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Tragic brothers were stabbed to death
The man who killed his two brothers before taking his own life this week was out on bail for an offence involving a knife.

21 year-old Jonathan O'Driscoll appeared in court two days before he stabbed his twin brothers to death and then taking his own life.

O'Driscoll appeared in court on Tuesday charged with possessing a knife and failing to provide gardai with a breath specimen.

He was bailed to re-appear before the court having been arrested in Mallow, Co. Cork in February.

On Thursday evening he stabbed nine year-old twins Patrick and Thomas O'Driscoll to death at their home in Charleville. His body was later found fifteen kilometres away.

O'Driscoll had no criminal convictions and is said to have doted on the twins. Gardai do not know why he killed his brothers and his devastated family have said they forgive him for his actions.

DonMega

You're posting stuff that doesn't have anything to do with organized crime!

ThESE are the three women who helped to destroy the infamous McCarthy-Dundon gang enjoying themselves at a gay pride festival.


'Our hearts are broken'

Weevils force recall of Dunnes Stores rice
Royals should not be invited to Rising events, says Hanafin
Alice Collins was joined by her daughters April and Lisa at the event in Limerick city last weekend, and the three looked like they did not have a care in the world as they happily posed for photos flanked by friends and family.

vengeful

Outside observers would have had no clue that the three smiling women are under constant watch by armed gardai in case they are attacked by vengeful associates of gangster brothers Wayne and John Dundon who are serving life sentences, partly because of the women's evidence.

The Dundon gang imploded in 2011 when Ger Dundon broke up from April Collins while he was serving a sentence after she began a relationship with convicted rapist Thomas O' Neill.

This led Wayne and John Dundon to issue death threats against her.

Fearing she was going to be murdered, she sought protection from the gardai and made a series of statements implicating Wayne and John Dundon in murder. Her decision prompted others, including family members, to do likewise.

Among them were Lisa Collins, April's sister; their brother Gareth; and Dundon's cousins Christopher McCarthy and Anthony McCarthy.

Wayne Dundon and his sidekick Nathan Killeen were convicted in July of the murder of innocent man Roy Collins in 2010.

Lisa Collins gave evidence that on the day of the murder Killeen said he was going up to the Steering Wheel pub to shoot Steve Collins.

After the murder, Lisa saw Killeen running with his accomplice James Dillon behind him while there were "guards all over the place".

The court heard that Killeen jumped over a wall while Dillon ran past her.

Lisa told the Special Criminal Court that the two men later came back to the house and changed their clothes, and she thought she put the clothes in the washing machine.

April's evidence against John Dundon resulted in him being found guilty of the murder of rugby player Shane Geoghegan who was shot dead by Dublin hitman Barry Doyle in November 2009 in a case of mistaken identity.

April was the chief state witness in the trial of John Dundon, during which she admitted witnessing him ordering the hit on the intended target, Dundon rival John McNamara, less than 48 hours before Shane Geoghegan's death.

trapped

Her sister, Lisa, corroborated her evidence. She too had been present during this discussion.

April Collins revealed that both Gerard and John Dundon had beaten her on occasion and that Gerard had once trapped her in Spain for months after taking her passport.

"I dread these people," she told the court at one point.

Lisa and April's mother Alice Collins also played her part in getting Wayne and John Dundon locked up when she told gardai about chilling threats the brothers made against her in 2010.

A CLOSE female associate of gang boss Paschal Kelly has been busted by gardai with €150,000 worth of heroin in a raid in west Dublin.


Weevils force recall of Dunnes Stores rice
Royals should not be invited to Rising events, says Hanafin
The woman, in her early 50s, was still being detained at Clondalkin Garda Station last night after drugs officers stormed a house in Ballyfermot.

Sources say that the woman has "very close connections" to Kelly, who is believed to be hiding out in Spain where he is on the run from gardai, the PSNI and rival gangsters.

Wednesday night's raid in the Kylemore area happened after a detailed surveillance operation by detectives from the Clondalkin garda drugs unit.

Sources say that another target for gardai is a 24-year-old local man who is well-known to the arrested woman and has a number of previous convictions for offences including assault.

He was not arrested as part of the operation, but like the older woman is said to have close connections to Kelly, the 49-year-old gangster who is considered one the most dangerous criminals in the State.

Kelly is a senior member of the gang that gardai believe killed Real IRA chief Alan Ryan on September 3, 2012, and is believed to be under death threat from the IRA.

Close associates of the gangster were involved in a separate feud in the Edenmore area of Dublin's northside earlier this year.

That dispute led to a young man being viciously attacked and officially warned by gardai about an active threat on his life.

In February, Kelly's Co Cavan home was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

He bought the bungalow in 2004 for €190,000 but it is now estimated to worth between €250,000 and €275,000.

Earlier this year, Kelly was described by an officer from the bureau in the High Court as playing a leading role in an organised criminal gang.

criminal

Kelly was not in the High Court to hear that he must also forfeit a 4x4 vehicle, €11,000 from the sale of another car, and around €3,000 in cash seized from the house, Hillview, Cormeen, Castlerahan, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan.

Kelly was described in court as having links to a tiger kidnapping gang.

The Herald previously revealed that he has been hiding out in rural Spain after getting bail in Northern Ireland last October where he was facing money laundering charges.

Sources say that he ripped off electronic tags that had been placed on him and used a disguise to get out of the country.

The High Court heard evidence from CAB that Kelly had 42 previous convictions, including robbing a travel agents, a crime for which he received ten years imprisonment.

He had links with criminal associates and there was evidence he plays a "leading role in an organised criminal gang", the judge said.

The court also heard Kelly and his associates had access to a large number of vehicles which he drove using a general car dealer's garage insurance policy, even though he has no record of involvement in the motor trade.

A MAJOR garda presence will be in place tomorrow afternoon for a commemoration event to mark t he second anniversary of the murder of Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan.


Weevils force recall of Dunnes Stores rice
Royals should not be invited to Rising events, says Hanafin
Associates and pals of Ryan will be watched by members of the Special Detective Unit as well as uniformed gardai when they meet at Ryan's family home in Grange Abbey Drive, Donaghmede, at 3pm.

They are expected to then march to Ryan's grave in Balgriffin Cemetery where well-known Republican Francis Mackey is due to deliver an oration.

tensions

Sources say that tensions remain high in north Dublin after Ryan's local church was defaced with two messages which threatened his younger brother, Vinny. Meanwhile, blood-red graffiti reading "Alan Ryan rot in hell" was sprayed on a wall within the grounds.

The vandalism happened at the Holy Trinity Church in Donaghmede where Ryan's funeral took place followed by a paramiltary-style procession to the cemetery.

It is suspected that the gang who had Ryan murdered carried out the attack on the church. The same mob are suspected of attacking Ryan's grave last year ahead of the first anniversary of his death.

Red spray paint was used to vandalise the grave with the insult "Rat Scum" painted on the headstone. Family keepsakes and small memorials were also defaced.

The grave has not been targeted this week.

Mackey, who will give the main graveside speech tomorrow, is the chairperson of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.

In April of last year, he spoke at a commemoration for Real IRA member Ronan McLoughlin who was shot dead by gardai as he tried to flee a botched raid on a Securicor van near Ashford, Co Wicklow, in 1998.

reckless

On that occasion, he said: "Like any revolutionary struggle the greatest dangers always come from within.

"There are those dangers which the enemy foster and those dangers we foster ourselves through ill-discipline and reckless recruitment.

"This struggle requires those who can contribute to its advancement. It does not need those who would use the struggle for their own ends.

"The entry bar must be set higher, recent events demand it."

Yesterday, some of Ryan's family members took to their Facebook accounts to pay tribute to him, including his brother Eoin who said: "Time goes by but every time I'm stuck in a moment of memory that I carry with me, cherished, inspired, remembered.

