Niall Stanage reports from Washington.

The Stand is proudly sponsored by Tesco.

Ep 1123: Trump Still The Most Potent Force on America's Political Landscape

It was once a city under siege where ruthless gangs and one notorious family ruled with fear and intimidation. But a massive crackdown on crime, followed by an injection of €300 million in regeneration funds restored Limerick’s reputation as a cosmopolitan modern city.

But like everywhere else, an underworld of crime still exists and last week more than 400 gardai and military personnel staged a series of raids targeting the most significant crime groups in the city.

So who are the gangs and where does the balance of power in gangland lie? Today, I’m talking to Sunday world Deputy Editor, Niall Donald, about the gangs of Limerick, 10 bloody years of mayhem and the slick business approach of the new order.

Crime World Extra: The Gangs Of Limerick

They are two of Ireland’s most-dangerous offenders but both have just walked free from jail and are now living amongst communities.

Celyn Eadon stabbed his mother to death and racked up 15 unprovoked assaults while behind bar, where he was treated in the National Violence Reduction Unit at the Midlands Prison. While Anthony Quigley has repeatedly attacked women and has been diagnosed with having a brain injury. Last week, he returned to his native Mitchelstown in Cork where locals live in fear of him.

Nicola Tallant chats with Sunday World journalist Eamon Dillon about the dangerous criminals, the risk they pose to society and how the State can best handle people at the extreme end of personality disorders.

Crime World Extra: Terror on the streets as two of Ireland's most-feared inmates walk free from jail

He suffered a brutal death at the hands of his wife and her former FBI agent dad, but the path to justice for Jason Corbett’s family has been far from clear.

Found guilty by a North Carolina court of second degree murder, Molly and Tom Martens were originally sent to jail but had their convictions overturned by an Appeals Court before the Supreme Court subsequently agreed that the trial had been unfair. 

Now, the pair will be tried again and the events around Jason’s death will be played out once more in a courtroom.
But what actually happened on the night he died and just what did the father and daughter admit in the hours after the Irishman’s death? 

Investigative journalist Lynne Kelleher’s chats with Nicola Tallant about the 911 call that alerted authorities to the Limerick man's brutal death, they dissect the police interviews with Tom and Molly and examine the toxicology results, autopsy findings and bloody crime scene reports.

Episode 45: The Molly Martens Murder Files

Michelle Smith may have returned to Dublin as an Olympic hero in the summer of 1996, but her homecoming was washed out by torrential rain. Some would see those clouds as a metaphor for what was to come. Featuring Paul Kimmage, Vincent Hogan, Paul Howard, Eamon Dunphy and silver medallists Allison Wagner and Marianne Limpert.

Tainted Gold: The Michelle Smith Story, Episode 2

In life they formed a prolific burglary gang that terrorised the country and made use of the motorway system as a getaway route.

Criminals Graham Taylor, Karl Freeman and Dean Maguire died together last July in a horror road crash when the car they were travelling in collided head-on with a lorry as they drove down the wrong side of the N7.

But what is the legacy of the trio and has there been any significant effects on crime figures in the areas they targeted in recent weeks.

Nicola Tallant talks to Irish independent crime correspondent Ken Foy about the life and times of the three notorious mobsters and the plummeting burglary rates since their death.

Crime World Extra: The Burglary Gang That Terrorised The Nation

A French court has convicted a gang of eight men including four members of the Rathkeale Rovers Organised Crime group for trafficking rhino horn and ivory between Europe and Asia.

But while sentences have been handed down, the Irish traders remain at large and are likely living under aliases, as environmentalist groups urge gardai to track the fugitives down.

So what are criminals doing with rhino horns and elephant tusks and how did the Rathkeale Rovers see a multi-million euro opportunity in an underground criminal enterprise?

Nicola Tallant chats to journalist and author Eamon Dillon, who is an expert on the globe-trotting criminal gang. He tells of the museum heists, ancient medicinal cures and the business savvy traders who are always ahead of the game.

Crime World Extra: The Rathkeale Rovers And The Rhino Horn Traffickers

The tag ‘Bandit Country’ was long used for what was once described as lawless ‘South Armagh’.

But times have changed and now the towns situated along the border region of Ireland want to put the dark days of the past behind them and be recognised as thriving modern communities.

So how do we move forward while recognising the potentially incendiary political and constitutional proposals to police regions that straddle Garda Siochana and PSNI territories.

Belfast Telegraph crime correspondent Allison Morris chats with Nicola Tallant about the possible pitfalls and discusses policing in South Armagh, the crime gangs who are gaining from politics and the controversy of cross border ‘hot pursuit’.

Episode 46: The crime gangs and smugglers on the Irish Border

He has lost in his bid to halt extradition attempts in a Spanish court and now Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch must come home to Ireland and finally face the music.

Six years since a hit team staged a dramatic assassination attempt on Daniel Kinahan and six months since a European warrant was issued for his arrest, the veteran criminal will soon stand in the dock of the Special Criminal Court where he will face murder charges.

So what will the 'the Monk' do next or has he simply put all his chips on black? Today, I’m talking to Sunday World Deputy Editor, Niall Donald, about the criminal 'godfather' and where his story may end.

Crime World Extra - Criminal Godfather Gerry 'the Monk' Hutch

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch is back in an Irish prison for the first time in nearly 40 years after he was flown on a military jet into Baldonnel Aerodrome from Spain on foot of an extradition warrant.

His appearance in the Special Criminal Court, where he was charged with the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 2016, was brief but dramatic and today I’m talking to Sunday World deputy editor Niall Donald about the homecoming of The Monk.

We discuss the appearance of the 58-year-old in the dock, the book of evidence containing the State’s case against him and the 2022 trial date for Hutch.

Crime World Extra: The moment Gerry 'the Monk' Hutch touched down to face Regency murder charge

Nicola Tallant, Investigations Editor for the Sunday World and author of The Witness, talks to Eamon about her new book Clash of the Clans.

The Stand is proudly sponsored by Tesco.

Ep 1234: Clash of the Clans - The Inside Story of the Kinahan - Hutch Gangland Feud

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.

Episode 46: The crime gangs and smugglers on the Irish Border

Crime World

Related tracks