The General: Godfather of Crime

by Paul Williams

The extraordinary life and crimes of Martin Cahill, gangster, criminal mastermind, MOST WANTED MAN In a twenty-year career marked by obsessive secrecy, brutality and meticulous planning, Cahill netted over 40 million. He was untouchable - until a bullet from an IRA hitman ended it all. The General tells the inside story of The Beit robbery - one of the world's biggest art heists The attempted assassination of a top forensic scientist The O'Connor Jewellers robbery, netting 3m The tyre-slashing and intimidation The crucifixion of a suspected 'grass' The millions still missing The book reveals Cahill's bizarre personality and the activities of the Tango Squad, the special police unit which targetted him with tactics used on the infamous Kray Gang. Now a major film from John Boorman starring Brendan Gleeson and John Voight.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Ireland, History, Biography, Irish Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Paul Williams is an Irish crime journalist, and author of crime exposes depicting the rise and fall of some of Ireland's most notorious and brutal gangs and criminal figures.

Reviews

[Martin Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

The true story of Martin Cahill, Dublin crime boss.
Undoubtedly a "character" he was also an armed robber and a man quite prepared to shoot those he felt deserved it.
I really enjoy the movie adaptation which only hints at the darker side of the man. This book tells it all with a very even hand
Fascinating

[Bennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. I was looking for something to read which dealt with the Irish turmoil of the 60s and 70s when I came across this at a book sale. A little scarce on details in parts but still good info on the Irish Godfather.

[Michaela Smyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Irish Godfather.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but the film is a better time investment.

[David Gagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of Irish gangster Martin Cahill and the impact of organized crime in Dublin in the 80's and early 90's.

[Kevin O Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first Williams books I read and great read

[Amy Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review of mob boss Martin Cahill’s interesting life of crimes. Detailing events through years of crime. Easy read. Some interesting bits throughout.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book quite frustrating at times. The story is fascinating, and the author clearly knows the subject intimately, having written about Cahill, and the Irish underworld more generally, for many years for the Sunday World. But, like several other similar books I've read recently, he gets so bogged down in simply getting across so many individual stories, that the overall narrative suffers.

George F. Snell III makes a useful distinction between reporting and journalism, in that the former tells you what happened, whereas the latter tells you why it happened. When it comes to wrapping journalism up in a book like this, however, I tend to prefer those that take the further step of deftly arranging the material into a coherent story, plotted more artfully than a simple "this happened, then this happened, and then this happened" (and doubly so when the author keeps making forward references, and seems to assume you already know a lot of the story.) In the hands of a more skilled story-teller, this could have been a superb book, akin to Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, but Williams can't quite pull it off.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read, good insight into early organised crime in Ireland at a time when such a thing wasn't exactly top of the agenda on 'Bad shit that needs to be taken care of'.

The overview of 'The General' seemed to be free of Bias one way or another and stuck to showing the good and the bad sides of Martin Cahill. Undoubtedly, most of his sides would be considered bad. He also had a penchant for shooting people in the legs. Top Bloke.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent read about Organized crime in the last couple decades in Ireland. Some interesting points, and if you are a US based reader with fascination of Organized crime around the world, this does a nice job of going through the players.

I would give this a 3.5 stars personally, fairly well written, overall I would give it a shot if you like all things Organized crime.

[Maria McMahon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced, well written in journalistic style, no surprises however and you know the outcome from the start, which always kind of spoils it for me - I was not familiar with the criminal so I would have preferred to find out what happened at the end, rather than at the beginning. Still, a good read if you like biographies.

[Anp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. It leaves you pulling for the bad guy instead is the cops from time to time, very interesting tale.

[Susan O · Rating 3 out of 5]

excellent read.... great insight into the life and crimes of martin cahill also known as the general.. a real eye opener of how far a person will go to get what they want....

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much tells the whole story of the general, the "troubles", the art.

[Diane Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frightening and fascinating.