Sunday Tribune
Names and addresses of jurors found in apartment of Brian Rattigan's partner
Mick McCaffrey, Security Editor
Natasha McEnroe with her partner, gangland murderer Brian RattiganTHE partner of convicted gangland murderer Brian Rattigan is at the centre of a major criminal investigation after the names and addresses of the jury who deliberated at his trial were found in her apartment.
Twenty-six-year-old Natasha McEnroe, from Drimnagh in Dublin, was released from garda custody late on Friday night. She had spent two days being questioned about why highly confidential personal details of the jury, who convicted her boyfriend of murder, were found in the apartment.
Her apartment in Adamstown, west Dublin, was raided by detectives last Wednesday night and the jury list, along with other confidential garda files, was discovered.
Garda commissioner Fachtna Murphy has ordered a massive investigation to find out how the list of names was made public.
Under legislation, only the defence lawyers, prosecution and the Courts Service are allowed to have possession of jury lists in order to ensure that personal details that might put jurors in danger are not leaked.
It is likely that gardaí will now offer security advice to the men and women who deliberated in the trial of Rattigan last November and December for the murder of Declan Gavin.
A previous jury who deliberated on the case could not agree on a verdict and was discharged. The murder trial was blighted by the intimidation of witnesses and gardaí and two officers were openly threatened with murder in court.
Brian Rattigan (26) was found guilty of the 2001 murder of Gavin, who was stabbed to death outside a fast-food outlet in Crumlin. It was the first murder in the so-called Crumlin/Drimnagh feud, which has claimed the lives of 16 people so far.
Fine Gael's Charlie Flanagan has described the finding of the jury list as "a very sinister development".
"It underlines reports that there have been attempts at jury intimidation. Juror intimidation is a very serious issue and it is obvious that organised criminals in Dublin and elsewhere will go to any length to subvert the criminal justice system.
"How somebody could obtain such sensitive information as to the home addresses and perhaps even contact numbers of jurors is of very serious concern. Steps should be taken by the authorities to protect jurors above all, and this certainly justifies to some extent the use of [the] non-jury special criminal court in gangland cases."
It is understood that Natasha McEnroe had no explanation as to how the confidential documents came into her apartment and she was released without charge.
She has been involved in a relationship with Rattigan for over a decade and the couple have one child together. He is serving a life sentence in prison.
She was arrested following the murder of Declan Gavin and told gardaí that the dead man "was a bleedin' rat" and whoever murdered him "should have got a motorbike and done it right. I hated him."
This is the first known case where the names and addresses of jurors in such a high-profile trial have been discovered in such circumstances and the development is of huge concern to gardaí.
During the trial of Rattigan last year, attempts were made to intimidate witnesses and gardaí involved in the case and Judge Barry White commented on this when the verdict was handed down.
Judge White jailed one Rattigan associate for contempt of court after he turned up in court each day and stared at jurors and potential witnesses in a blatant attempt at intimidation.
The judge is known to be angry about the intimidation. During a contempt of court hearing taken by Brian Rattigan against three newspapers last week, Judge White said that any offence committed by the papers "pales in comparison" to the "witness intimidation" during the Declan Gavin trial. He said he took a "very strong view" of the intimidation.
There have been widespread fears in political circles that there is the potential for jury intimidation in gangland trials. Justice minister Dermot Ahern introduced legislation last summer to allow gangland trials to take place before non-jury courts to prevent possible intimidation.
March 7, 2010
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Crime gang caught with details of murder jury
Irish Herald
Gardai arrest imprisoned boss's girlfriend and man in bed with her
By JIM CUSACK
Sunday March 07 2010
The use of juries in gangland trials could end after gardai found a list containing the names, addresses and even telephone numbers of an entire jury, which sat on a murder trial.
The list, along with an entire set of garda documents relating to the case and other intelligence files, was found during a raid on a house last Tuesday night in south inner-city Dublin.
Gardai arrested the girlfriend of an imprisoned, major gangland figure and another man, who was in bed with her.
The names of those arrested, and the trial -- which did not result in a conviction -- cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
A major investigation has started into how the gang came to get hold of the jury details, which would have allowed them to intimidate the jury members and their families.
Among the other documents gardai found were intelligence files, which, it is believed, were stolen by a petty thief in 2008 from an unmarked garda car parked outside Blackrock garda station.
These files gave details of members of the gang led by "Fat" Freddie Thompson, who has been at the centre of the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud, which has claimed 16 lives over the past 10 years.