"Your flame is now my fire."

Gardai struck a major blow against organised crime in the capital last night after making separate drugs and firearms seizures.


At 6.30pm a 36-year-old Clondalkin man was arrested in a green area at Newlands Road in Lucan.

When searched he was found to have two handguns and a small quantity of cocaine.

The suspect, who is from the St Ronan's estate, was arrested and was being questioned at Ronanstown Garda Station today.

The arrested man does not have much in the way of previous convictions and it is believed that he was working for a gang based in the Clondalkin area.

Sources said that gardai are satisfied that he was not on the way to carry out a shooting at the time of his arrest.

It is instead believed that he was transferring the weapons on behalf of the gang.

It is believed that officers may have received a tip-off before they pounced on the suspect.

Gardai are monitoring a number of separate feuds in the Clondalkin and Ronanstown localities and it is understood that the arrested man is linked to one of the feuding gangs.

The second operation was carried out by the garda's Organised Crime Unit and it involved the seizure of €150,000 worth of cannabis in two busts and the arrests of a woman in her 20s and a man in his 30s.

A garda spokesman said: "Cannabis with an estimated street value of €60,000 was seized when gardaí stopped and searched a car on the N7, Clondalkin, yesterday evening.

"A male aged in his 30s was arrested at the scene and detained at Clondalkin Garda Station.

"Later, during a follow-up operation, cannabis with an estimated street value of €90,000 was seized at a house in Baldoyle. A female aged in her 20s was arrested at the scene and detained at Coolock Garda Station.

"Both remain in Garda custody this morning at Clondalkin and Coolock Garda Stations. They can be detained for up to seven days."

Surveillance

It is understood that the drugs seizure happened after a detailed surveillance operation and investigations were still being carried out today.

Meanwhile, gardai have also disclosed that in Co Donegal, officers from Milford and the Divisional Drug Unit and Crime Unit, based in Letterkenny, discovered 321 cannabis plants with an approximate street value of €128,000 during a search on a house at Maherwarden, Portsalon, yesterday.

A 28-year-old man was arrested and is being detained at Letterkenny Garda Station.

This raid was on one of almost half a dozen grow houses which have been busted by gardai in the past ten days.

Sources have confirmed that there is no link between yesterday's three operations.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/alan-ryan-rot-hell-hateful-4157373

Alan Ryan rot in hell': Hateful graffiti daubed on walls of church near home of slain RIRA boss.

A hateful message to slain RIRA boss Alan Ryan has been daubed on the grounds of his local church on the week of the second anniversary of his brutal murder.

The blood-red graffiti, which reads "Alan Ryan rot in hell", was spotted on the side of the Holy Trinity Church in Donaghmede, north Dublin today.

The words could fan the flames of an embittered Dublin gang war that has been waged on Irish streets over the past few years.

It comes just over a month after Paul Gallagher, arrested on suspicion of withholding information about Ryan's killing and suspected of sourcing the car for the assassination, was found shot dead in a field in Co Meath.

In April of this year, Ryan's surviving gang members were placed in protection in prison following the murder of Ryan’s former right hand man Deccy Smith.

Smith, 31, was blasted in the face in March after he had dropped his toddler son off at the Little Rainbow’s Creche at Holywell Avenue in Donaghmede.

Earlier this year it was claimed the slain gangster was gunned down in revenge for setting up the hit on Ryan.

The pair were involved in a major bust up two days before the RIRA boss was slain as part of a dispute with drug dealers on September 5, 2012 as he walked near his home in north Dublin.



At the 32-year-old’s funeral gunshots were fired over his coffin at his home before masked dissidents escorted his remains to the grave, which sparked a public outcry.

17 people including Ryan’s four brothers were arrested days later. Then Justice Minister Alan Shatter described the funeral display as “reprehensible and absolutely unacceptable”.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/c...-in-getaway-car

Hatchet’ Kavanagh’s killers left murder weapons in getaway car.

Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh’s killers left their murder weapons in the getaway car they torched near the scene of the horrific crime.

The gunmen doused their stolen BMW X3 in petrol before setting it alight outside a supermarket a five minute drive from the Costa del Sol pub where they ambushed the Irish gangster on Saturday.

Firefighters were on the scene within minutes but the blaze gutted the vehicle.

Police - bound by a secrecy order imposed on the case by an investigating judge - made no official comment on the find today.

It was not clear if officers had been able to recover any fingerprint evidence from the weapons or what state the firearms were in.

Convicted drug dealer Kavanagh, an enforcer for the Kinahan family, was shot dead as he enjoyed a drink outside Harmons Irish Bar in Elviria near Marbella just before 5pm on Saturday.

His masked killers hit him in the arm, back and head as he tried to run inside the bar to safety - before delivering a final “make-sure” shot to his temple after he collapsed in a pool of blood inside the doorway.

One of the shooters - seen by witnesses before they put masks on - was described as blond and the other as bald and fat.

Detectives are investigating if the horror incident is linked to the shooting last month of retired British boxer Jamie Moore (35) near the Costa del Sol resort of Estepona.

The Sky pundit is thought to have been the victim of mistaken identity.

Kavanagh (44) is said to have been involved in disputes with Russian mafia and a Dutch drugs gang.

Garda sources have also implicated him in a EUROS 1.5 million dispute involving Christie Kinahan and an Irish gangster

Gangland bosses are said to have held ‘crime summits’ in Dublin and Spain in the past 48 hours to plot a revenge attack for Kavanagh’s killing.

Local Spanish politicians are demanding the country’s Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez appears before Spain’s Parliament to explain what the government is doing to tackle the increase in organised crime on the Costa del Sol.

Four men have now been killed this year and two more injured in suspected gangland-linked shootings on the Costa del Sol.

Four of the six shootings, including Kavanagh’s, have occurred in the province of Marbella.

One of the most horrific took place in February when an Algerian-born Frenchman was shot to death on a motorway bridge in Marbella while he drove his three children to school.

A woman flagged down his car before a male accomplice shot him.

The pair fled after seeing his children aged 10, nine and three cowering in the back of the bar with shards of glass over them.

On August 28 a Moroccan man was killed as he left a bar near the home of former England manager Fabio Capello in Benahavis a short drive from Marbella.

NOW READ: Witnesses to ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh’s murder tell of “horrific” blood-soaked scene

http://www.herald.ie/news/poverty-sex-an...e-30517166.html

Poverty, Sex and crime - Cahill's manic life led HIM to an early grave.

BY LUKE BYRNE AND KEN FOY – 19 AUGUST 2014 02:30 PM

THE General's life followed a trajectory that led from a desperately poor upbringing, to a career of violent crime and an ultimate early grave.

Martin Cahill was born to poverty in 1949, the second child of Agnes and father Patrick who lived in Dublin's inner city.

Patrick worked as a labourer and would frequently come home drunk - behaviour that influenced Cahill to remain alcohol-free for his adult life.

It has been claimed that seeing his father work hard and still struggle to provide for his family influenced Cahill's decision to pursue a life of crime.

The young criminal, known for his outlandish outbursts, married Frances Lawless when she was just 16.

He was also involved in a relationship with her sister Tina, and he fathered nine children with both women - five with Frances and four with her sister. Frances has previously spoken about how the three would share a bed on occasion.

"It is a strange subject. It is just something that we never discuss in front of anyone else. I know they made it out like we shared the bed with Martin all the time. It wasn't like that," she said.

GANGSTER

Frances has spoken about how she and Tina dressed identically and sported the same hairstyles.

In 2007, the gangster's daughter, also named Frances, released a book in which she claimed that he was a strict father who never raised a hand to his children.

She described her parents as a "happy couple" who rarely fought and remembered her dad kissing her goodnight then leaving their house with his gloves and torch to raid the homes of other sleeping families.

