On the 18th of August, 1994, Cahill leaves his home in Cowper Downs, Rathmines, and is ambushed by an assassin who escapes on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. As his family grieves, his Garda nemesis, Inspector Ned Kenny, arrives to oversee the removal of the corpse from the scene.
In the 1950s, a young Cahill and his siblings turn to theft to help their struggling family. He is caught by a Garda while attempting a theft from a butcher’s shop and is sent to an industrial school, a harsh start that foreshadows a life lived on the edge of the law.
By the early 1980s, Cahill is released and returns to his run-down home at Hollyfield Buildings in Rathmines. Dublin Corporation is demolishing the buildings, and Cahill fiercely opposes the plan in the courts. Garda Sergeant Ned Kenny aids the Corporation in evicting residents and urges Cahill to leave peacefully, but Cahill resists, signaling a long battle against authorities.
After the demolition, Cahill moves a caravan onto the site, which is subsequently burned out. He erects a tent and continues to obstruct new housing, only stepping back when the city offers him a new home in Rathmines.
Cahill purchases a fresh home in a more upscale area for £80,000, converting cash into a bank draft at a local bank. He then directs his gang to rob the bank, publicly humiliating the newly promoted Inspector Ned Kenny.
Cahill and his associate Noel Curley stage an armed robbery of a video arcade. They are arrested and face trial, where Cahill employs a range of tactics to avoid conviction, including an audacious attempt to kill the State’s chief forensic scientist with a car bomb. When the State fails to prove that Cahill and Curley endangered the life of the robbery’s victim, they are acquitted.
A more ambitious plan follows: a robbery of O’Connor’s jewellery factory in Harold’s Cross, which becomes the largest in the State’s history, valued at over £2,000,000. The gang sells the loot to a London fence. When a gold bar goes missing in transit, Cahill blames the truck driver and tortures him in the back room of a pool hall, ultimately taking the driver to hospital, convinced of the man’s innocence.
The IRA, who had previously tried to raid O’Connor’s, demand half of the proceeds. Cahill refuses. In response, the IRA forms a group named CPAD—Concerned Parents Against Drugs—to intimidate Cahill and his gang. Cahill retaliates by forming the counter-group, “Concerned Criminals Against Drugs,” and repels CPAD.
Cahill and his men case Russborough House in County Wicklow and manage to steal the Beit collection, eighteen paintings in total, evading an elaborate alarm system and armed Gardaí.
Humiliated, the Gardaí create the Tango Squad, deploying detectives and uniformed officers for 24-hour surveillance of Cahill and his gang. He evades them momentarily and begins dealing with the UVF to sell the stolen Beit paintings.
Revenue investigators attempt to question Cahill at his home. He orchestrates the burning of their car. Cahill later suffers a diabetic hypo, a reminder of the fragility that underpins his dangerous life.
One gang member, Gary, is accused of raping his own daughter. Cahill attempts to bribe the young woman to stay silent, and when that fails, he shoots Gary in the leg to keep the case from going to court.
News breaks of Cahill’s involvement with the UVF and the sale of the Beit paintings. The Gardaí surveilling him react with disgust and even throw rocks in his direction.
The story ends with Cahill’s assassination outside his home, with the IRA claiming responsibility for the killing.
