Dublin's "Animal Gangs"

donaghs · 10-08-2012 10:34am #1

Good article last month in the Indo (sorry, only noticed it now) about Dublin's criminal Animal Gangs of the 30s and 40s.
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/the-animals-who-prowled-1930s-dublin-3174853.html

Had only heard of them once before in "Dublin Tenament Life" by Kevin C. Kearns. Interesting stories, something you won't hear about in most conventional histories of the those times.

Anyone got any more stories or info on them? As well as the "Battle of Baldoyle", there was smaller gang battle at Tolka Park. The "Henchico" character sounds interesting also, not much on him from googling. Except a reference that Garda "Lugs" Brannigan was involved in the removal of his body to hospital when he died (natural causes).

SaoriseBiker · 10-08-2012 1:22pm

donaghs wrote: »

Good article last month in the Indo (sorry, only noticed it now) about Dublin's criminal Animal Gangs of the 30s and 40s.
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/the-animals-who-prowled-1930s-dublin-3174853.html

Had only heard of them once before in "Dublin Tenament Life" by Kevin C. Kearns. Interesting stories, something you won't hear about in most conventional histories of the those times.

Anyone got any more stories or info on them? As well as the "Battle of Baldoyle", there was smaller gang battle at Tolka Park. The "Henchico" character sounds interesting also, not much on him from googling. Except a reference that Garda "Lugs" Brannigan was involved in the removal of his body to hospital when he died (natural causes).

Interesting stuff. Appearently the Dublin street word for gangs to meet head to head in a street battle was and is " a straightener ".

Sunnyisland · 10-08-2012 6:33pm

Saoirse Biker wrote: »

Interesting stuff. Apparently the Dublin street word for gangs to meet head to head in a street battle was and is " a straightener ".

A straightener when I was growing up was used when one on one was fighting to.

Also interesting from the article,.. And it was here that the first Animal Gang is believed to have originated. It sprang from a dispute between the IRA and a group of young newspaper vendors from Corporation Buildings and the surrounding area...Same is happening today over extortion attempts to :tax: Drug dealers.

gosplan · 14-08-2012 1:33pm

There was a Doc on One doc about this on RTE Radio 1 recently enough, you can get it as a podcast if you look it up. Very interesting stuff alright. Historian John Gibney made it, don't have link to hand, sorry

Fuinseog · 15-08-2012 7:22pm

donaghs wrote: »

Good article last month in the Indo (sorry, only noticed it now) about Dublin's criminal Animal Gangs of the 30s and 40s.
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/the-animals-who-prowled-1930s-dublin-3174853.html

Had only heard of them once before in "Dublin Tenament Life" by Kevin C. Kearns. Interesting stories, something you won't hear about in most conventional histories of the those times.

Anyone got any more stories or info on them? As well as the "Battle of Baldoyle", there was smaller gang battle at Tolka Park. The "Henchico" character sounds interesting also, not much on him from googling. Except a reference that Garda "Lugs" Brannigan was involved in the removal of his body to hospital when he died (natural causes).

ther is reference to them in the biography of Lugs Branigan.

donaghs · 15-08-2012 10:08pm

Reading about the Henchico character, can't helping wondering if he was an example of a gay Irish gangster? No hard evidence, just stuff gotten from googling. There's a comment here which basically spells it out that he was gay (in a menacing sort of way):
http://declancashin.com/2010/04/the-gay-tour/#comment-344

But it's just an anonymous Internet comment. The commenter mentions hanging out at Bartley Dunnes, but the Lugs Brannigan bio says Henchico died in the early 70s, and commenter claims he left Dublin in '67. Was that place open and "gay friendly" at the same time?

Apart from that, not much else out there. The Indo article highlights the fact that Henchico had a peculiarly soft spoken feminine accent. The Lugs bio makes a point of the fact that he knew he was never married (a mysterious woman claiming to be his wife and looking for money was sent on her way).

Got this from Dublin.ie:
" no if any of you guys ever heard of guy called charlie henchcoat, think he was from the barn, allways had a load of young guys around him , he was much old then them where ever charlie was there was allways fights."

So not much to go on! Clearly a dangeous character if he carried a hatchet with him at all times.