At the height of the killing in 2008, Thompson's gang rented apartments in the Dun Laoghaire, Sandyford and Foxrock areas in an attempt to evade detection by their enemies.
When gardai discovered the file was missing they visited each of the Thompson gang members at the addresses to warn them that their safety was endangered. At least one of the gang threatened to sue the Garda Siochana over the loss of the file. The gang eventually all moved to other addresses.
Threatening witnesses and suspected tampering with juries led Justice Minister Dermot Ahern to bring forward his anti-gang legislation last year in the Criminal Justice Amendment Act.
As well as providing for the new offence of directing a criminal gang, it included provision for criminal trials to be heard before the non-jury Special Criminal Court. Both measures had been strongly advocated by this newspaper as gangland violence has escalated to record levels.
Introducing the legislation in the Dail last July, the minister said that while it was a "big step" to use the non-jury Special Criminal Court, "a failure to take that decision would be to shirk our over-riding responsibility to ensure that the rule of law prevails".
The minister pointed out that the "threat to witnesses is already clearly accepted".
Gangs were prepared to go further than intimidation and, until the murder in Limerick of Roy Collins, whose father Steve Collins had given evidence in a criminal trial, Mr Ahern said he had resisted calls for sterner legislation, adding: "But I cannot stand by and let our criminal justice system be undermined."
He said the measures were not taken lightly "but we must bring every available legal instrument to the fight against organised crime".
The ease with which the Dublin gang (not the Thompson gang) was able to acquire a full list of jury members with all their details will also call into question the new legislation brought in at the start of last year which allows judges to permit jurors to return to their homes at night or at weekends during the period when they are deliberating a verdict.
- JIM CUSACK
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Murder trial jury names uncovered in garda raid
Irish Herald
Saturday March 06 2010
A LIST of names and addresses of a jury involved in a murder trial has been found in the home of a major gang crime suspect.
The discovery was made during a search and arrest operation this week in Dublin’s south city and has prompted a top level garda investigation.
It also raises serious questions over the integrity of the justice system, as detectives try to establish how the detailed information was obtained by criminals.
Other files including some with garda intelligence information on suspects from the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud were also found.
The jurors listed in the documents were involved in a lengthy murder trial that centred around a well- known gangster and drug dealer.
The information was so detailed that it even included phone numbers for the individual members and their home addresses.
Gardai made the worrying find when they searched the home of a close female friend of the gangster as part of an investigation into a separate murder in the city.
A source told the Herald: "This is a very serious matter which hits at the heart of our whole judicial system.
"Criminals with access to this sort of information have the capacity to undermine the entire jury system.
"A major investigation into how the leak could have occurred is under way and as few people have access to such information, it is expected that officers will get to the bottom of this quickly."
The Herald has also learned that detectives retrieved other sensitive documents, including garda intelligence files on the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud.
The files, which were stolen from the back of a patrol car in 2008, listed the names of about two dozen associates of a gang leader, who had addresses in the greater Dun Laoghaire area.
The five pages of documents included their photos, car registration numbers and addresses, mainly in the Sandyford and Stepaside areas.
They were reported to have been photocopied and distributed widely among the rival gang members.
Those listed were contacted by gardai, informed of the theft, and advised to take extra precautions for their personal safety and their property.
One of the leading crime figures threatened to sue the State for putting his life in danger through their "negligence".
Gardai have launched a major investigation into both finds and are understood to be particularly concerned about the jury list. Jurors and witnesses have been intimidated in the past during a number of trials and sources said this discovery is a seriously worrying development.
hnews@herald.ie
Friday, 26 February 2010
Belgian dealer is new city drugs boss, works out of five star hotels
Irish Herald
PLOT: Underworld criminal sets up arms summit in Med
By Cormac Byrne
Friday February 26 2010
A YOUNG Irishman based in Belgium has become the biggest supplier of drugs and credit to Dublin's gangs.
The 25-year-old, who works out of five star hotels in the capital is acting as trafficker Christy Kinahan's eyes and ears here as he serves a prison sentence in mainland Europe.
All of the city's main gangs, including deadly rivals are dealing with the young associate of Kinahan.
Gardai also have intelligence that Kinahan is working closely to end the feuds between the gangs and create one major drugs organisation in Dublin.
SUPPLIER
Kinahan is the main drug supplier to the 'Fat' Freddie Thompson gang and a revered figure among all members of Ireland's criminal underworld.
Kinahan (53) is currently serving a jail sentence for money laundering in Belgium and as well as running his operations in Dublin, his new commander-in-chief has also been charged with resolving the bloody feuds in the city that are proving "bad for business."
