The Real Danny Greene Was the Most Dangerous Man Behind 'Kill the Irishman'

October 6, 1977. A car bomb in a Lyndhurst, Ohio parking lot ends the life of Danny Greene, the Celtic Club founder who survived 7 professional assassination attempts and humiliated the entire Cleveland Mafia for nearly a decade. What the Hollywood film “Kill the Irishman” couldn’t show you is darker, stranger, and far more documented than the cinematic version. In this deep dive investigation, we unpack the real story of Danny Greene, the Marine turned longshoreman turned FBI top-echelon informant who built a criminal empire on Cleveland’s east side while simultaneously feeding intelligence to federal agents for 13 years. What you’ll learn in this episode: How an Irish orphan from Collinwood took on an entire La Cosa Nostra family and won The exact mechanics of Greene’s “tax” on Cleveland’s bookmakers, generating $8,000 to $15,000 a week The full timeline of all 7 failed assassination attempts between 1975 and 1977 The murder of Shondor Birns and how Greene killed his own mentor How hitman Ray Ferritto’s arrest triggered the largest organized crime prosecution in Ohio history The chain reaction that produced 22 federal convictions and destroyed the Cleveland crime family permanently How underboss Angelo Lonardo’s cooperation helped Rudy Giuliani destroy the Five Families Key Figures: Danny Greene, James “Jack White” Licavoli, John Nardi, Shondor Birns, Ray Ferritto, Angelo Lonardo, John Scalish Timeline: 1933 (Greene’s birth) — 1964 (becomes FBI informant) — 1975 (first bomb survived) — October 6, 1977 (Greene killed) — 1982 (Cleveland family destroyed) Why this story matters in 2026: Danny Greene’s case remains the single most consequential informant operation in American organized crime history. The intelligence pipeline that began with his 1964 cooperation ultimately fed into the 1986 Commission Trial that broke the Five Families. Every modern federal RICO prosecution traces a line back to Cleveland. Verified sources: “To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia” by Rick Porrello (Next Hat Press, 1998) FBI Records: The Vault, Cleveland Field Office files on Daniel John Greene United States v. Licavoli, 725 F.2d 1040 (6th Cir. 1984) Subscribe for new mob documentaries every week. Drop a comment with the figure you want us to break down next. #KillTheIrishman #DannyGreene #ClevelandMafia #MobDocumentary #LaCosaNostra #FBI #ColdCase #MafiaWars #IrishMob #CelticClub #MobsterStories #TrueCrimeCommunity #MafiaHistory #OrganizedCrime #TrueCrime