FORUM MODERATOR: Please note, many republicans believe that drug crime related links to republican figures are part of an on-going government dirty tricks campaign to discredit the republican movement.
Rash of gangland hits set to make it bloodiest year yet
Sunday May 8th 2005
JIM CUSACK
GANGLAND killings, drug trafficking and armed robberies have reached levels higher than the mid-1990s when the Government was forced to introduce the criminal assets legislation to crack down on organised crime, senior gardai admit.
Seven gangland hits, the latest in broad daylight on Thursday, have taken place since March, making this year the bloodiest since 1995-96. Then, 12 killings took place in an 18-month period prior to the murder of Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin.
All seven killings involve drugs-related gang members and two have taken place in the Taoiseach's own constituency, exposing as false claims by Justice Minister Michael McDowell only two weeks ago that serious crime levels are falling.
Senior gardai admit that despite a number of major successes scored against armed robbery and drugs gangs in the past fortnight, more drugs and more guns are on the streets than ever before. Gardai also admit that despite the official claims that crime is falling, massive amounts of drugs are still coming into the country.
Commenting on a €1.5m heroin seizure in Dublin last week, one senior garda said that it was "only a shovel out of a lorry-load of sand". The biggest heroin dealing gang in the country is now believed to be headed by a former Provisional IRA figure who is on the run this weekend after gardai cracked part of his distribution operation.
The man, in his late 30s, is from Ballyfermot but recently moved to the Liffey Valley area. He runs an extensive gang which employs dozens of people, including elderly men and women, to launder the vast amounts of cash being generated by the business.
With five murders in April alone, the State is experiencing its worst ever rash of gangland murders. Gardai say none of the killings are related and all have resulted from inter-gang rivalries and personal feuds. A senior garda used the term "cluster effect" when describing the recent outbreak of killings.
Starting with the murder of John Roche on March 9 in Kilmainham, Dublin, seven murders have taken place culminating with Thursday morning's killing of Mark Byrne. Byrne was shot dead minutes after he left Mountjoy Prison on a temporary pass. He was killed as part of a feud involving former drug trafficking associates which turned violent.
The first in the latest spate of gangland killings was that of John Roche, 25, from Crumlin. Roche's murder was part of a feud that started five years ago when gardai broke up a cocaine-dealing ring in a raid on a Dublin hotel where two teenagers were "cutting" cocaine in a bedroom. The Crumlin drugs gang split and six murders have resulted from this feud alone.
Of the other murders this year, two have involved figures associated with the Provisional IRA who have become centrally involved in organised crime. Courier Joseph Rafferty, 28, who was shot dead outside his apartment in Clonee, was murdered because of a dispute with an IRA-associated family in the north inner city which broke out at Christmas.
The other broad daylight murder - of Hughie McGinley, 26, in Sligo on April 28 - was a result of inter-gang rivalry between two travelling families who are said to be making millions from drug dealing in the west and north west.
The rash of gangland murders has revealed the distance between fact and reality in claims last month by the Minister for Justice that serious crime is falling. Mr McDowell was comparing statistics of "headline crime" for the first quarter of this year and the first quarter of last year which, on paper, show a seven per cent drop.
However, compared with statistics from five years ago, it is evident that serious crime is still climbing with drug crime and armed robbery at levels the same or higher than the mid-1990s.
The Minister is introducing mandatory imprisonment for possession of firearms as part of the Criminal Justice Bill. At present judges have discretion as to whether or not a person found in possession of a gun can receive a sentence of imprisonment or a suspended sentence.
One senior garda told the Sunday Independent that the force is facing a crisis in the successful prosecution of crimes like robbery and burglary. Successful prosecutions are running at levels as low as three to seven per cent in these categories. Despite this, the Garda Siochana claims official "detection rates" of over 40 per cent. The official detection rates are "basically fictitious", one senior garda said.
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Gardaí tonight appealed to the public for help to identify the killer of a man who was released from prison.
Mark Byrne, 30, was shot three times at 10am after being let out from Mountjoy prison in Dublin on day release.
He had walked out of the prison and was buying credit for his mobile phone in local newsagent Selections on the junction of Vincent Street and Berkeley Road on the north side of Dublin.
Superintendent John Leahy, of Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station, who is leading the murder investigation, said a lone gunman came up behind him and shot him.
"He got across the road and he fell fatally wounded on the footpath," he said.
He appealed for witnesses to come forward to help identify the gunman, who was described as being about 5'9" tall, wearing a hooded top and a baseball cap, and fair-haired.
The gunman escaped on foot after the shooting by turning right on to Sarsfield Street.
"I'm appealing to the public for any help they can give us in tracing this killer and bringing him to justice," said Mr Leahy.