Gee Bag · 16-08-2012 2:33pm

Here's the link to the recent RTE radio doc. Well worth a listen.....

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/search.html?sort=&query=animal+gangs

Cattlepen · 02-11-2014 10:06pm

Kevin c learns has put a spin on this story for whatever reason. He particularly attacks the reputation of the hannigan family from the coombe. They were bookies that were well respected. There may have been some of them involved in money lending but this wad the only way poor working class dubs could get money. Pawnbroking was the same thing and was viewed as legit. The reemerging Ira tried to tax the paperboys and they weren't having it. Bit of a schmozzle there and they kicked the ****e of the so called republicans. It got media attention and the so called "animal gang" born. It was a name contrived by newspapers. The battle of baldoyle was over a north side bookie trying to **** over hannigan. That kind of thing had gone on for years just lugs brannigan a profile brought it to the wider publics attention. Henchico was just a known gouger that could be bought for a few drinks. Loads like him before and since. Interesting to note I was told by an auld dub that there was a connection between the hannigans and polly burns, the female prizefighter. Her husband was a bookie also

time lord · 03-11-2014 2:38am

donaghs wrote: »

Good article last month in the Indo (sorry, only noticed it now) about Dublin's criminal Animal Gangs of the 30s and 40s.
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/the-animals-who-prowled-1930s-dublin-3174853.html

Had only heard of them once before in "Dublin Tenament Life" by Kevin C. Kearns. Interesting stories, something you won't hear about in most conventional histories of the those times.

Anyone got any more stories or info on them? As well as the "Battle of Baldoyle", there was smaller gang battle at Tolka Park. The "Henchico" character sounds interesting also, not much on him from googling. Except a reference that Garda "Lugs" Brannigan was involved in the removal of his body to hospital when he died (natural causes).

I heard my late Da talk about them several times when I was younger in the 70's. And for once I actually quized him up on some of this Dublin lore he was always telling. As I was the youngest and born and bred in the sticks I could get away with more cheek to him!
He told it to me as an adult to a kid so I won't try to put it any differently.
He said son they were gangs of older boys who favoured big long coats. They would cut you if they fought you as they carried razors. Lots of the gangs didn't live in a family and would stay together all the time. They tended to stay in an area and stealing food as a gang was a regularly done thing. He just went on to say they were rough and would live, steal, sleep with the same coats on.
I got bored as a child as I realised he wasn't in one of the gangs and changed the conversation.
Not much but you now know as much as me about the animal gangs;)

Cattlepen · 03-11-2014 8:47pm

Would that have been the teddy boys around dolphins barn that kind of hijacked the name animal gang long after the battle of baldoyle era?

30-01-2018 6:26pm

donaghs wrote: »

Reading about the Henchico character, can't helping wondering if he was an example of a gay Irish gangster? No hard evidence, just stuff gotten from googling. There's a comment here which basically spells it out that he was gay (in a menacing sort of way):
http://declancashin.com/2010/04/the-gay-tour/#comment-344

But it's just an anonymous Internet comment. The commenter mentions hanging out at Bartley Dunnes, but the Lugs Brannigan bio says Henchico died in the early 70s, and commenter claims he left Dublin in '67. Was that place open and "gay friendly" at the same time?

Apart from that, not much else out there. The Indo article highlights the fact that Henchico had a peculiarly soft spoken feminine accent. The Lugs bio makes a point of the fact that he knew he was never married (a mysterious woman claiming to be his wife and looking for money was sent on her way).

Got this from Dublin.ie:
" no if any of you guys ever heard of guy called charlie henchcoat, think he was from the barn, allways had a load of young guys around him , he was much old then them where ever charlie was there was allways fights."

So not much to go on! Clearly a dangeous character if he carried a hatchet with him at all times.

Apologies about bumping an old thread but a full historical article has been published today about the man mentioned in this post - Henchico.

https://comeheretome.com/2018/01/30/henchico-dublins-early-underworld-kingpin/

Snickers Man · 01-02-2018 11:26am

Sunnyisland wrote: »

A straightener when I was growing up was used when one on one was fighting to.

The word I remember for that was a "claim". Not sure of the etymology. Anyone?

Dublin's "Animal Gangs"

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