TARMAC COD 'EM
Traveller Johnny Bottles in €2m-a-week con on our EU neighbours
IRELAND'S rogue traveller traders have sparked international fury with a €2 million-aweek dodgy tarmac racket.
A Sunday World investigation can reveal that crews from Rathkeale in Limerick have been touring Europe and fleecing householders out of cash for shoddy new driveways that only last a few days.
Our team tracked down one of the tarmac kings - Johnny 'Bottles' Sheridan - to Bergamo near Milan in northern Italy two weeks ago.
He had just charged an irate Italian €7,000 cash for tarmac work which began to disintegrate as soon as he fled with the money.
Up to 20 crews from Rathkeale are currently touring Europe trying to stay one step ahead of the law and their angry customers.
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TAR VERY MUCH
Travellers' Milan-easy pickings as they make millions fleecing Italians for driveway jobs
TODAY the Sunday World reveals how Ireland's multimillionaire traveller traders really make their money.
The infamous wheeler-and-dealers have cut a swathe through continental Europe where they have made millions fleecing unsuspecting property owners.
More than 20 tarmacadam crews are currently working in northern Italy making a staggering €2 million a week with sub standard driveway jobs.
The "asfaltari Irlandese" operate in a hit-and-run style making it hard for police to catch them if complaints are made by a disgruntled customer. And they have left a trail of irate and out of pocket householders all over Italy and France.
Each crew boss can take in €20,000 a day and as much as €120,000 on a good day, all the while keeping under the radar of local cops.
This week the Sunday World traced one Rathkeale traveller crew who were on the Italian Job. They were operating in and around
the historic town of Bergamo, just under an hour's drive from Milan and close to the foothills of the Alps.
Business was drummed up by going door-to-door offering to carry out tarmac work at bargain basement prices. Language is no barrier for the Rathkeale operators who are quick to pick up basic language skills in any country where they work.
The picturesque town of Bergamo features many stunning hillside properties with long unpaved driveways, making perfect pickings for the unscrupulous traders.
One man who hired the crew last Monday told the Sunday World told how the travellers' front man explained they had tarmac left over from a motorway job they had being doing.
The ploy is well-worn spiel used by the Rathkealers in every country in which they work, including in Ireland. Speaking through our interpreter the Italian householder explained how he had paid €7,000 for the work which was done in just four hours.
Wrong
"At first they seemed pretty good but then things started to go a bit wrong. I began to think it was strange to do this kind of work in winter," he said.
The unfortunate householder said because they were Irish he felt the work crew could be trusted.
He said the work seemed to be of a good standard and he paid up, although he admitted he felt he was overcharged after initially
agreeing a price of €20 per metre.
"When they finished they wanted cash. They were very insistent they wanted cash but in they end they accepted two cheques," he said.
Both cheques were drawn down by the following day.
The customer said the crew had no mobile phone number or any kind of business card.
He recognised Rathkealer, Johnny 'Bottles' Sheridan from photographs as being among the group of 13 workers. Although the customer said he was happy with the job, it is obvious is has not been sealed properly. Cement dust was spread over some sections in a bid to disguise gaps and shoddy work.
It was one of four jobs carried out by his crew that day for which they charged between €4,000 and €7,500.
Johnny 'Bottles' Sheridan, with his crew of Irish and Polish workers and his three sons, also worked around Milan and the surrounding area last summer.
Stories of the road crews' exploits were swapped when the millionaire travellertraders gathered in the Limerick town of Rathkeale this Christmas. They returned home in a stunning convoy of over 200 brand new motors.
The frontman of the operation is Johnny Bottles' son Patrick, known as Paper Face who is skilled at finding customers, according to a Sunday World source in Limerick.
Also part of the crew are his two sons Shane and teenager Johnny junior who operate three tarmac trucks and transport their workers in the back of a Ford Transit.
Despite the 40C heat of summer Bottles' workers were praised for their fast work by their Italian customers who paid in and cash and gave the labourers gifts of beer and whiskey. Little did the customers know that the crews work fast so they can get going before any upset punters realise they haven't done the job at all.
Within days the 'tarmac' cover dries out leaving behind nothing but a layer of raked stones. Jobs ranged from €3,500 to €75,000
for a car park all over wealthy northern Italy.
In one week alone in the June, Johnny Bottles' crew took in a staggering €190,000 in cash, according to sources in Rathkeale. But one job at a convent near Milan quickly went wrong.
Hapless
The Carabinieri were called in when the €75,000 bill being demanded by the travellers was called into question by the customer.
However, as far as the police were concerned the job looked perfect and they told the hapless victim he had to pay up. Within days the thin layer of tarmac had come apart and Johnny Bottles had fled the area along with his crew.
In a series of midnight phone calls they were roused from sleep and told to get on the road to Genoa 200 kilometres south.
However, down south things didn't go smoothly either where the entire crew and their fleet of vehicles were escorted to the local police station. It took several hours but Johnny Bottles persuaded the Italian cops he was a lowly illiterate labourer. He was eventually sent on his way.
The crew had worked their way through Europe with jobs going well in Poland until two of the workers were arrested and a traveller had a gun put to his head by an irate property owner.
There were jobs in Germany, Holland and Austria but the travellers and their crew feared the heavy-handed tactics of the French police and steered clear. One common tactic used by the Rathkealers is to use a builders' tape measure with a ten-metre section cut out of the middle and stuck back together.
The customer is shown the tape when the area to be covered in tarmac is measured and a price agreed. Tarmac material was bought from quarries all over Italy with up to €20,000 being spent in cash in one day.
A 20-tonne load in Italy usually cost Bottles' drivers €2,000, always paid in cash.
Customers' cheques are cashed by non-traveller members of the crew some of whom have also been ordered to open bank accounts.
One of the workers is usually asked to pose as the boss of the operation and given a flash car to drive. Despite the occasional setbacks with angry customers and police Johnny Bottles and his sons make good money.
Luckily for his workers Bottles is regarded as one of the better bosses, buying food for his workers and paying part of their nightly hotel bills.
But others have a reputation for intimidation and refusing to pay the wages, treating workers badly. Little of their money is kept in banks with the women being sent back to Ireland every few weeks carrying the cash in the hand luggage.
The travellers prefer to keep their distance from their non-traveller workers usually staying at campsites in large groups with their wives and family. The Sunday World has learned from sources in Rathkeale that there are more than 20 similar crews working all over Europe but mostly in northern Italy at the moment.
Last summer another Rathkeale crew got into trouble when they approached the Immaculate Missionary Sisters in Monza on the outskirts of Milan.
Authorities
Tarmac in Monza is usually associated with the Formula One Grand Prix. The nuns sensed something was up when the travellers approached offering to tarmac the driveways for free. Instead the nuns suggested they tarmac an area in front of their gates owned by the local authorities.
When they job was over the crew demanded €5,000 for the work they had originally said they would do for free. The sisters put the travellers off, saying they would have the money the next day.
Instead they contacted local police and one officer dressed up as priest and waited for the travellers to return. When they came back looking for cash the trap was sprung and two men were arrested. They were later bailed and have since disappeared.
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