At 46, he has already spent more than half his life in jail. However, there are those who look up to him as a successful criminal.
But has it brought him wealth or happiness?
There’s not much evidence of either. What it brings him mostly is grief, aggravation and trouble with the police.
Investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre has had unprecedented access to Noonan and his family for the past 10 years and his hard-hitting new series on Crime & Investigation Network – At Home with the Noonans – gives a fascinating insight into what makes this Manchester gangster tick.
The lives of two of his brothers were violently snuffed out and his teenage son has already served time. Most of his hangers-on have been in jail for dishonesty or violence.
But when Noonan’s out of jail, what has he got? Home is either a small flat above a shop or a council house owned by his ex-girlfriend.
His ride is usually a clapped-out old ambulance or a knackered ex cop car.
Donal MacIntyre’s riveting series is sometimes hair-raising, always compelling... and often very funny. But does crime pay for the Noonans? Not on this evidence...
To some he is a ruthless gangster who controls a vast criminal network of thieves and hard men.
To others, Domenyk Noonan is a 21st Century Robin Hood, a lovable rogue and jovial pub entertainer whose idea of a good time is to dress as Santa Claus at Christmas, touring his Manchester neighbourhood giving toys to poor children.
Hard men: Noonan and his cronies
As with so many criminal characters throughout history, the truth is more complicated than you might imagine, and definitely stranger than fiction.
Now a new documentary series At Home with the Noonans by the award-winning investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre, to be screened on Crime & Investigation Network, reveals the lifestyle of one of the most famous crime bosses in Britain.
The road leading to the new series began with MacIntyre’s hit documentary A Very British Gangster screened in 2007.
When he began that programme, the gang’s enforcer was the feared contract killer Desmond “Dessie” Noonan, who had been implicated in a string of murders.
Dessie often boasted that their crime network had “more guns than the police”.
But Dessie Noonan was not untouchable. It wasn’t a police bullet that did for him, but the knife of a fellow gangster. More than 3,000 people attended Dessie Noonan’s funeral.
Contradictions
With Dessie gone the mantle was inherited by his younger brother Domenyk, who was already forging a personal relationship with Donal MacIntyre and gave his blessing to the new series.
A convicted armed robber, Domenyk’s life seems to be made up entirely of contradictions.
Noonan revels in his notoriety as a feared gang boss. But every Sunday Noonan, a Catholic, goes to church where he reads scriptures to the pews of devout worshippers.
And when the service is over, he goes for a pint with his parish priest. No doubt the local police would love to eavesdrop when Noonan goes to Confession.
Then there’s his sexual orientation. He used to live with girlfriend Mandy, but he is happy to admit to being gay. He enjoys being known in criminal circles as The Gay Gangster.
He even says one of the benefits of being locked up is the free sex.
Despite that assertion, while the series was being made Noonan was arrested over the alleged rape of a young woman.
The charges were soon dropped but, with Noonan happily agreeing that one of his ‘favourite’ offences is witness intimidation, the police thought it wise to give the girl a new identity and move her to a secret safe house a very long way from Manchester.
Then there’s his juxtaposing views on law, order and security.
It goes without saying Domenyk Noonan hates the police. Yet during the series he is seen setting up his own security company.
He owns a fleet of retired ambulances and police cars and says with a straight face he plans to convert some of the ambulances into armoured security trucks to try to get a slice of the “cash in transit” business.
Let’s hope the banks don’t insist on taking up references before they give him a contract. He still owes them in the region of £4.5million he stole from them at gunpoint in the past.
Noonan’s personality is somewhat of a contradiction too. He recently changed his name by deed poll to Lattlay Fottfoy – an acronym of his motto: Look after those that look after you... **** off those that **** off you.
This reflects his outlook on life and the importance of his “honour code”.
Then there is his beloved teenage son. Noonan insists he doesn’t want him to follow him down the road he took to criminal notoriety.
But he insisted on christening the lad Bugsy, a monicker favoured by Al Capone’s gun-toting mates in 1920s Chicago.
Domenyk says he wants his son to have a better life, to go straight and stay out of prison.
But surrounded by young hoodlums, it’s a tough ask for Bugsy. At 17 he has already served a lengthy stretch in a young offenders institute after a burglary and car crime rampage committed when he was just 15.
Domenyk himself has spent over 28 of his 46 years in jail. He has been implicated – but never convicted – in six murders.
Boss: Domenyk Noonan
He has more than 40 criminal convictions. As an armed robber he stole millions in van and bank robberies. In 1993, while serving time for robbery and possessing a loaded gun, he escaped from jail.
He was one of the ring leaders of the notorious prisoner’s riot at Manchester’s Strangeways jail in 1990, an event which he describes as “one of the best days of my life”.
He’s been arrested in possession of £1million worth of heroin, but got off at trial. He’s also been involved in handling stolen goods, fraud and protection racketeering.
Police ambush
He has had many acquittals. It’s a matter of record that at least eight key witnesses against him have refused to give evidence, and in some cases fled abroad rather than testify.
But things don’t always go Noonan’s way. In 2005, when police ambushed him in a Jaguar in Darlington they found a revolver and ammo hidden in the engine compartment.
Noonan was promptly nicked. There were no prosecution witnesses to threaten, buy off, or bump off.
This time the shaven-headed hard man took a big fall. Nine-and-a-half years.
Out on parole with just half his sentence served, Noonan’s licence to be back on the streets was an opportunity for Donal MacIntyre to really get to grips making the series.
But trouble dogs the Noonan family wherever they go. First the rape complaint put Domenyk back in custody. He was released again after the allegation was dropped.
But then came the 2011 summer riots, sparked off when London police shot Mark Duggan – by coincidence a distant cousin of Domenyk Noonan.
When looting and mayhem spilled on to the streets of Manchester, Noonan’s distinctive bald head stood out like a beacon on seven hours of CCTV as hundreds of youths trashed and looted the heart of the city.
The police said Domenyk had been orchestrating the night of criminal chaos. Noonan said he had been acting as a good citizen, trying to persuade wayward youths to go home quietly.
After three months the police agreed there was no evidence to charge him. But by then Noonan’s parole licence had been revoked.
He was back in jail – where he remains now, with little hope of release before 2014.
0 comments:
Post a Comment