The Winter Hill Gang is a structured confederation of Boston, Massachusetts-area organized crime figures, predominantly Irish-American. It derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts north of Boston. Its members have included notorious Boston gangsters Howie Winter, James "Buddy" McLean, James J. "Whitey" Bulger, and hitmen John Martorano and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. They were most influential from 1965 under the rule of McLean and Winter until the takeover led by Bulger in 1979.