The true story of the John Gilligan gang

When Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin was gunned down in cold blood on the Naas Road, the finger of suspicion turned on John Gilligan.

Jason O'Toole, 28 Jul 2008

A career criminal, dubbed Factory John by the tabloids, he had already been accused of assaulting the reporter at his home in Enfield, Co.Kildare. John Gilligan was charged with the murder – and subsequently acquitted. In the court of public opinion, fuelled by the media and the film Veronica Guerin, he may have remained forever guilty, but he has always protested his smuggling conviction, here – in his first ever in-depth interview – Ireland’s Most Hated Criminal tells his life story, offering his version of some of the most dramatic events of the past 20 years in Ireland.

It was the controversial Italian lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano who rang me unexpectedly with an intriguing proposition. “Would you like to meet my client John Gilligan for an interview?” he asked, in his instantly recognisable chirpy London-Italian accent, derived from living in London for many years.

At first, I thought Di Stefano – dubbed ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ for representing numerous notorious clients, including Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic – was winding me up. He’s been known to pull the odd prank. But he was deadly serious. Ireland’s most infamous criminal was inviting Hot Press to visit him in Portlaoise Prison for an exclusive interview.

“He’s sick of all the lies being written about him. I told him you will at least give him a fair hearing and not twist his words.”

Di Stefano’s voice crackled down the phone from Baghdad, where he is presently representing Tariq Aziz and Chemical Ali.

“This interview is my idea. John Gilligan says he’s doing this against his better judgment, but he also says you can ask any question and he’ll give you an honest answer – or a ‘no comment’ if he won’t answer it. That’s the deal. But he won’t tell you a lie.”

Gilligan had, I was informed, put my name down on the list of visitors he would allow in to Portlaoise Prison, to see him. It was what you might call an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Two days later, I was seated in the visitors’ centre in the maximum security prison in County Laois. It was a strange experience, informing the prison officer behind the security window that I was here to see John Gilligan. I was half-anticipating to be politely told that my name wasn’t on the…er, guest list. But he was as good as his word. I was down. The officer asked me for my passport as proof of identification and details of my current abode. He went away to make a photocopy of my passport and returned a few minutes later with a visitor’s pass. He then instructed me to place all my possessions inside one of the lockers in the reception area and, after shutting it, to punch in a four figure code on its digital pad, to lock it.

Page 1/16     <Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next> 

Jason O'Toole

Dutchy Holland was an institutionalised criminal - but one of an unusually corteous and thoughtful disposition. By Jason O'Toole

2009-06-20 - News

He's been described as the 'intellectual powerhouse of Fianna Fail'. As the party goes into electoral meltdown special advisor to the Taoiseach turned Junior Minister Martin Mansergh talks about George Lee, the Government's unpopularity and the prejudices faced by a member of the Anglo-Irish community who dared go into politics.

2009-06-19 - Interview

They say that he was among the most powerful – and the most ruthless – Republican activists of them all. Here the legendary Bobby Storey, reputed to have been Director of Intelligence for the IRA, talks for the first time about his role in the struggle, and about some of the critical events that led to the IRA ceasefire and the Peace Process.

2009-06-12 - Reports

It was 1985 when Bruce Arnold first wrote about the child abuse scandal in Ireland. In a powerful new book on The Irish Gulag, he is hugely critical of the efforts of the State as well as the Church, accusing them of conspiracy.

2009-06-08 - Frontlines

Since fortune first began to smile on The Script, the band has been plunged into an extraordinary saga of injury, death, personal loss and heartbreak...

2009-05-19 - Interview

New Xposé presenter GLENDA GILSON talks candidly about the malicious newspaper allegations printed about her late Uncle Liam Lawlor, recalls the feelings of pride she had for her ex Brian O’Driscoll captained the Irish squad to a Grand Slam victory and looks forward to Xposé Live at the RDS!.

2009-05-12 - Interview

She was a stalwart member of the Green Party, serving as an MEP for 10 years. Now, thoroughly disillusioned with the party’s performance in Government with Fianna Fail, PATRICIA McKENNA has decided to leave – and to run as an independent in the upcoming European elections.

2009-05-11 - Interview

In an exclusive interview, LARRY SANGER - widely credited as co-founder of Wikipedia - takes issue with a number of comments made by ex-colleague Jimmy Wales in Hot Press recently, and explains why his new online encyclopedia, Citizendium, will eventually conquer cyberspace.

