Gardai braced for gang violence surge

Gardai braced for gang violence surge

By Jim Cusack

Sunday January 11 2009

Gardai in Dublin are anticipating an outbreak of gangland violence after two murders and at least three attempted murders in the opening week of the New Year.

The long-running feud between two gangs in the south inner city is fully expected to flare up after members of the two gangs bumped into each other in a city-centre take-away in the early hours of January 3.

One man was struck on the head with a hammer and then repeatedly kicked in the head as he lay senseless on the floor. The victim is still in hospital and it is not yet known if his injuries will cause permanent brain damage.

Shortly before that attack, a gunman called at a flat in Pearse Street, pointed a gun at a man who answered the door and pulled the trigger. The gun failed to fire. Gardai said the victim was an entirely innocent person and they believe it was a case of mistaken identity. They have yet to find the intended victim.

Then, within the space of two hours on Wednesday evening last, two men were murdered in central Dublin and another shot and severely wounded at a house in Kinsealy in north Dublin. The Kinsealy victim is expected to recover, despite being shot in the chest and neck.

Gardai admitted last week that they are uncertain as to why gangland violence has flared again in the city. Despite an amount of conjecture, gardai do not know the reasons for the murders of Michael 'Roly' Cronin, 35, and his associate James Moloney, 26, a man with no known serious criminal involvement, in Summerhill in the south inner city at 8.40pm last Wednesday.

While it was known that Cronin was at odds with other drug dealers in the Finglas, Coolock and Blanchardstown areas, it was not clear why he was back in his old neighbourhood in Summerhill in the north inner city where other gangs control the drugs -- particularly heroin -- supply in the city centre.

Gardai have a firm suspect for the double murder, a man in his early 20s from the north inner city area, described as a relatively minor gangland figure. The gunman was in the back seat of Cronin's car as it pulled into Langrishe Place off Summerhill. He apparently shot Cronin, who was driving, in the head, and the car crashed into a barrier. He then turned the gun on Moloney, shooting him twice in the head.

Two hours after the double killing, a gunman forced his way into a house in Drynam Drive about six miles away in Kinsealy, then rampaged through the house looking for his 29-year-old victim.

A young woman visiting the house with her baby was cornered in a bathroom where the gunman pointed his gun at her. His victim was hiding in a bedroom barring the door and the gunman fired through it, hitting him twice.

It is believed that a drug gang from the Coolock and Darndale area was behind the attack, which is not thought to be linked with the shooting in the north inner city.

Senior garda sources said last week that while they were anticipating violence in the Finglas and other north-western areas of the city, the double killing in the north inner city and the rekindling of the south-city feud are worrying developments.

As it does every few years, the character of the gangland scene in Dublin is changing, and younger, and, according to gardai, more ruthless gangs are yet again emerging.

The targeting and murder of Roly Cronin fits in with this pattern as it is possible that he had simply run up against one of these emerging young gangs.

Cronin had been involved in the drugs trade since his teens, and he received a 13-year sentence for possession of heroin in 1996. He enjoyed the usual trappings of drugs wealth -- expensive holidays, upmarket cars and a generally lavish lifestyle.

He lived with his partner and child in Buckingham Street, a short distance from where he died, for a number of years but had moved to Finglas last year, apparently after running into trouble with other drug dealers in the north inner city.

Gardai in the city divisions on both sides of the Liffey expressed concern last week that the new young gangs, aged mainly in their late teens and early 20s, are causing a great deal of trouble. They are putting intense pressure on their younger teenage street dealers and any drug seizures by gardai or losses of earnings are punished with severe violence. These gangs are mainly involved in heroin dealing. They are also unafraid of the established, older gang figures in the city.

Senior sources also said that with cutbacks on the garda budgets, there are strict controls on overtime, with detectives being made to work general office hours which is curtailing murder investigations. They also claimed that there appears to be relatively little interest expressed in the gangland crime from senior garda management.

One pointed out that while three very senior gardai attended the investigation of one very high profile "domestic" murder last year, none has been seen near any of the ordinary gangland murder scenes or other less high profile killings in the city.

- Jim Cusack

Gardai ready to swoop in double murder

Irish Herald

By Cormac Looney and Cormac Murphy

Saturday January 10 2009

GARDAI have obtained crucial DNA evidence from the Magnum pistol used in the killing of Michael ‘Roly' Cronin and his driver.

Officers are expected to swoop on the chief suspect for the double murder in the coming days in an effort to match his DNA to the sample recovered from the powerful pistol used in the shooting.

