Ordinary Decent Criminal is a term used by An Garda Siochana, the police force of the Republic of Ireland, to distinguish criminals engaging in illegal practices for financial or personal ends from those who have terrorist goals.
The term was originally used to distinguish "regular" criminals from the IRA and other paramilitary groups in Ireland.
In Ireland the term is sometimes used to refer to criminals who refuse to deal with the drugs trade.
Famous quotes containing the words ordinary, decent and/or criminal:
“When the shrivelled skin of the ordinary is stuffed out with meaning, it satisfies the senses amazingly.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“Today everything is different. I can’t even get decent food. Right after I got here I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce and I got egg noodles and catsup. I’m an average nobody, I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.”
—Nicholas Pileggi, U.S. screenwriter, and Martin Scorsese. Henry Hill (Ray Liotta)
“A criminal trial is like a Russian novel: it starts with exasperating slowness as the characters are introduced to a jury, then there are complications in the form of minor witnesses, the protagonist finally appears and contradictions arise to produce drama, and finally as both jury and spectators grow weary and confused the pace quickens, reaching its climax in passionate final argument.”
—Clifford Irving (b. 1930)