In her book, she also claimed that Cahill once prevented the kidnapping of one of Bono's children.

The claim, which was challenged by one garda who investigated Cahill, was that he stopped a plan to kidnap Bono's daughter Jordan and hold her to ransom for €6m.

Cahill's criminal pedigree is still as relevant today as it was 20 years ago. 'The General' was the uncle of notorious criminal Alan Wilson who was cleared last month of the gruesome murder of Marioara Rostas.

Wilson is serving a seven-year sentence imposed for his role in a meat cleaver attack.

Alan's dad John Cahill is the older brother of The General and John was a key member of his brother's armed robbery mob in the 1970s and 1980s.

However it is understood that John has now turned his back on crime.

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Three women abducted by armed, masked men from their home in Dublin
Thursday 25th September 2014
● NEWSBy Shuki Byrne
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Gardai fired a number of shots at the scene
Gardai fired a number of shots at the scene
Three females in north Dublin were last night abducted from their home in Malahide by a gang, gardai have said.

The incident began in the early hours of this morning when the three females, believed to be the postmistresss, her daughter and an Italian student, were abducted from their home in Malahide by masked men.

From there they were driven to the Post Office at Bayside, Sutton, by three armed and masked men. The raiders left the Post Office with an undisclosed sum of money - thought to be in the region of €85,000 - in a dark coloured car.

During the course of the morning, Gardaí became aware of the incident and a comprehensive response team was put in place involving both local and national units.

Members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) assisted by other Garda units intercepted a car on the Malahide Road. The raiders crashed the vehicle and fled on foot.

It's understood the gang crashed the car near Malahide Park and some of the suspects fled into the grounds of Malahide Castle.

One man in his early 20s was arrested at the scene and an amount of cash recovered from the car. A number of shots were discharged by Gardaí at this scene.

The three females were uninjured but have been through a traumatic experience, gardai said.

They said they are still searching for two men involved in the abduction and robbery.

A man in his late 40s/early 50s, with grey white hair and a chubby build, 5'10 in height and wearing dark leggings and a dark top is being sought.

The other individual, a man in his late 40s/ early 50s, also of a chubby build, with dark grey hair, wearing blue runners with a green stripe top is also being sought.

It is understood one large bag of cash was recovered following the dramatic interception.

Both men spoke with Dublin accents, gardai added.

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Pathologists do not have enough resources to exhume the body of a man killed during a controversial military operation in Northern Ireland over 40 years ago, a coroner's court has heard.

Joseph Murphy was among 10 people gunned down in west Belfast during three days of shootings involving the Parachute Regiment in 1971.

His family have called for the exhumation to ascertain if a bullet was left inside his body after autopsy.

Coroner Jim Kitson told a preliminary hearing in Belfast that resources were limited.

He said: "State pathology told us they do not have the capacity to do that at this stage in time."

The criteria under which a coroner can order an exhumation is more strict in Northern Ireland than in England, the court heard.

Mr Kitson has requested written submissions from legal representatives for the Murphy family before he makes a final decision.

Sean Doran, counsel for the Coroner's Service said: "On receipt of that material the coroner can then proceed to rule on that matter."

Barrister Laura McMahon, acting for the Murphy family, said they had found evidence as a "result of their own investigations" which may influence the coroner's decision.

Mr Murphy survived for 13 days after being shot but his family believe a soldier fired a second bullet through an open gunshot wound while he was in Army custody.

The court heard that the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) which carried out a review of the case; lawyers for Mr Murphy's next of kin and the Coroner's Service had failed to locate medical notes and records detailing his stay at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Mr Doran added: "The response from the [Belfast] Trust dated August 25 is that there are none.

"That line of inquiry has been exhausted."

A priest and a mother of eight were among the civilians shot dead by the soldiers during the episode, now widely referred to as the Ballymurphy Massacre.

An 11th person who is not covered by the inquest proceedings, died of a heart attack after an alleged violent confrontation involving soldiers.

In 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron apologised for the actions of the paratroopers on Bloody Sunday after a long-running public inquiry by Lord Saville found the shootings had been unjustified, as the victims posed no threat.

But, in 2012 the Government rejected calls for a probe - on a smaller scale - into the events in Ballymurphy, insisting it was not in the public interest.

The coroner's court also heard about delays in handing over sensitive police and military material to the families' legal teams.

Even though there are only 20 short documents, Peter Coll, representing the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Ministry of Defence could not give a definitive timescale for disclosure.

He said:"The sensitive materials in this case are not voluminous. This is not the only inquest that the unit within the PSNI have to deal with. That's not something I say lightly, that's just the reality."

Among the documents deemed relevant to the inquest are 33 folders of evidence resulting from the HET review as well as three lever arch files of non sensitive military material such as contemporaneous logs, records and reports.

Barrister Sean Devine, who is representing the family of victim John Kerr, raised concerns that by not dedicating resources, the UK State was failing to live up to human rights obligations.

Mr Kitson demanded an update on the disclosure process by November 7, at the latest.

He said: "If this particular case is somewhere in a queue I would need to know.

The coroner added: "I am as anxious as anybody else that this case proceeds as expeditiously as possible."

Another preliminary hearing has been scheduled for November 24.

Speaking afterwards, John Teggart whose father Danny was shot 14 times, said they hoped the MoD would not slow down the disclosure of documents.

He said: "The families are happy the way things went today.

"There is steady progress. We hope the MoD will not be dragging their feet with the disclosure of all documents and coroner Jim Kitson will keep them on track of the work ahead."

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70-year-old skipper
70-year-old skipper

A pensioner skippered a yacht across the Atlantic Ocean packed with more than €125m worth of cocaine bound for the north of England, it has emerged.

The 70-year-old British suspect was arrested onboard the 60ft Makayabella along with two other men, aged 35 and 28, during an overnight operation by armed Irish Navy teams which took them by surprise.

All three are from West Yorkshire, where police have arrested two other men - aged 45 and 47 - while a sixth man is being hunted on suspicion of involvement in a massive drugs smuggling operation.

The yacht has been tracked by authorities in several countries as it left Venezuela, stopping off in Trinidad, before being stormed by an elite Navy squad 200 nautical miles off Mizen Head - Ireland's most southerly point - in the early hours of Tuesday morning.



Another man arrested in connection with the seizure

Security sources said the plot involved landing the consignment on the North Wales coast.

The smugglers are believed to have planned to transfer the cocaine onto a smaller boat at sea before ferrying the illegal cargo to shore, a well used tactic of international drug traffickers known as coopering.

It is understood the seizure, one of the biggest on the seas this year, was so large the suspects were forced to use bales of cocaine as makeshift furniture for the weeks-long transatlantic voyage.

Under armed guard today, the one tonne haul was offloaded from the yacht onto the docks at Haulbowline naval base in Cork harbour, where it was towed to last night.

John O'Mahony, assistant commissioner of the Garda, said the interception would deliver a serious blow to drugs cartels operating in Britain, Europe and South America.

"The cost of putting an operation like this together for the organised crime gangs is significant," he said

"That money has been taken out of circulation, but more importantly the drugs are taken out of circulation."

Initial analysis of a sample of the drugs at the force's forensic laboratory in Dublin confirmed it was cut cocaine, but further tests are needed to establish its purity, which will confirm the street value.

British police have estimated it is worth more than €125million.


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Unloading the cocaine in Cork

During the tense late night sea raid, two Navy teams set off from a major coastal patrol vessel the LE Niamh on smaller inflatable boats, armed with pistols and batons.

They surrounded and illuminated the charter yacht Makayabella, making sure the consignment was not dumped overboard.

"It was a particularly dark night," said Captain David Barry of the Irish Navy.

"We believe they had no idea we were there until we were actually on board."

