Crime World

When drug dealer James Whelan was gunned down in Finglas, north Dublin, two months ago gardai braced themselves for an explosion of violence and tit-for-tat attacks. In recent weeks, the home of Whelan’s mother, Sonya, has been firebombed amidst 70 violent incidents linked to the feuding gangs, many of which are flagged on social media postings. But is this Finglas feud the future of gangland wars...

His was a bizarre and macabre death which led to more questions than answers. Since the body of British spy Gareth Williams was found padlocked inside a sports bag in his flat in London, his death remains a mystery. But now journalist Jonathan Maitland and Vanessa Bowles have turned their attention to one of the most peculiar crime scenes in recent history. Was Williams assassinated by Russian sec...

WHO says you can’t solve crime in your spare time? Elderly armchair detectives with a penchant for puzzles are the inspiration for Richard Osman’s chart-topping 'Thursday Murder Club' novellas, but far from his pages of perfect prose there are groups of amateur sleuths who investigate gritty crimes in the hope of uncovering the truth. Clodagh Meaney talks with Nicola Stow, author of the 'Real Life...

CHESHIRE, England 1996, Howard Ainsworth violently bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer before taking his own life. Three years later in the same town, Donald Ward beat his wife to death with a ceramic hot water bottle before using the shards of glass to take his own life. At least that’s what the police report concluded. In 2020, Cheshire coroner Stephanie Davies re-examined the deaths, and...

When the Criminal Assets Bureau was set up in 1996 after the brutal murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh was its first target. A known drug dealer and with a string of convictions, Bomber was then running a lucrative business along with his cousin Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh. They were dealing whatever they could get their hands on and making a pretty penny as a result. Hat...

When the Criminal Assets Bureau was set up in 1996 after the brutal murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh was its first target. A known drug dealer and with a string of convictions, Bomber was then running a lucrative business along with his cousin Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh. They were dealing whatever they could get their hands on and making a pretty penny as a result. Hat...

When the Criminal Assets Bureau was set up in 1996 after the brutal murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh was its first target. A known drug dealer and with a string of convictions, Bomber was then running a lucrative business along with his cousin Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh. They were dealing whatever they could get their hands on and making a pretty penny as a result. Hat...

DAY seven of the cross examination of Jonathan Dowdall came to its conclusion, as it was put to him that he had a role in a botched gun attack on the Kinahan mob at the Red Cow Hotel months before the Regency, and that he was trading bombs for protection with dissident Republicans in the North. Dowdall continues to deny any wrongdoing, save for talking nonsense and taking tablets while under stres...

Jonathan Dowdall’s evidence to the Special Criminal Court is now centred on his own 10-hours of bugged conversation in a car with Gerry Hutch. Dowdall is flagging in the witness box after six gruelling days under cross examination, yet, he still manages to do battle with Brendan Grehan SC, Hutch’s defence barrister. Nicola Tallant talks with Niall Donald about 'mass murder, bomb making' and the '1...

THE takedown of Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh can be directly linked to a decrease in the gangland murder rate in Ireland, the country's most-senior officer fighting organised crime has said. In a documentary to be shown on Virgin Media on Wednesday night, Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland says Kavanagh was the most significant conviction in his 33 year career. Nicola Tallant chats with crim...

THE Special Criminal Court watched two faces of State witness Jonathan Dowdall during his fifth day under cross examination, as tapes of his arrest were played and he was asked to comment on the lies he told gardai back in 2016.The complexity of Dowdall's character played out on the video recordings and in the answers he gave from the witness box, where he has said Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch told him...

Jonathan Dowdall watched from the witness box at the Special Criminal Court at videos of his arrest from 2016 on firearms offences, where he told gardai that Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch never told him anything about the Regency Hotel. Dowdall was also played tapes where he says Hutch is 'very private' and not a friend of his and reveals that 'The Monk' wouldn’t be stupid enough to tell him even if he w...

Jonathan Dowdall said he wanted to make stories more "beefy" for Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and was only trying to impress him with tales of bomb making, ordering a shootout at his Uncle Jimmy's home and pointing out possible kidnap opportunities on their doomed trip north. Dowdall also told the Special Criminal Court that he was disgusted with himself on the bugged conversations recorded by gardai, s...