2009-05-07 - Frontlines

IAN STRACHAN was jailed for blackmailing a member of the Royal Family over allegations of a sex and drugs ‘scandal’. But a media blackout ensured that little of the substance of the case was reported.

2009-05-06 - Interview

2009-04-24 - Reports

A nude model and a linguist Roslyn Fuller is a very unusual writer indeed. She tells Hot Press why the Irish need to loosen up.

2009-03-24 - Frontlines

The world was united in condemnation over the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. In a rare print interview Israel ambassador to Dublin Zion Evrony says the campaign was justified and that his country was motivated by the desire to bring peace to the Middle East. And he tells us why comparisons between Northern Ireland the Middle East are fatuous

2009-03-18 - Interview

Can John Gilligan reform the prison economy? Stranger things have happened!

2009-03-16 - Frontlines

If, as The Bard had it, all the world’s a stage, then Green Paul Gogarty is a better actor than most. He’s been a New Romantic, a busker, a journalist and an editor before being elected to the Dáil. But even that is only half of it. In a remarkably open interview, he talks about the price of being in government with Fianna Fáil, his multiple identities on web fora, rumours that he was gay, the issue of depression – and the true story of his adoption.

2009-02-27 - Interview

Well, it’s served Mary O'Rourke well, at least. Now 71 years of age, she first entered the Dail in 1982 and has been a TD for well over 20 years – during which time she has held a number of key Ministerial positions. Here she talks with remarkable honesty and humour about her political career, the Lenihan dynasty, Charlie Haughey, losing her husband, treachery in Fianna Fáil – and, of course, orgasms.

2009-02-25 - Interview

In an unprecedented development, the prison service has slapped a ban on Ireland’s leading music and current affairs magazine – that’s HP, incidentally – a move that legal experts say is unconstitutional.

2009-02-25 - Frontlines

It is an old Republican principle. But it could also be applied to the attitude the authorities have taken to Ireland’s longest serving political prisoners, Paddy McCann and Colm O’Shea. Jailed for the killing of two Gardai during a bank raid in Roscommon in 1980, as the peace process reached its final stages they were asked to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement. They subsequently put their names on the dotted line. That was ten years ago. So why have they not been released in the meantime, like dozens of other former Paramilitary activists? In an extraordinary, confessional interview, PADDY MCCANN makes his case against the State.

2009-02-03 - Interview

Notorious criminal lawyer GIOVANNI DI STEFANO – whose high-profile clients include John Gilligan – wants the law changed so that male prisoners receive the same early release privileges as their female equivalent. And he’s planning to take his case all the way to Europe if necessary

2009-02-03 - Reports

Kenny Egan brought back a silver medal for Ireland from the Olympic Games – but almost everyone agrees it should have been gold. A national sporting hero, he tells Hot Press of his plans for the future...

2009-01-23 - Interview

In the final months of his battle with cancer, TONY GREGORY sat down with Hot Press to discuss his life and career. Knowing it would be his final interview he was in a reflective frame of mind.

2009-01-23 - Interview

He got involved in the fashion business in the 1960s when music was exploding. But then Tommy Hilfiger has always seen the two as inseparable.

2008-12-11 - Interview

As the turbo-charged economy he helped create teeters, Charlie McCreevy talks about medical cards for the aged, the Eircom shares debacle, explains why he wouldn't swap places with current Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.

2008-12-11 - Interview

He's familiar to Northern listeners as a super-smooth middle of the road DJ. But in his misspent youth as a guitarist, Gerry Anderson lived a life of rock and roll abandon.

2008-12-11 - Frontlines

The Libertas organisation's dinner honouring the Czech President's visit to Ireland caused a furore and may have paved the way for Prague's head of state for the next Czech presidency of the EU.

2008-11-25 - Frontlines

In the second part of the Hot Press interview, An Taoiseach Brain Cowen talks about his political influences, the fall out from the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty and more...

2008-11-20 - Interview

Kieron "Wolf" Ducie, describes what happened on the night Katy French passed away in compelling detail. He also recalls the build-up to the tragic events that unfolded.

2008-11-20 - Interview

Find out what Brian Cowen thinks is in store for Ireland in light of the global financial crisis and the government's unpopular decisions on medical cards and education cuts.

2008-11-06 - Interview

As undercover cop- let's call him Paddy Craig- has lifted the lid on the murky world of Ireland's drug-smuggling gangs.

2008-11-05 - Frontlines

Two years after the cocaine scandal, Liam Kelly tells his side of the story and talks about attempted extortion, alcoholism and his decision to retire from politics.