The crew were said to be in reasonably good condition for being at sea for so long, and were literally sitting on the bales of cocaine when they were intercepted.

They put up no resistance and no arms have been yet found on board.



A third man believed to be involved in the smuggling operation

The yacht was in reasonable condition but the sails had been damaged and it had developed engine problems.

It had to be towed by the naval ship LE Roisin, which was providing support, into Cork harbour in what was described as a challenging operation in decent weather.

The three Britons arrested on board the vessel are being questioned at Bridewell Garda Station in Cork under drug trafficking laws. They can be held for seven days.

The 70-year-old skipper is believed to have been an experienced sailor.

The UK National Crime Agency, French and Venezuelan authorities as well as the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre based in Lisbon were all involved in the international effort.

Security sources in Britain believe the consignment was destined for the north of England.

Details of the naval operation were kept secret for more than a day-and-a-half.

The National Crime Agency confirmed a 43-year-old man had been arrested in the Leeds area.

He was detained in the early hours of yesterday on suspicion of conspiring to import Class A drugs in an operation assisted by officers from West Yorkshire Police. He was subsequently bailed until January.

Earlier, today a 47-year-old man from Leeds was arrested also arrested and is being questioned at a police station in the West Yorkshire area.

Detectives said they are still seeking another individual from the area.

Hank Cole, Head of International Operations for the National Crime Agency, said the investigation is ongoing.

"Thanks to the co-operation between the NCA and our Irish, French and Venezuelan colleagues, we have managed to prevent this cocaine reaching our streets and causing damage to communities," he said.

"I pay tribute to all those involved."

The passage around the south-west coast of Ireland has been well used in recent times by drugs smugglers bringing shipments from South America and Africa into Europe.

Authorities describe it as the western frontier of Europe.

In 2007, a record €440 million of cocaine was seized in Dunlough Bay in west Cork when a UK gang botched an attempt to bring the massive haul ashore on a smaller boat and capsized in rough weather.

Most of the group, including two Englishmen, were arrested in follow-up operations and eventually given lengthy prison sentences.

Just a year later, a €400 million haul was intercepted on the Dances With Waves yacht about 150 miles off Mizen Head.

Three British men on board were later jailed for 10 years each for their part in the plot.

The mastermind, John Alan Brooks, was jailed for 28 years for the plot to bring the massive haul to England from Venezuela.

The cold image of a gun victim’s x-ray is a grim reminder of the pain and suffering caused by Ireland’s underworld.


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Gangsters tooled up with automatic handguns or sawed-off shotguns think only of exacting revenge or doing their boss’s bidding.

When the bullets or pellets smash into flesh and bone, causing horrific injuries, the gunmen have no concern for the hospital staff who have to deal with the aftermath, often carrying out emergency procedures to save a life.

A recent survey of gunshot wounds treated at the James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown, west Dublin, set about establishing the impact they have on the hospital’s resources.

Taken from 2001 until 2010, they found 65 shooting victims were treated, 15 of whom died or were already dead on arrival.

But what the survey doesn’t say is that the start of the period covered coincided with the heyday of the Westies gang in west Dublin.

Led by Shane Coates and Stephen Suggs, the young hoods created havoc in the early noughties until they themselves were murdered and buried in Spain.

Violent feuding between gangs in Finglas on Dublin’s northside also accounted for several shootings and hospital staff had to treat the injured.

They also had to X-ray bodies for legal and ballistic reasons and to aid the task of retrieving the bullets from a dead victim’s body.

One of those who fell to a gangland assassin was Bernard Suggs, brother of Stephen, who was shot dead in the Brookwood Inn pub in the Corduff area of Blanchardstown, in August 2003.

CCTV footage of the killing showed three men in balaclavas going in to the crowded pub.

Suggs tried to escape by running through the pub towards an exit, with one of his killers pursuing him, firing at him as he fled and hitting him twice in the chest.

Although a minor player, Suggs was executed because of his brother, whose violent criminal career had created a lot of enemies.

Gardai found nine 9mm bullet casings in the pub, a type of ammunition that has been far more lethal than that used by shotguns.

The researchers at James Connolly found that 43 per cent of those shot with high-velocity bullets died, compared to just six per cent of those blasted with shotguns.

Just months after Suggs died, another associate, Jason Tolan, died from a gunshot wound, although in his case he was one of the six people who died from shotgun wounds covered by the study.

He had been shot in the leg by an attacker, later convicted of manslaughter, who had wanted to injure but not to kill him.

However, Tolan bled to death in a field before his body was discovered.

One of the saddest cases that researchers would have examined was the killing of teenage schoolboy Sumbo Owoiya in 2007.

In a subsequent trial, it would emerge the youngster was shot after a girl made false rape allegations against a completely different person.

Unfortunately, a man with criminal connections was drafted in to ‘sort out’ the situation and this resulted in innocent Owoiya being shot in the stomach.

Gang violence also heaped tragedy on another family when two brothers were shot dead within months of each other.

Andrew ‘Madser’ Glennon was shot and killed in April 2005. Later that August his brother Mark also died in a hail of bullets.

They had been linked to a drugs gang that was attempting to establish control of the deadly trade as the replacement to the Westies.

The role played by gangland violence was noted by the researchers, who stated that the shootings have been “widely attributed” to gangs and drug dealing.

Like the Westies, another infamous criminal made a telling contribution to the toll of victims treated at James Connolly Memorial.

Graham McNally died in 2009 on the orders of Eamon ‘the Don’ Dunne, after the infamous criminal became paranoid that people were leaking information to the Gardaí.

Dunne was also behind the shooting of Michael Murray in the same year. Murray (41) was shot dead outside his daughter’s house in Finglas.

In turn, Murray himself had added to the hospital’s list of casualties after being connected with the shooting dead of Ian Tobin in 2007 in a case of mistaken identity.

Although the researchers, whose findings were published in the Irish Medical Journal, said that gangland violence has added to the burden on the hospital, the level of shootings in Ireland is still low compared to other countries.

“Cook County Hospital in Chicago in 1995 showed 476 gunshot wounds over a 10-year period,” the authors wrote.
“Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital, Durban, South Africa, examined 78 gunshot injuries in just six months. In both countries, gun ownership is less stringently controlled than in the Republic of Ireland.”

The report concluded: “There has been a sharp increase in the numbers of admissions from gunshot injuries in a West Dublin hospital in the Republic of Ireland in the past decade.

“Despite this, the numbers in Ireland are still low by comparison with other developed countries.”

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New drugs hitting Irish streets follows international trends and the fears are very real.


A new cocktail of illicit drugs selling at €2 a stick is being sold on Irish streets and contains five hits in a new deadly threat aimed directly at school kids, gangland sources have told the Sunday World.

The sticks are already on sale on the streets of Limerick and follows the methamphetamine raids last week and the Sunday World expose of the trade with children as young as ten in Dublin last week.

Sources have told the Sunday World that the homemade sticks are have serrated edges and can be broken off into five pieces each promising a hit and which is sold at just €2 a go.

One child who nearly overdosed on one was found to have a range of illicit drugs inside him including traces of cocaine, heroin and prescribed drugs.

The new range of street drugs mimics the history of drug distribution and sale across the globe from Thailand to Australia and the US.

This reporter visited the meth labs in the Golden Triangle and saw swathes of Thai teenagers and young men use pill forms of methamphetamine called Yabba and it is now the main cause of crime in that region.

Made by rouge elements of the Burmese military, these pills came in their millions and were made on an industrial scale.

Pills were sold at little more that the price of a bar of chocolate and caused manic behaviour and sent crime and suicides rates soaring.

School-going children found themselves hospitalized as the pills often contained a range of poisonous substances and often ravaged the brain.

In South Africa, the home made pills and methamphetamine substance is called ‘Tik’and it too, has destroyed communities.

