John Gilligan

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This article pertains to an Irish murder suspect; for the former Ohio Governor, go to John J. Gilligan.

John Gilligan (born March 29, 1952) is an Irish drug lord who has been implicated in the murder of Veronica Guerin, the first ever murder of a journalist in Ireland. "Factory John," has become one of Ireland's most reviled gangsters.

John Gilligan was born in the Grangegorman district of Dublin's north side, the son of John Gilligan Sr., a merchant seaman and petty thief. He grew up in Ballyfermot, where his family had moved after the Dublin slum clearances of the 1950s. He attended Mary, Queen of Angels Catholic school in Ballyfermot, but dropped out of school at the age of 12.

He joined his father as a sailor for the B and I Line, but used his job as an opportunity to smuggle guns and embezzle shipping fares. He married Geraldine Dunne, a neighborhood girl, at the Ballyfermot Church of Our Lady of the Assumption on March 27, 1974. She would become one of his closest partners in crime.

As his family grew, Gilligan switched from breaking and entering to armed robbery. He put a crew together who specialized in robbing cargo ships in Dublin harbor, highjacking trucks, and breaking into factories and warehouses. Geraldine would actively help him to fence the proceeds. By the mid 1980s, "Factory John" had become one of Dublin's most powerful gangsters. After years of cat and mouse games with the Garda Siochana, he was convicted of receiving and sentenced on November 7, 1990 to four years in Portlaoise prison.

In prison he developed close ties to the Provisional IRA and the INLA, as well as a group of young gangsters who would later be dubbed "The Brat Pack." He was granted early release in 1993 and, using his new contacts, turned to smuggling large amounts of drugs into Ireland from Amsterdam. To a lesser extent, he also ran guns to the IRA and smuggled cigarettes.

On September 14, 1995, investigative journalist Veronica Guerin called at Gilligan's equestrian center near Enfield, County Kildare, which he had purchased with his drug profits. When she attempted to interview him, he allegedly attacked and threatened to kill her entire family if she continued to write about him. He then tore open her blouse while trying to see if she was wearing a wire. After the terrified journalist left, he telephoned her and threatened to kidnap and rape her son if she persisted in asking questions about him. It was later revealed that even Gilligan's closest associates were never allowed to call at the equestrian center without being summoned.

Gilligan reportedly wished to have Guerin murdered immediately after her visit, but was dissuaded by John Traynor, a longtime associate. But when Guerin decided to press charges and refused a substantial bribe to drop them, Gilligan decided that the hit should go ahead. On June 26, 1996, Veronica Guerin was shot at the intersection between the Belgard Road and the Naas Road. The gun had been smuggled in a cargo container from Amsterdam and buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Tallaght.

The murder of Veronica Guerin touched off an international storm. Some analysts stated that narcoterrorism had arrived in Europe. Amidst a blaze of publicity, the Gilligan gang was subjected to a full scale police investigation. After gang member Charlie Bowden turned State's evidence and disappeared into Ireland's newly founded Witness Protection Program, the gang was completely dismantled by the Irish police.

John Gilligan was extradited from London, where he had fled to avoid arrest. In 2001 he was sentenced to 28 years for possession of 20,000 kilograms of cannabis resin. This sentence was later reduced to 20 years on appeal.

In 2002, Gilligan was tried and acquitted of the murder of Veronica Guerin.

In 2002, the Special Criminal Court filed an order to confiscate and sell his 77-acre equestrian ranch. From prison, Mr. Gilligan contested this order in the High Court and won his case, on the grounds that the Special Criminal Court did not have jurisdiction. This was later appealed in the Supreme Court and on 21 December 2005, the appeal was rejected unanimously. Gilligan's assets remain frozen, however, by the Criminal Assets Bureau. On January 30th, 2006, the High Court cleared the way for the Criminal Assets Bureau to proceed with an application to have the equestrian centre and other property belonging to Gilligan and other members of his family handed over to the State.