THE story of a courageous priest who took on New York gangsters and inspired a classic film is the subject of a TV documentary.
For over a decade, Fr John Corridan, a Jesuit priest who was the son of emigrants from Kerry, challenged Irish mobsters and corrupt union officials who controlled the New York waterfront during the 1940s and 1950s.
His one-man crusade struck at the heart of organised crime in the city and exposed extortion, corruption and murder.
His campaign for the rights of dock workers led to the 1954 movie On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando, which won eight Academy awards.
Fr Corridan’s father, John Corridan, of Duagh, Listowel, emigrated to New York at the turn of the last century. His mother, Johanna Shanahan, came from a small farm in Lisheenbawn, near Castleisland.
Coinciding with the centenary of Fr Corridan’s birth, a documentary chronicling his remarkable crusade has been made by RTÉ Nuacht journalist Seán Mac an tSíthigh, a native of the west Kerry gaeltacht.
To be broadcast on TG4 on Sunday, it is the first television documentary to be made about and inspirational, but largely forgotten, figure in Irish-American history.
In 1945, Fr Corridan was assigned to the crime-ridden New York waterfront. Working in the predominantly Irish ghettos of Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea, the priest was shocked to discover the brutal exploitation of the ordinary dock worker.
Gangsters connived with powerful businessmen and corrupt politicians to generate huge wealth at the expense of the working class. More than 100 dock workers were murdered between the world wars but nobody was ever convicted of the crimes.
By forming alliances with influential journalists, Fr Corridan openly challenged the oppressive gangster culture and publicised criminal activities.
The revelations sparked public outcry among the citizens of New York and led to extensive investigations into the criminal operations of the port and the eventual downfall of high-ranking union officials.
Fr Corridan died in 1984.
- Misineir na nDuganna: The Priest, The Mob, The Movie — 8.50pm, April 24, TG4.
His one-man crusade struck at the heart of organised crime in the city and exposed extortion, corruption and murder.
His campaign for the rights of dock workers led to the 1954 movie On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando, which won eight Academy awards.
Fr Corridan’s father, John Corridan, of Duagh, Listowel, emigrated to New York at the turn of the last century. His mother, Johanna Shanahan, came from a small farm in Lisheenbawn, near Castleisland.
Coinciding with the centenary of Fr Corridan’s birth, a documentary chronicling his remarkable crusade has been made by RTÉ Nuacht journalist Seán Mac an tSíthigh, a native of the west Kerry gaeltacht.
To be broadcast on TG4 on Sunday, it is the first television documentary to be made about and inspirational, but largely forgotten, figure in Irish-American history.
In 1945, Fr Corridan was assigned to the crime-ridden New York waterfront. Working in the predominantly Irish ghettos of Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea, the priest was shocked to discover the brutal exploitation of the ordinary dock worker.
Gangsters connived with powerful businessmen and corrupt politicians to generate huge wealth at the expense of the working class. More than 100 dock workers were murdered between the world wars but nobody was ever convicted of the crimes.
By forming alliances with influential journalists, Fr Corridan openly challenged the oppressive gangster culture and publicised criminal activities.
The revelations sparked public outcry among the citizens of New York and led to extensive investigations into the criminal operations of the port and the eventual downfall of high-ranking union officials.
Fr Corridan died in 1984.
- Misineir na nDuganna: The Priest, The Mob, The Movie — 8.50pm, April 24, TG4.
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