In the spring of 1977, the life of Charles 'Ruby' Stein, a 61-year-old male loan shark with connections to the Genovese and Colombo crime families, came to a violent and gruesome end in Manhattan. On May 5th, Stein was lured to the 596 Club in Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood that was the turf of the notorious Irish-American gang, the Westies. This meeting would be his last.
The plot to murder Stein was orchestrated by James 'Jimmy' Coonan, the ambitious and ruthless leader of the Westies.
Coonan had fallen into significant debt to Stein, and rather than repay the loan, he chose a more permanent solution. Participating in the killing was Danny Grillo, a member of the Gambino crime family's DeMeo crew, highlighting the deadly alliance that had been forged between the Irish gang and the Italian-American Mafia. Inside the club, Grillo shot Stein six times, ending his life.
Following the murder, Coonan and his associates employed a brutal method of body disposal that would become a hallmark of the era's gangland killings. Stein's body was dismembered, a grisly task carried out by members of the Westies. They then attempted to dispose of the remains in the East River. However, their efforts were sloppy. On May 15, 1977, Charles Stein's torso washed ashore at Rockaway Beach in Queens, a grim testament to the violence that had transpired.
The investigation into Stein's murder was part of a larger effort by law enforcement to dismantle the powerful and violent organized crime syndicates of New York City. The alliance between the Westies and the DeMeo crew was a significant concern for authorities, as it combined the reckless brutality of the Irish gang with the strategic ruthlessness of the Mafia.
Ultimately, the downfall of Jimmy Coonan and the Westies came about through a series of federal racketeering prosecutions in the 1980s. Key to these convictions was the testimony of former Westies member Mickey Featherstone, who turned informant. While specific charges and trial outcomes solely for the murder of Charles Stein are not detailed, Jimmy Coonan was convicted of a multitude of crimes, including racketeering and murder, and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term. The murder of Charles 'Ruby' Stein remains a stark example of the brutal gangland violence that plagued New York City in the 1970s and the complex web of alliances and betrayals that defined its criminal underworld.
