Crime writer Nicola Tallant followed in the footsteps of Veronica Guerin to expose the dark underbelly of Irish crime.
But Guerin’s murder in 1996 changed everything about the job and remains a reminder of how dangerous reporting on gangland can be. Tallant – a journalist with more than 25 years experience – started writing about the Kinahan crime gang in the late 2000s.
She witnessed them grow from street dealers in Oliver Bond flats in Dublin’s Liberties to running a multi-billion drugs empire from their Dubai hideaway. Earlier this year, the US crackdown on the international cartel included a $5million reward for information that would lead to their financial disruption.
Read more: Fears 'The Family' will become Ireland's biggest drug gang after Kinahan crackdown
Nicola said: “The emergence of the Kinahan mafia is the biggest story I will ever do in my life. It is now a global story from Dublin to New York, everybody is interested.
“Rightly or wrongly, people just can’t get enough of the Kinahans and all that surrounds them. For an Irish gang to be categorised alongside the Mexican cartels is something I never believed I would see in my career.
“But we have arrived, we are here, and how they went from being Dublin street dealers to a global mafia with the American Government on their tail is one hell of a story. Most people hate what the Kinahans stand for – the killings and the drugs. Yet they can not resist an armchair look into their lives.
“They have made millions and millions from crime. The damage they have done is untold. I get calls from people living around their childhood home in Oliver Bond, people who are terrified of the Kinahans and their henchmen.
“Their community has been destroyed, their children walk to school past the crack dealers and the drug users lining up for their fix. The drugs are rife in the area and the place is full of addicts.
“Oliver Bond is destroyed and nobody is doing anything about it because of the power and fear that the Kinahans built. They are the ultimate schoolyard bullies.”
Nicola feels there is a huge disconnect between drug users and gangland crime. She added: “Many middle class people don’t like criminals and drug dealers.
"They don’t want murders on the streets of Ireland or kneecappings. They think that gangland is beneath them, dirty. Yet the same people will purchase a €100 bag of cocaine on a Saturday night to spice up their night.
“It would never dawn on them that the money is going straight into the coffers of the likes of the Kinahans and making them richer and ever more powerful. These recreational users are more concerned about buying organic green tea or fair trade coffee so people aren’t exploited.
“Yet for that bag of cocaine to arrive in Dublin people die, families are ripped apart and there is misery heaped upon misery. They think taking cocaine is cool and they have no idea the damage they are doing out there in the real world on the streets.
“The middle class see cocaine and cannabis as party drugs, so that’s OK. They believe in their own minds that if they are not taking heroin, they don’t have a problem.
“Heroin is like the dirty word and even Kinahans themselves like to pretend that they don’t smuggle or sell heroin on the streets of Ireland when in actual fact, they do.” Dubliner Nicola would never compare herself to campaigning Guerin who was murdered by John Gilligan’s gang, but she has great respect for the late journalist.
She also spent two years studying criminology while working as a reporter to give her a greater insight into crime and why people offend in the first place. Nicola said: “Veronica paved the way for women to become crime reporters.
"I don’t think there were any before her. It was a macho, male-only business. I take great care about where I go and who I meet for obvious reasons. There are threats at times and I do take them seriously.
"However, they are nothing compared to the threats many ordinary people receive out there from criminals every day of the week. People who witness crimes, owe drug debts or who have in some way offended a volatile gangster are real victims.
“Journalists have at least big powerful publishing organisations behind them but they also have the protection of the gardai, the politicians and the State. Ordinary people are left very much on their own.
“Most criminals I have met are not out to kill journalists. They only care about their business and they know from a business point of view it would be a stupid thing to do. They will of course do anything to protect their business and if that means killing rivals or people who have crossed them, so be it."
“It is a cruel and bloody world. I would not meet anyone out of the blue, I have to build up trust. Sometimes you have to meet contacts on your own but most of the time I would bring somebody. I’m blessed to have a team.”
Nicola’s work crosses all media – television, radio, online and print. Her Crime World podcast is in the Top 3 in Ireland’s national charts almost every week and she is currently planning a live show which will be announced shortly.
She added: “The commercial side of the crime business has exploded. I was recently at a conference in London where people paid £250 to hear lectures and then bought serial killer T-shirts, which was very odd.
“Our Crime World podcast is a massive success and I love doing it. I feel it gives people an insight into what is happening and also how innocent people can become collateral damage.”
Nicola charts the rise of the Kinahan Organised Crime Gang and its reach into professional boxing in Clash of the Clans, which was first published last year. She has also written The Witness, which tells the story of Dublin criminal Joey “The Lips” O’Callaghan, and Flesh and Blood, about murder-suicide.
- Clash of the Clans: The Rise of the Kinahan Mafia and Boxing’s Dirty Secret, published by Mirror Books, is out in paperback on July 7, including a new chapter.
Read next:
Criminals using 'bank jugging' to steal from unsuspecting victims
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Gang that shot Gary Carey lured him home from Spain by claiming threat on his life was over
Kinahan associate facing prison over scrambler bike dangerous driving charge
Man arrested after cocaine and cash seized in Dublin garda raid
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