MGM+'s upcoming 1980s-set crime drama The Westies, seen as a spiritual successor to Titus Welliver's Bosch, is not a direct dramatisation of real Hell's Kitchen gangsters despite sharing character names with them. Star Stanley Morgan, who plays Mickey Flanagan, told Collider in an exclusive interview that although his character and Tom Brittney's Jimmy Roarke echo real-life figures Mickey Featherstone and Jimmy Coonan, the show takes creative licence rather than retelling their biographies, allowing the writers to craft an original story while drawing on genuine historical texture.

Morgan explained that his character's relationship with Roarke, the two having known each other since childhood, differs from the real-life dynamic between Featherstone and Coonan, key figures in the notorious Westies gang. He said he researched the real gang and other stories from the era to inform his performance, describing the true events as "raw materials" feeding into the fictional narrative rather than a blueprint the series strictly follows.