The deputy is a younger associate of Kinahan, who is on first name terms with a dozen or so major criminals, who head drug supply gangs across the city.
Kinahan has convictions for smuggling heroin and ecstasy in Ireland, and he has based in Belgium, Holland and the favourite haunt of Irish gangland figures, the Costa Del Sol, ever since he was released from jail in Ireland.
He arranges massive shipments of guns and drugs from Russian, Turkish and north African cartels into Ireland.
He had served a lengthy prison sentence at Ireland's highest security prison in Portlaoise after being convicted of fraud but has been operating actively for the past decade.
As part of his attempts to heal the rifts in Dublin's underworld, Kinahan reportedly recently arranged an all expenses paid trip to Puerto Banus for Dublin's major crime bosses.
The summit has been arranged to organise a major shipment of drugs and arms for Ireland, sources say.
'Fat' Freddie Thompson is reported to be attending, along with members of Limerick's gangs, as well as Finglas-based crime godfather 'The Don'.
The Mediterranean love-in is Kinahan's latest attempt to cool tensions on the streets of Dublin after he organised a night out for his gangland associates at a boxing bout in Dublin last year.
Crime figures like 'Fat' Freddie and 'The Don' were in attendance along with other leading figures.
"Kinahan's boxing treat was just the start of his charm offensive," a senior Garda source revealed.
RIVALS
"He knows people like The Don have been killing rivals because they're convinced they're going to be wiped out.
"But Kinahan is cute enough to realise more violence on the streets brings more detectives on to the streets which is bad for business.
"He's the main man in Spain, and if he can keep all the gangs sweet with boxing matches and foreign holidays he'll continue to rake in a fortune."
Kinahan is a major target of Europol, based in The Hague, Holland and any meeting between the gang bosses would be monitored closely.
hnews@herald.ie
- Cormac Byrne
Friday, 12 February 2010
Detectives quiz gun suspect on murders
Irish Herald
By Charlie Mallon
Friday February 12 2010
A key figure in Dublin's gangland was still being quizzed today about his alleged role in a litany of murders in the city.
He is reported to have been the trigger man in at least four fatal shootings, the most recent being that of David Thomas in October 2009.
Detectives believe this murder was a revenge killing for that of a Finglas man more than 10 years ago.
But the suspected gunman, in his 20s, is also an "enforcer" in the west Dublin gang, established by a new crime boss after the murder of gang leader 'Marlo' Hyland in December 2006.
He is being held at Finglas Garda Station.
Rivals
This gang has been involved in a rash of killings, mainly in the west of the city and involving perceived rivals, informers and with drug debtors.
The main focus of the questioning of the suspect being held at Finglas is the murder on October 9 last year of 43-year- old David Thomas.
He was shot as he smoked a cigarette outside the Drake Inn pub on Finglas' Main Street.
Thomas was acquitted of murdering another local man, Eamon O'Reilly, who was blasted with a sawn-off shotgun during a row in a pub in Ballymun in January 1998. During his arrest, days later, he fired on and wounded two gardai.
cmallon@herald.ie
- Charlie Mallon
Sunday, 7 February 2010
The Enforcer
Sunday Tribune
On 13 November 2005, two senior members of the Fat Freddie Thompson gang – Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne – were shot dead in Firhouse in Dublin. The pair were murdered by their own side over a disagreement about where the gang's drugs money was being invested. Gardaí believe that Paddy Doyle, the Thompson mob's feared "enforcer", was responsible for the double murder. Its aftermath is detailed in Cocaine Wars: Fat Freddie Thompson and the Crumlin/Drimnagh Feud by Sunday Tribune security editor Mick McCaffrey
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Two days after Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne had been shot dead, Noel Roche was preparing for a night out. Roche and his cohorts in the Brian Rattigan gang had spent the previous 48 hours trying to work out what the hell had happened at the housing estate in Firhouse. Two key members of Freddie Thompson's gang lay in a morgue, but Rattigan had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was a mystery, and the only thing the 27-year-old could think was that there was a serious civil war going on within Thompson's mob that would drive them to such lengths they would start killing their own.
There was no point in looking a gift horse in the mouth. Roche was probably more than happy that Thompson's gang number had been reduced by two, and felt sure that the internal strife was not over. He would happily sit back and let Thompson's crew murder each other, but if he got half the chance, he would take them out himself.