Introduced by Triad gangs who had imported the base drug used for its manufacture – ephedrine ( speed ) and sold Norinco 9mm guns with the shipments.

Local gangs like the Americans and the numbers gangs took up the trade and it has destroyed communities right across South Africa and resulted in a massive bump in the murder rates after a number of years of declining rates.

The appearance of the drug on Irish streets and the involvement of teenagers in its sale and distribution is a disturbing trend and the history of its introduction in Australia, Thailand and South Africa does not bode well.

Initially, the drug hit the gay scene in the UK a decade ago but it failed to take on in a big way but the Garda intervention last week gives at least some hope that it can be caught and curtailed before it spirals out of control.

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Declan O'Reilly

A father was gunned down in front of his 12-year-old son as they walked home to let off some fireworks together.

Declan O'Reilly (32) from Parnell Road in Crumlin, Dublin 12, was shot dead on the South Circular Road, Dublin 8, on the evening of September 24, 2012.

At the inquest into his death at Dublin Coroner's Court, coroner Dr Brian Farrell said it was a "particularly cruel and really appalling shooting".

Gardai told the jury that O'Reilly, who had previously been acquitted of murdering a fellow inmate in Mountjoy Prison, was not in fear for his life at the time of the shooting.

The inquest heard that when he was shot, O'Reilly was on the phone with Moyra O'Neill, a member of the Rialto Community Drug Team.

He had been released from prison earlier in the year and had contacted her with a view to making a plan to come off drugs.

"He wanted to go to college, to get an education. More so for Stuart. He talked about Stuart all the time," she said.

She was discussing a computer course with him when she heard him curse at someone and the phone became muffled.

"I said 'Declan are you there?' And then I heard him say in a calm voice 'Stuart, get an ambulance'," she said.

Stuart and his father were helped by Caroline O'Neill and Nathan McGibney, flatmates who lived nearby and who went to help when they heard gunshots outside.

While Mr McGibney tried to keep O'Reilly conscious, Ms O'Neill stayed with Stuart. She said she asked Stuart who had shot his father.

"He told me they were in a car, a black car and that they drove off toward town and he pointed toward the city centre. I asked him what type of car, but he shook his head and said he didn't know. I asked Stuart did he know who they were, but he said he didn't," she said.

Stuart's mother, Jackie Dowdall, arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and they were taken to Kevin Street Garda Station. Garda Niall Godfrey told the inquest that when he spoke to Stuart, the boy told him that he and his father were on their way to let off some fireworks and had just passed the National Stadium when the shooting happened.

"Stuart heard two shots behind him, he saw his father fall to the ground. He saw a man wearing all black running to the end of the road and jumping into a black car facing in the direction of Leonard's Corner and then it drove off," he said.

O'Reilly was taken to St James's Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. The post-mortem was carried out by deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis. He found that O'Reilly had been shot multiple times, with 11 entry and exit wounds in total.

A stolen BMW was found on fire shortly after the incident at Cow Parlour in Dublin 8 and a gun was discovered on the passenger seat. Detective Inspector Sean Campbell confirmed the gun was connected to the shooting and that a gunman and driver were involved in the attack. He said that no file had gone to the DPP in relation to the death, but the investigation is ongoing.

The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by persons unknown.

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James “Whitey” Bulger's is believed to have hidden money in property in Ireland as FBI continue the hunt for his cash.


FBI forensic investigators are continuing to track Whitey Bulgers cash to Ireland as estimates of his hidden wealth top €100m in property, cash, jewels, safety desposit boxes and covert off-shore accounts.

Security sources close to the FBI investigations claim that the comparatively small sums found in safe deposit boxes in Dublin, London and Boston during his time on the run amounting to little more a couple of hundred thousand dollars is a fraction of his hidden wealth, and have now targeted his property empire which is believed to be extensive and to include many properties across Ireland.

While some of his family were compromised with links to his previous small cash holdings the big prize being chased by investigators are his property empire. Forensic investigators close to the case believe that Whitey used his IRA connections to launder huge sums of his illicit gains.

FBI teams over the last decade have travelled over to Ireland in search of his cash reserves and property empire but the laundering expertise of his IRA comrades have eluded them.

The FBI agents were themselves criticized for bringing their golf clubs over to Ireland in their hunt for Whitey’s money and indeed in the hunt for Whitey while he was on the run for 16 years.

The most infamous mobster who is now serving life imprisonment was captured living the life of a pensioner in Los Angeles with a million dollars in cash hidden in the walls of the apartment.

During his time on the run he was believed to have spent some time in Ireland and some of his key associates were involved in a number of IRA gun running expeditions.

Kevin Cullen, an author of several books on Whitey Bulger told the Sunday World that the gangster who was the inspiration for ‘The Departed”, had allegedly links with Ballybunion and Galway which were followed up extensively over the decades.

“Whitey did have a safety deposit box in a Dublin bank, in Collgee Green area (The Bank of Ireland). The Feds seized stuff from it when he was on the run.

“I wouldn't be surprised if he squirrelled money away in many different places, certainly in the US, but also in Europe. He was in Galway in the late 1980s”, Cullen told the Sunday World.

It is no surprise to Cullen that Ireland could be a home for Whitey's money because while he was active and on the run his connections with Ireland were strong.

“Whitey stashed money in a lot of places because he had to have contingency plans, knowing that his FBI protectors could not protect him forever."

The author of ‘Whitey Bulger’, America’s most wanted gangster and the Manhunt that brought him to Justice’ told the Sunday World that the “FBI went searching for him in Ireland many times, but the leads were specious at best. I know a Garda who had dealings with them and he said some FBI agents

brought their golf clubs over. I guess they thought Whitey might be at Lahinch or Ballybunion”, Cullen said this week.

“The end of Whitey has killed off the Irish mob in Boston and even if his money is still out there. Boston has changed completely in the time that Whitey was on the run. There is no Irish mob left. All dead or in prison or became informants”, Cullen said.

At best Whitey’s money will be reclaimed by the banks as dormant accounts or absorbed into republican coffers by their old money launderers.

What is certain is that Whitey has no intention of telling anyone where is money is now or in the future and he doesn’t have much of that lefT,.

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Breen's release could see a fresh gang war begin

‘Champagne killer’ Karl Breen has been released from prison – and Gardai are preparing for a gangland feud to escalate as a result.

The leader of the notorious D22 gang, based in Clondalkin, posted pictures of himself on social media after he was released two days early – a ploy by prison authorities who feared he may have been assassinated as he left Mountjoy prison on the day he was expected to be freed.

According to reports in The Irish Daily Star Breen was smuggled out in a relative’s car, but Gardai say the gangster’s release could be the beginning of an all-out war between rival drug gangs, and they are on high alert.

Apart from a much-changed gangland scene, Breen can expect to face threats on his life from the many enemies he made while doing his time.
Breen has just completed his manslaughter sentence, as well as an additional six months he got for possessing a mobile phone and SIM cards while behind bars in 2008.

The Clondalkin gangster was moved to a protection wing in Limerick Prison earlier this year after he had crossed some of the prison system’s most notorious inmates. He had already been moved to a different wing of the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise after falling out with his own cronies.

But infamous jail hard-man and convicted killer Warren Dumbrell immediately made threats that he would kill Breen, according to sources.

When first banged up in the high-security Portlaoise Prison, Breen also made an enemy of Brian ‘the Tosser’ Meehan and ended up in protective custody. Meehan was enraged after he learned that D22 mobster Breen had been calling him “a rat”, according to sources.

The violent thug had been telling inmates in Ireland’s maximum security jail that a corrupt garda officer had told him Meehan was an informer. After being moved to Mountjoy prison, Breen became friendly with Derek Hutch, who is serving 15 years for drugs, guns and manslaughter. Breen and ‘Del Boy’ Hutch led a riot at the Midlands Prison in November 2011, during which 50 inmates fought pitched battles.