Jonathan Dowdall told the Special Criminal Court that Patsy Hutch’s sons, Gary and Patrick Junior, started the Kinahan-Hutch feud when they attempted to steal €4.6 million in cash from the home of Daniel Kinahan in Spain. The pair had planned, he claimed, to shoot the mob boss but botched the operation and shot innocent boxer Jamie Moore instead, kicking off the feud. In a dramatic second day of h...

Jonathan Dowdall finally stepped into the witness box on day 30 of the Regency Hotel trial, where Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch stands accused of murdering David Byrne. In evidence, he sensationally claimed that Cartel boss Daniel Kinahan "personally shot Patrick Hutch Jnr" in a pre-arranged punishment attack and that 'The Monk' told him that he and James 'Mago' Gately had murdered ByrneToday Nicola Tall...

STATE Witness Jonathan Dowdall will appear in the Special Criminal Court on Monday, but before he gives evidence a senior Garda officer from the Crime and Security Unit will tell him that his performance in the box won’t necessarily secure him a place on the Witness Protection Programme. In another extraordinary day at the Regency Hotel trial where Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch denies murdering David Byr...

FORMER Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall has agreed to give evidence against Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch at the Special Criminal Court - but a Judge has demanded to know his status on the Witness Protection Programme. Justice Tara Burns, who is presiding over the Regency Hotel murder trial, said she was unhappy with a note she was given relating to Dowdall's position and has ordered the matter to b...

STATE witness Jonathan Dowdall could be delayed in giving his evidence at the Regency Hotel murder trial as defence lawyers continue to argue his permission to take the stand. Complex cross-examination of gardai involved in the investigation has revealed how Dowdall and his wife Patricia reached out to investigators after he was charged with the murder of David Byrne before he eventually gave a 50...

THREE gangland shootings in one night. One dead drug dealer, a hitman on the run and a feuding mob baying for revenge. Nicola Tallant talks with Irish Independent Crime Correspondent Ken Foy about the violence that has erupted in gangland and three separate murder attempts in one night. The pair discuss the reasons behind the murder of Cormac Berkeley, the attempt on the life of notorious criminal...

THE conviction of gangland hit-men Robert ‘Roo’ Redmond and his sidekick Bernard Fogarty marks the end of the short and dangerous careers of Dublin’s one-time, most-feared assassins. This week, as the pair settle in to a life sentence behind bars, Nicola Tallant talks with Niall Donald about the chaos and fear spread by the murderous duo. They discuss death threats to innocent families, terrifying...

Crime World 'boss' Nicola Tallant hosts this special, live edition of The Dingle Whiskey Movie Club from a packed Sugar Club in Dublin. Over the past five weeks our expert panels have rated and reviewed some of the most famous mob movies ever to grace the silver screen - from The Godfather to Goodfellas, to Scarface and Casino, it was an offer we couldn't refuse. Now, before a live audience, the C...

A three-man assassination squad scouted out Irish crime boss Robbie Lawlor’s movements before carrying out his contract killing, a Belfast court has heard. The three formed a cell intercepted by police following the shooting, but were then released and allowed to leave Northern Ireland, it has emerged. So, what are the claims that were made as bail was refused to accused Adrian Holland, who is cha...

THE judges at the Special Criminal Court are set to rule on the admissibility of evidence relating to 10 hours of conversation between murder accused Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and ex-Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall, captured by a garda bugging device on March 7 2016.The defence, led by Brendan Grehan SC, says almost eight hours of the contents of the audio recording of the conversations should...

THE arrest of a Balkan mob boss in a massive Europol co-ordinated operation against the so called 'Super Cartel' leaves just one man standing from the leadership of the gang that controlled a massive 30 per cent of Europe’s cocaine market. Edin Gacanin of the 'Tito and Dino cartel' was the third big gang boss who had attended Daniel Kinahan’s infamous 2017 wedding to be lifted in Dubai, in a multi...

FOR Gerry Hutch the stakes couldn't be higher at the Special Criminal Court, where he stands accused of murder - a crime that goes with a mandatory life sentence. Each day, he faces the weight of the prosecution case compiled by an army of gardai who have spent years putting together their case against him and co-accused Paul Murphy and Jason Bonney. So, how is he dealing under the pressure and do...