Noel Roche's brother John had been dead for less than eight months. He had not avenged his killing and that was probably one of his priorities. Although he was distraught when his brother was murdered, Roche realised that they were involved in a war and there were bound to be casualties, so he channelled his grief into getting even. It had been a good few days.
Roche was in good spirits and was looking forward to his night out; he was going to see Phil Collins in concert at the Point Depot. Although the soulful Collins might seem like a strange choice of musician for a Dublin gangster to be a fan of, detectives spotted over a dozen serious and well-known criminals from across the city going to see Collins perform that night.
According to gardaí, for some reason there are two songs that really resonate with criminals in Dublin. These songs are a staple of every wedding, 21st birthday party and wake attended by well-known and petty criminals. The first is 'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor, which was the theme tune for the Rocky films.
A high percentage of gangland criminals are serious boxing fans and would always attend championship title fights at The Point. Freddie Thompson is a massive boxing fan and regularly travelled as far as Las Vegas to take in the fights of Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. When Bernard Dunne fights at The Point, or the O2 arena, as it is now known, there are upwards of 15 armed and undercover gardaí mingling among the crowd. Virtually every criminal across Dublin attends these high-adrenaline events, and this could result in bloodshed if the wrong people ran into each other.
When 'Eye of the Tiger' is played at the Bernard Dunne fights, the crowd explodes with delight. The tune is a testosterone-fuelled number and brings out the best – or the worst – in macho men who remember watching Rocky and Apollo Creed square off against each other in the film when they were kids.
It can only be matched in popularity by one song – Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight,' a powerful song that tells the story of the singer witnessing an unspecified act, which leads to a death. Collins wrote the song while he was going through a divorce, and several urban myths have developed around it. Again, it is hard to tell why the song resonates with criminals, but there is an undercurrent of anger throughout, and when there is an explosion of drums going into the final verse, it never fails to bring the criminals to their feet to sing along. Maybe it is the fact that the singer has the power of life over death in the song, which criminals can relate to, or more likely, they just like the beat of the drums. It could also be because Phil Collins starred in the film Buster, about the Great Train Robbery. He played a petty criminal from the East End of London. It is hard to imagine that Irish gangland criminals would not only listen to his music, but actually go to his concerts.
Noel Roche had arranged to go to the concert with his girlfriend and aunt and uncle.
Eddie Rice drove Roche to the gig. Rice was 32 and hailed from Kilworth Road in Drimnagh. He was not a central member of the gang, but was a trusted lieutenant who was seen as very loyal to Rattigan, and especially to Noel Roche. He had a handful of convictions for relatively minor offences. Part of Rice's job was to run errands for Roche, and to generally make sure that he had everything he needed. While Roche enjoyed watching Phil Collins, Rice would have stood guard, making sure that everything was okay and that his boss had everything that he wanted.
At around 9.30pm, Roche and his girlfriend went out to the lobby bar for a drink. While he was there, either he or Eddie Rice saw somebody of whom they were suspicious. It is not known whether that person was a rival gang member or an associate of the Thompson gang, but Roche was concerned enough to leave the concert early for his own safety. He sent his girlfriend to tell his aunt and uncle that he had to head off. He dispatched Eddie Rice to the car park to get the car and pull up out the front, so he could safely leave the area.
Roche and Rice were unaware that they had been seen early in the night and were probably under surveillance while they were at the concert. A person inside the concert is known to have made a phone call to Paddy Doyle. He came out of his hiding place after the double murder two days before, and psyched himself up, ready to inflict yet another casualty on the Rattigan gang.
He summoned his driver, 21-year-old Craig White from O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7. White was a driver for the Thompson gang and quite low in the gang's hierarchy, but he was eager to learn the tricks of the criminal trade and was happy to do anything to please the gang leaders. He was driving a beige Peugeot 307 that had been stolen from outside a house in Blessington, Co Wicklow, five weeks previously.
Eddie Rice drove Roche and his girlfriend back across north Dublin to her apartment near Coolock. After dropping her off, Roche told Rice to make his way down the Clontarf Road towards town, and they would head into Temple Bar for a few pints. They were not being followed and were happy that they had left the Phil Collins concert without attracting any attention from the rival gang.