One officer was assaulted when the violence broke out as prisoners refused to leave the exercise yard at around 6pm. Order was restored after 90 minutes when officers in riot gear and dog-handlers took over control of the yard.
Breen previously organised to have cars belonging to two prison officers burned out after he was transferred out of Mountjoy, according to sources.

He is also suspected of orchestrating a series of gun and pipe-bomb attacks from his prison cell when he was previously detained in the Midlands Prison.

Specific threats were also made to Garda officers investigating Breen’s criminal operations, sources say.

Breen was jailed after he stabbed Martin McLaughlin to death during a row at the Jury’s Inn Hotel beside Croke Park in 2007.

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Ireland’s grisly toll of murder is getting worse – sparking fears the streets are becoming ever more dangerous for innocent citizens.

The latest crime figures, released this week, confirmed people’s worst fears, with the number of homicide victims up to 60 – an increase of 33 per cent on the previous 12 months.

A spate of knife attacks has done nothing to calm fears that crime is becoming uncontrollable on the capital’s streets.

High-profile gangland killings have also added to people’s fears and are difficult cases for gardai to crack.

The victims of organised crime gangs include Eoin O’Connor (32) and Anthony Keegan (33), whose bodies were found last May on an island in Lough Sheelin, Co Meath, after they had been shot. Other murders include the shooting of Christopher ‘Git’ Zambra, who was shot in Drimnagh, Dublin, and Stephen ‘Dougie’ Moran in Lucan, west Dublin.

The latest murder this week saw Benny Whitehouse cut down in a hail of bullets as he went on the school run in Balbriggan, north Co. Dublin.

Another high-profile gangland murder was in August, when ‘Fat’ Andy Connors was shot dead in his Saggart home in Co. Dublin.

The official figures don’t include gangsters who have gone missing and are presumed to have been murdered.

But, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Ireland is still one of the safest countries in the world.

Our murder rate, although up by a third, is 1.5 killings per 100,000 people, compared to the global average of 6.5.

Dublin’s rate is higher than the rest of Ireland at around 2.0, but even that rate pales in comparison with the world’s most dangerous cities.

Basseterre

Top of the list is Basseterre, on the island of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

This tiny Caribbean nation, with a population of just 46,000, is anything but a sun-kissed paradise – 17 murders in just a year gave the island’s capital a murder rate of 132.

In July this year three young men were shot dead in a nightclub attack.

Caracas

There’s no surprise that Caracas, in Venezuela, is considered one of the world’s most dangerous cities.

A murder rate of 122 is thanks to the gang rule in the poor barrios, where police fear to tread and murders are routine.

The government refuses to release its own statistics, but one report estimated 24,000 people were murdered in the city in 2013.

Guatemala City

Central America is the worst global region for murders and within that Guatemala City takes the title with a murder rate of 117. The country is struggling to get to grips with the end of a civil war in 1996 that lasted almost 40 years.

Underpaid and untrained cops have to deal with an average of 100 murders a week in the country.

Belize City

Belize City, capital of the former British colony, is another central American city where the government struggle to deal with rampant gang culture.

The majority of the country’s homicides take place in Belize City, where gang violence is endemic, especially on the south side, earning the city a murder rate of 105.

Tegucigalpa

The capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, has a murder rate of 102 – with 1,175 killings in 2011.

Another city, San Pedro Sula, has an even higher rate, giving Honduras the dubious title of the world’s highest national murder rate of 90.

Maseru

The city of Maseru in Lesotho, southern Africa, in blighted by grinding poverty, massive unemployment and falling wages for mining workers. Gang violence is behind the murder rate of 62.

Cape Town

Cape Town, South Africa has a murder rate of 60, but most of the killings occur in just 10 of the city’s 60 police precincts.

Despite a high rate of killings, South Africa has managed to halve its murder rate since the mid-90s.

Panama City

Panama City suffered from a rise in gang culture after the U.S. invasion in the 1980s.

Murders peaked in 2009 when 800 were killed, but have been dropping since.

The city is plagued with rapes, armed robberies, muggings, purse-snatchings and kidnappings. The murder rate is 53.

San Salvador

Another Central American country overwhelmed by criminal gangs is El Salvador.

The capital city, San Salvador, has a murder rate of 52.5, but a truce between two of the largest gangs saw killings drop to just five a day last year.

Kingston

The home town of reggae legend Bob Marley, Kingston, Jamaica, can be a dangerous and chaotic place where ‘Yardie’ street gangs control drugs and territory.

With a murder rate of 50, there were 328 people murdered in Kingston in 2011, a significant drop compared to previous years.

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A man from Dublin has been charged with drug smuggling after border force officers at Heathrow's Terminal 1 seized 10kg of cocaine.

Philip Knowles (25), of St Mark's Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, was stopped at around 4pm on October 13 after arriving on a flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Following searches, officers recovered cocaine.

The drugs are currently being analysed for purity and are likely to have a final value totalling several hundred thousand euro.

Mr Knowles was arrested by border force and later questioned by investigators from the National Crime Agency's Border Policing Command and charged with attempting to import a class A drug.

He appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Wednesday and was remanded in custody until his next appearance at Isleworth Crown Court on October 30.

Border force Heathrow director Marc Owen said: "Those who engage in drug smuggling should be in no doubt that they will be targeted and brought to justice.

"Border force officers secure the UK's borders 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We welcome legitimate travellers but are on constant alert to keep illegal drugs and other banned substances out of the UK."

Appearing before Uxbridge Magistrates' Court yesterday, Mr Knowles was remanded in custody. He has been ordered to appear again at Isleworth Crown Court on October 30.

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A vicious Waterford gang carried out a petrol bomb attack which has left two children hospitalised tonight.

The sickening attack which was described as a "disgusting act of cowardice" took place in the Ardmore Park estate around 9pm this evening.

A gang who have been responsible for a wave of crime in Waterford and are a major target for gardai are the prime suspects in carrying out the attack.

A one-year-old girl, Lexy Halligan, who was in hospital earlier today for another matter was rushed back to hospital with burn injuries.

An 11-year-old was also injured in the attack.

Other people were also in the house including the children's grandmother Nelly Halligan and a three month old baby.

The attack is part of a campaign of intimidation in the town.

The gang had issued threats to another woman know to the family earlier in the week and just two days ago members of the family told the Sunday World that they were worried they would be attacked,

The same gang were responsible for a petrol bomb attack outside the home of Sinn Fein Councillor John Hearne earlier this year.

Mr Hearne is a friend of the family attacked to night and was warned by gardai earlier this year that there were threats against his life by the gang who were angered when he encouraged local people to go to gardai over crimes committed by the gang.

He told the Sunday World: "People could have been killed tonight. Luckily the grandmother had a fire extinguisher so put out the flame quickly. Sadly two of the children have had to go to hospital. What happened tonight is a disgusting act of cowardice. This gang has repeatedly targeted women and children and need to be tackled."

One man has been arrested in connection with the incident.

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A man in his 20s was taken from his home by masked men and shot in the leg last night.

Police in Belfast are today investigating the shooting, which occurred at around 9pm in the Downfine Walk area of west Belfast.

Detectives investigating the shooting said one member of the group made off on foot toward a nearby youth club.

The others left the scene in a dark coloured saloon type car.

The injured man was rushed to hospital to be treated for his wounds, which are not thought to be life threatening.

Investigating officers are appealing for witnesses to the gun attack.

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Notorious gang boss ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson whined to a court this week saying that he is being victimised by prison bosses, but he conveniently didn’t mention how he was nabbed with a mobile phone behind bars

The Sunday World can reveal that Thompson was caught with an contraband mobile phone by prison staff in Cloverhill on May 29.