Dozens of officers are this weekend hunting the man in his 30s they suspect of the hit - an associate of drug boss Cronin's from the north inner city.

The second man shot in the incident, James Moloney, from Poppintree in Ballymun, died yesterday afternoon from his injuries.

He had been on life support at St James's Hospital since being shot twice in the head as he sat beside Cronin.

A breakthrough in the case occurred last night when preliminary forensic tests on the gun yielded a DNA sample, which gardai believe belongs to the killer.

A source told the Herald: "It's a key piece of evidence and the next step is obviously to match it to the hitman.

"We have a chief suspect and we are trying to locate him this weekend. But we're keeping an open mind and there'll be a few other people we'll need to speak to as well.

"The case is progressing slowly but surely. Given the nature of DNA analysis, it could take four to six weeks to get a full match."

The main suspect is known to gardai and was friendly with Cronin in the past, and officers believe that this friendship explains why the gang boss allowed him into his car at Langrishe Place, off Summerhill, last Wednesday night.

As the black Volvo S40 drove off, the gunman fired one shot at Cronin and two at Moloney before fleeing.

He dropped the murder weapon, a Magnum .357, under a car at Gloucester Place, and also discarded a black jacket and gloves nearby -- all of which have been recovered by gardai.

Forensic tests are continuing on the jacket and gloves, and gardai are hopeful of obtaining DNA from one if not both pieces of evidence.

Evidence

The source added: "It's rare that a hitman would leave so much evidence at the scene. He was obviously panicking as he ran from the car on Summerhill down into Gloucester Place."

Moloney, in his 20s, was an associate of Cronin's. He was originally from Poppintree, but more recently lived at Braithwaite Street in the south inner city. He had been on life support since the shooting last Wednesday but a decision was made yesterday to switch off the machine.

While Cronin was a major drug trafficker, Moloney had no criminal convictions.

Moloney had been warned in recent weeks there was a hit out on his boss and told to stop working for him.

The remains of Cronin, who was originally from Ballymun but had also lived in the north inner city and Finglas, will be released for burial in the coming days.

The dad of one was released from prison four years ago, after serving a 10-year sentence for drugs possession.

After his release from jail, he aligned himself to Marlo Hyland's Finglas-based crime gang, while also running his own business in areas from Ballymun to Poppintree.

Officers are examining a number of motives for Cronin's killing, but the chief line of inquiry is that he fell out with other criminals in the north inner city over cash owed for drugs.

- Cormac Looney and Cormac Murphy

Drugs baron executed by pal in his own gang

Irish Herald

By Cormac Looney

Friday January 09 2009

Gardai now believe drug boss Roly Cronin was shot dead by a pal on the fringes of his own gang.

DNA left on a black jacket and gloves are set to confirm the identity of the killer who is this evening hiding out on Dublin's northside.

Officers believe that Cronin was shot dead by a pal in his 20s from the north inner city.

Armed detectives were seeking the suspect today, as his second victim, James Moloney, remained close to death

"It's early days but we have a chief suspect. He has been on our list for a number of gun attacks on houses in the north and south inner city over the past 12 months," a source said.

The man is thought to have left his DNA on a black jacket, discarded on railings at Gloucester Place.

Results of forensic tests on the jacket, and the lethal .357 Magnum used in the killing, are expected in the coming days.

Cronin (34) was shot once in the head as the car he was sitting in pulled out from the kerb at Langrishe Place, off Summerhill, at 8.40pm last Wednesday night. The driver of the vehicle, Moloney, in his late 20s, was shot twice in the head.

The tracksuit-wearing killer, described as being 5ft 6ins to 5ft 8ins in height, ran from the car down Gloucester Place to the Gloucester Diamond, where he discarded his gun.

Supplier

Originally from Ballymun, but with extensive connections in the north inner city, Cronin was a major supplier of drugs to areas of west and north Dublin, and the Dublin 1 area.

He had lived for a number of years with his partner and child on nearby Lower Buckingham Street.

He had been targeted twice in the past two years. On one occasion, in 2006, gardai saved his life by intercepting his killer.

Last November he escaped unharmed after shots were fired at his car in Glasnevin.

As the murder probe entered its second day today, sources said a suspect had been identified, and played down reports that a Finglas criminal, who runs the crime gang formerly headed by Marlo Hyland, had ordered the attack.

A senior source: "This one could be a bit closer to home, a bit closer to the north inner city, we believe.