At around 10.25pm, a Peugeot 307 began to rev up behind Rice's Mondeo, attempting to ram it off the road. After getting the call and picking Paddy Doyle up, Craig White spent half an hour or so driving around to see if he could spot the Mondeo. The Thompson gang knew that Noel Roche had an offside apartment in Coolock, and headed in that direction to see if he had gone back to stay there. It was just sheer luck that they managed to spot Noel Roche on the Clontarf Road. The Clontarf Road is one of the busiest arteries that leads into Dublin city centre, with thousands of cars using it each morning. Even though it was late and there were few cars on the road, trying to pick out one car in a massive area of north Dublin was akin to finding a needle in a haystack, but Doyle and White were lucky. It is unclear if Roche knew that Paddy Doyle was in the front of the Peugeot with a gun, but he would have known that he was in serious danger, because he was not armed and was in an old car, and Eddie Rice wasn't turning out to be much of a getaway driver. Rice desperately tried to get his battered Mondeo away from Doyle and White, but his driving skills were no match for White, who refused to be shaken off. As Roche and Rice approached The Yacht pub, White managed to swerve across their path, leaving Paddy Doyle and Noel Roche side-by-side in the middle of the road.
Doyle whipped out a 9mm Glock and fired four shots in quick succession. His aim was accurate, and Roche was hit three times in the head, dying instantly. Eddie Rice slammed on the brakes as soon as the shooting started. He wasn't hit. He looked to his left and saw that his friend was dead. Although Rice was naturally shocked and covered in Noel Roche's blood, he fled his car. He began knocking on doors, trying to wake householders. Several people answered their doors in their nightclothes, only to quickly shut them when they saw a man covered in blood screaming frantically at them. Rice managed to make it into a back garden and escaped.
The Emergency Response Unit immediately flooded the streets of Dublin, and every garda was on red alert to look out for Rice, because it was feared that, as a potential witness, he might be the rival gang's next target. It seemed like he had vanished into thin air. The Garda helicopter spent the night searching for Rice from the air but without success.
Noel Roche's murder meant that his mother, Caroline, and father, Noel Snr, had lost two of their sons in just eight months. Caroline Roche knew that her sons were no angels and she also knew the intricacies of the feud. When she arrived at the scene of Noel's murder and saw him lying dead in the car, she immediately told gardaí that Paddy Doyle was responsible.
After being fingered for carrying out the three murders in less than two days, Paddy Doyle knew he was the most wanted criminal in Ireland, both by the gardaí, and worse still, the Rattigan crew. Roche and Rattigan had been very friendly all their lives. Brian Rattigan went absolutely beserk when Roche was murdered. A bounty of €60,000 was placed on Doyle's head. For the next few weeks, Doyle travelled around the city and out of the country with his head down and in heavy disguise – often going to such extreme lengths as to dress as a woman. He seldom stayed at the same address for more than two consecutive nights.
About a week after the Clontarf Road murder, Doyle went into Crumlin Garda Station and had a meeting with a senior detective. He said that he knew he was in the feud up to his neck and wanted a way out. The detective told him to admit to carrying out a crime, and he would see what could be arranged with the DPP's office. Doyle just looked at him and laughed, and said he would pass and take his chances. He did offer an insight into the way he was thinking, when he said that he thought that Freddie Thompson was a garda informant and that he did not trust him. He always suspected the worst of people and trusted nobody but himself. When the gangs became so big and began to make so much money, the friendships were replaced by business partnerships. Friendships seemed to be fickle and money was the motivator.
Paddy Doyle despised the gardaí, so the fact he was even talking to them showed just how desperate he had become.
Several gardaí were always struck by Doyle's vacant stare: he looked you in the eye, but his gaze penetrated you like you weren't even in the room. However, when Doyle said that he wanted to get out of the crime game, the senior officer in Crumlin believed him. The detective had heard this story dozens of times before, but knew that Doyle was genuine. Unfortunately, when you get into crime as deep as Doyle did, it is very difficult to get out. He was making tens of thousands of euro some weeks – he had more cash than he knew what to do with. It was believed that he had killed three men and would have to take responsibility for his actions.
A month after Noel Roche died, Paddy Doyle had enough of the pressure at home in Ireland and decided that he would have to leave the country permanently. He boarded a flight bound for Birmingham and then intended to head for Spain. When he passed through security at Dublin Airport, he probably knew in his heart of hearts that because of the massive price on his head, he would not be returning home any time soon.
Paddy Doyle was murdered in Spain in October 2007.