According to a prison source, Byrne had been granted day release for compassionate reasons and was due to return to prison in the evening.
He was serving a four-year sentence for a combination of offences, including larceny and burglary, and was due to be released in August.
Mr Leahy refused to comment on reports that the motive for the shooting stemmed from a row Byrne recently had with another prisoner. He said detectives were following a number of lines of inquiry.
"There have been a number of (gangland) killings in the area. We're treating them all as individual and separate. We have no reason to believe that they are any way connected," he said.
Last month the dismembered body of a foreign man was found in the Royal Canal while another man, Terry Dunleavy, was shot dead as he visited his girlfriend's flat in the nearby Croke Villas.
Byrne's body was removed from the scene for a post mortem exam to be carried out by the state pathologist, Dr Mary Cassidy.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern tonight condemned the shooting of Byrne, the fourth fatal attack in his Dublin Central constituency since Easter.
He added: "It's happening right around me.
"It's right that we have a sense of horrified shock about these things.
"Last week it was Sligo in the middle of the street. Today it was Berkeley Road in the middle of the street.
"There are fairly vicious people in our society and this is a major task for gardaí to get on top of this."
Speaking in central Dublin, Mr Ahern said every killing was one too many.
"All of these cases are horrendous. I don't know what this one is about but many are drug-related, criminal-related and it is frightening that with any argument between these individuals, it seems to be the ultimate step taken.
"We have to keep working towards a society where these things don't happen."
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A four-man gang responsible for shooting dead another man on the north-western outskirts of Dublin escaped on foot today after being pursued by an off duty police officer.
The victim was sitting in his car at Little Pace Road in Clonee, Co Meath at about 4am when his he was ambushed by attackers .
He was struck in the head and upper body.
An off duty garda heard the shots and chased the gang but they managed to give him the slip.
The victim was taken to the James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown but died at 5.30am.
The victim is believed to have been in his early thirties.
The Gardaí said at least four men were involved in the attack and were reported to have been wearing dark clothes and hats or balaclavas.
The murder scene has been preserved for a technical examination.
A post mortem will take place later.
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Drug deal was used as bait in meticulously planned murder
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May 12 2005, 12:40 PM
Saturday April 16th 2005
MURDERED drug trafficker Terry Dunleavy was lured to his death by a potentially lucrative cannabis deal, gardai revealed last night.
Dunleavy (26), a well known thug and dealer, was ambushed as he walked into the Dublin city centre complex where his girlfriend lived.
This was the third fatal shooting in the capital in 12 days and sparked calls on Justice Minister Michael McDowell to take tougher action to tackle the re-emergence of gun culture.
The minister yesterday condemned the three murders and said he intended to crack down on gun violence by introducing legislation imposing a minimum sentence of 10 years for illegal possession of firearms.
Mr McDowell disclosed he had discussed the prevalence of guns on the streets last Thursday with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy who confirmed there had been a recent upsurge of firearms thefts.
He described the Dunleavy murder as a deliberate, drug-related act that had been carefully planned.
Mr McDowell said he was worried by the recent spate of gun deaths and said that last year the number of similar killings had been at an all-time low while Ireland in terms of homicide was one of the safest countries in the world and certainly in Europe.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe claimed there was growing evidence that a system of assassins-for-hire was taking root in the criminal underworld and asked how the Government planned to address what he called this disturbing phenomenon.
However, senior Garda officers said they had no evidence to indicate that assassins had been hired in recent shootings.
Dunleavy was hit five times by a gunman firing a low calibre pistol. He was gunned down as he arrived at the Croke Villas flats complex on Sackville Avenue, off Ballybough Road, in the north inner city around 10pm on Thursday.
The gunman opened fire and although Dunleavy was wounded he ran up the stairwell, pursued by the gunman who pumped five bullets into his head and body. The final shot forced Dunleavy to collapse and he was dead on admission to hospital.
Gardai discovered that he had been carrying five slabs of cannabis with a street value of several thousand euro and believe that a trap had been set for him by other criminals.
Despite his years, Dunleavy had a lengthy career in crime, with convictions for armed robbery and arson, and he had been involved in at least three shootings with rivals. Two of his targets subsequently left the country although one has since returned.
Last night, as a post-mortem examination was being carried out, detectives were closely examining his background to identify his main enemies and find a motive for the slaying.
A native of Marino, Dunleavy had an address at Lower Drumcondra Road. His killer made his escape on a moped which was later found burnt out at Whitworth Road.
Meanwhile, detectives hunting the killer of courier Joseph Rafferty in Clonee last Tuesday yesterday raided the homes of several people who were suspected of being associated with a group that had clashed with him in the past.