2008-11-04 - Frontlines

In his first major interview, Aengus Fanning, editor of the Sunday Independent, discusses how he manages the most successful paper in Ireland and the death of Veronica Guerin.

2008-11-04 - Interview

In his most revealing interview yet, Dick Roche explains why he doesn't trust Libertas' Declan Ganley and shares his thoughts on the use of Shannon airport by US military.

2008-10-23 - Interview

So says the man the tabloids have dubbed Fat Puss, Alan Bradley. But he's due in court on charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, with figures between €950,000 and €2 million being bandied about in the media. In an exclusive interview, he asks how can he get a fair trial?

2008-10-23 - Frontlines

He became famous in the North as an affable chat show host. But behind the chipper persona Gerry Kelly's difficult upbringing left him permanently estranged from his alcoholic father.

2008-10-18 - Frontlines

In a remarkable interview, the legendary David Kelly looks back on a long and adventurous career including parts in box office smashes, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Waking Ned.

2008-10-07 - Interview

Niall Breslin hit the wall – both metaphorically and physically – during the recording of The Blizzards’ latest album.

2008-09-17 - Interview

Having carried the rock flag at Today FM for nine years on Pet Sounds, Tom Dunne has moved into the broadcasting mainstream, joining Newstalk.

2008-09-17 - Frontlines

Seasick Steve is a former hobo who once called Kurt Cobain a neighbour and, in his 60s, now finds himself acclaimed as one of folk's hottest 'new' acts.

2008-09-10 - Interview

A collaboration with the sultry Italian singer JustCarmen has propelled Ireland's '60s hit machine, The Bachelors, back into the limelight.

2008-08-30 - Interview

Journalist Susan McKay's new book, Bear In Mind These Dead, revisits the families of victims, for many of whom the emotional scars have been slow to heal.

2008-08-28 - Interview

Dutchy Holland, currently serving an eight-year sentence in Wandsworth Prison, gives a remarkably revealing interview where he discusses all aspects of his life as a career criminal.

2008-08-28 - Interview

A disillusioned Patricia McKenna has lost faith in the Green Party's ability to enforce radical change, and is contemplating life outside the party.

2008-08-26 - Frontlines

The maverick Green politician has rounded on her reality-show rivals.

2008-08-26 - Frontlines

Crime boss John Gilliagn denies ordering the execution of Martin Cahill, and offers his opinion on the recent explosion of gun crime in Dublin.

2008-08-12 - Interview

Scores of liberated Irish adults are investigating the swinging scene. It's normal, good fun, says one party organiser.

2008-08-06 - Reports

Over a pint of lager, Amanda talks about her debut novel, kissing girls, losing her virginity and explains why it's hard to find a straight man in Dublin.

2008-08-05 - Interview

When Joseph O'Connor's Star Of The Sea was selected as a Richard & Judy Book Club choice in the UK, it propelled the writer to the literary A-list

2008-07-29 - Interview

In his heyday, Larry Hagman was the biggest television star in the world, portraying the manipulative and ruthless oil baron JR Ewing in the kitschy Dallas soap.

2008-07-18 - Interview

How accurate is online encyclopedia Wikipedia? Controversial lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano says the website hasn't moved fast enough to deal with the gross lies and distortions that litter his Wikipedia entry. Now Di Stefano has launched a legal action that, if successful, could fatally damage the Wikipedia Foundation.

2008-07-14 - Reports

How accurate is online encyclopedia Wikipedia? Controversial lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano says the website hasn't moved fast enough to deal with the gross lies that litter his entry.

2008-07-07 - Reports

Having been in a car with a man who opened fire and killed two police officers Sunny Jacobs was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. She lived to tell the extraordinary tale.

2008-07-07 - Reports

Tales of high profile solicitor Gerald Kean's astonishing ability to make truckloads of money - and spend it - have become the stuff of tabloid wet dreams.

2008-07-01 - Interview

Dublin's Hyland Brothers are aiming to punch their way into the Guinness Book Of Records. How? They are all launching individual bids for European boxing titles.

2008-06-19 - Reports

He could easily have died, but somehow heroin addict Brendan McGee managed to cling on to life long enough to kick the habit.

2008-06-19 - Reports

Renowned for his elaborately-posed images of nude figures in public settings, artist Spencer Tunick is hoping Irish people will strip off for him when he visits these shores in June.

