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Crime World

Has gang boss Red Larry McCarthy moved away from criminality?

03 Apr 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What led to Red Larry McCarthy's recent court case?

2.123 - 24.154 Nicola Tallent

Former Limerick mob boss Red Larry McCarthy has lost a court bid for free legal aid so he can fight the Criminal Assets Bureau attempts to seize two properties they've identified as the proceeds of crime. McCarthy, who is currently in the same prison wing as his cousin Wayne Dundon, has told a court he wants to go straight and has moved away from Limerick crime to live in Donegal.

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24.475 - 32.805 Nicola Tallent

However, says Eamonn Dillon, his past has a habit of catching up with him. You're listening to Crime World, a podcast from crimeworld.com.

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33.882 - 51.06 Nicola Tallent

We were just trying to remind ourselves, Eamon, did Red Larry McCarthy, who was a kind of a crime boss from Limerick, he's in jail at the moment for his role in attempting to shoot Christy Keene and was a significant player during the years of the feuding in Limerick.

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51.66 - 63.012 Nicola Tallent

But he did tell a court that he was hoping to go straight or wanting to go or had gone straight, was turning his back on organised crime and was moved up to the north west of the country.

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62.992 - 82.973 Eamon Dillon

Yeah, he was living up in Donegal and at one point he was on bail for this facilitating a crime gang charge. I think it was part of, he acquired a car or had a car acquired that was used by the people who shot and seriously wounded Christie Keane, head of a rival gang who was lucky to survive. That was in 2015.

83.013 - 102.639 Eamon Dillon

That was probably the last act of the Limerick feud in one sense, at that level certainly. So he surprisingly pleaded guilty at the very last minute in the special criminal court to that. And again, they were talking about a potential trial that could have gone on for several weeks. I think off the top of my head was over 100 witnesses that were going to be called.

102.659 - 107.086 Eamon Dillon

So that was a bit of a surprise that he changed his plea at the last minute.

Chapter 2: What claims has Red Larry McCarthy made about his lifestyle changes?

107.526 - 124.832 Eamon Dillon

But yeah, when he was on bail at the time before that and had kind of said, you know, at one point he was living in Donegal. with his wife and I think they're now adult children. And like one of his bail conditions was that he'd have to get permission anytime he wanted to go back to Limerick.

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124.852 - 134.967 Eamon Dillon

So that's a, you know, a big comedown for somebody who was considered the head of the McCarthy-Dundon clan at one stage. He was going to have permission, get permission from the guards or from the authorities to go back into Limerick.

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135.228 - 148.564 Nicola Tallent

But I think he certainly was. I mean, there was... from what I knew anyway, there was truth in that. He was living up in Donegal and they were trying to separate themselves from Limerick. And he had sort of maybe reached that famous age when people want to turn their back on it.

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Chapter 3: How did McCarthy's past influence his current legal situation?

148.604 - 170.511 Nicola Tallent

They're fed up. They're, you know, war weary nearly. But unfortunately, his past has a way of creeping up on him. He's in Portleish prison now. He's put on the landing with his cousin, Wayne Dundon. And probably not ideal if you're trying to stay away from crime. Nonetheless, they know one another all these years.

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171.292 - 177.201 Nicola Tallent

And now the Criminal Assets Bureau are coming after a couple of properties they say are his and they say are the proceeds of crime.

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Chapter 4: What were the details of McCarthy's criminal history?

177.781 - 201.133 Eamon Dillon

Yeah, so this is one that started last year and there wasn't a lot of detail originally like at one point I mean they had there was his previous lawyers had difficulty kind of getting affidavits I think they had basically it was getting access to him because he was now in prison serving six and a half years he was sentenced in the special criminal court

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201.113 - 220.033 Eamon Dillon

But he actually had to be brought to court at one stage because his solicitors were coming off record and the judge had to hear it for himself. So he was actually brought up to court 29 in the old four courts building because it's a civil case. And he was there outside, you know, handcuffed with, I think there was five prison officers there as well as not to mention there was the

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220.013 - 237.178 Eamon Dillon

I suppose the detectives from the criminal access bureau were all in the vicinity as well. And he briefly spoke, he was asked, I remember, did you kind of understand what was being said? And he says, no, but he says, I'm quite happy. That's the knowledge that I'm changing solicitor. So he had a new firm now who've come in

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237.158 - 259.47 Eamon Dillon

And what happened this week was they were making an application for free legal aid, which there is a free legal aid scheme for proceeds of crime cases. Like there is a standard of what they call exceptional circumstances. It's not a given. It's not like a criminal case where it's a fairly low bar to qualify for free legal aid in comparison. Whereas here you have to make a specific requirement.

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259.45 - 277.855 Eamon Dillon

is to make a specific request, and sometimes it's only in relation to a certain part of the case. It mightn't be, so if you had four or five houses that had been taken by cab, the only one, the chances are, if you do get free legal aid, it'll relate to one that is possibly your family home, and otherwise you won't, you're having a chance. And that's the way the law is being interpreted.

277.875 - 302.007 Eamon Dillon

So in this case, We haven't actually heard the details fully, but because this was a free legal aid application, we got a little bit of insight. So it's two houses that are being targeted by CAB. One of them is on High Road and the other is at Cornmarket Row. Now he completely, he says he's got nothing to do with the Hyde Park, sorry, the Hyde Road property.

302.768 - 315.647 Eamon Dillon

And so basically there's no defense for that. So that was kind of an easy one, I suppose, for the judge to decide on that. The other house was bought for 45,000 originally, according to some of the details that were heard in court.

315.627 - 334.331 Eamon Dillon

And that his case to defend it is going to be that it was his grandmother who gave him the money and she had money for him while he was in prison between 2005 and 2011. You remember he was serving time in the UK where he was caught in what was termed at the time a supermarket of weapons, all these automatic guns and so on.

334.471 - 353.023 Eamon Dillon

So when he came out, he's saying that this house was bought with money from his granny, which he had gotten from running stalls and from her pension. So, you know, on the face of it, 45 grand. The granny died or just given him the money? No, apparently he had given him the money. And there's a couple of notice parties attached to the case.

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