Podcast Corner: Hot Money, Two Norries, Palestine benefit
Daniel Kinahan. Picture: Collins Dublin
Beginning at the start of December, Hot Money may have got pushed to one side as end-of-year lists came thick and fast. But the second season of the show, from the Financial Times and Pushkin Industries, co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell in 2018, should have the staying power for the best-of-2024 lists.
The first season was an exposé of the porn industry, while the latest series, subtitled The New Narcos, is a cross-continental crime investigation that talks to undercover agents, crime journalists who have had their lives threatened, and Garda bosses - because Hot Money tracks the rise and fall of the Kinahan cartel.
The eight-parter is reported by the FT’s Miles Johnson and says the cocaine super cartel is revolutionising the global drugs market. We may well be familiar with a lot of the Kinahan tentacles of the story, from the Hutch gang's suspected botched hit on Daniel Kinahan in the Regency Hotel murder in 2016 (when David Byrne was murdered instead) to Daniel Kinahan’s sportswashing move into boxing, but it is shocking to hear how the cartel's their links allegedly spread to Iran and South America.
Along the way we hear how the south of Spain became a gangsters’ paradise, how Dubai built a haven as their illicit riches grew, and just how Tehran fits into it all. Johnson lays it all out well, not forgetting the trail of bodies left behind.
After 188 episodes Cork’s Two Norries aka James Leonard and Timmy Long, have wrapped up the show, which saw them sell out the likes of Cork Opera House along the way.
Long says: “Everything has to come to an end in some way, and I suppose now is probably the best time as ever to move on. We both looked at what we’ve done in the last few years, and I don’t think there’s anything that we could have really changed to make anything better.
"But I suppose I’m actually happy to know that the amount of work and the amount that we gave back to our communities and to people we know the last few years has really helped us on our own paths, knowing that we’re actually after doing some good in our communities, whereas 10, 12 years ago, we were an absolute f**king nuisance.”
The Echo Chamber has been doing laudable work over the past year and more in covering Israel’s war in Palestine. Part of the Tortoise Shack network, it’s teaming up with Ballymun’s The Fresh Batch Podcast, which started last summer, for Podcasts for Palestine, a benefit night with all proceeds going to Gaza, at Dublin’s Sugar Club on January 28. Tickets are €18 and available from Eventbrite ( https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/podcasts-for-palestine-tickets-782538141647)
