Chapter 2 The European Super Cartel : The Colonel

This chapter traces the journey of John Cunningham and the elite robbery culture that shaped him, revealing how Ireland’s most disciplined criminal tradition was dismantled—and exported. Long before transnational drug cartels dominated European crime, Dublin produced professional robbers who operated with military precision, silence, and planning. At the center of that world stood Martin Cahill, whose “robbery school” trained men to value discipline over bravado and invisibility over reputation.