At the heart of The Downey Trilogy is the relationship between mostly Irish-part Italian gangster Michael “Mickey” Downey and his son Detective Tommy Gates.

You can learn a bit more about Mickey Downey here or get to know him through his letters here.

Here are some more interesting facts about Mickey Downey:

1) He loves museums about technology, hates museums about art (even though he carves artwork himself).

2) He prefers to listen to ragtime jazz.

3) He started collecting guns at the age of 15.

4) The first time he stole something was at the age of 7 when his mother wouldn’t let him have a pack of gum. He pretended he had dropped his glove, went back in Waldbaum’s and lifted the gum. Then he got back in the car and apologized to his parents for ‘whining for a pack of gum’.

5) There’s only been two people in his entire life that he truly counted as friends.

6) He once put a contract out on his sister Rosa’s husband after Roric put her in the hospital. She stopped speaking to Mickey shortly after that. Most people assume that was why but it was a bit more complicated than that…