Mickey Shea

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Michael Corbatt "Mickey" Shea (1890-1961) is a fictional bootlegger and father of president James Shea and attorney general Danny Shea. He features prominantly in the novel, The Godfather Returns.

Biography

Michael Corbatt Shea was born to unnamed parents in Ireland in 1890. His family was poor and dreamed of success. When he was 10, he immigrated to America and lived in the infamous Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. He excelled in sports and academically, was very brilliant, he was also a noted bachelor. Because of his contacts in school, he seemed to be heading somewhere fast, and by 1920, was the Ambassador to Canada. He also met a young Vito Corleone and did business with him by using his olive oil trucks to import whiskey from Canada. He also at this time fathered two sons, James Shea and Danny Shea. By the end of Prohibition in the 1930s, his family was one of the richest in America. He aslo at this time did some business with Robert Moses and expanded his empire. He was still the ambassador by the end of the 1930s. By the 1940s, he was starting of his sons in the political business. Danny listened to his father, while Jimmy became a decorated World War II veteran. When his son came back, he saw more in Jimmy than he did in Danny, so he trained him extensively so. By the 1950s, Jimmy was the Governor of New Jersey and Danny was the Assistant D.A. in New York.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In 1956, he was retired and living a simple, quiet life in Manhattan when he approached the Corleone Family for help. He asked them to get his son Jimmy elected president, in return Jimmy would stop the crackdowns on Organized Crime. At his mansion, he didn't show for a meeting with Tom Hagen for unspecified reasons. But the second time he and Hagen reached a deal that they would get Jimmy elected in 1960 and Hagen would become a Congressman. Ultimately Hagen failed at this task, but Jimmy was elected president in 1960. May people speculated voting fraud and wanted a recount. This was something that Mickey put a stop to. At this time he was also working with Michael Corleone and Hyman Roth on a deal in Cuba. This was thwarted by the Revolution in Cuba. Mickey never lived to see his son run the country as he died in early 1961.