Crime World

Episode 65: The threats, witness murders and prison escape plot in the Ridouan Taghi trial

The murder of another witness in the Marengo Trial, the shocking revelations that suspect Ridouan Taghi was plotting a navy-seal-type jailbreak and a dramatic security breach around an under-threat journalist - what will happen next in The Netherlands? In a country under siege from organised crime, the very foundations of law and order are being challenged as a street dealer turned cocaine billionaire takes on the pillars of a state. Nicola Tallant talks to Dutch colleague Saskia Belleman of De Telegraaf, who is a courts correspondent working on the most extraordinary gangland story in living memory – one which echoes the brutal battle to take down Pablo Escobar.

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

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

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.

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

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: The American guns fuelling the deadly Mexican Cartels and drug wars (re-post)

Drug war in Mexico – how the narcos and their violent sicarios are being armed by legally-sold weapons in the US.