How devil’s advocate inspired Jim Sheridan’s next project (2024)

Jim Sheridan has defended his forthcoming documentary series about Giovanni Di Stefano, the controversial convicted fraudster who has been a legal adviser to clients such as John Gilligan, the Irish gangster, and the despots Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic.

The director of acclaimed films such as My Left Foot and The Field said he was attracted to Di Stefano as a subject because of his “charismatic, quicksilver” personality and described him as a “very interesting character”.

Sheridan and his film-making team bought the exclusive rights to a biography about Di Stefano, called The Devil’s Advocate after the fraudster’s nickname, which was written by his son Michael.

A TV series charting the rise and fall of the crime boss Gilligan recently drew the ire of politicians, civil society groups and the public, as well as members of the family of Veronica Guerin, the murdered journalist, for allegedly allowing him to attempt to whitewash periods of his life and his actions.

“I think it only gives him [Di Stefano] credibility and legitimacy if you don’t tell the full truth. The Gilligan thing was very edgy to me, I wasn’t sure of it at all. It’s always going to be very painful for the people who suffered because of him. It’s a very thin line to tread,” Sheridan said, when asked if his documentary risked rehabilitating Di Stefano’s public image.

Di Stefano, who has spent the majority of his life posing as a lawyer, was handed a 14-year prison sentence in the UK in 2013 after being convicted on numerous charges of deception, fraud and money laundering. He claims that the final four years of his sentence have been revoked by the Court of Appeal and that he was released earlier this year.

The Italian-born businessman forged a lucrative career and earned millions providing legal services to some of the world’s most notorious and barbaric criminals, along with dictators including Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic. He also represented Irish criminals such as John Gilligan and Patrick “Dutchy” Holland, and boasted of his friendships with Osama Bin Laden and the Serbian warlord Arkan.

“We’re in the early stages of it [the documentary],” Sheridan said. “It will be more personal but I think it will be trying to separate fact from fiction. If he was just a fella who represented all these bastards, it would be one thing. But being that and being a kind of storyteller, it’s just interesting.”

Di Stefano’s life was previously examined in a three-part Sky documentary series called Devil’s Advocate: The Mostly True Story of Giovanni Di Stefano. The bogus lawyer has previously expressed his disapproval of the series.

Sheridan said Di Stefano’s life was “mad” and his relationship with his mother was especially intriguing as she appeared to be a “no-nonsense person”. Asked whether he believed Di Stefano was a fantasist, Sheridan responded: “I’d say so, wouldn’t you?

“He represented Slobodan Milosevic. It’s nuts. I suppose somebody has to defend people like this but then you have to ask the people who are defending them, do they think they are doing right? And I will ask him that.”

Speaking to The Sunday Times last week, Di Stefano, 68, said that he would continue to provide legal services to those who asked for and required them. He maintained that he was a qualified lawyer and that he had been “well and truly stitched up” by the criminal justice system, but said that he bore “no grudges” against those who secured his prosecution.

“The man with the golden glasses is back,” he declared over a Zoom call, with a superimposed background of Boulevard Princesse Charlotte in Monte Carlo, where Di Stefano claims he has regained his former residence.

“If I’m not a proper qualified lawyer, what does that say to the proper qualified lawyers that have been defeated by me on some of the greatest cases in English history? Let people make up their own minds,” he added.

Di Stefano said Sheridan had been “brilliant” and “relaxed” to work with, and he had not insisted on any editorial input in determining the final shape the documentary would take.

“Mr Sheridan and Mr [Donal] McIntyre have a completely free hand, they can portray me exactly as they want to portray me based upon the filming and the evidence, and my conduct and how I behave. If they portray me as a fraudster then that’s up to them. I do not impose conditions on anybody,” said Di Stefano, who has Parkinson’s disease.

“In fact, let me tell you, there are some very uncomfortable parts in my private life because some of the documentary is based upon the book my son has written — and not all of the book is complimentary.”

Born in southern Italy, Di Stefano grew up and was educated in England. He said he was planning to make his own “docu-fiction” about Patrick “Dutchy” Holland, whom he regarded as a “dear friend”, which he said would take a sceptical look at the official account surrounding the circ*mstances of the criminal’s death.

Turning his attention to another former Irish client, the conman said that John Gilligan, who revealed in an interview with this paper that he is set to flee Spain, would be welcome to seek refuge with Di Stefano in southern Italy.

“I would open the door to anybody that’s in trouble, if I have space,” Di Stefano said, adding that, while he still had Gilligan’s number and continued to consider him a friend, there was “no need” for him to have any communication with his former client.

It has been reported that Di Stefano was certified as insane and transferred to the Central Mental Hospital in Ireland while serving a short sentence at Mountjoy prison for fraud in the 1970s. However, Di Stefano emphatically disputed this claim.

“That’s absolutely not true. That is not true at all . . . yet. But people may well say that what I’ve done and how I’ve done it may seem insane but for the time being, I am perfectly sane and always have been, to the best of my knowledge and to the standards of acceptable medical conditions. It didn’t ever happen,” he said.

Di Stefano also contemplated the Kinahan cartel and said he “would advise anyone” when asked whether he would be open to providing the group with legal counsel, again demonstrating that he had not been deterred in his willingness to leap to the defence of even the most high-profile of the current crop of most wanted gangsters.

“They’re boxing people. They are people who deal with sport and that. It is nonsense, utter drivel. So would I be [on the run] if I was on the wanted list without proper evidence. Who wouldn’t be on the run? But being on the run doesn’t necessarily mean that you are guilty,” Di Stefano said, arguing that warrants of extradition should have been issued before the Kinahans were placed on the US government’s most wanted list.

While Di Stefano was adamant that he was unconcerned with how any films might present his life and associations, he said what came first was ensuring that his family and close friends “know the truth” about him. However, convincing the wider public that his fraudster label has been unfairly applied continues to be his biggest challenge.

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