Review of Kill the Irishman (2011) by Jason Jay L — 24 Sep 2011

Danny Greene was brought into the world on November 14th, 1933. His mother would pass away after giving birth to him. He would live with his father until he remarried where he would occasionally run away. He resented his stepmother and his father who had put him in an orphanage a few years before. So, Danny decides to live with his grandfather and aunt for the rest of his childhood.

In Catholic school he excelled as a great athlete until going into high school where he would get into several fights with a few Italian-American students. This serves as irony, I believe, to the lifestyle for which he becomes apart later in his life. One that would put him in a position of not only power, but also tragedy.

In the 1960s, Greene would work on the Cleveland docks as a longshoreman. The depiction of how he was able to gain control of the docks seems a bit misleading to show the ruthlessness of Danny. The president of the union stepped down and word would get around that Danny should fill in the position. He was charismatic, tough and would embrace the role of a labor leader. In the film it mentions of what would appear to be his first marriage, but that isn't true since he was married several times before.

A waitress named Joan would give him two daughters, but his lifestyle would bring a heavy toll on his family.

Danny would bump elbows with other wheelers and dealers. He would look at the Cleveland Mob joint and feel like an outsider looking in. Wanting a piece of the American Dream, Danny Greene would be seduced by the mobs "glamorous" lifestyle. He would make a great addition to that lifestyle since he's already making a name for himself and getting caught in the process.

The feds would sentence him for labor racketeering unless they got him as an informant.

Making Danny an informant would let him out and back on the job as an enforcer for Alex "Shondor" Birns, a loanshark and mob ally. John Nardi, a friend and fellow Cleveland mobster, helps Danny get the position of helping the mob take out it's own garbage. In other words, he'd be doing what "Shondor" has advised him to do only it'll be for the mob. Looks like Danny is getting up in the world.

Some mobsters use guns. Others knives.

Greene's device was bombs and he used a lot of them. In cars, houses, buildings and mailboxes. A lot of explosions are in this films. A lot of them with cars.

Also like most mobsters, the quieter you are the less attention you'll bring to yourself. At least that's what the Cleveland Mob would've preferred, but Danny was the opposite. He loved the attention and referred to himself as a Celtic Warrior due to his Irish heritage.

Danny's most and biggest hit would be against "Shondor" over a bad deal. Danny wanted to open a restaurant called The Dublin Public House. "Shondor" would have a courier to bring the money needed, but the courier would get arrested and since that courier is affiliated with The Gambino family they're to be coming after Danny.

This upsets Danny. Even more so when "Shondor" wants Danny to pay him back the 75,000 he was to loan him for the restaurant. This would be the beginning of the end for "Shondor" in the form of a, well, car bomb. It would be a defying moment for him as a ruthless S.O.B.

A shit disturber can be a real killjoy for business. Danny Greene was a huge one at that, but he had balls to take down the Italian Mob. Not just the Cleveland Mob, but the Italian Mob. His Irish heritage would take on new heights after an unsuccessful bombing to his home would lead him to take his vengeance on the Mob. In the summer of 77, 37 bombs would rock Cleveland as a war between Italian and Irish raged on.

This film is loosely based on a true story. I say loosely because so much is dramatized for effect that when you do some research on the actual Danny Greene you'll notice a few things that don't add up in the film version of Greene himself. It's mostly narrated by Joe Manditski who was a "close friend" of Danny's and is now a member of the Cleveland PD. I think Joe is suppose to be Ed Kovacic except Ed was no friend of Joe. He was, however, apart of the Cleveland PD and was assigned to the case of Danny Greene. What isn't fabricated, mostly, is the real news footage that was used. You even see the real Danny Greene briefly being interview at the end of the film. Kind of haunting.

As for the film itself, it's nothing more but sensational fabrication. It's well done though. I really liked it as a typical mobster tale with a slight twist. It's like if Donnie Brasco and Goodfellas had a baby and you might get this film. Danny's story, up to his eventual assassination, is a modern American success story and a tragedy. It's only when his greed begat his good nature is when he would fall short and become another mobster story to tell. Good movie.