Crime World Long Read: How Rathkeale's 'Dead Zoo Gang' stole millions in illegal rhino horns

The 'Dead Zoo' is the name the famous Dublin ‘wits’ came up with for the Natural History Museum in the capital.

The quirky Victorian-era institution is packed with stuffed exotic animals from around the world – a moose, a hippo, a giraffe, a rhinoceros and a lot more.

The 'Dead Zoo Gang' is the name the Sunday World gave the Irish criminals who started buying or stealing rhino horns all over the world.

From the Rockies in Denver, Colorado, to auction rooms in Sydney, Australia, the gang spent more than a decade supplying the illegal trade in rhino horns.

With buyers in China and Vietnam willing to spend €20,000 and more per kilo, the Irish mob found a way to go big-game hunting without using guns.

This is the story, written by Eamon Dillon, of the 'Dead Zoo Gang' and one of the world’s most bizarre crime sprees.

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