Jason O’Toole Documentary on John Gilligan Snapped Up by Amazon UK

Jason O'Toole's highly-successful documentary on crime boss John Gilligan, Confessions of a Crime Boss, has been sold to Amazon UK and is set for broadcast in the first week of January.

Hot Press also understands that a similar deal is close to being completed with an American-based network for the USA broadcast.

There has also been considerable interest in turning the Gilligan story into a TV drama series, with a script currently in development.

Throughout the 1990s, John Gilligan was the most successful drug trafficker in the British Isles. Coming from an impoverished background, he was drawn to a life of petty crime - which ultimately intensified beyond all expectations.

Gilligan’s criminal activities escalated from petty crime, through bank robberies, to cannabis importation, allowing him to live a life of awkward privilege, and make connections with criminals across the globe in the process.

O'Toole's acclaimed mini-series is the product of over forty hours of exclusive one-off interviews with John Gilligan, during which he documents Gilligan's life of crime.

Across three gripping TV hours, Gilligan delivers copious revelations on his background as an armed bank robber, his involvement in international money laundering, and how he miraculously survived an assassination attempt.

He also makes new caims on the assassination of journalist Veronica Guerin, a crime of which he was accused, but never convicted.

“I had reservations about getting involved at first. I knew that he was never going to admit that he had anything to do with that," said O'Toole in a recent interview with Hot Press.

"But I made the decision to go ahead and overall, I’m  very glad I did it. There were moments where I got down in the dumps because you’re transcribing these tapes, and you’re listening to stories of pure evil.

"There’s no way of skirting around that. I’d have to acknowledge that it was depressing writing up the book, because there’s extreme violence in it.”

Read the full interview here. 

By focusing on Ireland's most notorious Crime Boss of the era, John Gilligan, Confessions of a Crime Boss offers new insights into both the nature of gangland crime during late 20th century in Ireland, and the power and influence wielded by the criminals who ran the drugs trade.

Confessions of a Crime Boss will be broadcast on Amazon UK from 2 January, 2024.