Considered one of Italy’s most dangerous fugitives, suspected of being a boss of the Camorra mafia and the one-time owner of two stolen Van Gogh masterpieces, Raffaele Imperiale is now counting the cost of his life of crime.

Arrested earlier this month in Dubai, he is facing hefty charges back in Italy and a lengthy prison sentence for his role at the very top of organised crime.

But Imperiale is no ordinary mafia Don. Documents from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in the U.S. suggest that he was part of a European cocaine super cartel which included, amongst others, the Kinahan mafia.

Nicola Tallant chats with Sunday World deputy editor Niall Donald about what his capture means for the takedown of the European narcos and how it leaves Daniel Kinahan as one of the last men standing in Dubai.

Crime World Extra: The Arrest Of Kinahan-Linked Mafia Boss Raffaele Imperiale

He was the gangland fixer known as 'The Coach' and for decades he tried to play the criminal underworld, police and the media.

Criminal John Traynor dreamed of wealth and women when he joined the ranks of Martin ‘The General’ Cahill's armed robbery gang, but he would later turn on his old boss in favour of the new order under John Gilligan.

Traynor believed himself to be a master manipulator, but in the end he wasn’t quite as clever as he believed and spent his last years living in a dingy flat in a washed-up English seaside town before dying in a hospice far from home.

Nicola Tallant chats with Sunday World Deputy Editor Niall Donald about the life and crimes of the one that got away and the sorry end of the once powerful Coach.

Crime World Extra: The sorry end of once-powerful gangland 'fixer' John Traynor

The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell in New York is finally underway after years of allegations about her relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and claims that she helped him procure young girls for sex.

It has been a sensational fall from grace for the daughter of disgraced newspaper guru Robert Maxwell, who led a life of privilege that few could imagine. In the dock at a US District Court in Manhattan, Maxwell is pleading innocence to charges relating to the sexual abuse of four young girls.

Nicola Tallant talks to journalist Brad Hunter, the National Crime Columnist for the Toronto Sun, who has been writing about the story of Epstein and Maxwell for years and who is now covering the court case. He describes the evidence heard so far, the appearance of a prison-weary Maxwell, and his own views on why she is a figure who has garnered little sympathy from the public.

Crime World Extra: The sordid tales behind the Ghislaine Maxwell trial

Detective Anthony Amore tracks down stolen art and follows clues all over the world hunting priceless masterpieces which have been snatched by thieves. 
Today, Amore talks to Nicola Tallant about one time heiress, Rose Dugdale, who gave up a charmed life to become an IRA activist and a thief who picked out the jewels of Russborough House in Wicklow and later inspired the legendary criminal Martin 'The General' Cahill. 
He also reveals what he thinks about another famous criminal Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley and his tall tales.

Crime World Extra: A stolen masterpiece and an unlikely thief (re-post)

In Northern Ireland’s troubled past there have been hundreds of atrocities and thousands of lives lost - but one 24-hour period stands out as the most brutal of all. 

Forty five years ago this week, unprecedented slaughter visited a small corner of south Armagh and left its mark forever on both the landscape and the lives of those left behind.

First, was the brutal murder of the Catholic Reavey brothers,  John Martin and Brian, just 24 and 22-years-old when they were gunned down in their family home.

Their 17-year-old brother, Anthony, catastrophically injured in the ambush, would die weeks later. The attack was carried out by the notorious 'Glennanne Gang', made up of rogue police and army officers working in collusion with loyalist terrorists in a sick bid to ethnically cleanse the catholic population. 
Twenty minutes after the ambush, in a co-ordinated attack, three members of the O’Dowd family were slaughtered in their home in nearby County Down by a UVF hit team.

But that wasn’t the end of the killings. Within 24 hours of the murders, a suspected IRA terror mob carried out the shocking Kingsmill massacre of 10 innocent protestant textile workers and one more who miraculously survived.

So what is the legacy of such appalling events and after four-and-a-half decades is the British government's plans for a Troubles amnesty a line in the sand or an outrage to those still seeking justice? 

Nicola Tallant and Sunday World colleague Hugh Jordan visit peace campaigner Eugene Reavey, as he recalls the dreadful events that visited his life and they consider the stark reality that some scars will never heal.

