Irish Mob

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The Irish Mob (also known as the Irish mafia or Irish organized crime) is a usually crime family–based ethnic collective of organized crime syndicates composed of primarily ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and have been in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish-American street gangs – famously first depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1927 book, The Gangs of New York – the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, especially in the Northeast and the urban industrial Midwest, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Organized crime by Irish people also exists in Ireland, predominantly Dublin and Limerick, but only became of any significance in recent decades. These groups are sometimes disconnected from the Irish diaspora crime groups and Irish-American Mob families, with the extent of Irish-American crime group involvement with crime groups in Ireland varying significantly; some Irish-American crime groups have an alternately close or loose connection to Irish organized crime groups, but most organized crime groups in Ireland consist of families focusing on the drug trade with no connection to Irish diaspora criminal organizations.^[1]