Gerry Hutch is a former Irish convicted criminal alleged to have been one of Ireland's most successful bank robbers. He is often known by his nickname of The Monk because he is famously clean living and religious, leading a "disciplined, ascetic lifestyle" after leaving prison in 1985. He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1963. He was notable for not being involved in the sale or distribution of drugs.[1] He was very active within Dublin's inner city community, working with disadvantaged children and encouraging them not to take drugs.[1]
Contents |
Born in central Dublin, his criminal career started at the age of 10 when he joined and later led the 'Bugsy Malone Gang' of inner city youngsters (named after the fictional feature film) whose crimes in the 1970s included "jump-overs": they would jump over bank counters, grab whatever cash they could and run out the door.[1]
He was later part of another gang primarily involved in major robberies and received a significant number of convictions between 1970 and 1985 intermittently spending time in prison. His gang was said to have amassed an estimated IR£40 million from a series of bank robberies, jewellery heists, and fraud scams spanning almost 8 years. Hutch also managed to gain money from legal actions in the Irish courts. These included £8,500 won from Securicor Ireland in June, 1991, £2,000 from The Sunday Tribune newspaper in a libel action and around £26,000 won in legal actions against the Irish State.[1]
In 1998 he was a founder member of the Corinthians Boxing Club in Dublin and has served as treasurer for the club. The club has a full gym and a world class boxing ring. The latter was donated by film director Jim Sheridan after making the movie The Boxer.[1]
In 1999, in the course of court proceedings brought against Hutch by the Irish state's anti money laundering agency, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), Detective Chief Superintendent Felix McKenna claimed Hutch had been involved in the IR£1.7 million robbery of an armoured van at Marino Mart in January 1997 and the IR£3 million armed robbery of a Brinks Allied Security Depot in Clonshaugh, County Dublin, in 1996, which had been the largest cash robbery in the State at the time.[1] [2]
Hutch eventually reached a IR£1.2m settlement with the CAB to "cover back taxes and interest for a nine year period".[1]
After the CAB settlement, Hutch applied for and was granted a taxi licence.[3]
He is no longer a taxi driver but runs a limousine service[4] and works as a chauffeur.[5] He has featured in the Irish media from time to time because he has driven celebrities including Mike Tyson[6] on their visits to Ireland - also because he uses an eye catching stretch Hummer limousine.[5]The name of his limousine service is Carry Any Body which can be abbreviated to CAB, widely believed to replicate the Criminal Assets Bureaus abbreviation in a humorous manner.
Several of the films based on the life of the late Irish journalist Veronica Guerin feature actors playing Hutch.
Hutch appeared on RTÉ's Prime Time in March 2008 where he was interviewed about his life and criminal career. Hutch denied any criminal activity, since his last prison sentence, other than tax evasion Hutch pointed out that he has never been convicted of any of the crimes he was linked to in the late 1980s and 1990s while the interviewer repeatedly queried the Monk's wealth and its origins.
Hutch was the subject of investigation in the popular TV3 factual television series, Dirty Money. The episode which aired March 2008 was solely devoted to the assets and finances seized by the criminal assets bureau of the Garda Síochána of both Hutch and his suspected criminal and family associates.