Bibliofemme Reviews
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King Scum: The Life and Crimes of Tony Felloni, Dublin's Heroin Boss by Paul Reynolds
(Published by Gill & Macmillan)
Tony Felloni is a ruthless, intelligent criminal. The huge heroin problem in Dublin in the 1980s was largely due to Felloni and his family. Despite numerous arrests, it was 1996 before the police caught up with him and were finally able to make charges stick.
In this book, Reynolds traces Felloni's criminal career from the beginning. He started as a blackmailer in the early 1960s. His scam was simple: lure young girls to a flat on the pretext of a party, terrorise them into stripping naked, photograph them and then demand money on the threat of sending the photographs to employees and parents. On some occasions he even raped the girl in question.
Over the years he graduated from petty thief to major Dublin drugs baron. His children sold drugs with him. Of his six children, all, bar one, are junkies and have criminal convictions. He dealt heroin in huge quantities and was caught three times by the Gardaí while on bail for previous offences, setting off public demands for a bail referendum that led to a constitutional change.
Paul Reynolds, who is a criminal reporter for RTÉ, has written a book about real life in the style of a thriller. In King Scum he gives a glimpse of the hopelessness of the Irish urban under-class, telling a story of serial and ongoing dysfunction.
Buy now: Special online price: €8.79
March 2005
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