"There's no doubt that Roly stepped on toes on the west side but there's nothing definitively to link to the Finglas mob to it at this stage.

"There's no way he would have let any of Marlo's old crew, or their runners, into the car with him like that. He knew and trusted the guy who did it.

The source added: "Needless to say it's early days and we're keeping an open mind on the whole thing."

The driver of the car, James Moloney, remained in a critical condition in hospital this evening. Moloney, originally from Poppintree, north Dublin but living in a flat at Braithwaite Street in the south inner city, is continuing to battle for his life, despite suffering serious head injuries.

Gardai are appealing for anyone with information to contact them on the Garda Confidential Line, 1800 666111.

Witnesses

They are trying to trace witnesses who may have seen the black Volvo S40 sports car, English reg FD54 CEY, in the hours before the killing last Wednesday. The vehicle had not been stolen.

Officers are continuing to examine CCTV from the area. The killer is not believed to have worn a balaclava.

Cronin served a 10-year jail sentence, after he was caught with heroin at his Buckingham Street flat in 1996.

On his release from prison four years ago he became involved with the Marlo Hyland crime gang, while also retaining his own dealing business in the north inner city.

The .357 Magnum dates back to 1935, but its 125-grain Jacketed Hollow Point bullet is regarded by US experts as the most lethal round available.

The gunman used a revolver, less likely to jam than a semi automatic pistol in the close confines of a car.

The .357 Magnum round is simply a lengthened .38 Special -- used by Garda detectives for decades.

The revolver can also shoot the lighter recoiling but less effective .38 Special.

Republican killers, with access to a wide range of weapons, preferred the .357 Magnum for its instant close range 'stopping' power.

- Cormac Looney

Drug lord shot dead in city gun attacks

Drug lord shot dead in city gun attacks
Two others are critical after spate of shootings

Thursday January 08 2009

A NOTORIOUS drug trafficker was shot dead and two other men left critically injured in a series of shooting attacks in Dublin last night.

In a major escalation of violence in the capital, the three men were shot in two separate attacks in Summerhill in the inner city, and in Swords, less then two hours apart.

The first hit, at 8.40pm at Langrishe Place, Summerhill, took out major gangland figure Michael ‘Roly’ Cronin (35) and left his companion on a life support machine in a Dublin hospital .

Pistol

The gunman is believed to have been sitting in the back of a black, Northern-registered Volvo car when he produced a handgun and shot the two men in the head.

The car then careered across the road and slammed into a barrier.

Gardai later recovered a pistol which they believe was the murder weapon.

Then, at 10.30pm, a man who is believed to have been released from prison only yesterday was cornered in his girlfriend’s home in Drynam Drive, Swords, and shot at least twice in the neck and leg.

An off-duty fireman out walking his dog gave the man first aid at the scene.

The victim’s girlfriend and a child were in the house when the gunman struck.

The badly injured man was later rushed to Beaumont Hospital. Gardai said the victim of the Swords shooting would have known some of Cronin's associates, but it was not immediately clear if there was any connection between the two meticulously planned attacks.

Earlier today, gardai were still trying to establish the exact set of circumstances leading up to the attacks.

Gardai were called initially to what was believed to be a traffic accident in the Summerhill area of the city.

But when they arrived at the scene, near Gardiner Street, they found the car with two doors open and lights flashing in the centre of the road, its front up against a barrier.

Inside they discovered the two badly injured and uncons c i o u s men w i t h h e a d injuries.

They were both treated at the scene and Cronin was taken to the Mater Hospital where he was pronounced dead within an hour of the shooting.

The other man was rushed to St James’s hospital in a critical condition and early today he was battling for his life.

Gardai sealed off the scene and brought in forensic experts as they began door-to-door inquiries.

Late last night members of the garda technical bureau were examining the handgun which was recovered by gardai at Gloucester Diamond shorly after the shooting.

Heroin dealer

The dead man, Michael ‘Roly’ Cronin, was a convicted heroin trafficker who had addresses in Finglas and Ballymun.

A northside criminal who took over the big drug trafficking gang after the murder of its former leader, Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland, was nominated as a prime suspect for Cronin's shooting.

However, gardai were also examining the possibility that it could have been carried out by members of a north inner city gang who had clashed with Cronin and his associates in the past.

Cronin had been targeted several times in the past two years by rival drug gangs and on one occasion his life was saved by members of the Garda organised crime unit, who intercepted his would-be assassin.

