The General: Irish Mob Boss

Martin Cahill, a/k/a "The General," was perhaps Ireland's most notorious gangster, a genius criminal who stole millions (in artwork, jewelry and cash) right out from under the noses of the Garda S?och?na(Irish Police.) Paul Williams, quite adeptly, tells the humorous but ultimately tragic tale of a remorseless thief with a penchant for rather unorthodox sexual activity (he lived and fathered children with both his wife and her sister.) Like the best (or worst) gangsters and criminals memorialized in books and movies, The General's daring, outrageous behavior and wit made him a charming and sometimes even sympathetic subject. But, Williams walks the line between glorifying Cahill and showing him for what he really was, a thief whose sins caught up with him.

Paul Williams writes about the life of Martin "the General" Cahill in a way that almost makes Cahill lovable, a late-20th century Robin Hood almost, yet is able to balance this image (that Cahill himself tried to propagate) with the fact that he was a career criminal, even to the point that he would report regularly to receive the dole while making millions illegally. Williams writes of what is known that Cahill did, what Cahill was accused of doing, what Cahill said that he did and was, and what Dubliners said that he did and was. Williams was a reporter throughout the career of the General, and so presents a journalistic tale of Martin Cahill's life that is really a captivating read.

I purchased this book on my trip to ireland this summer, it was in a small dublin bookstore. I read it once, while in dublin, going to see all of the places mentioned in it, and once again back here in DC. It was a facinating in depth look at the "life and crimes" of Martin Cahill. As a former FBI agent and NYPD officer i remembered reading Garda and Interpol reports on Cahill, at the time I knew things that the public did not. Those things are now in Williams amazing biography of one of the first modern irish crimnals. It is well worth the $12.00 price or as i paid 6.99 punts.

This book not only told the incredible story of the most unlikely master criminal, Martin Cahill, it also depicted the underbelly of Dublin as I had never seen represented before.Not for Maeve Binchey readers, this shows a side of Ireland not usually represented in popular Irish fiction.

This book details the life and time of one of Dublins most feared gansters - from his early beginings as a house burgular, thru' to the Beit Paintings theft and his ultimate murder by the IRA, Paul Williams gives a detailed account of this mans life.