Martin Foley
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Martin "The Viper" Foley (November 24, 1952) is one of the Republic of Ireland's best known criminals. He rose up from a street drug dealer to be an associate of Martin Cahill, one of Ireland's most notorious criminals. He has 33 convictions. He is considered a key figure in the McCormack-Foley crime family from Crumlin in Dublin. He has had several attempts on his life including being shot on five different occasions, including most recently on 26 January 2008. Foley was shot a number of times outside the Carlisle gym on the Lower Kimmage Road in south Dublin city.
Foley is a well known Dublin gangland criminal. His first conviction was in 1968 and since then he has been a member of Martin Cahill's criminal gang, one of the so-called concerned criminals, abducted by the IRA and jailed for numerous offences including breaking a garda's jaw.
The shooting on 26 January 2008 is the fourth time Foley, who is known as 'the Viper' has been shot; in 1995 outside Fatima Mansions, in 1996 by the convicted murderer Brian Meehan and in 2000 as he left a swimming pool in Terenure. This shooting is believed to be linked to the ongoing feud between two Crumlin/Drimnagh based criminal gangs, one of which Foley is aligned to. He was also abducted by the Provisional IRA in 1984 but escaped following a shoot out in the Phoenix Park between the kidnappers and Gardaí.
[edit] Further reading
- Lyder, Andre. Pushers Out: The Inside Story of Dublin's Anti-Drugs Movement. Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-4120-5099-5
