‘Scum will not stop me doing job’

PAUL WILLIAMS takes a uniquely combative approach to those in the criminal underworld he writes about most weeks in the Sunday World.

They are scum. And he backs up his opinion with remarkably detailed exposes of their lives and crimes.

Mr Williams came out fighting yesterday with an expletive-laden and emotionally-charged radio appearance as he vowed “these bastards” would not stop him doing his job, adding if they wanted to know where he was, he was back in his own home.

Mr Williams used yesterday’s interview to launch a remarkable attack, claiming Justice Minister Michael McDowell was on the same side as the criminals by not properly resourcing the gardaí.

“What he has found himself involved in, found himself to be the unlikely bed-sit friend of these people,” said Mr Williams. While he has received threats before, it’s believed the recent publication of his book Crime Lords, its serialisation in his own paper and the writer’s appearances on chat shows, led to this deeply sinister intimidation attempt. His books neatly map the history of gangsterism and gangsters over the last decade, from King Scum Tony Felloni, The General Martin Cahill and John Gilligan’s Evil Empire. But his latest work tackles a much wider range of subjects, including Martin “The Viper” Foley, a Sunday World staple for many years, the Westies, young and particularly vicious drug-dealing thugs from west Dublin, and the Limerick families. The crime writer recently claimed he received a death threat from Foley, an accusation denied by the man who has survived a number of attempts on his life.

But it is Mr Williams’ writings on members of the INLA that are believed to have led to the latest threat to his life. His view, shared by many gardaí and other commentators, is that the INLA are a collection of criminal thugs who have long since shed their political ideology, if they ever had any. Members are deeply involved in drugs and racketeering.

Part of the book focuses on the Ballymount Bloodbath, when members of the INLA viciously tortured a number of men who had arrived at a warehouse to collect a debt on behalf of a Dublin criminal. Others arrived to rescue the men and a bloody battle broke out that led to the death of INLA member Patrick Campbell. Two other people have been killed since in revenge attacks carried out by the

INLA while two members have been jailed, including alleged leader Declan Duffy. “These people are very criminal, very dangerous,” he said. The INLA has the skills to make booby-trap car bombs and used one in an attempt to kill Ronnie Draper, one of the young men involved in the Ballymount fight. Draper survived but was shot dead earlier this year outside a pub on Eden’s Quay in Dublin.

Yesterday’s hoax bomb was a warning but is also the most sinister threat he has received to date. Investigating gardaí said they are taking the threat extremely serious. What’s left of the device will be examined by forensic experts looking for clues as to who built it.

Williams yesterday called for the community to stand together against this type of intimidation and maintain free speech.

Labour’s justice spokesman Joe Costello said it was “a sinister attempt to intimidate a courageous journalist who had done much to expose the leaders of criminal gangs”.

He added: “This must be a very worrying development for Paul Williams and his family, but it also has serious implications for society generally. The clear message from those responsible is that ‘if we can so easily place a hoax device, we can easily place a real bomb’.” His family, friends and neighbours are standing by him. But one woman who lives near him, speaking on RTÉ, appealed to him to leave the area for the sake of the security of his family and those living nearby.