Gardai fear bloody mob war after split in Don's drugs gang

Irish Herald
Gardai fear bloody mob war after split in Don's drugs gang


By Cormac Byrne

Friday October 29 2010

THE Don's drug gang has split after godfather Eamonn Kelly's money man and his wife were shot at in their home.

The couple were attacked by three men after two brothers paid €60,000 for a criminal transaction which was not carried out.

According to sources, the west Dublin crime brothers paid Eamonn Kelly the money to fund a plot that involved one of the Real IRA brothers from north Dublin responsible for extorting money from Dublin drug dealers.

Gardai are fearful that the shocking gun attack could spark a gang war within factions of the gang once run by slain gangster Eamonn 'The Don' Dunne. The attack took place in September at a house in Malahide, during an armed raid on the property.

One criminal entered the house, followed by an associate, as a third stood watch at the door.

The target was speaking to his son on his mobile phone when the men entered.

He was brought into the kitchen and placed on the floor with his wife and a shot was fired over the couple.

His son, who had heard the start of the argument between the men, rushed to the scene and barged in on the men, driving them from the house.

They fled the scene in a black car and fired shots at the house as they escaped.

The target and his wife were left very shaken but were unharmed.

A source told the Herald the row was over money which was transferred between the parties for the purpose of carrying out "criminal business" with members of the INLA, which also involved a north Dublin Real IRA faction.

"These brothers gave the money to Kelly, who was to use it to hire an INLA mob, who in turn were to have dealings with a Dublin RIRA faction.

"But Kelly never did anything with the money. The guys want their money back and they're prepared to take it by force."

The target in the gun attack is a successful businessman who has no serious criminal convictions.

A business property used by the man was raided in 2006 by gardai, who believed that up to €50,000 worth of heroin was being stored there.

Detectives are still trying to ascertain the precise criminal plan which the west Dublin brothers and Kelly wished to carry out with the INLA and the Dublin RIRA.

Rumours of a split in the ranks of the Eamonn Dunne gang have been rife since his murder in April but this is the first concrete evidence of a major rift.

The Don's gang has been the chief target of the north Dublin RIRA unit who have been trying to extort money from Dublin's most notorious crime figures.

They ordered the crime brothers to pay them €50,000 or they would kill them.

The dissident republicans are also the chief suspects in the shooting of Eamonn Dunne's close pal Brian O'Reilly in August and the failed assassination attempt on the Don's mentor, Eamonn Kelly.

Brian O'Reilly, who was a pallbearer at The Don's funeral, was sprayed with semi-automatic fire in a pub on August 7, but escaped with his life.

O'Reilly, who is well known to gardai, was told in May that a threat had been made against his life.

O'Reilly is originally from Ballymun but now lives in Co Meath. He was Dunne's closest confidant and has stabilised Dunne's gang in the wake of his murder six months ago.

hnews@herald.ie

- Cormac Byrne