Cocaine Cowboys: The Deadly Rise of Ireland's Drug Lords - Nicola Tallant | Underworlds with Mark Shaw

How did the Kinahan organized crime group rise to the top of cocaine trafficking in Europe?In this episode, Mark sits down with investigative journalist and author Nicola Tallant to discuss her book ‘Cocaine Cowboys: The Deadly Rise of Ireland's Drug Lords’.At the end of the 90s, Ireland was booming, the ‘Celtic Tiger’ had risen. People had more money to spend on leisure activities, and on drugs.In steps a man from a comfortable middle-class background in Ireland, the well-educated and well-mannered, Christopher Kinahan Snr, who alongside his two sons Daniel Kinahan and Christopher Jnr, created the Kinahan Cartel.Along with the cocaine came money, extreme violence and assassinations. The most famous of these was the Hutch-Kinahan feud, which saw criminal groups fighting one another across Europe.Eventually, the Kinahan Cartel would join with criminal organizations from across Europe to create what Europol called the ‘European Super Cartel’, controlling the distribution of cocaine across the continent.In 2022, the Kinahan Cartel, alongside its leading members, were sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over alleged links to a money laundering network run by Hezbollah.Nicola Tallant has been reporting and investigating organized crime in Ireland for three decades. She has written several books about the topic and has a successful podcast called ‘Crime World’.In this episode, Mark talks to Nicola about her new book ‘Cocaine Cowboys: The Deadly Rise of Ireland's Drug Lords’.====================================================📖 Nicola Tallant's book ‘Cocaine Cowboys: The Deadly Rise of Ireland's Drug Lords’ is available here: https://amzn.eu/d/aoS98Lf🎧 Audible version: https://amzn.eu/d/gYM6fdh📺 Nicola also has a podcast called 'Crime World' and its available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UC8MalTYHvpmBKt5y365hDmQ ====================================================Underworlds with Mark Shaw Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXSX1Xu1kM0ss7EEqXOflp3d-lZw4LfIe ====================================================📱 YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@UCP-lqJdhM-9iDKkswuVcXZA 🌎 VISIT US! Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime - https://globalinitiative.net/ 🎧Audio version: https://link.chtbl.com/7c27X1CM🎧WHY NOT TRY OUR OTHER PODCASTS: 🎧Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXSX1Xu1kM0spSX0QUq7j0NmIZOqyDTZQ 🎧The Index - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXSX1Xu1kM0uc_4CftGl8PrwHA3IK5WeI===================================================FOLLOW USX - @gitocLinkedIn - @Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime IG - @gi_toc ===================================================