The General

Martin Cahill grew up in Hollyfield, Dublin, where crime was the main occupation. Throughout his adult life, Martin Cahill derived satisfaction from making fools out of the police, the church, the establishment and devised a series of elaborate pranks to embarrass them. He organised a number of daring and carefully planned robberies, gaining the title, “The General”. He over-reached himself when he and his gang stole paintings from Russborough House, which included the only Vermeer in private ownership. With public and political pressure mounting, the police mounted a surveillance operation involving 90 police headed by Ned Kenny, a man who admired Cahill but was determined to break him.