John Cunningham is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

criminal with convictions for illicit drug smuggling and kidnapping.

Early life

He was born in

Ballyfermot Ballyfermot () is a suburb town nw of the city aside Dublin, Ireland. It is located, seven kilometres (5 miles) west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park, it is bordered on the north by Chapelizod, on the south by Bluebell; on the east b ...

Bank robberies

He and his brother Michael were involved in a series of armed robberies in the 1970s and had strong links with

Martin Cahill Martin "The General" Cahill (23 May 1949 – 18 August 1994) was an Irish crime boss from Dublin. He masterminded a series of burglaries and armed robberies, and was shot and killed while out on bail for kidnapping charges. The Provisional Iris ...

Kidnapping of Jennifer Guinness

In 1986 he and his brother Michael kidnapped

Jennifer Guinness Mary Jennifer Guinness (''née'' Hollwey; 22 August 1937 – 23 January 2016), was an English-born Irish socialite and member of the Guinness family. She married John Henry Guinness on 9 April 1959, and they had three children: Ian Richard Guin ...

, who was rescued by Gardaí 8 days later. At trial, John and his brother Michael were convicted, along with Anthony Kelly, after being arrested at the house on Waterloo Road. Brian McNicholl was also convicted, with the judge accepting that his role was mainly to provide a location for Guinness to be held. Kelly died in 2005 from undisclosed causes; Michael Cunningham died in 2015, aged 65, after suffering a massive heart attack at his home in Ballyfermot. John was sentenced to 17 years and Michael was sentenced in 14.

Escape

While awaiting early release he escaped from

Shelton Abbey Prison Shelton Abbey () on the north bank of the Avoca near Arklow County Wicklow, is a penal institution operated by the Irish Prison Service (IPS). Shelton Abbey was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Wicklow until 1951 when financial difficulti ...

and fled to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in late 1996. Michael was released around the same time. He built up an illicit drugs empire worth ₡50m. He rented a house with a swimming pool near

Schipol Airport Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

, where he lived with his family. He was caught there in 2000 and convicted of trafficking ₡10m worth of illicit drugs between the Netherlands and Ireland. He was found guilty of trafficking ecstasy,

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...

s and

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

and served four and a half years of an eight year sentence. Then he was transferred to Ireland, where he spent the rest of sentence from the kidnapping trial in

Limerick Prison Limerick Prison in Limerick is an Irish penal institution. It is a closed, medium security prison, and has an official capacity of 290 male beds and 20 female beds. The average daily number of male inmates in 2009 was 298 and of female inmates ...

. He was released from prison in 2007 and moved to

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, then moved to the

Costa del Sol The Costa del Sol (literally "Coast of the Sun" or "Sun Coast") is a region in the south of Spain in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the coastline of the Province of Málaga and the easte ...

in 2009. He attended the funeral of his brother Michael at

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Ballyfermot Church of Our Lady of the Assumption is a Roman Catholic church at Ireland, NW side of the roundabout where Kylemore and Ballyfermot roads meet in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland. Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael's National school (Ireland), Nationa ...

in January 2015 along with

Martin Foley Martin "The Viper" Foley (born 24 November 1952) is a well-known Irish criminal. He rose from a street drug dealer to become an associate of Martin Cahill. Foley has 40 convictions, and is considered a key figure in the McCormack-Foley crime fam ...

and Troy Jordan. While in Spain, he became involved with the

Kinahan Organised Crime Group The Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG), also known as the Kinahan Cartel, is a major Irish transnational organised crime syndicate alleged to be the most powerful in Ireland and one of the largest organised crime groups in the world. It is als ...

run by

Christy Kinahan Christopher Vincent Kinahan, Sr. (born 23 March 1957) better known as Christy 'the Dapper Don' Kinahan; is an Irish drug dealerBreen, Stephen, "GANGSTERS' PARADISE" ''News of the World'' 21 February 2010 with convictions for ecstasy and heroin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, John Criminals from Dublin (city) Irish crime bosses Irish drug traffickers Irish gangsters Irish kidnappers Kinahan Organised Crime Group