The Winter Hill Gang, a notoriously violent criminal organization led by Whitey Bulger, reigned over Boston’s underworld until a secret alliance was exposed. ‘The Winter Hill Gang’, the sixth episode of Gangland Chronicles, airing on History, explores this infamous gang and its significant chapter in Boston’s criminal history.
The episode looks into the gang’s activities and their dominance in the Boston underworld during the 1960s and 1970s. Named after the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts, the gang was led by figures like Buddy McLean, Howie Winter, and Joseph McDonald, and consisted predominantly of Irish-American members.
A significant conflict known as the Boston Irish Gang War took place between the Winter Hill Gang and the McLaughlin Gang of Charlestown from 1961 to 1967. The war started when Buddy McLean, refused to work for the McLaughlins, triggering violent retaliations. This period witnessed numerous murders and culminated in the Winter Hill Gang’s supremacy in the region.
Federal prosecutors indicted 21 members and associates of the gang in 1979, marking a decline in their activities and influence. The indictment included Howie Winter and targeted their various criminal ventures.
Gangland Chronicles: The Winter Hill Gang airs Monday, September 2, 2024, on History.
