The General: Irish Mob Boss

In a twenty year career marked by obsessive secrecy, brutality, and meticulous planning, Martin Cahill, aka, The General, quickly rose through the ranks of the Irish underworld, until he himself became an international celebrity.

His criminal record included assassination, kidnapping, the bombing of a car belonging to a forensics expert who could finger him, and pulling off one of the world's largest gold heists and even more incredible, the world's largest art heist.

He was untouchable, and loyal to his gang. Loved by the common man, his personal battle with the police, from dropping his pants when the police told him they'd expose him to digging up the police officers private golf course, would make him a living legend. But Martin not only refused to respect the police, he refused to pay tribute to the IRA. And unlike the police who had to follow the law in their battle to bring down Ireland's most wanted, the IRA played by their own rules.

Paul Williams is Ireland’s most respected crime journalist and true crime author. A qualified criminologist he has won a number of major journalism awards for his investigative work for The Sunday World. He has been responsible for a string of major exposes about John Gilligan, his gang and the murder of Veronica Guerin. Williams is the international bestselling author of Gangland and The General which was made into a major motion picture by director John Boorman.