Who Was Martin 'the General' Cahill? Dublin's Most Wanted Gangster
Mobsters DailyMartin Cahill, nicknamed 'the General,' was Dublin's most wanted gangster of the 1980s and early 1990s — a career armed robber who stole some of Ireland's greatest paintings, humiliated the police who watched him around the clock, and was shot dead outside his home in August 1994.
The art thief of Russellborough
Cahill's crew pulled off the 1986 raid on Russellborough House, taking 18 paintings including Vermeer's Lady Writing a Letter — then the largest art theft in Irish history. He fenced the works to loyalist paramilitaries and international buyers, playing every side against the middle. Like the Kray twins in London, he became a folk anti-hero in his own neighborhoods, distributing turkeys at Christmas while the state built an entire surveillance unit just to watch him.
Cahill covered his face on camera for years — the balaclava became his logo, a gangster marketing himself as a ghost — which is why November rewatch season belongs to the Tony Soprano Ugly Christmas Sweater, Tony in black-and-white stencil with full gabagool energy, made for holiday parties and long nights back in this world.
Taunting the watchers, then the end
Under 24-hour police surveillance, Cahill still robbed, still mocked — once appearing on camera in a Mickey Mouse mask. But his alliances with loyalist paramilitaries and his refusal of the IRA's warnings made him enemies on every side, a position Ireland's underworld rarely survives; compare Mickey Featherstone and the Westies for the American version of a crew squeezed by bigger powers. On 18 August 1994 a gunman shot Cahill five times as he left his Ranelagh home. The Provisional IRA claimed the killing, saying he had aided loyalist killers. He was 45.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Cahill called 'the General'? For his military-style planning of robberies and his study of police and army tactics.
Did police recover the Russellborough paintings? Most were eventually recovered over years of operations in Ireland, Belgium and Turkey.
Who killed Martin Cahill? The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility, accusing him of helping loyalist paramilitaries.
Keep reading: Jimmy Coonan and the Westies · Whitey Bulger, Boston's informant king · why the Mafia fell
From the shop: Shadows of the Underworld — the real-mafia history behind the names in this story.
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