But judge, let me Spillane!
Mickey’s son faces dog-walk ‘punch’ raps
The son of notorious Manhattan mobster Mickey Spillane landed in court Monday for allegedly taking a whack at a dog-walker in Hell’s Kitchen — the same neighborhood his mobbed-up dad controlled in the 1970s.
Michael J. Spillane Jr., 60, got his Irish up and allegedly punched the stranger in the face outside Mediterranean wine bar Kashkaval Garden at around 7:37 p.m. on Feb. 21, according to a criminal complaint.
Spillane — who owns Mickey Spillane’s, a bar named after his dad some six blocks south on Ninth Avenue — pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment and was released after his Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment.
His ties to Hell’s Kitchen date back decades to when his father ruled as head of the Irish-American mob in the ’60s and ’70s.
Known as the last “Gentleman Gangster,” Mickey was a quick riser in the loan-sharking scene who opposed dealing drugs and was adamant about not associating with the Italian Mafia.
After he was pushed out of Hell’s Kitchen by the Westies, a more vicious rival Irish gang, Mickey was murdered outside his Woodside, Queens, home in 1977 — shot five times in the head in what cops said was a gangland assassination.
He was married to Maureen McManus, a daughter of the famed local political dynasty who ran the city’s Tammany Hall Democratic Party for decades — which Michael Jr. led as district leader.
“My dad was a serious man. Back when he was in business, he worked with a lot of labor unions and they controlled most of the docks,” Spillane said in a 2016 interview with the website W42ST. “Then the Italian branch of the mob tried to dominate everything. And if it wasn’t for men like my dad, there would be no Irish unions.”
Sidewalk skirmish
The Irish-American mob scion’s beef with the dog-walker is said to have started when the man encountered Spillane and a group of people standing outside the restaurant, creating a bottleneck.
He asked the group to make a path for him and his two dogs to get through, and most of them did — except for Spillane, who allegedly stuck his foot out and tried tripping the dog-walker, according to a source in the victim’s camp.
Spillane was allegedly aggressive and looked at the dog-walker “menacingly,” the source said.
The man went to grab Spillane — who then allegedly laid a closed-fist haymaker to his face, according to the source.
The dog-walker was also arrested and hit with the same charges. He suffered swelling and bruising from the punch and a laceration to the neck, according to the complaint.
Spillane Jr., who doesn’t have a rap sheet, was spotted flipping through a wad of $100 bills as he stood next to his attorney, Eugene Byrne, shortly after his Monday arraignment.
He’s due back in court April 29.