'Cocaine Wars' by Mick McCaffrey, published by Merlin, is on sale now, price €12.99
February 7, 2010
On 13 November 2005, two senior members of the Fat Freddie Thompson gang – Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne – were shot dead in Firhouse in Dublin. The pair were murdered by their own side over a disagreement about where the gang's drugs money was being invested. Gardaí believe that Paddy Doyle, the Thompson mob's feared "enforcer", was responsible for the double murder. Its aftermath is detailed in Cocaine Wars: Fat Freddie Thompson and the Crumlin/Drimnagh Feud by Sunday Tribune security editor Mick McCaffrey
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Two days after Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne had been shot dead, Noel Roche was preparing for a night out. Roche and his cohorts in the Brian Rattigan gang had spent the previous 48 hours trying to work out what the hell had happened at the housing estate in Firhouse. Two key members of Freddie Thompson's gang lay in a morgue, but Rattigan had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was a mystery, and the only thing the 27-year-old could think was that there was a serious civil war going on within Thompson's mob that would drive them to such lengths they would start killing their own.
There was no point in looking a gift horse in the mouth. Roche was probably more than happy that Thompson's gang number had been reduced by two, and felt sure that the internal strife was not over. He would happily sit back and let Thompson's crew murder each other, but if he got half the chance, he would take them out himself.
Noel Roche's brother John had been dead for less than eight months. He had not avenged his killing and that was probably one of his priorities. Although he was distraught when his brother was murdered, Roche realised that they were involved in a war and there were bound to be casualties, so he channelled his grief into getting even. It had been a good few days.
Roche was in good spirits and was looking forward to his night out; he was going to see Phil Collins in concert at the Point Depot. Although the soulful Collins might seem like a strange choice of musician for a Dublin gangster to be a fan of, detectives spotted over a dozen serious and well-known criminals from across the city going to see Collins perform that night.
According to gardaí, for some reason there are two songs that really resonate with criminals in Dublin. These songs are a staple of every wedding, 21st birthday party and wake attended by well-known and petty criminals. The first is 'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor, which was the theme tune for the Rocky films.
A high percentage of gangland criminals are serious boxing fans and would always attend championship title fights at The Point. Freddie Thompson is a massive boxing fan and regularly travelled as far as Las Vegas to take in the fights of Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. When Bernard Dunne fights at The Point, or the O2 arena, as it is now known, there are upwards of 15 armed and undercover gardaí mingling among the crowd. Virtually every criminal across Dublin attends these high-adrenaline events, and this could result in bloodshed if the wrong people ran into each other.
When 'Eye of the Tiger' is played at the Bernard Dunne fights, the crowd explodes with delight. The tune is a testosterone-fuelled number and brings out the best – or the worst – in macho men who remember watching Rocky and Apollo Creed square off against each other in the film when they were kids.
It can only be matched in popularity by one song – Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight,' a powerful song that tells the story of the singer witnessing an unspecified act, which leads to a death. Collins wrote the song while he was going through a divorce, and several urban myths have developed around it. Again, it is hard to tell why the song resonates with criminals, but there is an undercurrent of anger throughout, and when there is an explosion of drums going into the final verse, it never fails to bring the criminals to their feet to sing along. Maybe it is the fact that the singer has the power of life over death in the song, which criminals can relate to, or more likely, they just like the beat of the drums. It could also be because Phil Collins starred in the film Buster, about the Great Train Robbery. He played a petty criminal from the East End of London. It is hard to imagine that Irish gangland criminals would not only listen to his music, but actually go to his concerts.
Noel Roche had arranged to go to the concert with his girlfriend and aunt and uncle.
Eddie Rice drove Roche to the gig. Rice was 32 and hailed from Kilworth Road in Drimnagh. He was not a central member of the gang, but was a trusted lieutenant who was seen as very loyal to Rattigan, and especially to Noel Roche. He had a handful of convictions for relatively minor offences. Part of Rice's job was to run errands for Roche, and to generally make sure that he had everything he needed. While Roche enjoyed watching Phil Collins, Rice would have stood guard, making sure that everything was okay and that his boss had everything that he wanted.
At around 9.30pm, Roche and his girlfriend went out to the lobby bar for a drink. While he was there, either he or Eddie Rice saw somebody of whom they were suspicious. It is not known whether that person was a rival gang member or an associate of the Thompson gang, but Roche was concerned enough to leave the concert early for his own safety. He sent his girlfriend to tell his aunt and uncle that he had to head off. He dispatched Eddie Rice to the car park to get the car and pull up out the front, so he could safely leave the area.
Roche and Rice were unaware that they had been seen early in the night and were probably under surveillance while they were at the concert. A person inside the concert is known to have made a phone call to Paddy Doyle. He came out of his hiding place after the double murder two days before, and psyched himself up, ready to inflict yet another casualty on the Rattigan gang.
