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Crime in Ireland north and south: Feuding gangs and profiteering paramilitaries

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Abstract

This paper provides a systematic overview of the emergence of organized crime in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. It draws on two major studies of organized crime in the South (Hourigan 2011) and paramilitary activity in the North (Morrison 2014) to explore how conflict within and between organized criminal and paramilitary groups, shapes the distinctive dynamic of organized crime on the island of Ireland. The paper opens with an overview of the development of the drugs trade in the Republic of Ireland. The distinctive cultural characteristics of Irish organized crime groups are considered and the role played by paramilitary groups in criminal networks, North and South, is reviewed. As part of this analysis, the dynamic of inter-gang feuds and the spectrum of conflicts between organized criminal and paramilitary groups are analyzed. The competitive and mutually beneficial links between these organizations, North and South are explored as well as the tendency of paramilitaries to engage in vigilantism against criminals (mostly drugs dealers) as a means of building political capital within local communities.

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Notes

  1. The number of armed robberies has fluctuated ever since peaking at 306 in 1981 and dropping below 200 until 2002/ 2003 and 2006/2007 when the numbers of armed robberies peaked again. The rate of armed robbery in the South has, on average, been half the rate recorded in the North (Brewer et al. 1997). If armed robbery is merged with aggravated burglary, as Conway (2014) and Brewer et al. (1997) have done, then the number of recorded offences peaks in 1993 and then declines dramatically thereafter. An estimated one-third of which were believed by Gardaí to have been conducted by paramilitaries (Conway 2014).

  2. The decline in armed robbery from the early-1980s onwards was linked to improved security of financial institutions. More proactive policing of armed robbery and the increased relative rewards of drug dealing. This improved security has contributed to the rise of Tiger kidnapping – an abduction intended to coerce a victim to comply with offender demands sometimes used to enable robbery. A 2009 Dáil debate reported two Tiger kidnappings in 2005 and six in 2008 in the Republic while the number of Tiger kidnappings in Northern Ireland peaked at 16 in 2009 and then declined to just one in 2015 (Campbell 2010, PSNI 2016)

  3. The act described an organized crime group as ‘a structured group, however organised, that has as its main purpose or activity the commission or facilitation of a serious offence … ‘structured group’ means a group of 3 or more persons, which is not randomly formed for the immediate commission of a single offence, and the involvement in which by 2 or more of those persons is with a view to their acting in concert; for the avoidance of doubt, a structured group may exist notwithstanding the absence of all or any of the following: (a) formal rules or formal membership, or any formal roles for those involved in the group; (b) any hierarchical or leadership structure; (c) continuity of involvement by persons in the group’.

  4. For example, in April 2016, 14 members of the ‘Rathkeale Rovers’ were sentenced for the theft of an estimated €70 million worth of rhino horns and cultural objects from museums across Europe. While the group, many of whom belonged to one extended family, were based in the town of Rathkeale, (Republic of Ireland), several also lived in the UK and/or Northern Ireland (Vernalls 2016).

  5. This is the murder of Paddy Doyle in Spain during 2008 (McDonald 2008).

  6. While the following section explores feuding between criminal organizations in greater depth, it should be noted that Ireland is a relatively peaceful country. According to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (2013) Ireland’s homicide rate of 1.2 per 100,000 is slightly higher than its neighbours, yet half the European average (3:100,000) and, significantly lower than global (6.2:100,000), Americas (16.2:100,000) or US averages (4.7:100,000).

  7. Irish Travellers are a distinct and indigenous ethnic minority on the island of Ireland. They have shared values, language and customs within which nomadism is important. There are an estimated 25,000 Travellers in Ireland (Irish Traveller Movement 2016).

  8. It appears that, with this battery of robberies taking place during the peace process, the PIRA was attempting to finance their now dormant paramilitary force and its idle membership. During the Troubles, the membership had become reliant on the ‘army’ for financial support. This was, perhaps, expected to be continued in a post-conflict society.

  9. The Organised Crime Task Force (2016:13) has commented that some organised crime groups involved in extortion ‘have maintained links to [both Loyalist and Republican] paramilitary groups, however it is often not clear whether the actions have been sanctioned by senior members. Some organised criminals will use the name of a paramilitary group in order to threaten a business, however any money extorted will ultimately be for personal gain’.

  10. In 1974/5 there was a feud between the two main Loyalist paramilitary groups, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). This fatal feud originated over the unauthorised opening of a pub, during the Ulster Workers’ Council Strike. The UDA and UVF had ordered all of their social clubs and pubs to be closed. This was so the family ‘breadwinners’ would not be spending what little money was left on alcohol. However, one of the UVF run Shankill Road pub remained open. This spurred a UVF man, Joe Shaw, to defy the ban and open up his local pub too. When local UDA men noticed this they attempted to shut it down. When Shaw refused he was fatally shot. This shooting led to a series of other shootings, both fatal and non-fatal. This included the attempted murder of UVF leader Ken Gibson, who later ordered the failed attack to blow up UDA headquarters in East Belfast. As well as the inter-group feuds, there have similarly been intra-group feuds in each of the key Loyalist paramilitary groups. In 2002 an internal UDA feud led to one of the most recognisable Loyalist paramilitaries, Johnny Adair, being run out of Northern Ireland, along with a significant proportion of his supporters. This was after his efforts to form stronger ties between the UDA and the UVF splinter group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). Some members of the UDA saw this as a push for Adair to take over organisational leadership, and bolster his associations in the drugs trade. With the push-back against him Adair, and his supporters, engaged in and incited a violent feud which took the lives of key Loyalists, including Jim Gray the head of the UDA in East Belfast, and a rival of Adair’s.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Niamh Hourigan, John F. Morrison, James Windle & Andrew Silke

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  1. Niamh Hourigan
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  2. John F. Morrison
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  3. James Windle
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  4. Andrew Silke
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Correspondence to Niamh Hourigan.

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This article does not include any new studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. The previous studies by the authors referred to in this research each received ethical approval from the relevant institutions.

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Hourigan, N., Morrison, J.F., Windle, J. et al. Crime in Ireland north and south: Feuding gangs and profiteering paramilitaries. Trends Organ Crim 21, 126–146 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-017-9312-9

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