Sunday Tribune
Mick McCaffrey Security Editor
GardaÍ believe a gangland murder last week was ordered from behind bars by a man serving a lengthy sentence for manslaughter because one of his drugs shipments was intercepted by gardaí.
Christopher 'Git' McDonagh was shot four times by two gunmen after he threw himself from a top-floor window of his house in Ronanstown, west Dublin, last Tuesday.
McDonagh was well-known to gardaí as a drug dealer who operated with some of the city's biggest players, although he only had one criminal conviction.
Detectives believe the 27-year-old was murdered because it was suspected he was a garda informer.
In July 2006 McDonagh loaded a car with €2.7m worth of cannabis which was then driven to Brownsbarn, off the Naas Road. It had been intended the drugs would be delivered to the crime gang led by Martin 'Marlo' Hyland but detectives had received intelligence and arrested a number of men. McDonagh was also detained although he was never charged.
The drugs haul belonged to a man from Clondalkin who is in prison for manslaughter. He and his partner, who is from Kildare, blamed McDonagh for the captured drugs and warned him he would be murdered. McDonagh's pleas that he was not an informer fell on deaf ears.
Gardaí were aware of the threats and had approached the murder victim to advise him about personal protection. McDonagh installed a CCTV system in his house.
Officers do not know who pulled the trigger but believe associates of the jailed man were responsible after he gave the go-ahead from his cell over the last two weeks.
Several other theories are also being probed.
September 14, 2008
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