The Irish have a history of rebellion and renegade behavior. Here are the ten most famous Irish men --and one woman-- who lived outside the law.
1. Billy the Kid: (1859– 1881) real name William McCarty has become one of the legendary figures of the Wild West. His mother was an Irish immigrant who grew up in Ireland and raised her son in a New York slum before heading out west.
2. Ned Kelly, (1855 – 1880)iconic figure of Australian legend, son of Tipperary emigrants who has come to symbolize the rebellious Australian spirit
3.James 'Whitey' Bulger: (1929 ---) currently Number One on the FBI most wanted list. A Boston mafia kingpin who is reputed to have killed or ordered the killings of up to fifty people.
4. The Pirate Queen: (1530 -1603) Grace O'Malley, famous Irish sea pirate of the 16th century. Her fame became so great that Queen Elizabeth 1 summoned her to London in order to meet her. The Broadway Show 'The Pirate Queen' was based on her life.
5. Emmett Dalton: (1871-1937) The Dalton gang were al known as the 'Wild Bunch' one of the most famous train robber families in American history. Emmett Dalton was a ringleader and the only survivor of the famous Coffeyville shootout in 1892.
6.James Freney (1719–1788) was an Irish highwayman.the most famous of that era, His family in Kilkenny had their lands taken from them by the English and Freney took to highway robberies to get revenge. Pursued all over Ireland he managed to escape into exile but his body was later brought back to Kilkenny where he is still alive in the folk memory there.
7. John "Legs" Diamond, real name Jack Moran (July 10, 1897-December 18, 1931),was the son of an Irish immigrant. Also known as Gentleman Jack he was a famous Irish American gangster and bootlegger in New York city during the Prohibition era. Famous for surviving numerous attempts on his life
8.Owney "The Killer" Madden (December 18, 1891–April 24, 1965) was a leading underworld figure in Manhattan, most notable for his involvement in organized crime during Prohibition. He also ran the famous Cotton Club and was a leading boxing promoter in the 1930s.Though English born, his parents were both from Ireland.
9.Charles Dean O'Banion (8 July 1892 – 10 November 1924) was an Irish American mobster who was the main rival of Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day called him Dion O'Banion, although he never went by that name.
10. Michael Spillane, much better known as Mickey Spillane (July 13, 1934 – May 13, 1977), was an Irish-American mobster from Hell's Kitchen . Spillane, who was called the "last of the gentleman gangsters," was a marked contrast to the violent Westies gang members who succeeded him in Hell's Kitchen.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.mcgu_antrim | Mar 11, 2013, 04:08 PM EDT
Francis McGuigan - 1st successful escape from Long Kesh
Cherball | Aug 28, 2012, 10:48 PM EDT
Lets not forget the biggest threat of all to England, Charles Carroll!
BippyBellito | Aug 27, 2012, 11:54 AM EDT
This list is way off! The Biggest Irish Crook, Finegler, Liar, Cheat, Scoundrel is Obama. The most evil, vicious, lying bastard we have ever seen.
theboyoofoly | Aug 27, 2012, 11:31 AM EDT
#3 is incorrect whitey bulger was caught last year
IrelandNorth | Aug 27, 2012, 06:24 AM EDT
Deja vu, guys! Was this story not run some time ago? Perhaps I'm posting too long. A story of Irish land dispossession by the English and regrant to their foot soldiers, whether royalist (Jacobite/Williamite) or republican (ie Cromwellian) would put most of these two bit hoodlums in the ha'penny [phon pron haypenny/heap-enny] place!
curtisjohnson | Aug 26, 2012, 11:41 PM EDT
Compiling a list british gangsters would require at least a top 500 - all those government officials.
curtisjohnson | Aug 26, 2012, 11:39 PM EDT
"The fathers of American engineering and chemistry were Irish. Or how about the top ten Irish generals: the Duke of Wellington, Sheridan, George Gordon Meade (won the battle of Gettysburg), even Ulysses Grant was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians" Could also include Commodore John Barry in that list as well as Owen Roe O'Neill and perhaps Charles O'Brien who commanded the Irish forces at Fontenoy over the butcher Cumberland (with the cry of "Cuimhnigidh ar Luimnech agus feall na Sassonach).
Tom Mo | Aug 26, 2012, 07:58 PM EDT
Sure You forgot the Kerryman, Jack Duggan from Castlemaine, Co. Kerry who robbed the rich to help the poor in Australia. He was eventually shot to death. The Wild Colonial Boy.
stonethrower | Aug 26, 2012, 06:48 PM EDT
legs diamond's real name was Nolan not Moran.
SingleDonald | Aug 26, 2012, 06:29 PM EDT
I STAND CORRECTED! I just looked him up on Wikipedia. His real name was George Celino Barnes. Thus, he was only half Italian! He died on his 59th birthday, 7/18/54.
SingleDonald | Aug 26, 2012, 06:22 PM EDT
2 Corrections: 1) I thought Billy the Kid's real name was William Bonney! 2) travelmpg, "Machine Gun Kelly" was, I'm sorry to say, Italian, not Irish! I don't recall his real name.
Kiltimagh | Aug 26, 2012, 03:47 PM EDT
You forgot the great Chicago South Side gangster Spike O'Donnell. He and Al Capone ran the all the bootlegging on the South Side. He survived 7 assasination attempts on him in 1928 alone. Other attempts occurred in 1923, 1925, 1931, and 1943. He died of a massive coronary in 1962.
randyo573 | Aug 26, 2012, 03:13 PM EDT
How could Ulysses Grant have been a member of the Ancient Order of hibernians when the AOH is specifically an Irish CATHOLIC organization the actual principal purpose of which is to protect the Roman Catholic Church and its clergy? Since JFK was the first Roman Catholic president of the US that means that Grant was a Protestant and therefore ineligible for AOH membership.
slainte9 | Aug 26, 2012, 01:03 PM EDT
Why doesn't Irish Central ever do the top ten Irish scientists and engineers. The fathers of American engineering and chemistry were Irish. Or how about the top ten Irish generals: the Duke of Wellington, Sheridan, George Gordon Meade (won the battle of Gettysburg), even Ulysses Grant was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
Silling | Aug 26, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT
You never mentioned Finnbar Owens, the black baby box thief from The Rakes Of Mallow. google , Boyhood' Fire "
seanaci | Aug 26, 2012, 12:22 PM EDT
When I was growing up in Ireland history ended in 1916. The absence of contemporary banksters and politicians from this list suggests that a cutoff point may still exist to protect the guilty.
handsome68 | Aug 26, 2012, 11:43 AM EDT
I agree with Tooreenagrena. Youse liberal omadhauns should know better than to to include Grace O'Malley in the same list as, e.g., Billy the Kid. But why do I even write that you "should know better", since it is clear you don't and never did and likely never will.
boyddemers | Aug 26, 2012, 11:22 AM EDT
if he was white they would love him but no b,,,,to say it !!
travelmpq | Aug 26, 2012, 11:20 AM EDT
You forgot "Machine Gun" Kelly, and that famous bootlegger Joe Kennedy.
REM1875 | Aug 26, 2012, 10:49 AM EDT
They are all mild wimps compared to the famous Irishman barack oboma. Now there is a real genuine Chicago gangster.
pounder | Aug 26, 2012, 10:38 AM EDT
Whitey Bulger has been caught.Take him off the list.
Tooreenagrena | Aug 26, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT
How does Grace O'Malley get on a list of Outlaws. Unless you mean English law in Ireland in that case why not include De Valera
gaelhound | Aug 26, 2012, 10:02 AM EDT
But there is no one as Irish as Barack Obama. That is a real criminal menace to society.