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

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. Podcast Promo this week is from the gals over at Dumb and Busted podcast. Get in some comedy with your crime and give them a listen! Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! If you would like to support the podcast, head on over to Patreon.com.  Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Sources: Paul Williams, Evil Empire: John Gilligan, his gang and the execution of Veronica Guerin (Merlin: Dublin, 2001). Purchase here Emily O'Reilly, Veronica Guerin: The life and death of a Crime Reporter (Vintage Press: London, 1998) Purchase here Trevor Quinn, “Brian Meehan to spend rest of life in prison over Veronica Guerin murder” in DublinLive.ie https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/brian-meehan-spend-rest-life-12643963 22 February 2017    Emma McMenamy, “Veronica Guerin's killer Brian Meehan caught with drugs in prison” in DublinLive.ie https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/veronica-guerins-killer-brian-meehan-11727788 10 August 2016    Independent NewsDesk, “Veronica Guerin's killer Brian Meehan caught with drugs behind bars” in The Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/crime/veronica-guerins-killer-brian-meehan-caught-with-drugs-behind-bars-34954772.html 10 August 2016    “Brian Meehan loses appeal against Veronica Guerin murder conviction” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/brian-meehan-loses-appeal-against-veronica-guerin-murder-conviction-1.2614660 18 April 2016    Cathal McMahon, “Gardai quizzed killer Brian Meehan over shooting of former mob boss John Gilligan” in The Irish Mirror https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/gardai-quizzed-killer-brian-meehan-3529498 12 May 2014    Ronan Duffy, “Veronica Guerin's killer has application against his conviction rejected” in thejournal.ie http://www.thejournal.ie/veronica-guerin-murder-appeal-2721091-Apr2016/ 18 April 2016    Christina Finn, “Defence team look for Veronica Guerin's killer says court must look at 'flaw' in original trial”, in thejournal.ie http://www.thejournal.ie/brian-meehan-appeal-veronica-guerin-2456723-Nov2015/ 20 November 2015    Christina Finn, “Veronica Guerin's killer is appealing his conviction for her murder” in thejournal.ie http://www.thejournal.ie/brian-meehan-veronica-guerin-appeal-court-2454499-Nov2015/ 19 November 2015    Ruaidhri Giblin, “Two decades after Veronica Guerin's murder, her killer is appealing his conviction” in thejournal.ie http://www.thejournal.ie/veronica-guerin-murder-conviction-appeal-2171827-Jun2015/ 19 June 2015    Emma McMenamy, “Gangster John Gilligan back socialising in Clondalkin, Dublin – despite failed murder attempt in 2014” in The Irish Mirror https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/gangster-john-gilligan-back-socialising-12753289 21 June 2018    David Coleman, “Scumbag gangster John Gilligan pictured ' sleeping like a baby' on Spain bound flight from Belfast” in The Irish Mirror https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/scumbag-gangster-john-gilligan-pictured-12960529 22 July 2018    Nicola Tallant and Allison Bray, “Criminal John Gilligan travelling between Spain and England with new girlfriend who 'loves him more than life'” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/crime/criminal-john-gilligan-travelling-between-spain-and-england-with-new-girlfriend-who-loves-him-more-than-life-37021255.html 18 June 2018    “John Gilligan survives despite being shot up to six times and getting Last Rites” in The Sunday Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/john-gilligan-survives-despite-being-shot-up-to-six-times-and-getting-last-rites-30054258.html 2 March 2014    Conor Feehan, “'He's a nobody now, he's pathetic' – Gilligan is shunned by criminals” in The Evening Herald https://www.herald.ie/news/hes-a-nobody-now-hes-pathetic-gilligan-is-shunned-by-criminals-36292268.html 6 November 2017    Gary Meneely, “Gaff for sale – See inside notorious crime boss John Gilligan's bungalow on the Kildare border – as seven-bed gaff seized by CAB goes on the market for €120K” in The Irish Sun https://www.thesun.ie/news/1375405/see-inside-notorious-crime-boss-john-gilligans-bungalow-on-the-kildare-border-as-seven-bed-gaff-seized-by-cab-goes-on-the-market-for-e120k/ 9 August 2017    Recorded Crime Statistics, Central Statistics Office https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/crimeandjustice/   Kathy Donaghy, “Trusted ' Hippo' glorified in mud of Gilligan's Empire” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/trusted-hippo-gloried-in-mud-of-gilligans-empire-26056073.html 23 March 2002    Kevin McHugh “John Gilligan sends menacing threat to former right-hand-man John Traynor” in DublinLive.ie https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/john-gilligan-sends-menacing-threat-13941304 23 November 2017    Jim Cusack, “A woman in the way of a drug baron's ambitions” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/a-woman-in-the-way-of-a-drug-barons-ambitions-26420738.html 3 February 2008    Breda Heffernan, “Gangster Traynor denies setting up murder of crime reporter Guerin” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gangster-traynor-denies-setting-up-murder-of-crime-reporter-guerin-29298336.html 27 May 2013    Henry McDonald, “Dublin Gangland boss John Traynor arrested in Netherlands” in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/02/john-traynor-arrested-in-netherlands 2 September 2010    Gary Meneely, “THE GODFATHER – Veronica Guerin murder suspect John 'The Coach' Traynor comes out of hiding and returns to Ireland for father's funeral” in The Irish Sun https://www.thesun.ie/news/2134091/veronica-guerin-murder-suspect-john-the-coach-traynor-comes-out-of-hiding-and-returns-to-ireland-for-fathers-funeral/ 4 February 2018    Conor Feehan, “Drink-driving charge for gilligan gagn thug Ward” in The Evening Herald https://www.herald.ie/news/drinkdriving-charge-for-gilligan-gang-thug-ward-27967702.html 29 Novemeber 2010    Independent News Desk, “'Hippo' Ward jailed for driving offence” in The Sunday Independent https://www.pressreader.com/ireland/sunday-independent-ireland/20161016/281586650120243 16 October 2016    Louise Roseingrave, “Man died after drink and drugs binge with uncle Paul 'Hippo' Ward”, in The Irish independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/man-died-after-drink-and-drugs-binge-with-uncle-paul-hippo-ward-35402732.html 27 January 2017    “The grimy path from children's court to murdering for money” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-grimy-path-from-children-s-court-to-murdering-for-the-money-1.219606 28 November 1998    Conor Lally, “Criminal underworld has radically changed in Gilligan's years behind bars” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/criminal-underworld-has-radically-changed-in-gilligan-s-years-behind-bars-1.1560819 15 October 2013.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Guerin#Murder   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Cahill   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gilligan_(criminal)    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ireland_Forum