Crime World

Convicted drug dealer Graham ‘The Wig’ Whelan is facing jail after pleading guilty to a number of offences relating to his arrest at a luxury Dublin hotel, when he was caught with cash in his pocket and an expensive watch on his arm by undercover officers investigating drug crime.

While the offences may seem small for criminal as significant Whelan, they have placed the spotlight on his fall from the lofty heights as a senior member of one of Ireland’s most-ruthless crime gangs.

Nicola Tallant talks with Sunday World Deputy Editor Niall Donald about the life and crimes of Graham 'The Wig' Whelan. They discuss the infamous Holiday Inn Hotel drug bust that started a war, the tough-man image that helped him rise through the ranks of gangland and the lonely future he faces after multiple tragedies visited his life.

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They are the first people in Ireland to be convicted of human trafficking for a prostitution ring and now Alicia Edosa and Edith Enoghaghase are finding out for themselves what it feels like to be trapped after receiving jail terms of over five years.

But an extraordinary story lies behind the headlines of a Midlands sex ring and the madams who ran it, a story that stretches all the way back to slave markets in Nigeria and the practice of voodoo.

Nicola Tallant chats to journalist Eamon Dillon about the human sex slaves working in Irish prostitution and the profits made from putting them to work.

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A FORMER FBI agent working with the family of missing Annie McCarrick has said that a Spanish serial killer arrived in Dublin as a stowaway on a boat 48 hours before the American student vanished - but slipped the net once gardai were called.

Kenneth Strange, who is working as a liaison for Nancy McCarrick, Annie’s mum, has just visited Ireland to retrace the last known movements of Antonio Angles, who is believed to have stowed away on the 'City of Plymouth' boat from Lisbon.

Angles is to be the subject of a new Spanish documentary and investigators have confirmed that he was on the boat when it docked in Dublin at around 2.45am on March 23, 1993. five days after setting out on its journey. When Gardai were called by the ship’s captain to remove the unwelcome passenger he disappeared never to be seen again.

Nicola Tallant chats with former FBI agent Kenneth Strange about the developments in the case and the pain the McCarrick family have endured over the years.

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It’s the 37-year murder mystery that has haunted Ireland and remains the biggest policing scandal in modern history.

A dead baby washes up on a Kerry beach with 28 stab wounds and a fractured spine, a Garda murder squad is dispatched to find answers but a local woman is hounded for the brutal slaying while the real killer walks free.

Now, a DNA sample taken from the exhumed remains of ‘Baby John’ has offered fresh hopes that science could finally solve the cold case that has baffled the nation.

Nicola Tallant talks with Irish Independent journalist Ralph Riegel about the extraordinary story of Baby John.

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It was a charity set up to respond to Dublin’s homeless crises and to provide food and shelter to the most vulnerable.
But now the Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) group is in chaos with allegations of sexual assault and rape against founder Anthony Flynn, who died by suicide on August 18 as gardai investigated the claims of two men.

Since then, two more homeless men have come forward to make complaints to police about attacks they claim they were subjected to, while threats have been levelled at the alleged victims and the former chairman of the charity.

Nicola Tallant talks to Sunday World Deputy editor Niall Donald about the fallout of the horrific rape claims which have divided a community and brought into question the vetting processes around those who volunteer to work with the homeless.

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The news reports from Afghanistan are becoming more concerning by the day as Taliban militants return to their own rule of law with barbaric punishments, revenge killings and the persecution of women and minorities.

The images of the terrifying warlords with their high-powered weapons and fanatical beliefs may seem like a world away from modern Ireland, but how will their reign affect us all and where did such a violent and repressive system of beliefs emerge from?

Nicola Tallant chats to Dr Tom Clonan, security analysist and retired Irish army officer, who is an expert on the middle east. He describes crime and punishment under the brutal Taliban system of justice, what life is like under the veil for the women of Afghanistan and what has motivated tens of thousands of young men to join the ranks of the most repressive regime known in civilised society.

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Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch is back in an Irish prison for the first time in nearly 40 years after he was flown on a military jet into Baldonnel Aerodrome from Spain on foot of an extradition warrant.

His appearance in the Special Criminal Court, where he was charged with the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 2016, was brief but dramatic and today I’m talking to Sunday World deputy editor Niall Donald about the homecoming of The Monk.

We discuss the appearance of the 58-year-old in the dock, the book of evidence containing the State’s case against him and the 2022 trial date for Hutch.

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It’s a murder mystery that has divided America, pitted armchair sleuths against seasoned detectives and turned a spotlight on how the media treats victims of crime.

The case of 22-year-old tragic blogger Gabby Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie, who went missing weeks after returning home alone from their camper van road trip, has turned both into the internet sensations they dreamed of becoming - but at the ultimate price.

Nicola Tallant chats with senior news reporter Natalie Musumeci from Insider.com, who has been covering the extraordinary case which has captivated audiences worldwide.

She tells me about the lonely camp site where Gabby’s remains were found, the croc-infested Florida swamp where Laundrie’s parents claim he was last headed and the debate raging across the US about why their story is news.

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He has lost in his bid to halt extradition attempts in a Spanish court and now Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch must come home to Ireland and finally face the music.

Six years since a hit team staged a dramatic assassination attempt on Daniel Kinahan and six months since a European warrant was issued for his arrest, the veteran criminal will soon stand in the dock of the Special Criminal Court where he will face murder charges.

So what will the 'the Monk' do next or has he simply put all his chips on black? Today, I’m talking to Sunday World Deputy Editor, Niall Donald, about the criminal 'godfather' and where his story may end.

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The tag ‘Bandit Country’ was long used for what was once described as lawless ‘South Armagh’.

But times have changed and now the towns situated along the border region of Ireland want to put the dark days of the past behind them and be recognised as thriving modern communities.

So how do we move forward while recognising the potentially incendiary political and constitutional proposals to police regions that straddle Garda Siochana and PSNI territories.

Belfast Telegraph crime correspondent Allison Morris chats with Nicola Tallant about the possible pitfalls and discusses policing in South Armagh, the crime gangs who are gaining from politics and the controversy of cross border ‘hot pursuit’.

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