Episode 1225: Ruth Lawrence double murder trial on hold as court hears witness sick

He was the violent enforcer of Slieve Rusheen who operated with impunity for more than eight years terrorising ‘traitors’ who turned on the mighty Sean Quinn.His death from a massive heart attack as UK cops raided his Derbyshire hideaway two years ago played out like the final dramatic scenes of a John B Keane play.But the end for 'Dublin Jimmy', aka Cyril McGuinness, only marked the beginning of an armageddon for his tribe and this week three hired help were convicted in the Special Criminal Court of the kidnap and torture of company executive Kevin Lunney.Today, I’m talking to Sunday World Deputy Editor, Niall Donald, about about the late 'Dublin Jimmy' and where he found the mercenaries to carry one of the most shocking incidents in Irish criminal history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 Nov 202138min

A Kinahan mob prison party to celebrate the birthday of a dangerous criminal is held behind bars in an Irish jail.An inmate uses his smart phone to upload a video where suspected hitman Trevor Byrne jokes with a Limerick criminal about high powered weapons and Later he poses with pals giving the thumbs up to the camera and in his cell where he shows off his muscle.But are the jailhouse antics serious cause for concern or are they simply a face saving exercise for embattled lags.Today I’m talking to journalist Eamon Dillon about contraband, convicts and the pressure on the Irish Prison Service. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 Nov 202138min

It was the greatest social housing disaster in Ireland’s history - one which promised new beginnings for countless tenement families but instead became ground zero for the heroin epidemic.When the State ordered the demolition of Ballymun’s seven towers to make way for new housing it hoped to wipe away the mistakes of the past, but one of the country’s most promising film-makers was there to document the end of that era.In the 16 years since photographer Ross McDonnell was first invited into the blocks on a Halloween night with a camera slung round his neck, the Dubliner has won an Emmy, been shortlisted for the world’s most prestigious photography award and made a highly-acclaimed series about Mexican drug cartels, Honduran people smugglers and even Afghan beekeepers.But, Ballymun has always remained in his heart and now his new book, 'Joyrider', features the images he captured in those last days of the towers. He tells Nicola Tallant about the friends he made in the chaotic concrete jungle where he found warmth, hope and an unbreakable spirit. And he describes the invaluable life lessons he was thought on the landings of Ireland’s most notorious housing project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6 Nov 202140min

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 Nov 202137min

It was a sensational blow to organised crime - and when Australia’s Federal Police joined forces with the FBI to create a phone network to infiltrate drug gangs, the fallout shocked both police and politicians.An Aussie cartel with tentacles deep into the airline and freight industry, along with border agents on the books of the gang, have been an eye-opener to the power of the criminal networks and to the wealth.Nicola Tallant chats with multi-award winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie of the Sydney Morning Herald about the kingpin at the top of Australia’s underworld, about the high prices for cocaine fuelling a criminal goldrush and about the extent of organised crime networks previously unknown. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 Nov 202118min

He was the boy who never came home – the teenager whose innocent face has haunted generations of Irish parents.Now, the disappearance of schoolboy Philip Cairns 35 years ago is the subject of a new book which firmly turns the attention on a paedophile DJ and his peculiar underground bunker buried in a field in west Dublin.Nicola Tallant talks to journalist and author Emma McMemamy, who has forensically examined the missing person files and spoken to retired investigators who have spent decades looking for answers.She details the strange appearance of Philip’s schoolbag days after he vanished, the false leads pursued in the case, the witness who placed child abuser Eamon Cooke at the centre of the probe and the forensic expert who believes gardai need to search his secret lair. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

30 Okt 202153min

It’s been described as the biggest blow against the Colombian drug cartels since the famous takedown of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.Seven years since he was declared an enemy of the state and the boss of the so-called Gulf Cartel, notorious kingpin Dario Antonio Usaga, aka 'Otoniel', was finally captured last week in his jungle hideout.But who is the 50-year-old crime lord who has been flooding the US with drugs and what effect will his arrest have on the world’s biggest cocaine producer.Nicola Tallant talks to journalist and author Toby Muse about the billionaire warlord with a penchant for young girls, his rise to the top of Colombia’s drug ladder, his use of black magic rituals to protect his shipments and his bleak future in a US jail. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Okt 202131min

He was the notorious drug dealer who introduced heroin to his hometown of Ballymena, County Antrim.And after a lifetime of staying one step ahead of the law 61-year-old Noel Johnston made a final and fatal mistake when he mistook PSNI officers for a hit squad he believed had come to kill him - plunging 50ft to his death from a block of flats.Nicola Tallant is joined by journalist Hugh Jordan to discuss the life and extraordinary end of a notorious drug baron who made headlines right to the bitter end. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26 Okt 202124min