In October 2006 Cronin had been under surveillance by members of the organised crime unit when detectives foiled a plan to kill him.

They intercepted a car at Botanic Avenue in Glasnevin and arrested a suspect but found no weapons.

Last October another attempt to shoot Cronin was made near his home in Finglas but he escaped unhurt.

Cronin had been jailed for 13 years in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to possessing heroin worth up to £16,000 at his flat in Buckingham Street, Dublin, in September 1996.

Cronin had been given a chance by the court four months earlier when he received a three-year suspended sentence for possession of heroin. But Judge Cyril Kelly said: “He has spurned that chance. In effect, he said: ‘No thank you very much’”.

He then ordered Cronin to serve a 10-year sentence on top of the three-year sentence which had been suspended in 1996.

Cronin was known to have an expensive lifestyle. He enjoyed holidays to Barbados and travelled to international soccer matches. He also had a lavishly furnished house in Finglas.

After the gangster was jailed the late Independent TD Tony Gregory described the case as a great success for the drugs unit in Store Street and for the Inner City Organisations Network which had marched on Cronin’s home.

Mr Gregory said Cronin had outraged local people who had seen their young people die of AIDS due to drug addiction while he bought houses in the inner city with drugs money.

In the second attack in Swords last night, the scene of the shooting – an end-of-terrace house – was sealed off during garda inquiries.

There was outrage last night at yet another explosion of violence. A Fine Gael spokesman said: “This shocking incident underlines again the complete failure of Government policy and the growing dominance of the culture of gun crime in our society.

“What we need is more gardai, and community gardai in particular, and a Government readiness to take action rather then to talk about a watershed in the wake of every new gun tragedy while sitting on its hands.” He asked where were the promised controls on handguns that had been pledged in the wake of the Shane Geoghegan murder in Limerick.

“If the Government was serious about the matter, it would have taken up opposition suggestions that the Dail should sit longer in December without going into recess until the end of January,” the spokesman said.

The latest shootings come after a bloody year of gun crime in 2008 when fatal shootings claimed the lives of 20 people for only the second time in the Republic.

There were a number of high profile murders, including the ruthless gunning down of Limerick rugby player Shane Geoghegan by mistake. The young rugby player had been mistaken for a gangland target and had been chased into a garden before he was shot dead.

Only four weeks ago in Dublin, another shooting horrified the public when 50-year-old mechanic and father-of-one Aidan O’Kane was shot dead in the East Wall area.

Night of the killers

Irish Herald

Thursday January 08 2009

A DRUGS LORD lay dead and two more men clung to life by a thread in one of the bloodiest nights in Dublin gangland.

Heroin trafficker Michael 'Roly' Cronin (pictured left) was ambushed in central Dublin last night by a pal.

While Roly sat in the front seat of a Volvo chatting, the friend pulled a semi automatic handgun and shot him in the back of the head.

Elsewhere, recently released prisoner John Paul Brennan was shot in the head in an unrelated murder attempt in Kinsealy, Co Dublin.

The wounded man had only left jail yesterday morning.

In the city centre meanwhile, Roly Cronin's killer also pumped at least one more round into the head of his driver.

The driver of the car is not expected to survive and was on a life support machine for organ donation.

The assassin was their pal and struck while seated in the back of the UK-registered car at Summerhill in the north inner city.

Cronin (34) controlled the supply of drugs to the areas of Finglas, Ballymun and the north inner city.

Detectives said the gunman callously fired a bullet into the back of Cronin's head before firing a second round at the drug dealer's driver, who was critically injured.

"This is one of the most cold-blooded killings we've seen in years. Roly must have known his killer and would have suspected nothing," a source said today.

Officers believe that a number of criminals from the Finglas area, who attempted to murder Cronin in the past, were behind the killing.

They believe that Cronin and his associate were lured to the scene only a few hundred yards from the capital's O'Connell St.

In another separate shooting, John paul Brennan was shot at least twice at Drynam Drive in Swords -- on his first day of freedom after serving a prison sentence.

He is in a serious condition in hospital.

Dealer

The murder victim, Cronin, a known drug dealer , originally from Ballymun but living in Finglas was almost certainly gunned down by someone he knew -- a rear seat passenger in their Northern Ireland registered Volvo.

The two front seat occupants were sitting targets for the hit man, who opened fire as the car drove off in Summerhill.

It crashed immediately into a central median.

The gunman then ran from the car, through Gloucester Place and the Diamond, making good his escape -- but he left the murder weapon behind.

