HELL’S KITCHEN — An Academy Award-winning screenwriter who grew up on West 51st Street is working on a movie about the Irish gangs who ruled Hell’s Kitchen for decades.
Bobby Moresco, who penned the Oscar-winning 2004 drama “Crash” along with director Paul Haggis, is writing a script for the currently untitled film, CuffLink Productions said in a release.
The movie “culminates with the rise and fall of the Westies gang, and the end of a century of violence on the West Side of New York City,” the release said.
“This is a story I’ve been wanting to tell for a very long time, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to tell it now,” Moresco said.
A short-lived NBC show created by Moresco and Haggis, “The Black Donnellys,” also focused on Irish-led organized crime in the neighborhood.
Moresco recently finished writing and directing a thriller called "Bent," starring Andy Garcia, Sofia Vergara and Karl Urban.
One of the upcoming film’s producers, Ed Cuffe, said he’d “always been fascinated by the history of Irish gang violence in New York.”
“Being the son of Irish immigrants right off the boat, I love the idea of making this based-on-true events film,” Cuffe said.
The project is still in its early stages, so there isn’t a release date yet.
