Evil Empire
The Irish Mob and the Execution of Journalist Veronica Guerin
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
On June 26, 1996, an international outcry was heard over the assassination of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, gunned down by Ireland's most vicious gang. It was the first European case of what the police called "narco-terrorism," where drug syndicates use terror tactics against individuals and states to protect their interests. The hit would change European police tactics forever and make the law enforcement community realize that this problem was no longer confined to the third world.
Ruthless godfather John Gilligan controlled a colossal drug empire and a mob of Dublin gangland's most dangerous criminals. Violence and the threat of murder kept terrified witnesses silent and other gangsters in fear. Gilligan thought himself above the law--and never managed to figure out that there was a line between what gangsters can and cannot do.
In Evil Empire Paul Williams tells the chilling inside story of Gilligan's rise to power, his savage gang, and the truth about the terrifying murder that shocked the world. Also shown is the behind-the-scenes drama of the dedicated police squad that waged an unprecedented four-year war to smash "Factory" John's Evil Empire.
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Using the high-profile murder of Dublin crime journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996 as the impetus for this book, Williams digs deep into the past of her killers, Ireland's most notorious organized crime gang. Starting in the late 1960s, Williams's exhaustive history of each gangster reads like an Irish Goodfellas as these neighborhood street toughs, led by would-be godfather John Gilligan, move from petty crimes and factory heists to counterfeit scams, international drug running and cold-blooded murder. While exposing the gang's ruthless dealings, Williams (The General) also touches on the limited powers of the Irish police force and courts to keep these criminals, many of whom were arrested repeatedly at a young age, behind bars. And while Irish mobsters don't generally get the same type of attention as their paramilitary countrymen, the sheer size of the international police operation needed to arrest Gilligan and his cronies speaks to the power of their "multi-million pound" crime syndicate and why they reacted so violently to Guerin's attempts to expose their dealings. The personal tone of this book reflects Williams's working relationship with Guerin and his direct contact, through interviews and inside sources, with Gilligan. Thanks to detailed research and unmatched familiarity with Ireland's underworld, Williams, also a seasoned Irish crime reporter, never loses his grip on the story. For anyone interested in the movie Veronica Guerin or who thought organized crime only involved Italians, this book provides a chilling glimpse into the backstory of an Irish gang that thought itself above the law and set out to prove it.