He summoned his driver, 21-year-old Craig White from O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7. White was a driver for the Thompson gang and quite low in the gang's hierarchy, but he was eager to learn the tricks of the criminal trade and was happy to do anything to please the gang leaders. He was driving a beige Peugeot 307 that had been stolen from outside a house in Blessington, Co Wicklow, five weeks previously.
Eddie Rice drove Roche and his girlfriend back across north Dublin to her apartment near Coolock. After dropping her off, Roche told Rice to make his way down the Clontarf Road towards town, and they would head into Temple Bar for a few pints. They were not being followed and were happy that they had left the Phil Collins concert without attracting any attention from the rival gang.
At around 10.25pm, a Peugeot 307 began to rev up behind Rice's Mondeo, attempting to ram it off the road. After getting the call and picking Paddy Doyle up, Craig White spent half an hour or so driving around to see if he could spot the Mondeo. The Thompson gang knew that Noel Roche had an offside apartment in Coolock, and headed in that direction to see if he had gone back to stay there. It was just sheer luck that they managed to spot Noel Roche on the Clontarf Road. The Clontarf Road is one of the busiest arteries that leads into Dublin city centre, with thousands of cars using it each morning. Even though it was late and there were few cars on the road, trying to pick out one car in a massive area of north Dublin was akin to finding a needle in a haystack, but Doyle and White were lucky. It is unclear if Roche knew that Paddy Doyle was in the front of the Peugeot with a gun, but he would have known that he was in serious danger, because he was not armed and was in an old car, and Eddie Rice wasn't turning out to be much of a getaway driver. Rice desperately tried to get his battered Mondeo away from Doyle and White, but his driving skills were no match for White, who refused to be shaken off. As Roche and Rice approached The Yacht pub, White managed to swerve across their path, leaving Paddy Doyle and Noel Roche side-by-side in the middle of the road.
Doyle whipped out a 9mm Glock and fired four shots in quick succession. His aim was accurate, and Roche was hit three times in the head, dying instantly. Eddie Rice slammed on the brakes as soon as the shooting started. He wasn't hit. He looked to his left and saw that his friend was dead. Although Rice was naturally shocked and covered in Noel Roche's blood, he fled his car. He began knocking on doors, trying to wake householders. Several people answered their doors in their nightclothes, only to quickly shut them when they saw a man covered in blood screaming frantically at them. Rice managed to make it into a back garden and escaped.
The Emergency Response Unit immediately flooded the streets of Dublin, and every garda was on red alert to look out for Rice, because it was feared that, as a potential witness, he might be the rival gang's next target. It seemed like he had vanished into thin air. The Garda helicopter spent the night searching for Rice from the air but without success.
Noel Roche's murder meant that his mother, Caroline, and father, Noel Snr, had lost two of their sons in just eight months. Caroline Roche knew that her sons were no angels and she also knew the intricacies of the feud. When she arrived at the scene of Noel's murder and saw him lying dead in the car, she immediately told gardaí that Paddy Doyle was responsible.
After being fingered for carrying out the three murders in less than two days, Paddy Doyle knew he was the most wanted criminal in Ireland, both by the gardaí, and worse still, the Rattigan crew. Roche and Rattigan had been very friendly all their lives. Brian Rattigan went absolutely beserk when Roche was murdered. A bounty of €60,000 was placed on Doyle's head. For the next few weeks, Doyle travelled around the city and out of the country with his head down and in heavy disguise – often going to such extreme lengths as to dress as a woman. He seldom stayed at the same address for more than two consecutive nights.
About a week after the Clontarf Road murder, Doyle went into Crumlin Garda Station and had a meeting with a senior detective. He said that he knew he was in the feud up to his neck and wanted a way out. The detective told him to admit to carrying out a crime, and he would see what could be arranged with the DPP's office. Doyle just looked at him and laughed, and said he would pass and take his chances. He did offer an insight into the way he was thinking, when he said that he thought that Freddie Thompson was a garda informant and that he did not trust him. He always suspected the worst of people and trusted nobody but himself. When the gangs became so big and began to make so much money, the friendships were replaced by business partnerships. Friendships seemed to be fickle and money was the motivator.
Paddy Doyle despised the gardaí, so the fact he was even talking to them showed just how desperate he had become.
Several gardaí were always struck by Doyle's vacant stare: he looked you in the eye, but his gaze penetrated you like you weren't even in the room. However, when Doyle said that he wanted to get out of the crime game, the senior officer in Crumlin believed him. The detective had heard this story dozens of times before, but knew that Doyle was genuine. Unfortunately, when you get into crime as deep as Doyle did, it is very difficult to get out. He was making tens of thousands of euro some weeks – he had more cash than he knew what to do with. It was believed that he had killed three men and would have to take responsibility for his actions.
