Sunday Tribune
Ali Bracken, Crime Correspondent
Finnegan: linked to killingsONE of Dublin's most notorious and dangerous criminals is on the run from prison after failing to return from temporary release, and senior detectives say tracking down the convicted drug dealer is now a major priority.
Jeffrey Finnegan (30), of Rathvilley Drive, Finglas, was granted temporary release from Shelton Abbey open prison for Christmas five months ago but has failed to return. Finnegan has been implicated in two of Dublin's most high-profile unsolved murders in recent years – the fatal shootings of innocent mothers Donna Cleary and Latvian Baiba Saulite.
Cleary was killed when a man opened fire indiscriminately on a group of people attending a 40th birthday party at Adare Green, Coolock, in 2006. The mother-of-one died after being shot in the chest.
Gardaí believe Dwayne Foster (24) was the gunman. Foster later died in custody in a drug-related death after his arrest following the shooting. Finnegan was also arrested over Cleary's murder. He was a close friend of Foster and among the group of men that attacked the house where she died when they were denied entry to the party.
Finnegan was also arrested in relation to the murder of mother-of-two Baiba Saulite in 2006. The Latvian was shot dead on the orders of her estranged husband Hassan Hassan, who has since left Ireland. Finnegan is not suspected of being the gunman in this murder but was a member of the Finglas gang who arranged the shooting as a favour to Limerick's McCarthy-Dundon crime gang on behalf of Hassan Hassan.
Finnegan is linked to murdered gangster 'Marlo' Hyland's Finglas crime gang, whose most recent leader, Eamon Dunne, was murdered three weeks ago.
The 30-year-old survived a murder attempt on his own life in Cabra in December 2006. Despite being shot in the neck and back, Finnegan managed to drive from Annamoe Parade to Finglas on a motorbike where the blood-spattered machine was found outside his home.
In July 2008, Finnegan was jailed for three years after he overturned a stolen car after losing control of it during a high-speed garda chase. With 25% remission for good behaviour, he would have been eligible for release next summer had he not absconded from custody.
He has over 45 previous convictions, the most serious resulting in a six-year sentence in 2000 when he was caught holding cocaine and ecstasy worth an estimated IR£150,000 for another person.
A senior source said that Finnegan was a dangerous and capable criminal.
It is possible that he has left Ireland. Since Dunne's recent murder, extra garda attention has been focused on the Finglas gang Finnegan is associated with but he has not yet been found and returned to prison.
May 9, 2010
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Jailers battle to break the gangs
Irish herald
Special intelligence units struggle to keep feuding gangsters separated in overcrowded prisons
By JIM CUSACK
Sunday May 09 2010
SPECIAL prison intelligence gathering and security units are facing a daily battle to stop Ireland's gangland feuding from spilling into jails, a senior official in the prison service has told the Sunday Independent.
He also revealed that work is to start next January on the new 1,400-prisoner jail at Thornton Hall north-west of Dublin. It is hoped this will lead to the closure of Mountjoy Prison which has been repeatedly condemned as unfit for purpose by inspectors and visiting groups.
Staff in Mountjoy are under constant pressure to prevent violence from erupting. Since it was set up in 2008, the Prison Service's Operational Support Group (OSG) has grown in strength and effectiveness despite continued serious violence from gangs inside jails.
A senior member of staff in the Prison Service, speaking on the record, but anonymously, admitted that gangland violence has led to almost-daily shifts of prisoners around the system to avoid severe violence and a daily battle to prevent killings or serious injury.
Threats to prisoners and staff are constant and a key part of the Operational Support Group's work is to gather intelligence on who is threatening who. Particularly vulnerable are prisoners on remand awaiting trial. Gang leaders on the outside are in constant fear that these "committal" prisoners will turn state's evidence against the gangs in return from more lenient treatment.
The Prison Service source said: "The emergence in recent years of criminal gangs has had significant implications for the management of Irish prisons. Rivalries and feuds which develop on the outside are being carried over on the inside of Irish prisons.
"Prison management have to ensure that the various factions are kept apart and, as far as possible, that gang members do not have influence over other inmates or criminal activities outside the prisons.
"Gang members are being managed on a daily basis through segregation and separation throughout the prison system. Membership or allegiance to these criminal gangs fluctuates on a continuous basis with some persons breaking links and others becoming affiliated."
He spoke about the actions being taken to prevent trouble while trying to keep as much drugs and contraband out of prison as possible.
"A number of initiatives have been introduced with a view to preventing identified gang leaders from conducting their business while in custody and also to prevent them exerting inappropriate influence over other persons. For example, a number of serious criminal gang members are now segregated in a specific area of Cloverhill Prison.
