Welcome to Holmes vs. Moriarty

This blog is a compliment to a novel I am writing. Professor Moriarty is the main character and most of it is written in first person from his point of view. You will learn why Moriarty is the way he is.
Of the sixty Conan Doyle stories with Sherlock Holmes, only two mention Moriarty in detail. No one ever explains why Moriarty became what he became. He is just "the bad guy." Maybe Victorian Novels were just supposed to be that way, good vs. evil. I would like to delve deeper into this.

Is Moriarty just plain bad, or did something help to make him that way? I have Moriarty grow up as a victim of the Great Irish Potato Famine. He sees himself as an Irish patriot. As the book goes on, I want the reader to decide if his patriotism is real, or just a way to excuse his dirty deeds.