2008-06-16 - Frontlines

He was the shock winner of the Progressive Democrats leadership race. In his first major interview Ciaran Cannon sets out his vision for the beleaguered party, explains why Michael McDowell was really a sweetheart, decries the rise of the nanny state, calls for the legalisation of prostitution and lifts the lid on his misspent youth as a mod.

2008-06-06 - Interview

While half-hearted attempts are made to clamp down on prostitution, there is a thriving prostitution business in Ireland that is widely advertised on the internet

2008-06-06 - Frontlines

Formula One's plucky outsider Eddie Jordan talks about motor sport's party-hard reputation, jamming with Bryan Adams and winning to the British national anthem.

2008-05-21 - Interview

Republic Of Loose are one of the most exciting bands to emerge from Ireland during the last decade with one of the most charismatic lead singers ever to bestride a stage in the country.

2008-05-20 - Interview

She has become the public face in Ireland of Gender Identity Disorder. Now Sara-Jane Cromwell is campaigining to raise awareness of this serious, but widely misunderstood, medical condition.

2008-05-16 - Frontlines

For the average expat Irish criminal living in Spain, life is a blur of booze, prostitutes and drug deals with the threat of violence, and even death, never far away.

2008-05-13 - Reports

A collection of memoribilia from legendary artists will be auctioned later this month to benefit Music Rising, the charity co-founded by The Edge.

2008-05-09 - Reports

When the Government announced plans to set up its own Press Council, it sent a shiver of fear through the publishing industry. Now, with John Horgan in the role of Ombudsman, he aims to protect the freedom of the press.

2008-05-02 - Frontlines

It’s almost five years since Rosanna Davison first burst into the limelight, winning the Miss World contest in China.

2008-04-30 - Interview

Outspoken Limerick rapper NAILERZ talks frankly to Hot Press about two attempts to kill him and, how they can smell your fear in Moyross.

2008-04-23 - Interview

The Sun broke new ground recently when Claire Tully appeared as the newspaper's first Irish topless model. As it turns out she's also planning to do a PhD at Oxford.

2008-04-17 - Frontlines

Brandy Navarre of paparazzi outfit X17 talks about the multi-million Britney media industry.

2008-04-08 - Frontlines

For over three decades, the political agitator and columnist Eoghan Harris has been the focus of abundant controversy, consistently raising hackles with views that are seldom less than heretical.

2008-04-02 - Interview

As the FAI's chief executive and the public face of Irish football, John Delaney has come in for savage public criticism over the last couple of years.

2008-03-25 - Interview

They've been steadily losing ground to a resurgent Sinn Féin - and now there are rumours of a merger with Fianna Fáil. So does the SDLP really have a future? Mark Durkan clears the air.

2008-03-19 - Frontlines

What happens when a New York comic sets off to learn Irish in deepest Connemara? Des Bishop has the answers

2008-03-19 - Frontlines

Ex-IRA man Gerry Kelly talks to Jason O'Toole about his run-ins with the British Army, his near death experiences, the part he played in inflicting civilian casualties and his time on hunger strike.

2008-03-11 - Interview

Donal Lunny takes on the US military.

2008-03-07 - Frontlines

Having once chomped on a corgi and crawled on his knees across London, performance artist Mark McGowan is now planning to drag 300 kilos of potatoes through Dublin while dressed as Bertie Ahern.

2008-03-06 - Frontlines

She claims to wander about in the nude in her spare time. But British model-turned-TV presenter Jayne Middlemiss is fully clothed and respectable when Hot Press pays her a visit.

2008-02-27 - Interview

Most famous for the naked billboard campaign she did for Opium perfume, the granddaughter of Roald Dahl has since matured into a writer of note.

2008-02-21 - Interview

A spate of drugs seizures has led Dublin's top criminals to suspect a "rat" in their midst. Once the culprit is identified, a bloodbath is guaranteed.

2008-02-21 - Frontlines

In an exclusive interview, DeLorean executive Brian Beharrell talks about the $24 million cocaine bust that hastened the demise of the sports car manufacturer's Belfast base.

2008-02-20 - Frontlines

Here we present a remarkably candid – and sometimes scarifying – interview with one of the top dealers in Ireland.

2008-02-12 - Interview

Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle talks about her Derry childhood, drug use in the pop industry and explains why she gets irritated when the band are called “British”.

2008-01-29 - Interview

Unheard of a year ago, Carlow teen Saoirse Ronan is the actress of the hour in Hollywood. Here, she and her actor father Paul Ronan talk about her remarkable rise.

