Mr. Tony Hickey:

Some of the main people - I will not name them here - were in prison, but they cannot remain locked up forever. A kind of myth is generated about people who are never caught. From my experience of dealing with crime and criminals, I know they say we will not catch them for everything they do but we will for part of it. At any given time, people involved in crime will serve prison sentences. Members will know from the media that in general any person who is charged with a serious crime will have his previous convictions outlined in the courts. These run into dozens, sometimes even 50 or 60, which means action is taken. Ironically, they make contacts in prison. Some of the major gang members in this country met each other for the first time in prison, although that is not an Irish phenomenon. When South American criminals first came to Spain and engaged in cocaine smuggling they met Spanish cigarette smugglers in prison and many of the major routes from South America to the coast of Spain were set up in that way. It is all very difficult and it is hard to take anything in isolation.