Thompson pressing dealers to pay debts

Irish Herald
Thompson pressing dealers to pay debts


Saturday October 30 2010

GANG bosses ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson and Wayne Dundon held meetings to discuss flooding Ireland with drugs. The notorious pair held a summit in Britain with a view to taking over from Christy Kinahan's drugs empire.

Kinahan was Ireland's chief cocaine supplier and the leaders of Limerick and Dublin's most high profile gangs have discussed joining forces to flood Ireland with drugs. Christy Kinahan, aka ‘The Dapper Don’, is currently in prison in Spain as authorities move against him for drug trafficking and money laundering.

He can be held in custody for up to four years as the Spanish police build a case against him. Thompson and Dundon met in Britain to discuss their plans. Dundon was staying there to get away from the heavy Garda surveillance he was under in Limerick.

Thompson, on the other hand, has spent the last few months jumping from Holland, the UK, Amsterdam and Spain to avoid police forces across Europe.

A European Arrest Warrant has been issued for Thompson and his associate Gary Hutch for their knowledge of Kinahan's billion-euro drug empire and the murder of hitman Paddy Doyle in Estepona, Spain, in 2008.

He can be arrested on sight by any police service, including the gardai, but has evaded capture up until now.

During his last visit to Dublin, he was seen socialising with his long-term girlfriend and also oversaw the equipping of his gang to ward off any extortion bids from the Real IRA in Dublin.

He also paid a visit to a number of mid-level drug dealers who owe him money as he reportedly owes money to a highly dangerous Russian criminal outfit.

In one incident, he told a drug dealer who owed him over €10,000 that he would burn down his partner's home with her and her son inside if he didn't come up with the money.

Weapons

Thompson is understood to have organised a shipment of weapons into the city in case members of his own gang were targeted by the north Dublin Real IRA cell that is extorting money from major drug dealers.

The weapons haul was discovered by gardai in the capital.

The homes of two of Thompson's chief lieutenants, who had been told by 'Fat' Freddie to protect the deadly arsenal, were raided by gardai but nothing was found.

One of the men, a 26-year-old, is suspected of being the gunman who botched a hit on Martin Foley in 2008.

The erratic gangster is from the Clanbrassil Street area of Dublin and is a longtime associate of Thompson.

Although he is a very active member of Thompson's gang, he does not have many criminal convictions.

However, he is the chief suspect for the shooting of Foley in January 2008 and was arrested over this attack but not prosecuted.

Foley was shot twice in the chest as he drove out of the Carlisle Health and Fitness Gym in Kimmage.

He was approached by a gunman wielding a semi-automatic machine pistol and eight shots were fired into his car. Two struck him in the lower chest and one grazed his head, but he survived.

The second is regarded as Thompson's eyes and ears in Dublin, and is considered his closest confidant and chief lieutenant, and the man who directs his operation in Dublin while his boss is in exile.

The gangster, in his early 30s, is from the Dublin 8 area.

The Real IRA gang that Thompson was guarding against is reputed to have extorted over €400,000 from Dublin drug dealers this year and targeted some of the capital's most dangerous figures.

Assassination

The gang, headed by two brothers from Donaghmede, is suspected of being behind an assassination attempt on Eamonn Dunne's close friend Brian O'Reilly.

Brian O'Reilly (41), from Bettystown, was warned of a threat against his life at the same time as Kelly.

The Don's gang have been the chief target of the north Dublin Real IRA unit 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 the chief suspects in the shooting of O'Reilly in August and the failed assassination attempt on the Don's mentor Eamonn Kelly.

hnews@herald.ie