Gardai were called to what was initially believed to be a traffic accident and discovered the wounded men.

A pistol was understood to have been recovered at the scene.

Gardai hope the gun, along with forensics from the car and the adjacent area, will prove invaluable in the investigation.

A routine examination of all CCTV systems in the vicinity was under way today as gardai from Fitzgibbon Street and other stations carried out house to house enquiries.

Cronin, who escaped uninjured in a previous hooting in Glasnevin in late November, was dead on admission to the Mater Hospital.

His associate was still clinging to life today on a life support machine.

Both were reported to have been shot in the head, indicating that the hitman was intent on murder and was taking no chances that that the two "targets" may have been wearing bullet proof vests.

Today the scene of the shooting which took place at 8.40pm last night at Langrishe Place, Summerhill, was still sealed off.

Cronin was one of the biggest drug dealers in Dublin, and was released from prison in 2004 after serving a 10-year sentence for drugs offences.

He was an associate of slain gang boss Marlo Hyland, and gardai believe he may have plotted with others to murder Hyland in 2006.

Attack

He was also a gun for hire, and is believed to have been behind an attack on another man, Jeffrey Finnegan, on a laneway in Cabra in 2006.

FInnegan survived and is not a suspect for last night's murder.

The Swords shooting took place at 10.30pm, John Paul Brennan was cornered in his girlfriend's home in Drynam Drive, Swords, and shot at least twice in the neck and leg.

An off-duty fireman out walking his dog gave the man first aid at the scene.

The victim's girlfriend and a child were in the house when the gunman struck.

It is not believed there was any connection between the two meticulously planned attacks.

Drug haul worth €2m seized at lorry firm

Irish Herald

Wednesday January 07 2009

MORE than €2m worth of cannabis was seized yesterday during a planned raid of a company premises.

Gardai uncovered the 270kg haul packed into fertiliser bags and potato sacks in the yard of a small haulage firm, near Lusk, in north Co Dublin.

A 47-year-old man was arrested at the scene.

A source said the bust was the result of a planned operation targeting top-level criminals supplying drug gangs in the area.

“This was 100pc definitely for gangs around north county Dublin,” the source added.

Detectives are not yet certain about how recently the cannabis resin was smuggled into the country.

But they suspect it was part of a larger shipment, probably from north Africa and transported through Spain.

The bags were being stored in a container in the yard of the premises off the old Belfast Road, between Man O'War and Ballough, near Lusk. The company runs a fleet of small lorries.

The arrested man is being detained under section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act and can be held for up to a week.

Gangland murders rise by 60%

Sunday Tribune

Ali Bracken Crime correspondent
There has been a 60% increase in gangland killings this year and justice minister Dermot Ahern has now vowed to make organised and drug-related crime a priority for next year.
There have been 19 such killings so far this year, compared with 12 in 2007, according to an analysis of gangland murders conducted by the Sunday Tribune. This represents a rise of 58%.
Sean Cloherty (27) is the latest gangland victim to lose his life. The drug dealer was shot dead at his home on 25 November while his baby daughter slept upstairs. Cloherty had built up a sizeable number of enemies because of his involvement in the drugs trade. He was shot five times with a handgun in the neck and upper body at his home in Ashcroft Grove in Blakestown, west Dublin.
Just two weeks before that, rugby captain Shane Geoghegan (28) was returning home from watching the Ireland-Canada rugby game at a friend's house in the Kilteragh estate in Limerick when he was shot dead. He was killed by gangland criminals who mistook him for a member of the Keane-Collopy drugs gang.
The rival McCarthy-Dundon gang was responsible for the murder. Other high-profile gangland killings include the murder in August of armed robber Paul 'Farmer' Martin (39), who was shot as he sat drinking in the Jolly Toper pub, in Finglas, Dublin.
Fine Gael justice spoke­s­man Charlie Flanagan said swift action was needed to tackle the escalating problem. "It clearly shows that gangland [activity] is thriving not only in Dublin but in other parts of the country. As a society we cannot have a situation where certain areas run by gangland figures are expanding. It's an affront to the democratic process."
He added that Fine Gael's recently published Criminal Justice Violent Crime Prevention Bill would lower the number of gangland murders. It proposes restricting the movements of known gangland criminals on the word of garda chief superintendents and lengthy jail sentences for criminals who breach these bonds.
Last week, Ahern said funding to tackle the issue will be maintained next year.
December 7, 2008