A month after Noel Roche died, Paddy Doyle had enough of the pressure at home in Ireland and decided that he would have to leave the country permanently. He boarded a flight bound for Birmingham and then intended to head for Spain. When he passed through security at Dublin Airport, he probably knew in his heart of hearts that because of the massive price on his head, he would not be returning home any time soon.
Paddy Doyle was murdered in Spain in October 2007.
'Cocaine Wars' by Mick McCaffrey, published by Merlin, is on sale now, price €12.99
February 7, 2010
Monday, 1 February 2010
Top crime figure held in €300,000 drugs find
Top crime figure held in €300,000 drugs find
By Barry Duggan
Monday February 01 2010
ONE of the country's main criminal gangs has been dealt a major blow after gardai seized €300,000 worth of heroin and arrested a leading member of the outfit.
The crime figure was arrested in Limerick by gardai investigating the latest feud-related shooting in the city over the weekend.
Officers also recovered a shotgun that was used in the attack.
On Saturday evening, during a major search, gardai recovered a major cache of heroin on the Ballysimon road -- four miles from the city.
Two men were arrested as part of the investigation, and heroin with an estimated street value of €300,000 was recovered. It is understood the narcotics belonged to the Collopy criminal gang.
A 22-year-old man, considered to be a leading member of the gang, was arrested by gardai. He is a well-known criminal in the city and served a prison sentence for drug dealing.
The other individual being detained is from Dublin.
Meanwhile, detectives from Roxboro garda station were last night questioning a 25-year-old man suspected of being involved in the shooting of another man in the city on Saturday evening. The victim, aged in his 20s and from Bruff, Co Limerick, was shot on Carey's Road at around 5pm.
An assailant armed with a shotgun fired at least one shot at the intended target. He suffered pellet wounds to the legs and was brought to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.
The man suspected to have carried out the shooting was arrested a short time later on Hyde Road. He can be held for up seven days. It is believed that the incident is drug-related and that the victim was targeted after he fell into debt with one of the city's criminal gangs.
Shotgun
Separately, gardai recovered a shotgun they believe was used in the shooting of a 27-year-old criminal in the city on January 22. The victim, who is also a member of the Collopy gang, was shot twice in the Ballynanty area of the city as thousands of rugby fans left nearby Thomond Park.
He was targeted by members of the McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang after his release from prison for drugs offences.
A 17-year-old who was arrested in connection with the incident was released without charge over the weekend.
- Barry Duggan
Irish Independent
By Barry Duggan
Monday February 01 2010
ONE of the country's main criminal gangs has been dealt a major blow after gardai seized €300,000 worth of heroin and arrested a leading member of the outfit.
The crime figure was arrested in Limerick by gardai investigating the latest feud-related shooting in the city over the weekend.
Officers also recovered a shotgun that was used in the attack.
On Saturday evening, during a major search, gardai recovered a major cache of heroin on the Ballysimon road -- four miles from the city.
Two men were arrested as part of the investigation, and heroin with an estimated street value of €300,000 was recovered. It is understood the narcotics belonged to the Collopy criminal gang.
A 22-year-old man, considered to be a leading member of the gang, was arrested by gardai. He is a well-known criminal in the city and served a prison sentence for drug dealing.
The other individual being detained is from Dublin.
Meanwhile, detectives from Roxboro garda station were last night questioning a 25-year-old man suspected of being involved in the shooting of another man in the city on Saturday evening. The victim, aged in his 20s and from Bruff, Co Limerick, was shot on Carey's Road at around 5pm.
An assailant armed with a shotgun fired at least one shot at the intended target. He suffered pellet wounds to the legs and was brought to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.
The man suspected to have carried out the shooting was arrested a short time later on Hyde Road. He can be held for up seven days. It is believed that the incident is drug-related and that the victim was targeted after he fell into debt with one of the city's criminal gangs.
Shotgun
Separately, gardai recovered a shotgun they believe was used in the shooting of a 27-year-old criminal in the city on January 22. The victim, who is also a member of the Collopy gang, was shot twice in the Ballynanty area of the city as thousands of rugby fans left nearby Thomond Park.
He was targeted by members of the McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang after his release from prison for drugs offences.
A 17-year-old who was arrested in connection with the incident was released without charge over the weekend.
- Barry Duggan
Irish Independent
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