See Analysis Page 17
"The security initiatives undertaken by the OSG have made it more difficult for prisoners to engage in illegal activities while in prison. These initiatives include the introduction of drug detection dogs and the installation of airport-style security including scanners and X-ray machines.
"A core function of this group is to gather and collate intelligence information on criminal gang members in Irish prisons and to carry out intelligence-led searches.
"The majority of prisoners who seek to go on protection do so, not because they fear random acts of violence in prison, but rather because of issues that occurred on the outside," the source said.
"Typical reasons why a prisoner would request protection are: gang rivalry, drug debts, perceived cooperation with gardai, or because they gave evidence in a court case," he said. "This is evidenced by the fact that it is at committal stage that the majority of prisoners who seek protection express their wish.
"Efforts are made on a continuous basis to reduce the number of protection prisoners. Regular transfers take place to other institutions where a prisoner will not require protection.
"In addition, the recently refurbished Separation Unit in Mountjoy Prison has opened and provides 50 spaces with in-cell sanitation and secure exercise yards for this category of prisoner.
He agreed with the views of the Prison Officers' Association and the Prison Inspector, Judge Michael Reilly, that a great deal of the trouble in prisons is due to overcrowding and poor conditions, particularly Mountjoy, Cork and Limerick. He said: "The Prison Service is experiencing increasing difficulties in light of the high numbers being committed to custody."
In the past two years there has been a dramatic rise in the numbers in custody (up by 735 or 21.5 per cent). The prisoner population reached an all-time high on March 26, 2010, with a total of 4,258 persons in custody.
This is attributable to the increasing success of the gardai and extra court sittings which have resulted in higher committal rates.
- JIM CUSACK
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Growing 'gang culture' in prisons
Irish Herald
Related
Prison Service rejects criticism | 28/04/2010Government criticised over Mountjoy | 29/04/2009Prison Service admits overcrowding | 21/09/2009Irish prison overcrowding 'acute' | 14/08/2009CONOR LALLY Crime Correspondent in Killarney
Gang culture in prisons is growing at a faster rate than at any time in the past decade with over 1,000 inmates now being held in segregation to keep rival gang members apart, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has said.
The gang culture has become so acute it has spread into St Patrick’s Institution for juveniles in Dublin. A new prison specifically for gang members was badly needed.
The POA also wants the introduction of mace spray so that officers can deal more effectively with the growing “vicious” gang violence.
POA president Jim Mitchell said not only is the prisons gang problem spreading, but individual gang members are now more violent than ever.
The need to keep inmates safe and minimise conflict between gang rivals meant over 1,000 of the 4,000 plus prison population were now in protective segregation, Mr Mitchell said at the POA annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.
“(They are in protection) out of fear, because they owe money to gangs or because they are part of the wrong gang,” Mr Mitchell said.
The prison environment had also become a “proving ground” for criminals, where their ability to “protect their drugs patch” was honed and tested.
He believed more prison officers were needed to cope with the gang violence and said overcrowding could be alleviated if fewer fine defaulters were jailed.
Many people sent to prison for fine defaulting were being processed into the system and then released immediately because there was no room for them in the jails.
The processing of such inmates was taking up a huge amount of staff time at a time when staff numbers were being reduced.
Fine Gael’s justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan today claimed the prison system was on the verge of collapse and called for the “dangerous and inhumane” overcrowding problem to be addressed.
“There are clear indications from within the prison system that unless decisive action is taken immediately, death and serious injury inside prison walls will be inevitable,” he said.
Jailers battle to break the gangs
Special intelligence units struggle to keep feuding gangsters separated in overcrowded prisons
By JIM CUSACK
Monday, 26 April 2010
Slain crime boss died alone as henchmen fled the scene
Slain crime boss died alone as henchmen fled the scene
By Tom Brady Security Editor
Monday April 26 2010
Murdered crime boss Eamon Dunne was abandoned by his close associates as his bullet-riddled body slumped to the ground in a Dublin pub at the weekend.
Dunne had been partying with up to 40 people, including some of his known criminal associates, when he was singled out and clinically executed by a gangland hitman.
But they all fled from the scene immediately after the killer and his accomplice left the pub without going to his aid.
One eye-witness said: "Nobody even bothered to check whether he was still alive. All of those, who had been regularly seen by his side during the past few years, ran away."
A post-mortem examination later confirmed that Dunne was shot six times in the head and back with an automatic pistol.
Witnesses said the gunman knew exactly where Dunne was sitting in the Fassaugh House pub in Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra, Dublin, when he walked into the premises around 10pm last Friday.
