The Departed and the Irish Mob

While not as talked about as the Italian mafia, the Irish Mob is just as violent and proficient in their ways. Taking place in South Boston, the departed depicts a fictitious, but only just, account of the struggle between the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish Mob. Leonardo Dicaprio’s character Billy Costigan is a new member of the MSP and is chosen to become an undercover officer because of his background. Costigan’s father was from South Boston, and Costigan spent time there as a child. He infiltrates the Irish Mob, headed by Jack Nicholson’s character Frank Costello. Frank is the violent head of the Irish Mob that seems to never really be convicted of his crimes. We later come to find out that is in part because of his status as an FBI informant. Costello has an informant in the MSP by way of Matt Damon’s character Colin Sullivan. Sullivan grew up in Costello’s neighborhood and Costello was almost a father figure to him. With his loyalty to Costello, Sullivan was convinced to join the MSP and feed information to Costello. As the movie progresses, both Sullivan and Costigan find out about each other as “rats”, but not necessarily each other’s identities until towards the end. Sullivan upon finding out who Costigan is, erases his file after the death of Captain Queenan at the hands of the Irish Mob and the dismissal of Sargent Dignam. In the end Barrigan, another one if Costello’s men on the inside, shoots Costigan and Sullivan’s partner, Trooper Brown. Sullivan then shoots Barrigan and is later shot in his apartment by Dignam. The camera pans up and shows a rat crawling across the balcony in view of the capital building in Boston.
While this is a fictitious story, it is not too farfetched from the Irish Mob’s actual dealings. In the beginning of the movie Costello talks briefly of the struggle the Irish faced. He says something to the effect of how they were running the city when thirty years ago an Irishman couldn’t get a job and that they had to just take it. Frank Costello’s character is based on real life Irish Mob boss Whitey Bulger, who like Costello, was also an FBI informant for a time. The violence, murders, and corruption portrayed in the movie, were all a part of the Irish Mob’s way of working. They paid off cops to work with them. This was more common years ago, but still happens today unfortunately. They also collected money from shop owners, like every good organized crime group does. Italian gangsters from Providence would come up and try to get in on the action in Boston, Irish territory, and would be dealt with. Even though they were violent and murderous and the like, they also watched out for the community. A good example of this in the movie is when Costello buys the groceries for Sullivan’s grandmother. The Irish took care of their own. That sense of community and help from the Irish bosses, mixed with a bit of fear of them, is why many of the Irish residents did not really want to talk to the police. They were hard to penetrate and get people talking, which is why it made sense in the movie to get someone from there to go undercover. Because the community is so tight knit, anyone new would have caused a fuss and been shut out.
The Departed is an excellent film not only cinematically, but also in that it shines a slightly dramatized light on the world of the Irish Mob. It was not over the top like some gangster movies tend to be, except for the ending maybe. It is a great movie to show organized crime and the Irish Mob. They have a saying in South Boston, “You either grow up to become a criminal or a cop”. This movie shows two different ways to be both at once.

The Departed and The Irish Mob

Organized Crime
June 18, 2013