Crime World

An 'ISIS bride' lured to the Caliphate in fear of the fires of hell, a glamorous former radical who escaped Syria and unshackled herself from her extremist past and counter terrorism FBI agents called in after the fall of Raqqa.It sounds like the plot from a series of 'Homeland' - but it is playing out in Ireland’s Special Criminal Court where Dundalk woman Lisa Smith has pleaded not guilty to funding and membership of a terrorist organisation.Nicola Tallant talks with courts reporter Eoin Reynolds, who has been covering this fascinating trial for the last three weeks as the story of Lisa Smith’s journey from Irish army cadet to the beating heart of ISIS has unfolded. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19 Feb 202252min

Innocent women flee their homes in fear of grenade attacks, a business shuts its doors terrorised by teenage thugs, while a community lives in fear of warring drug gangs brazenly attacking each other in broad daylight with hammers and wheel braces and displaying their gunfire on social media.The scenes playing out in a Dublin suburb seem more at home in Mexico, yet for the hard-working people of Finglas this is the reality - as a gang headed up by a young dealer known as 'Mr Flashy' goes to war with three rival outfits in a terrifying feud.Nicola Tallant chats with Crime Correspondent Ken Foy who tells of the rising tensions in an underworld populated by gun-toting teenage boys directed by mega-rich cocaine dealers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

16 Feb 202233min

A shocking mass murder at a bookies office in Belfast, 30 years of unanswered questions for those left behind and now an Ombudsman's report that cites collusive behaviour and failings by police.At the heart of the Sean Graham bookmakers atrocity and seven other loyalist attacks carried out by the UDA which claimed the lives of 11 people, lie the use of RUC informants who were also killers.In the murky world of cops and gangsters, where information is whispered in the shadows, did a corrupted system protect the bad and are institutions now more concerned about their reputations or the quest for justice?Nicola Tallant chats with Hugh Jordan about murder on the Ormeau Road and the legacy of decisions made in a time of extremes. He reveals the injustices caused by secrecy and silence, with the consideration of letting sleeping dogs lie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

15 Feb 202232min

The brutal attack on bachelor farmer Thomas ‘Tom’ Niland in rural Sligo has struck fear into the elderly community across Ireland.In a worrying spate of attacks on our most vulnerable citizens, many pensioners living in rural areas no longer feel safe in their own homes.So, who are the criminals who are targeting older members of the community and are they organised mobs or more chaotic and opportunistic criminals living day to day in a tangle of addiction, drug debt and desperation for cash?Nicola Tallant chats with journalist Eamon Dillon, who has spent years reporting on some of the most high-profile crimes against the elderly. He recalls the criminals behind some of the most shocking attacks on our pensioners, about the brutal rapist about to taste freedom again and of the random nature of the robberies that terrorise communities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12 Feb 202234min

Jim Mansfield Jnr was dealt his fate this week when Judges at the Special Criminal Court handed him down a two-year sentence, suspending the final six months, in a crushing blow for the former millionaire heir of Ireland’s once-wealthiest family.Despite submissions for leniency from his legal team who insisted he was in the lower range of intellectual ability, is a carer to his elderly mother and was someone who would find it difficult to be incarcerated, he will now have to serve his time just like any other common criminal.So what was it like for playboy Mansfield to find himself in the dock and how did his tight-knit, socialite family deal with one of their own on trial?Nicola Tallant chats with courts reporter Alison O’Riordan who covered the lengthy trial and who details how Mansfield remained confident to the end that he would walk free. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 Feb 202227min

He was the New IRA 'fixer' with an unclear past, but despite some red flags, Dennis McFadden managed to infiltrate the terror group and win their trust, all the while reporting back to MI5.For two decades the Scottish spy worked and lived in Belfast and moonlighted as an ordinary married man who moved in dissident republican circles.But when he disappeared last August panic ensued - and now 10 suspected dissidents are in the dock charged after an intricate bugging operation into their group,Nicola Tallant chats with Allison Morris, crime correspondent and columnist with the Belfast Telegraph, about the two faces of MI5's Chameleon man Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8 Feb 202235min

Garfield Beattie is a triple murderer who was part of the infamous Glennane Gang, a brutal mob made up of Ulster Loyalists, RUC police officers and British Soldiers who went on a killing spree of Catholics in Co. Armagh and Co. Tyrone at the beginning of the Troubles.According to reports and investigations, the group killed between 75 and 120 people, most of whom were ordinary civilians with no links to Irish Republican paramilitaries.One of those murdered was Denis Mullen, an ambulance controller and father of two who was struck by 17 bullets after he stepped outside his home at Collegelands near the Moy in September 1975.Beattie served 17 years for the murder of Mullen, but five decades on he is back behind bars for intimidating the victim's daughter Denise, who was just three-years-old when she witnessed an unimaginable horror. This is her story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Feb 20221h 4min

He was the Irish king of the Costa until the Kinahan mob turned on him and forced the one-time drug lord into hiding for more than 10 years.But Peter ‘Fatso’ Mitchell is back behind bars after he showed up in the UK, working as a driver for a cocaine gang.A murky gangland story involving double crosses, greed and paranoia lie at the heart of Mitchell’s journey to a prison cell in Wales, where he was locked up for 10 years for his role in the ‘Avengers’ coke gang.Nicola Tallant chats with Sunday World journalist Eamon Dillon about the last member of the notorious John Gilligan gang - the criminal dubbed ‘the one that got away.’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 Feb 202230min