King Squealer: A True Story by Maurice O'Mahoney with Dan Wooding

King Squealer: A True Story by Maurice O'Mahoney with Dan Wooding
How this book was written by a veteran author, broadcaster and journalist, with his subject seated beside him with a .44 Magnum in his pocket

For Immediate Release
From Gonzo Multi Media
For more information, please contact
Jonathan Downs at jon@eclipse.co.uk 
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- It isn't often that a writer gets to co-author a book seated next to an infamous British armed robber who would turn up at his home each week carrying a .44 Magnum in his pocket.

Dan Wooding handcuffed to Maurice O;Mahoney and Rick Wakeman

But this is what happened to veteran author, broadcaster and journalist, Dan Wooding, 72, when he worked with Maurice O'Mahoney on King Squealer: A True Story, which has just been updated with many previously not seen photographs and published by Gonzo Multi Media in London, UK.
O'Mahoney was an infamous armed robber in London who became one of several British criminals in the 1970s who did the unthinkable - he "grassed" on his former criminal colleagues and joined the select group called "Supergrasses" who cooperated with the Metropolitan Police in the British capital.
"Because there was a contract out on his life, O'Mahoney always carried a .44 Magnum revolver for protection and also had a hammer in his car," explained Wooding. "It was quite an experience to have him arrive at my home each week with his Magnum tucked away in his pocket, and then proceed to tell me his extraordinary story.
"Fortunately," Wooding, the author of 45 books, added, "he was happy with what I was I wrote, so I was not in any danger, at least from him."

Book cover

Born in London, O'Mahoney was a criminal from the age of ten, and was personally involved in almost every type of crime known to man. Once he was caught by the police, he then shocked London's underworld by turning Queen's Evidence and informing on more than two hundred criminals who had been involved in crimes totaling more than two million pounds.
When the news came out that he was turning in so many villains, a £20,000 (about $32,000 USD) underworld 'contract' was issued on O'Mahoney, who once led one of London's most vicious gangs. He served part of his sentence in a London police station where, amazingly, he was allowed to have a TV, a record player, lots of alcohol in his cell as well conjectural visits from his partner. His son, Maurice O'Mahoney Jr., was actually conceived in that police cell.
"Once he was released, O'Mahoney was given armed police protection, and as I mentioned before, to stay alive, he armed himself with a .44 Magnum and carried a hammer in his car," said Wooding, who wrote the original book while working as a senior reporter with the Sunday People newspaper in London.
"He became a master of disguise, regularly changing his appearance -- sometimes bearded, other times clean shaven -- and he never kept the same car for long in case the number plate was discovered. He lived in constant fear that he would be tracked down and brutally killed."

O'Mahoney living it up at Chiswick Police Station

King Squealer: A True Story, is a unique book - a rare insight into the mind of a dangerous criminal- and also gives details of his extraordinary relationship with the Metropolitan Police. O'Mahoney faced a minimum of 20 years, but was sentenced eventually to 5 years and spent some of incarceration in a cell at Chiswick Police Station, where he partied his way on brandy and beer with his girlfriend, while he came up with the names of his former crime colleagues and then appeared in court to inform on them.
O'Mahoney's story was among those told in the BBC 2 TV program Supergrass, broadcast on March 7th, 2007, in which Dan Wooding appeared and shared about his most unusual time in writing this book with the man who he knew as "Mo".
Wooding shared on the BBC program that he almost lost his life after the first edition of the book came out.
"One night, I was in a Fleet Street bar called 'The Stab in the Back' when a Scotsman came in and asked one of the journalists to point me out," said Wooding. "Not realizing the danger I was in, he did so, and the man came over me with an angry look on his face, and told me that he had a huge knife in his car parked close by, and if I didn't reveal where O'Mahoney was, he would 'slit my throat from ear to ear'.

The BBC film crew with an original copy of King Squealer

"Trying to remain calm, I told him that I had no idea where he lived as he would never tell me and, for several very scary minutes, I kept talking (and silently praying) and finally, he fortunately accepted my explanation and then, to my amazement, opened up his wallet, brought out a ten pound note and told me to 'buy some drinks with it.' With that he was off into the night and I was able to live to see another day."
Rock keyboard legend, Rick Wakeman, provided a foreword to the book in which he said, "There have always been certain 'careers' that have fascinated the public, newspapers, and the media in general. Such include musicians, actors, sportsmen, police, and not surprisingly, the people who give the police their employment: The criminal.
"For the man in the street, all these careers have one thing in common: they are seemingly beyond both his reach and, in many cases, understanding and as such, his only association can be through the media of newspapers or television.
"The police, however, will always require the services of the grass, the squealer, the snitch, (call him what you will), in order to assist in their investigations and arrests; and amazingly, this is the area that seldom gets written about."
Wakeman added, "A very close and long standing friend of mine, a jolly Birmingham chap, by the name of Dan Wooding, who has since 1982 has lived in Southern California, 'Collared' the King of the Squealers and somehow got him to 'spill the beans'......all of them!
"I also met and knew 'the King Squealer' well, but his story remained a secret until Dan Wooding managed to persuade him to 'talk'.
"His story covers almost every emotion. Sad, serious and sometimes hysterically funny -- you cannot help but be fascinated by the extraordinary life of Maurice O'Mahoney - the King Squealer."
On the night before Wooding and his family moved to the United States back in 1982, both O'Mahoney and Wakeman turned up at his home to wish him and his family well. It was the last time that Wooding saw O'Mahoney, but has kept in regular touch with Rick Wakeman.
Since the first edition came out in the UK, Wooding has discovered that O'Mahoney died on September, 27, 2003, at the age of 54, from a massive heart attack in a small village in Northumberland.
However, while working on the revised edition of the book, Wooding managed to track down his son, Maurice O'Mahoney Jr., who provided a fascinating afterthought for the book.
In it, he wrote: "It may seem rather strange, but I am fortunate that my father turned into a Supergrass, as I would not be here today if he had not done so. You see, I am the result of one of the conjugal visits to Chiswick Police Station by my mother. I am not sure if too many people can say they started out in life in a police station.
"I am told that, after I was born, my father used to baby sit me in the cells, although I don't remember any of this. He told me later that he had many bottles of wines and spirits hidden in the cells and that 'there is probably a stash still there that hasn't been discovered by the police'".
He ended by saying, "I miss him dearly. He was my mentor, best friend -- and my dad!"
The revised book, which is the fourth that Wooding has brought out this year, was designed by Jonathan Downes, who according to Wooding, "did a brilliant job in capturing the spirit of this most amazing story that will answer many questions about that momentous era in British criminal history."
Wooding has made it clear that this is a book for those interested in the British crime scene and is "quite different" to his mainly Christian-themed books that he is mainly known for.
To order a copy of the book, please go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Squealer-Story-Dan-Wooding/dp/1908728353/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381092683&sr=1-2&keywords=King+Squealer
Dan Wooding has released two other books in the UK this year with Gonzo Multi Media. They are Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s, (foreword by Elton John) -- http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302 -- and Terry Dene: Britain's First Rock & Roll Rebel, (foreword by Marty Wilde) -- http://www.amazon.com/TERRY-DENE-Britains-first-rebel/dp/1908728329
Note: Dan Wooding says that Maurice O'Mahoney's son, has agreed to do some