, dogs, bookmaking, and loansharking were now going to be under our mutual control. This was the beginning of our relationship. Whitey and I were now officially partners and nobody at that table could ever have possibly imagined how this treacherous f--- would treat his partners."

After Winter was convicted of fixing horse races in 1979 the leadership of the gang fell on James "Whitey" Bulger.

Nee responded by relocating to Charlestown, Massachusetts and concentrating his energy on raising money and smuggling guns to the Provisional IRA.

He has written that Bulger frequently urged him to cut his links to the IRA, saying that it was too great a risk for not enough profit.

On July 26, 1983, Nee participated in the homicide of Arthur "Bucky" Barrett with his criminal associates at Nee's family's house at 799 East Third Street in South Boston.

Barrett was a bank robber who was believed to have large amounts of untraceable cash and valuables that Nee and his gang wanted to extort from him.

Barrett was good friends with brothers James and John Martorano.

James Martorano used his friendship with Barrett to convince his friend to come to Nee's house to look at some stolen diamonds.

Instead of diamonds, Barrett walked into Nee's house and encountered Nee and his associates armed with machine guns.

Barrett gave Nee and his associates the location of some of his stolen cash.