He was lying on top of a Nokia handset when staff burst into his shared cell and carried out a search.

He pleaded innocence, even though he was caught red-handed. He was disciplined internally and denied visits, phone calls and recreation activities.

Thompson is said to have offered his cellmate €5,000 to take the blame for the illegal phone, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison if charges are brought. It is understood a file is currently with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

As well as the incident with the mobile phone, jail bosses were very concerned that Thompson had established a power base at Cloverhill after being extradited from Spain to face a violent disorder charge.

Criminals were trying to impress him and a gang culture quickly began to emerge, with Freddie as the undisputed kingpin. In order to end this, management took the decision to transfer him from Cloverhill to Cork.

This is permitted because although Cloverhill is a remand prison, Thompson pleaded guilty to the violent disorder and was remanded until his sentencing next January.

The guilty plea meant it is up to prison management what jail he can be housed in. But Thompson was furious that he is now so far away from his family and this week went to the High Court to try to get the decision reversed.

He secured leave for a judicial review and his lawyers argued that he was actually the victim in an incident that led to his change of jails. The 33-year-old from Dublin 8, who is a member of the Christy Kinahan drugs mob, wants the decision to be quashed and also wants damages.

He said he was “violently attacked” by three other prisoners on September 13 even though they were ‘separation’ prisoners and should not have been in the visiting area where the alleged incident occurred.

After the “unprovoked assault”, Thompson said he was given a disciplinary hearing and found guilty. This was upheld on appeal.

He said that being segregated from other prisoners and confined to a cell for 22 and a half hours a day was unfair, as was the process, because he was not allowed to bring a witness to the hearing. Freddie was also furious that he only heard about the move in a national newspaper.

He was transferred to Cork on September 30 and remains there.

He says it is difficult for his family to travel down to visit him and he has a court date next month for a full hearing.

Sources say the Irish Prison Service will deny all his allegations and insist the transfer happened for safety reasons because Freddie was simply becoming too big to manage.

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Martin Foley's home was raided this morning

The County Sheriff raided the home of criminal turned debt collector Martin 'The Viper' Foley this morning and seized a car, motorbikes and other valuables.

It is understood that the Sheriff accompanied by gardai called to Foley's home in Crumlin early this morning with a warrant to search the premises and seize any valuables.

It is understood that three motorbikes, a car, a quantity of jewelry and an expensive watch were taken as part of the operation.

The raid was carried out on foot of a €916,960 declaration made against the 63 year-old by the Criminal Assets Bureau as revealed earlier this year by the Sunday World.

The judgement was made after an investigation into Foley for the under declaration of income tax. The County Sheriff is entitled to seize Foley's assets to satisfy the bill and even has the power to apply to seize his home.

Foley is a veteran criminal with 45 convictions and has been on the garda's radar for over 40 years.

He runs a successful debt collection business but accounts last year revealed that it lost €7,518 despite gardai getting reports from across the country that Foley was pressurising people into paying debts they could not afford.

Foley's wife and a fellow director of the debt collection company Sonia Doyle is six months pregnant despite the fact he qualifies for a pension soon.

He has infamously survived four assassination attempts and has 18 bullets lodged in his body.

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John Dundon
Limerick mobster John Dundon has been trying to drum up business from his jail cell where he is serving life for murder.

Dundon has been asking “everyone and anyone” to work for him in a bid to getting the family’s drug dealing operation back up and running, according to sources.

“He’s on the phone the whole time. It doesn’t seem to be a problem for him,” said a source in Limerick.
Brothers John, Dessie and Wayne are currently all serving life sentences together at Portlaoise high-security prison.

All three are housed in the A5 unit at Portlaoise where the combined cost of detaining the trio added up to €283,725 per year, according to recently released figures.

But the tight security at the jail has not stopped John from trying to get associates to take part in underworld deals.

The youngest brother, Ger, has also been making sporadic visits back to Limerick from the UK where he lives in Manchester and London .

Ger Dundon was spotted in the city recently and claims have been made he is also trying to re-establish the family business.

His presence was linked to an incident in which the car belonging to a rival gang member was torched.

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Exile: John Gilligan will not return home for funeral over "media circus" fears
Exiled gangster John Gilligan will not return to Ireland for his brother's funeral this week.

Gilligan's family have said the mobster - who fled Ireland after being gunned down - will not be attending the funeral of Bernard Gilligan (52), who passed away at the weekend following a suspected heart attack.

John Gilligan had apparently been seeking a short-term pass to attend the funeral but sources on social media say he will not attend over fears it would turn the gathering into a media circus.

It was reported Gilligan was organising a trip home to pay his final respects but the decision has been made to forego the funeral.



A statement on the Let's Talk About John Gilligan page on Facebook read: "I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the Gilligan family on the passing of John’s brother Bernard. May he rest in peace", Sam Hall said.

"I would like to remind some people that John was found not guilty of the murder of Mrs Guerin. The newpapers continue to print false accounts of what happened and some people believe them.

"John will not be travelling home to the funeral out of respect for his family and not to turn it into a media circus."

Gilligan was forced to flee the country after being shot a number of times in a gun attack at his brother's home in Clondalkin.

He left the country by ferry under garda escort and has been rehabilitating abroad ever since, reports suggest. His minder Stephen 'Dougie' Moran was shot dead just a day before Gilligan himself was targeted.

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Paul Quinn, 21, who was murdered seven years ago. An insider in the killing gang has given a statement to the Gardai implicating up to ten associates in the murder.


An insider in the gang of ex-IRA activists and associates has broken ranks and told the Gardai the identities of the men who organised the brutal murder of Paul Quinn (21) in October 2007 near the border in Co Monaghan, the Sunday World has learned.

The murder by a gang of up to ten, with as many as 20 involved in the set up, has been intractable for the Gardai and the PSNI because of the Omerta that pervades the border areas.

The murder of Paul Quinn was said to have originated from a dispute between Paul Quinn and the son of an IRA leader in the area and he was given a brutal and torturous exit from this world in front of three of his friends - who were held hostage as he was beaten to a pulp at a farm, near Oram - Co. Monaghan seven years ago this week.

He was lured there with a request for assistance and found up to ten men waiting for him.

Some of the men were wearing forensic clothing and the planning and execution of the murder was done to such a high degree that security specialists pointed the blame immediately at the IRA command in the area.

His very public falling out with the son of a major IRA figure placed the IRA and their associates, in the frame for the murder despite the widely discredited interventions by Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and Connor Murphy .

Both men claimed that it was criminals and not the IRA that carried out the brutal beating causing Paul’s death.

"It was the IRA criminals who caused the death of my son and now it seems justice will be done”, the dead man’s mother told the Sunday World today.

"We have had a major breakthrough. It seems that one of the gang is telling all. I asked the Gardai if they knew who did it and they said yes. But they said that they would need more evidence than that to convict. Now it seems they have that. I know that phone records all connect the gang to the event and which with the insider’s testimony will make the difference. We at last are very hopeful of arrests”, Brid Quinn, Paul’s mother, told the Sunday World.

"The people I met who I thought killed my son were in fact the same people in the phone circle which acted in unison around the time of my son’s death. I feel happier that at least I know who killed my son and I don’t have to be polite to them when they pass my door many times a day”, a determined Brid Quinn said, in advance of the seventh anniversary of her son’s death this weekend.

"We know who did it. The Gardai know and now Sinn Fein and the IRA will be quaking because one of the gang is speaking. With the arrests, we will see Gerry Adams exposed for lying about the death of my son. It took him thirty years to discover that Mr Brian Stack, the chief officer of Portlaoise Prison, was shot by the IRA in 1983 but within 24 hours Adams and Connor Murphy could say definitely that the IRA were not involved in my son’s death. They act according to their interests and not the truth”, Brid Quinn told the Sunday World.