2008-01-22 - Interview

Amnesty International are using cutting edge technology and viral marketing methods to highlight human rights abuses.

2008-01-22 - Frontlines

The young Carlow-based actress Saoirse Ronan is on the brink of Hollywood stardom, thanks to her Golden Globe-nominated performance in Atonement and her upcoming starring role in the next Peter Jackson movie, The Lovely Bones. In her first ever in-depth interview, she spoke exclusively to Hot Press about her sudden rise to fame.

2008-01-17 - Interview

Shortly before her tragic death, Katy French talked at length with Hot Press about cocaine, her burgeoning celebrity and her belief in the afterlife.

2007-12-20 - Interview

Padraig Harrington talks about gay golfers, stalkers on the tour, the potential of Rory McIlroy and the death of his father. And, he says, his Open win was just the beginning.

2007-12-20 - Interview

With a new live DVD in the offing, PJ Gallagher discusses America and the final installment of Naked Camera.

2007-12-10 - Interview

In a remarkably honest interview, which directly preceded the death of his mother, Jonathan Rhys Meyers reflects on his spells in rehab and discusses life as one of Hollywood’s hottest young actors.

2007-12-07 - Interview

She’s the latest Big Brother celeb – a wannabe pop star with a huge crush on Victoria Beckham. And just to be clear, Chanelle isn’t the leggy blonde one who looked a bit like Paris Hilton.

2007-12-05 - Interview

When the revellers at a 21st birthday party in Waterford snorted a white powder, it had a dramatic and appalling effect. Ironically, it may be because the cocaine was of unusual purity.

2007-11-30 - Frontlines

In fiercely conservative Jerusalem, few crimes are more unforgivable than a homosexual relationship between a Palestinian and an Israeli – as Ezra Yitzhak discovered.

2007-11-27 - Frontlines

Fast-talking lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano talks about hanging out with Saddam and explains why he tried to buy an Irish soccer club.

2007-11-26 - Interview

Thousands of adolescents go before under-age courts in this country every year. In this exclusive dispatch, we report from the frontline of the criminal justice system as it applies to teenagers.

2007-11-21 - Frontlines

A Belfast sex shop is locked in a struggle to survive with the city’s ultraconservative governing council.

2007-11-20 - Frontlines

Reporting from the frontline of the Palestine-Israel conflict has convinced RTÉ’s Richard Crowley that the spiral of violence is likely to continue. But it is wrong to believe that the blame is equal.

2007-11-16 - Frontlines

He predicts rocky times ahead for the economy and says the housing boom is unsustainable. But what’s really troubling David McWilliams is all the flak his latest book has attracted.

2007-11-13 - Frontlines

In truth, Into The Wild doesn’t sound like a first solo album. It radiates a confidence and maturity that Pearl Jam have lacked on their recent albums.

2007-11-13 - REVIEW

hotpress.com

• News
• Music
• Free Music Friday
• Features
• Politics
• Movies
• Comedy
• Lifestyle & Sex
• Audio & Video
• Photo Galleries
• What's On
• Hot Press Books
• Shop
• Competitions
• Hot Press Covers Collection
• Messageboard
• Industry Listings
• Archive
• Caught In The Net
• Buy Hot Press Back Issues
• Activate Hot Press Gift/Hot Box

Blogs on hotpress.com

• Celina Murphy: The C Word
• Anne Sexton: Sexed Up
• Roe McDermott: Screen Lover
• Rob Smith: Footbal El Mundo

Additional Sites on hotpress.com

• The Music Show
• The Jagermeister Freezer Sessions
• Hot Press Rock Photo
• The Philip Lynott Exhibition
• The INEC Homegrown Sessions
• HTC One Hotpress Photojournalist
• Genre Free Compilation
• MIX 13: Music Industry Xplained
• Shoot To Thrill: Make a Hot Press Cinema Ad
• Other Voices
• Best of Ireland
• The Big Break
• Hot for 2013
• Josh Ritter
• Eoin Glackin
• Bitter Rocc

Contact Us

Hot Press,
13 Trinity Street,
Dublin 2.
Rep. Of Ireland
Tel: +353 (1) 241 1500

Email:info@hotpress.ie

Click here for more contact information.

Click here to find out more about Hot Press

Hot Press always welcomes feed back so if you've got something to tell us click here.

Advertise With Us

For more detail on how to advertise with Hot Press click here or call us on +353 (1) 241 1540