Inside crime boss ‘Fat’ Andy Connors’ trophy home as it goes up for auction
Twenty years after the Criminal Assets Bureau first set their eyes on the trophy home of ‘Fat’ Andy Connors, The Villa is to go under the hammer at auction tomorrow.The slain leader of the Ireland’s most prolific burglary gang built a property folio worth millions before his gangland murder.The Villa was the jewel in the crown, an imposing mansion on the Blessington Road between Tallaght and Saggart in County Dublin.It had once been valued at €3 million and as CAB circled, Fat Andy managed to hold on to it in the teeth of a tax demand.Crime boss Fat Andy Connors’ property portfolio to go for auction after decades-long legal fight © Daragh KeanyBut the Bureau kept chasing Connors and the clan-based criminal network surrounding him, targeting properties under Proceeds of Crime legislation.The hunt for his ill-gotten gains continued after his assassination in August 2014 in which his widow became the focus of the investigation.A High Court order was secured in February 2017 against Ann Connors for €2,491,255 together with interest, at that stage, of €47,503.The sale of The Villa along with a terraced house in Cloonmore, Clondalkin, and a field in Slade Valley near Rathcoole will go towards paying off the outstanding bill.Ann Connors’ day-to-day money troubles were aired in a series of criminal appearances this year when she appeared in Dublin Circuit Court.‘Fat’ Andy Connors She had been charged with money laundering and then separately for claiming academic unemployment payments that she wasn’t entitled to.Only The Ranch, a bungalow near Saggart, remains in her possession, the home where her husband was shot in front of her by a masked assailant and passed away in her arms.The Villa is now a ghost house, boarded-up, the gates locked and blocked by a concrete barricade. Like Fat Andy’s property empire and his widow’s wealth, the house has deteriorated and is a shadow of its former self. It is unlikely the sales will clear Ann Connors’ tax debts.Ann Connors, the widow of Fat Andy Connors The reserve price for the properties have not been made available.It’s a far cry from the pinnacle of Fat Andy’s life and career as the financial controller of Ireland’s professional burglary gangs.He was entrusted with cash that was sunk into properties and investments that otherwise would not have been available to criminals more at home kicking in doors and ransacking houses and shops.Among his wide network of family and friends he was popular, known for his generosity which he showed at a young couple’s wedding celebration in Co Kildare shortly before he was shot.The esteem in which he was held was evident at his funeral which featured a gold-plated coffin and an ornate memorial at his final resting place in Gorey, Co Wexford.The Connors family’s loss is evident in anniversary posts on social media where they remember him fondly.Last year, Ann Connors wrote: “10 years gone today my lovely husband, things will never be the same. Things are worse instead of getting better.” “I love you from the bottom of my heart, if you were here you’d fix everything, until we meet again.” But to look through the family’s rose-tinted view of Fat Andy is to ignore the brutal reality of the burglary gangs who at times appeared as if they were running riot across of the country. The gang’s trademark modus operandi was to use stolen high-powered cars in ram raids on filling stations in the dead of night to clear out stocks of cigarettes. The gang would hit several targets on a single night, roaming right across Ireland from their west Dublin base to strike. Read moreWidow of slain gang boss ‘Fat’ Andy Connors dodges jail term for PUP fraud Gang members have targeted fibre optic cables to cut alarm systems, used GPs jammers to block mobile phones.They use bleach and gloves to try and hide any forensic trail they may leave behind at the scenes of crime.Electronic trackers have been placed by the gang on the cars of people running cash businesses to find out where they live and then break-in.They have also expanded their operations to the UK and Australia where their appearance has attracted media headlines more than once.While they did their best to avoid confrontations, their reckless approach put people’s lives at risk and raised the level of fear in in isolated rural areas.A perfect example how they operate was evidence in last year’s trial and conviction of Fat Andy’s brother William Connors.He was behind the while of high-powered Audi stolen in Dublin as gardaí pursued hm along with his son Larry Connors and nephews Larry O’Reilly and Michael Connors. It began as they rammed a standard patrol car on an early evening in April 2022 in rural Co Meath after neighbours raised the alarm who spotted two hooded men wearing ‘bumble-bee’ goggles coming from the property. Footage taken from the garda helicopter seen in court showed the Audi Q5’s high-speed dash along country roads and a section of the M4 motorway.‘Fat’ Andy Connors former home, The Villa, in Tallaght
There were a number of near misses, with drivers telling gardaí how they had to pull in to avoid collisions with a vehicle in which masked men were visible.The SUV also passed close to cyclists and pedestrians at high speeds.Arresting officers found fuel canisters, screwdrivers, a bottle of bleach, a torch, snoods and rocks used to break windows in the vehicle.A sledgehammer that was spotted being dumped from the car earlier was later recovered by officers.Read moreRelative of notorious criminal at centre of viral burglary gang crash pleads guiltyIt came to an end when Connors smashed into a roundabout, flipping it into a supermarket car park in a crash the men were lucky to survive. Connors got eight years while his son and two nephews were jailed for conspiracy to commit burglary.Underlining the gang’s international capabilities was the fact that the Audi had been previously stolen in London and brought into the country using cloned MN-reg plates.Before incident in connected with 17 burglaries in Northern Ireland, including one in which €250,000 of jewellery was stolen from an antiques dealer. Additionally, a fifth member of the gang was in custody in Australia at the time of the trial, where he was accused of burglary.Fat Andy has not been the only member of the crime clan in the sights of CAB which has been successful in seizing assets bought by other members of the gang. ‘Fat’ Andy Connors former home, The Villa, in Tallaght
The home of Fat Andy’s father, Paley Miley, at The Avenue, Belgards Heights, Tallaght, was sold off last year for €322,000. Another member of the gang, Patrick Wall, also had his seized house in Newbridge, Co Kildare and sold off this year by CAB for €246,000. Last year, Patrick O’Brien and his wife Margaret O’Brien lost a CAB case in which it was heard that $1 million had been sent back from Australia to buy land in south Dublin.Margaret had previously been named in 2010 CAB case targeted the Pale Miley gang in which €100,000 passed through bank accounts in her name.Read more‘Grandfather of crime’ ‘Pale’ Miley Connors’ Tallaght home finally up for saleIn 2021, a sister of Fat Andy’s, Elizabeth Wall, and her husband, John Wall, handed over five acres of land in Carlow and €130,000 in cash after they were targeted by CAB.The thrill of the chase and the prospect of hitting a jackpot made it as much a lifestyle as a means to make a living for Fat Andy Connors.Like his elderly father, he continued taking part in burglaries long after he no longer needed the money.One of the wreaths at his funeral read ‘Million Dollar Man’ but it was his role as an underworld banker and financier that probably cost him his life.He was pressing to collect money that had been due back to him but instead, it is suspected, a gunman connected to the INLA was hired to take out Fat Andy.Fat Andy’s years of criminal success or failure will be crystalised with the cold figures of the bids in tomorrow’s impersonal online auction.