Episode 59: The most brutal 24-hour period in the North's troubled past

He is a well known Criminal Assets Bureau target who was once put on trial for a tiger kidnapping, but Dubliner Jonathan Gill has now launched a new venture as a conflict negotiator and says he can solve disputes in broken marriages, business upheavals and even in neighbourhood rows.

With no major convictions, Gill says he is innocent of any involvement in crime but the courts have heard differently - and on one occasion he was described as one of Ireland’s top criminals.

Here, Nicola Tallant chats with Sunday World Deputy Editor Niall Donald about Gill and his new business venture.

Episode 60: CAB target Jonathan Gill and his new 'dispute-solving' business

Cartel chief Daniel Kinahan is posturing again, with press statements, pictures and propaganda from an army of boxers under his control.

And now he is teeing up a ‘world exclusive’ interview with podcaster James English, whose popular YouTube show has featured chats with a host of MTK boxers, many of whom have taken the opportunity to praise the drug boss.

So what is going on with Ireland’s most wanted man and how has he managed to mingle between the world of organised crime and that of the sport of boxing?

Nicola Tallant talks with Sunday World Deputy Editor Niall Donald about Kinahan’s rise as a boxing powerbroker and his attempts to sports-wash his criminal reputation.

Episode 81: The two faces of Daniel Kinahan

The murder of drug dealer James Whelan in Dublin marks the start of what gardai fear will be a long-running and murderous feud between two factions of what was once one gang.

The intricacies of the fallout between the mob boss known as 'Mr Flashy' and his former lieutenant are all too familiar to many who have watched other gangland wars play out in the past.

Irish Independent crime correspondent Ken Foy joins Nicola Tallant to talk about the criminal mentor who groomed the young guns who now in turn run their own violent gangs, the significance of the murder of such a key player like Whelan and the fears of the reprisals to come.

Episode 93: The gangland murder of James Whelan and the 'Mr Flashy' feud

A week after U.S. sanctions were levelled at the Kinahan mafia an incredible fallout continues, as many run for cover and deny relationships with the top tier.

But at the heart of the countless stories and headlines about the Kinahan Organised Crime Group has been an insight into the man at the very top of the tree.

While the concentration has been on his son Daniel and his links to boxing, the 'Dapper Don', Christy Kinahan Snr, has been moonlighting as an aviation broker and running a string of social media accounts featuring his musings about the world.

Nicola Tallant chats with Sunday World Deputy Editor Niall Donald about the ultimate 'Godfather of Crime' and the two faces he shows to the world.

Episode 97: Christy Kinahan Snr - The Cartel 'Godfather' who hid in plain sight

He is the Scottish politician who says football is contaminated with drug money and that the tentacles of the Kinahan organisation run deep into the heart of the Glasgow underworld.

And Russell Findlay knows more than the regular politician about such issues, because for years he worked as an investigative crime reporter who himself became headline news when he was targeted in an acid attack at his home.

Nicola Tallant chats with Russell about the deep connections and blood bonds between the Irish and Scottish crime networks.

He reveals the killers and criminals who hid out for years in Kinahan safe houses on the Costa del Sol, about the fake-bake tan tycoon who became part of their inner circle and his fears that mobsters and gang bosses have their sights firmly set on football.

Episode 100: The Kinahan Cartel's partnership with Scotland's most-feared mobs

For years flash Johnny Morrissey has been splashing his cash on the Costa del Crime, where his luxury villa is a monument to the Roman Emperor Nero.

Larger than life, Morrissey thought he was untouchable - but now that he has been named as the Kinahan mafia’s Costa enforcer and sanctioned by U.S. for laundering dirty money, the vodka boss has been running for cover.

But Morrissey is no newcomer to the underworld scene and he has run away before, including from a fishing village in rural Ireland where he tried to land shipments of cocaine on the Cork coastline.

Nicola Tallant talks with Sunday World journalist Eamon Dillon about the incredible life and crimes of the Kinahan crony who Irish neighbours dubbed 'Johnny Cash'.

Episode 102: The life and crimes of Kinahan cartel crony Johnny 'Cash' Morrissey

Crime World, with Nicola Tallant, is a weekly Irish podcast about criminals, drugs and the sins of the underworld. Discussing the real stories, and the real people, behind the grisly headlines.

Crime World Extra: The sordid tales behind the Ghislaine Maxwell trial

Crime World

Related tracks