Senior officers suspect he was killed by two shotgun blasts as he emerged from his apartment home at Ongar Park because of a long running feud that began when he lived in the south inner city.
Six addresses were raided yesterday in the north and south inner city as well as in Clonee as gardai stepped up their inquiries into the breakfast time murder.
Also yesterday, gardai identified a prime suspect for the murder of kickboxing champion Jimmy Curran in the Green Lizard pub last Sunday week and are trying to locate him.
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THE killers of Dublin gangland figure, Andrew Glennon, may have had an even more savage death planned for their victim. Glennon, 30, died of multiple gunshot wounds as he tried to flee a gang of four who had lain in wait for him close to the neighbourhood where his home is located in the early hours of Saturday morning.
But gardaí believe the killers risked appearing conspicuous by hanging around the area in a large group because they intended abducting him and possibly torturing him before disposing of his body.
It is not clear what caused the gang to change their plans and shoot their victim at the scene but it is likely they realised they had been spotted by a number of people, including an off-duty garda who called for back-up.
Despite being hit several times in the upper body, Glennon managed to start his car and drive a few hundred yards before collapsing at the wheel.
The Meath-registered Mazda came to a stop after mounting a footpath.
Glennon was attended to by an ambulance crew but he died about an hour later in hospital.
Detectives hunting the killers are targeting known criminals amid fears that Glennon’s death could lead to a round of tit-for-tat murders.
While the dead man’s official criminal record was not extensive, he was known to gardaí as a key member of a drugs gang operating out of the Blanchardstown area in northwest Dublin which was formerly controlled by the notorious Westies.
It was the fourth gangland killing in Dublin in a month and although the incidents do not appear to be related, opposition politicians claimed they were alarming evidence that the war on gun gangs was being lost.
Labour justice spokesman Joe Costello accused Justice Minister Michael
McDowell of being “totally preoccupied with his personal battle” with the Prison Officers’ Association with whom he is in a bitter and protracted dispute over overtime pay.
“The struggle against the criminal gangs appears to have been allowed to slip way down the ministerial agenda.”
Earlier this year Minster McDowell declared a legislative crackdown on gun crime, announcing his intention to introduce mandatory sentences for weapons offences under the new Criminal Justice Bill currently before the Dail.
Gardaí, meanwhile, yesterday continued their examination of the murder scene on the Dublin-Meath border where Andrew Glennon, who lived at Fortlawn Drive, Blanchardstown, was shot at about 4am on Saturday morning.
The murder weapon has not been found and may have been dumped in the nearby Royal Canal. Several witnesses heard the commotion and saw the gang run from the scene but the men were masked and no clear descriptions have emerged.
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Murder of criminal may trigger a spate of revenge killings
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August 24 2005, 1:43 PM
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Murder of criminal may trigger a spate of revenge killings
By Jim Morahan
GARDAÍ believe the execution-style murder of criminal Andrew “Madser” Gilligan may trigger a round of revenge killings by drugs gangs battling for supremacy in west Dublin.In the past month, five people have died in unlinked gangland feuding. Gilligan was shot 48 hours after Sligo man Hughie McGinley, 26, was gunned down in a van in Sligo. His death is associated with feuding between two local families.
Gilligan, 30, originally from Fortlawn Drive, Clonsilla, had been living with his partner and children at Huntstown Wood, a housing estate near Clonee village on the Dublin/Meath border.
He was shot several times at close range early on Saturday morning after four men ambushed him in a Clonee housing estate.
Detectives are working on the theory he was lured to his death after agreeing to a pre-arranged meeting at Bramblefield Court, adjoining Huntstown Wood.
The victim had left his car at the junction of Bramblefield Drive and Bramblefield Court, Clonee, at about 4.15am when he was attacked, but managed to retreat under automatic weapons fire and drive off before the car came to a halt on a footpath. He then tried to run away but collapsed on Littlepace Road.
The gang escaped on foot. An off-duty garda phoned for assistance and the victim was taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, where he died a short time later.
Gilligan was a member of the Westies gang in Blanchardstown in the late 1990s but fell out with leaders Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg. Both went missing in Alicante, Spain, in February 2004 and are feared dead. It is believed Glennon was part of the gang that killed Bernard Sugg, 23, a brother of Stephen Sugg, in a Dublin pub in 2003.
Meanwhile, gardaí believe they are close to charging the key figures behind the abduction of the Richardson family and the subsequent robbery of 2.4 million from a Securicor van. Last week, 24 people were arrested and questioned in a major garda swoop, but released. DNA samples taken from seven criminals are being cross-checked against samples gathered from locations and items used during the abduction and robbery on March 13 and 14.
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