Inside the Dublin launch of Paul Williams’ hard-hitting sequel Crooks 2

Paul Williams launched his new true-crime sequel Crooks 2 in Dublin this week, giving the audience a tightly drawn look at the major investigations, scandals and victims that shape the book. The event, held at the Botanical Gardens on Wexford Street, drew journalists, broadcasters and long-time colleagues, who spoke candidly about Williams’ work and the stories behind the new release.

Opening the night, RTÉ’s Joe Duffy told the crowd that Williams’ record still stands apart in Irish journalism. “He is a brilliant, journalist,” Duffy said, adding that the section of the new book dealing with the Anglo-Irish tapes “is worth reading in itself.” Reflecting on the financial crash, he said: “We can remember the signatories of the Proclamation—but can anyone remember the feckers in Anglo-Irish who brought us to our knees? No, we can’t. And that’s why this book is so important.”

Duffy also described Williams as “a force of nature,” joking that he once needed protection “primarily from his wife Anne,” but praising how lightly he carried the pressures of reporting on Ireland’s most dangerous criminal networks. Duffy then turned to the national broadcaster’s absence from the author’s publicity circuit, asking openly: “Why isn’t Paul Williams on RTÉ talking about this book? I think he should be!” The comment received strong applause from the room.

Editor Claire Drysdale told the room that Crooks 2 brings a surprising emotional depth. “I’ve never cried reading one of Paul’s books before,” she said, “but I cried reading this one.” She said the sequel “brings heart as well as head,” crediting Williams for “explaining the position of victims of crime in such a powerful, moving way that it feels like a different achievement entirely.”

Newstalk presenter Shane Coleman, who formally launched the book, said Williams remains Ireland’s most recognisable crime reporter for good reason. “He’s been the country’s best-known journalist for thirty years,” Coleman said. “He’s the man who faced down some of the scariest and baddest gangsters this country has produced.” Coleman added that in the years they worked together, “we never had a cross word,” calling Williams “the most loyal man I’ve ever worked with,” and someone who “never, ever takes a backward step.”

But Coleman also warned that the type of journalism Williams practices is fading. “I genuinely fear that speaking truth to power—real power, criminal or political—is becoming a dying art,” he said. “I hope young journalists read this book and see why that work still matters.”

When Williams took the stage, he described Crooks 2 as a continuation of the world introduced in last year’s bestseller Crooks, but with greater focus on the personal cost to victims and families. “Journalists are conduits,” he said. “These stories belong to the people who lived them. I am honoured that they trusted me.”

He spoke emotionally about the Collins family, whose ordeal features prominently in the book. “I never in my life saw people go through what that family went through,” he said. “How they murdered his brother. How they burned down their businesses. How they came after them again and again. Every man, woman and child in Ireland loved the Collins family.”

According to the book’s own description, Crooks 2 opens with a church sex scandal and moves through major cases including the unmasking of an international drug trafficker, a criminal’s attempt to enter political life, Ireland’s longest gang war, and the greed revealed through the Anglo-Irish tapes. The sequel promises new detail on undercover operations, stings, stakeouts and the pressure cooker environment behind the headlines.

Closing the night, Williams said he hopes the book stands as a record of stories that might otherwise fade. “I won’t stand here and tell you how great I am,” he said, “because I’m not. But I will say this book is dedicated to the people who trusted me with their lives and their truths.”

Crooks 2 is now available in bookshops nationwide.

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