Category: IRA/Paramilitary links

37 – St Patrick’s Day: Crimes & Mayhem

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Capital Punishment, Collabouration, Discrimination, Drug-related, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, Mental Health, murder, Serial Killer, unsolved, Vintage murder, Wrongly Accused

It’s St Patrick’s day. Worldwide, buildings are being “greened”. Shamrock shakes are being consumed. Guinness is being poured, and we’re drowning the shamrock.

But, this time of year sees a lot of bad behaviour. Some directly as a result of our celebration of all things Irish and some… a little more premeditated.
This week, I’m joined by 4 other fabulous podcasts to tell the story of some St Patrick’s day crimes for you.

Special thanks this week to:
All Crime No Cattle ;
Southern Fried True Crime;
Gone Cold – Texas True Crime; and
Unresolved
for your kind contributions!

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22 – The horrific murder of Sylvia Fleming

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, murder, sadism

The year 1998 was a particularly difficult one for the small town of Omagh, in Northern Ireland. There finally seemed to be a workable plan in place to bring about the beginning of a peace process, but along with that, emotions were heightened.

Just days before the agreement was signed, Sylvia Fleming (17) was out celebrating her first paycheque from her first job. She visited her ex boyfriend that night, and was never seen again. Her sisters, with whom Sylvia was very close, realised that something was wrong very quickly. The pregnant teenager would never have just left them. But they never thought that she would have suffered the fate that she did.

Join us this week as we look at the tragic events surrounding Sylvia Fleming’s murder, and how her community was torn apart that year.

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21 – Veronica Guerin: Gangland Murder of the Media (Part 2)

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Controversial Case, Drug-related, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, Landmark Case, murder, Organised Crime

Veronica Guerin took on Ireland’s booming gangland criminals in 1994, who were flooding the country with cannabis and other illegal substances and engaging in an all out war with their competitors. When she approached John Gilligan, the man in charge, at his home, she set in motion a series of events that would lead to her death, and to the downfall of the criminal set she had set her eyes on.

The events of 1994 changed the landscape of organised crime in Ireland forever, as well how the authorities would attempt to curb their enjoyment of their assets. But would they be held responsible for Veronica’s death?

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21 – Veronica Guerin: Gangland Murder of the Media (Part 1)

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Controversial Case, Drug-related, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, Landmark Case, murder, Organised Crime

 
In the 1990’s, Ireland saw a boom in organised crime and the importation of drugs that it had not experienced before. Criminals set themselves up at the head of drugs empires and reaped the benefit of their crimes to the tune of millions of pounds a year. Gardai struggled to keep up with these developments, and had no recourse to the extravagant spending of the crime bosses, who set up shell companies and owned expensive homes, vehicles and lived lavish lifestyles.
 
When Veronica Guerin, crime correspondent for the Sunday Independent, began asking questions of these gangsters, she found herself in the firing line. Quite literally.

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10 – Catherine Nevin: The Black Widow (Part 2)

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Black Widow, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, murder, Women Who Kill

In the second and final instalment of the Black Widow story, the Gardai ramp up their investigation into her, and she is finally charged with the murder of her husband, and conspiracy to commit murder. The trial took place in 2000, and lasted a whopping 62 days. After three attempts to start, it finally got under way and Willie McClean, Gerry Heapes and John Jones recounted their tales to the jury.

We also examine the aftermath of the whole sorry affair, including Justice O’Buachalla coming under scrutiny in the Murphy Inquiry, and the various appeals that Catherine brought before the courts, before finally discussing the subject that was closest to Catherine’s heart: money.

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10 – Catherine Nevin: The Black Widow (Part 1)

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Black Widow, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, murder, Women Who Kill

The weekend of St Patrick’s Day, 1996, Tom Nevin was found lying dead from a gunshot wound to the chest in the kitchen of his pub, Jack White’s in the popular seaside town of Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow.  His wife, Catherine, had sounded the alarm and when the Gardai arrived they found her bound by the wrists. She said that intruders had entered the pub, looking for jewellery.  But something wasn’t quite right, the scene seemed staged, and soon the Gardai began unravelling a web of deceit constructed carefully over nearly 10 years of a plan to have Tom Nevin killed. All eyes now turned to Catherine. Was she really a grieving widow? Or a Black Widow who had her husband killed to get control of their assets?

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