The Mullens vs the Killeens: DONALD MCGONAGLE

November 18, 1969

Fifty-one years and one week after the Armistice that ended the fighting in World War I, Donald McGonagle was murdered on November 18, 1969.  Although it is attributed to the Killeen/ Mullen war, in part because his brother Paulie was one of the Mullen’s leaders, it had nothing to do with it. I say that because that war did not start until 1971. Donald was not a member of the Mullens even though his brother, Paulie, was one of its leaders.

I first thought that Donald’s death was a direct result of a shooting that took place on April 26, 1969, which stemmed from an argument among some guys outside a Southie barroom. That dispute involved Donald’s brother Robert who was shot twice, once in the side and the other in his leg, and his friend, Peter Nee, was shot six times, once in his eye.

Peter Nee ended up dying. The person who did the shooting was Kevin Dailey. He had brothers on the Boston police department.

Pat Nee, the brother of the deceased Peter, was also a Mullen. He swore he was going to get revenge against Dailey. On November 11, 1969, Pat struck. He gunned down Dailey outside his house. It was expected Dailey would die but he eventually survived. He refused to identify Pat in court as his assailant.

On November 18, 1969, a week after Pat Nee shot Kevin Dailey, police went to the home of Donald McGonagle who lived at 759 E. 7th Street in Southie. The newspapers reported he was “found sprawled in the front seat of his car outside his home shortly before 9 p.m. He was hit by at least four bullets, a doctor at the hospital said.

The hit on a guy parked outside his house around nine at night in his own car is a hit intended for that guy. There would be no mistaken identity if the killer knew his target. If the killer did not know him, then it could have been a hit gone wrong.

The closeness of the hit on Donald to the Kevin Dailey shooting is hard to ignore. Dailey identified Patrick Nee as the shooter when he was in the hospital. Would there be Southie justice by the Daileys going after Donald, thinking they could get back at Nee by killing a member of the Mullens? That would be unlikely. The problem with that is Donald’s brother, Robert, had already been shot by Kevin Dailey. The Daileys would have no gripe with Donald. Nor would they have one with Nee. He already lost his brother.

Years later in 1985, Kevin Dailey would be called a partner of Frank LePere who ran a huge marijuana operation. LePere faced life in prison without parole for drug trafficking. To avoid that fate, he dimed out a federal prosecutor, David Twomey. LePere claimed that he had been paying Twomey money in exchange for information. LePere was allowed to keep his ill-gotten gains. He ended up doing 30 months in jail. Twomey, who denied the accusation, was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The shooting of Donald never would have made it into the Killeen/Mullin war if it was not for Whitey Bulger’s compulsion to make himself into something in the eyes of other hoodlums that he was not. The more you learn about these gangsters, the more you understand how little they write or say that equates to reality.

Kevin Weeks, much younger than Whitey, became his right-hand man during his later years. He wrote a book extolling Whitey. Weeks wrote about what Whitey, whom he calls “Jimmy,” relayed to him about Donald McGonagle’s murder: “Jimmy was driving down Seventh Street in South Boston when he saw Paulie [McGonagle] driving toward him.  Jimmy pulled up beside him window to window, nose to nose, and called his name. As Paulie looked over, Jimmy shot him right between the eyes. Only at that moment, just as he pulled the trigger, Jimmy realized it wasn’t Paulie. It was Donald . . ..”

Reading Weeks depiction, you can smell the nonsense. How can you pull up beside a car that is moving in the opposite direction from you? Whitey Bulger had never murdered anyone up to this time. It is unlikely he could have pulled this off. But Whitey was always about glorifying himself as a top criminal and in his naïveté Weeks, also looking to make himself look other than what he was, believed him without considering the facts. It is nearly impossible to shoot the driver of a car moving in the opposite direction without any forethought. His story would be great for a movie but highly unlikely on Seventh Street.

Pat Nee would go along with the misidentification story but added a different assailant. He wrote in his book that even though Donald was not involved with the Mullens, “he was Paulie’s double – Billy O’ thought he was killing Paulie but instead he got Donnie.” It is just another case of blaming a dead guy in this case Billy O’.  He would have mentioned Whitey but his book was published while Whitey was on the lam so no use taking chances he might read it. But Nee was well known for changing the facts especially if he were involved in something which he may have been three months later.

Upon analysis I realized it had no relation to the shooting a week earlier. Here is a story that makes a lot of sense. According to the book, Gaga, it was Tommy Ballou and another guy who did it because he was having a beef with Paulie. Gaga said Donald was in Paulie’s car. We have seen that was not the case. But other parts of his story seem to fit. Gaga suggested the Mullens hung around a bar room near South Station and were causing a lot of problems. The owner asked Ballou to speak with them. Ballou decided rather than that he would kill Paulie. Not familiar with the McGonagles, he confused Donald for Paulie.

To revenge that killing, the Mullens which may have included Nee, went to Charlestown and waited outside a little tavern that Ballou liked. When he left, he took a short cut between some buildings. That’s where the newspapers said he was murdered on February 7, 1970, about two and a half months after Donald was murdered.

Misidentifying Donald while getting into his own car in front of his house seems unlikely unless the killer was not from the area. It being nighttime Ballou confused Donald with Paulie who lived in adjacent residences.

Whitey did not do it but sought to get the credit for it. That was one of Whitey’s cons. Gaga told how Billy Daggart shot one of the Mullens but Whitey took the credit. Unfortunately, in telling the story to Kevin Weeks he badly bungled how Donald died. He was not driving down Seventh Street; he was parked in front of his home at about nine at night in November. Another indication of how the gangster stories are usually lies. The Donald McGonagle murder had nothing to do with the Irish gang war.