There was initially little forensic evidence found at the scene after it had been doused with an unusual substance specifically sprayed to damage DNA evidence but with advances coming daily in the science, the Gardai have send the rope used to tie up Paul at the scene, for additional forensic testing.

This case allegedly involving Sinn Fein associates and IRA members in South Armagh, is particularly problematic for Sinn Fein as it occurred in peace time and the party has nearly staked its peacetime position on the innocence of all those in its political family, in relation to Paul Quinn’s death.

The party waded into the controversy last year when in a recorded telephone conversation, it's senior press officer, Mark Mclernon, told the Sunday World that he knew ‘for a fact’ who had killed Paul Quinn, another man and Garda Adrian Donoghue.

McLernon claimed in the phone call that dissident republicans were involved in the death of the three men but McLernon never contacted the Gardai with his evidence and then later claimed it was just gossip.

The Quinn family - father Stephen and Brid Quinn - slammed Sinn Fein for trying to blacken the name of their son and to deflect from the involvement of key republicans in the murder of Paul Quinn.

Martin McGuinness denied all knowledge of his press officer’s actions when confronted earlier this year about Mark McLernon’s refusal to bring his evidence to the Gardai when questioned by the Sunday World.

The Deputy First minister then refused to answer any further questions on the matter.

"Sinn Fein are ducking an diving on this but with an insider talking their lies will soon come out", Brid Quinn said.

The insider who has given the Gardai a statement is believed to be still in the area and both the PSNI and the Gardai are ensuring that he has a security blanket over him without blowing his cover.

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Petticrew was arrested last Wednesday when police investigating suspected dissident republican activity uncovered the weapons in farm buildings

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A 43-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged in connection with a major explosives haul found on a farm in Northern Ireland.

Barry Francis Petticrew was arrested last Wednesday when police investigating suspected dissident republican activity uncovered the weapons in farm buildings in rural Co Fermanagh near the Irish border.

Petticrew, from Drumbroghas, Swanlinbar just across the border in Co Cavan, spoke only to confirm his name and that he understood the charges against him during the brief hearing at Enniskillen Magistrates Court.

He is charged with possession of explosives and ammunition with intent to endanger life and also of possession of articles likely to be of use to terrorists.

District Judge Nigel Broderick remanded him in custody for four weeks. The defendant did not apply for bail.

Police have said items seized during last week's raid of the farm near the village of Kinawley included about 500kg of fertiliser and a number of packs of home-made explosives; timer units, detonators and fuses; six pipe bombs and component parts for other devices; a suspected firearm and about 100 rounds of ammunition; and forensic suits and gloves.

The suspected arms and bomb making equipment was recovered during a four-day operation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on the farm on the Caldragh Road, Tully near Kinawley.

Wearing a navy jumper, bespectacled Petticrew smiled briefly toward the public gallery of the court as he was brought into the dock this afternoon.

Asked to confirm his name and if he understood the charges facing him, Petticrew replied: "Yes."

When asked by a prosecution lawyer, an investigating police officer told the court he could connect the accused to the charges. Solicitor Peter Corrigan, representing Petticrew, said he had no questions for the officer and said his client did not wish to apply for bail at today's appearance.

Remanding him into custody, Judge Broderick ordered him to appear again on November 10.

Armed police stopped traffic in Enniskillen town centre to allow the custody van carrying the accused to leave the court building.

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Thomas McMahon and Noel Noonan
Two Limerick men have been jailed for two and a half years each for membership of the IRA last year.


The Special Criminal Court was today shown three rocket launchers seized during the investigation into the offence by 32-year-old Thomas McMahon, a former chef, and his co-accused Noel Noonan (35).

McMahon, of Ros Fearna, Murroe, and Noonan, with an address at St. Patrick’s Hostel, Clare Street, had each pleaded guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation within the State styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on February 7th, 2013.

Detective Superintendent Thomas Maguire testified that gardai followed Noonan’s Peugeot from Limerick to Clonmel on the evening of February 4th, 2013. Three men, including McMahon, were seen getting out of the car at Tivoli Road and walking down onto a railway line.

The Garda National Surveillance Unit later found three launch tubes and two mortar drills for rockets on the rail track.

The Peugeot was seen in the same area three nights later, this time accompanied by McMahon’s Mercedes and McMahon himself was seen behind Noonan’s car.

Three men were later seen walking along a bridge over the railway line, one carrying a heavy bag on his back.

The cars were stopped as they left, and three launch tubes and two mortar rockets were seized.

The three tubes were displayed in the body of the court, each 40 inches in length and almost 10 pounds in weight.

The superintendent said that they were designed for the training of military personnel and were Irish Army issue. He testified that the propellant was absent in each, consistent with them having been used, but he said that they were still lethal.

“This operation was designed by members of the IRA to procure weaponry for the IRA,” he said.

When arrested, both men denied membership of the IRA, denied stopping on the bridge and denied knowledge of the equipment. However, they later pleaded guilty to the single charge of IRA membership.

The court heard that Noonan had previous convictions, including for assault. McMahon also had previous convictions, including for false imprisonment and two threats to kill.

Each man entered the witness box yesterday, took the oath and gave undertakings to dissociate from the IRA.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding in the three-judge court, noted that it was unusual to see guilty pleas to IRA membership.

He said the court believed that the appropriate sentence was four years imprisonment.

However the final year and a half of each sentence was adjourned when the men each entered a €500 bond to not commit such offences in the future and not to associate with any member of an unlawful organization or anyone convicted of a scheduled offence in the Special Criminal Court.

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Karl Zambra
A man caught dealing heroin to undercover gardai posing as drug addicts has avoided jail after receiving a suspended jail term.

Karl Zambra (27) was arrested as part of Operation Marshall, a garda operation targeting the supply of heroin and crack cocaine in the St Teresa Gardens flats.

Zambra of St Teresa’s Gardens, Donore Avenue, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of heroin and cocaine for sale or supply on July 13 and 23 2010.

Gda Sgt Brian Roberts of the Garda National Drugs Unit told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that undercover gardai had gone to the flats complex and Zambra approached them.

Zambra told them he didn’t know them and asked them what they were doing. The gardai told them they were looking for “one rock”. Zambra called them back and told them to go inside the flat’s stairwell, pick up the drugs on the stairwell and leave money there.

He told them: "That's good stuff, I know you'll be back". The drug was later found to be cocaine on analysis.

On another date Zambra came over and told a group of drug addicts, which included the undercover gardai, that he would give out “the rock” first and then he’d give you “the brown”.

He sold three brown packages containing heroin to the undercover gardai for Eur50 each.

The court heard Zambra has 73 previous convictions including one for drug dealing, four for possession of drugs and a conviction for burglary.

Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said the neighbourhood Zambra lives in is blighted by drugs and that Zambra was involved in that in 2010. He said he has developed a more responsible attitude since then and that he comes from a solid law abiding family.

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Murder: The body of the victim is removed from the scene at Killarney Place

Gardai have made an appeal to the public for witnesses to Sunday night's fatal shooting in Dublin city.

Gardaí are investigating the murder of Kieran Farrelly (33) at Killarney Place in the north inner city at the weekend.

The 33-year-old, from Tallaght in south Dublin, was shot in the face at around 11.45pm.

Investigating Gardai arrested a 31-year-old man on Wednesday in connection with the shooting, but he was released without charge.

A woman (20) was also arrested on suspicion of withholding information. She was also released without charge and a file has been sent to the DPP.

As part of their ongoing investigation, Mountjoy Gardaí wish to speak to anyone who may have been in the Killarney Court/Empress Place/Portland Row area of Dublin on the Bank Holiday Sunday, October 26th.

They particularly wish to speak to:
anyone who was in the area between 11.15pm and midnight that night
anyone who may have seen a group of people
anyone who may have heard a disturbance between those times