Jessi Aleshire - Danny The Irishman Greene

DANNY THE IRISHMAN GREENE

JESSI ALESHIRE

One of the Midwests most notorious organized crime figures, Danny The Irishman Greene started out with various criminal operations gambling, racketeering, and loan-sharking and earned himself a coveted spot as a mob strongman. Still, Greene managed to avoid facing real persecution up until his death in 1977, which has triggered speculation that he might have also worked as an FBI informant.

A struggle from day one

First generation Irish-American immigrants John Henry Greene and Irene Cecilia Fallon were only twenty years old when their son was conceived. After a shotgun wedding before a justice of the peace on November 9, 1933, the couple welcomed their son just five days later November 14, 1933.

Just a few days after the child was born, Irene passed away due to complications resulting from an enlarged heart. The baby wasnt even given a name until after Irenes burial, but John Greene eventually settled on Daniel after the newborns paternal grandfather.

John had worked as a traveling salesman for Fuller Brush, but after his wife passed away, he began to drink heavily. When he lost his job, he moved in with his recently widowed father, who was a newspaper printer. John struggled to provide for his infant son and sent him to a Roman Catholic orphanage called Parmadale.

Greene started attending St. Jerome Catholic School, where he was well-liked by the nuns and priests despite his frequent misbehavior in class. Although he didnt earn good grades, he was dedicated student serving as an altar boy and a key member of the schools basketball team. He was such a valuable player that he was allowed to play sports even with his poor academic performance.

By 1939, Greenes father had gotten himself back on track. He remarried and started a family with his new wife, but Greene didnt care for his new stepmother. After running away from home several times, Greene was eventually taken in by his maternal grandmother and his aunt, who cared for him until his adolescence. In 1959, when John Green died, an obituary in the local newspaper recognized only the children from his second marriage there was nothing about his first-born son.

Greene continued to struggle through his education at St. Ignatius High School, where he first encountered racism from Italian-American students racism that would fuel his lifelong hatred of Italians. The students mocked his Irish heritage, and the confrontations would often end infighting. Eventually, Greene was expelled from St. Ignatius and transferred to Collinwood High School.

At Collinwood, Greenes athletic abilities enabled him to excel in extracurriculars, and he also got involved with the Boy Scouts of America. However, he was kicked out of the organization after only a short time, and he was expelled from Collinwood due to his excessive tardiness, primarily a result of the frequent bullying he endured from other students.

The Celtic warrior

Thanks to his love of physical activity, Greene was always very fit and he was incredibly self-conscious about his appearance. His usual workouts included running and weight lifting, and as he got older, he became even more rigid with his entire lifestyle. He quit smoking, stopped drinking, and began sticking to a diet of vegetables, fish, and vitamin supplements.

In 1951, following his expulsion from Collinwood, Greene enlisted in the United States Marines. Immediately, he was recognized as a capable boxer and an excellent marksman before being sent to Jacksonville, North Carolina, to serve on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune after his induction.

He was transferred after only a few weeks, however, and wound up being shipped to a number of camps over the next few years possibly as a result of his ongoing behavioral issues. Despite this, Greene was well-respected in the Marines. By 1953, hed earned a promotion to the rank of corporal, and began training new recruits to use artillery. Later that year, Greene was honourably discharged.

Greene found a job working as a longshoreman on the Cleveland docks, before the International Longshoremens Association began monopolizing the industry. Whenever he had spare time, Greene could be found researching Ireland, his ancestral homeland. The history of the Celts intrigued and impressed him, and Greene would often look for ways to model his behavior after these ancient warriors. Some have speculated that Greenes ongoing obsession with his heritage may have contributed to his later criminal ambitions.

In his continued celebration of his noble Irish heritage, Greene often wore green clothes and painted the walls of his office the same hue. He is also remembered as having driven green cars, wearing a green crucifix around his neck, and even signing his name with green ink.

Greene worked his way up to become a union organizer and, eventually, became a union boss he ran for office in the longshoremens union Local 1317 in 1961 and was elected president. He provided a strong voice to the dockworkers, but behind the scenes, he was a bit of a scam artist.

Before they would earn a position working on the docks, Greene would force new longshoremen to work temporarily, unloading grain from the boats before handing their paychecks over to Greene. While Greene claimed the money was supporting a future union hall facility, the majority wound up in his personal bank account.

He imagined himself a tough dock boss, claimed one unidentified union member, years later. But he was thirty years too late. He used workers to beat up union members who did not come in line, but he was never seen fighting himself. He was a spellbinding speaker and a good organizer.

Occasionally, Greene would shut the docks down, sometimes up to twenty-five times a day just to show company owners the powerful authority he held over the workers. Hes even said to have threatened to kill the children of one of these company owners, who had to seek FBI protection for his house and have armed U.S. Marshals escort his son and daughter to and from school.

In 1966, Greene faced his first criminal trial after he was caught embezzling funds from the International Longshoremens Association. The trial lasted seven weeks, and according to retired assistant U.S. attorney Donald K. Cimino, Greene knew how to charm the jury.

Mr. Greene was let me find the appropriate expression very aware he was in a U.S. District Court, Cimino said. He was very adroit at adjusting himself to the atmosphere.

Cimino described Greene as neat, clean, and well-mannered, who rose respectfully each time the jury or court entered and left. Despite Greenes learned politeness, though, Cimino said his eyes gave him away.

If you looked into his eyes, Cimino said, you knew you were dealing with a strong-arm man.

Although Greene had been convicted of embezzling more than $11,000 from the association, he managed to have the conviction reversed on appeal claiming there had been a prejudicial cross-examination on behalf of the government. As a result, Greene pled guilty to the charge of violating union laws and was only required to pay a $10,000 fine a fine he didnt end up paying.

He had lost his standing with the union, though, and started looking for work that would be more understanding of his criminal tendencies.

Keeping the peace

Soon after he began working with the Cleveland Solid Waste Trade Guild organizing trash haulers, reports began to circulate that Greene was feuding with a hauler named Michael W. Frato, who had left Greenes guild.

The two used to be close partners so close, in fact, that each had a son named after the other. However, Big Mike Frato wanted to start a legitimate trade group, to be called the Cuyahoga County Refuse Haulers Association, and took issue with the mob involvement Greene was bringing to the guild.