End of an Era
When Martin Cahill was shot in
Dublin, the Gardai (Irish police) openly rejoiced. This joy was
tempered by the fact that it was the IRA which killed him (and
also that unlimited overtime would come to an end). His skill as
a criminal had repeatedly humiliated the Gardai, and he knew
exactly how to add insult to injury. Cahill lived in a prosperous
area of South Dublin and, whenever he was hauled in for
questioning (which happened often), he ordered his minions to
slash the tyres of every car in his neighbourhood. Since his
neighbours were professional people, including middle-ranking
Gardai, it was just another way of winding up his enemies.
Cahill's was one of the biggest
criminal gangs in Dublin; probably the biggest if one
excluded drug-dealers or terrorist groups. Cahill was apolitical.
It is likely that he acquired the car bomb he used against a
forensic scientist from either the Provisional IRA (Irish
Republican Army) or another Republican terrorist group, the INLA
(Irish National Liberation Army). As shown in the movie, he
refused to pay any percentage of his ill-gotten gains to the IRA,
seeing them as merely a rival gang.
When Cahill's gang stole a
collection of priceless paintings from the Alfred Beit
collection, the unique nature of the haul made it impossible for
the gang to offload them. This lead to Cahill's dealings with the
UDA (Ulster defence Association), a Loyalist terrorist group, and
sworn enemy of the IRA. The UDA were going to use the paintings
to raise money for weapons to fight the IRA. It is suggested
that, because of this, the IRA decided to kill him.
However, in 1994, the IRA was
about to call their first cease-fire. This act was preceded by a
number of killings both in Northern Ireland (where the targets
were mainly Loyalists) and in the Republic. The targets in the
South were gangland leaders - the IRA had its own criminal
activities and decided to eliminate anyone who might pose a
threat to their operations. Their fear was that, once on
ceasefire (and therefore unable to kill people), rival gangs
would use the opportunity to dislodge the IRA. As a successful
gangster, Cahill would have been an obvious target. His dealings
with the Loyalists were probably not a major factor.
The story of Martin Cahill
is inextricably linked with the story of the Irish Gardai -
during the 1980s, most police resources were devoted to
combating terrorism, with the result that many large Dublin
crime gangs were operating with impunity. The round-the-clock
surveillance was the Gardai's first attempt to employ
FBI-like tactics against an Irish criminal gang.
There was some criticism that the publicity surrounding
Cahill (because of the surveillance) only served to boost his
reputation, and Cahill did manage to pull a couple of heists
despite the efforts of the Gardai. Though life became more
difficult for Cahill, other criminal groups received enjoyed
almost no attention from the police as a result of the
concentration on Cahill. It was not until another event two years
after Cahill's death that the Gardai would gain the upper hand
against the Dublin criminal underworld.
During the 1980s, Cahill often
appeared on Irish television, always wearing a balaclava, and
usually emerging from the Four Courts (main Dublin court) having
evaded the law yet again - he danced around in front of the
courthouse in Mickey Mouse boxer shorts in one memorable
occasion. The press was required to be very circumspect of
suspected criminals due to the strict libel laws in Ireland. No
link, however tenuous, could be drawn between these gangland
bosses and their nefarious activities. However, in the early
1990s, a woman journalist, Veronica Guerin, began writing a
series of investigative features describing the activities and
lifestyles of the Dublin gangsters. She could only use their
nicknames, but people in Ireland finally learned something about
the lives of 'The Monk', 'The Penguin' and, of course 'The
General'. Her sources were other Dublin criminals :- their need
to brag about their activities made them indiscreet and they
often revealed far more about themselves and other criminals than
they probably intended to do. Her articles made a big impression
in Ireland, and in 1996, on the orders of a Dublin gangster, she
was murdered in almost an identical manner to Cahill.
The outcry in Ireland to her
death was enormous. She had already been shot in the leg, and had
her family threatened, by a gangster as a warning to stop
investigating him. Her murder prompted the Irish government to
give the Gardai almost unlimited powers and resources to catch
her killers. This resulted in the arrest or dispersal of most
Dublin gang leaders. Had Cahill been alive, his gang could never
have withstood the Gardai's onslaught. Ironically, one of
Guerin's best known articles was an account of Cahill's ménage
à trois with his wife and her sister, immediately after his
murder.
Her life is currently the subject
of a movie, due for release this year, with Joan Allen starring
as the journalist.
© 1999
Stockholm Film Review. All Rights Reserved.