Senior garda officers last night described Dunne's murder as "a very professional hit". Beforehand, four men pulled up outside the pub in a silver coloured saloon car similar to a VW Passat or a Ford Mondeo.
One of the gang remained behind the wheel of the car as a second stood guard outside the entrance to the pub and the others walked calmly into the bar.
The gunman, who wore dark clothing with a hoodie pulled down over his face, calmly walked into the middle of the group of partygoers as he selected his target before firing his automatic pistol. Dunne had his back to the gunman but turned as the bullets struck him, before falling.
The gunman's accomplice, who was armed with a revolver, fired a warning shot into the air. The pair returned to the car, which sped away immediately.
Last night investigating officers were closely examining footage taken from CCTV cameras in the premises in an effort to identify those involved in the shooting.
Detectives were also trying to identify those who left the pub before they could be interviewed by gardai. Investigators are drawing up a list of possible suspects but admit that at this stage of their inquiries it includes a lot of names.
Terror
Dunne had been responsible for a reign of terror in Dublin's gangland since he took charge of the remnants of the drug trafficking and armed robbery gang, after the murder of its former leader, Martin "Marlo" Hyland in a house in Finglas in December 2006.
Among the suspects are members of rival gangs in the northern and western sides of the capital, particularly those whose accomplices were shot dead on Dunne's instructions.
Dunne had been given several warnings by the gardai that his life was in danger as a result of intelligence indicating that some of those gangs were seeking revenge for the murders.
He had been most recently connected to the murders of a drug-trafficking Traveller, John Paul Joyce, whose body was found at the back of Dublin airport in January. His victims also included some of his associates including Graham McNally, who was murdered last year; and a man who was ordered to shoot Michael "Roly" Cronin in the north inner city in January 2009 and has not been seen since.
The trawl for the likely mastermind behind the shooting is also extending overseas and includes a "major league" Irish drug trafficker, who is responsible for sending large shipments for the market here from mainland Europe.
- Tom Brady Security Editor
Irish Independent
By Tom Brady Security Editor
Monday April 26 2010
Murdered crime boss Eamon Dunne was abandoned by his close associates as his bullet-riddled body slumped to the ground in a Dublin pub at the weekend.
Dunne had been partying with up to 40 people, including some of his known criminal associates, when he was singled out and clinically executed by a gangland hitman.
But they all fled from the scene immediately after the killer and his accomplice left the pub without going to his aid.
One eye-witness said: "Nobody even bothered to check whether he was still alive. All of those, who had been regularly seen by his side during the past few years, ran away."
A post-mortem examination later confirmed that Dunne was shot six times in the head and back with an automatic pistol.
Witnesses said the gunman knew exactly where Dunne was sitting in the Fassaugh House pub in Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra, Dublin, when he walked into the premises around 10pm last Friday.
Senior garda officers last night described Dunne's murder as "a very professional hit". Beforehand, four men pulled up outside the pub in a silver coloured saloon car similar to a VW Passat or a Ford Mondeo.
One of the gang remained behind the wheel of the car as a second stood guard outside the entrance to the pub and the others walked calmly into the bar.
The gunman, who wore dark clothing with a hoodie pulled down over his face, calmly walked into the middle of the group of partygoers as he selected his target before firing his automatic pistol. Dunne had his back to the gunman but turned as the bullets struck him, before falling.
The gunman's accomplice, who was armed with a revolver, fired a warning shot into the air. The pair returned to the car, which sped away immediately.
Last night investigating officers were closely examining footage taken from CCTV cameras in the premises in an effort to identify those involved in the shooting.
Detectives were also trying to identify those who left the pub before they could be interviewed by gardai. Investigators are drawing up a list of possible suspects but admit that at this stage of their inquiries it includes a lot of names.
Terror
Dunne had been responsible for a reign of terror in Dublin's gangland since he took charge of the remnants of the drug trafficking and armed robbery gang, after the murder of its former leader, Martin "Marlo" Hyland in a house in Finglas in December 2006.
Among the suspects are members of rival gangs in the northern and western sides of the capital, particularly those whose accomplices were shot dead on Dunne's instructions.
Dunne had been given several warnings by the gardai that his life was in danger as a result of intelligence indicating that some of those gangs were seeking revenge for the murders.
He had been most recently connected to the murders of a drug-trafficking Traveller, John Paul Joyce, whose body was found at the back of Dublin airport in January. His victims also included some of his associates including Graham McNally, who was murdered last year; and a man who was ordered to shoot Michael "Roly" Cronin in the north inner city in January 2009 and has not been seen since.
The trawl for the likely mastermind behind the shooting is also extending overseas and includes a "major league" Irish drug trafficker, who is responsible for sending large shipments for the market here from mainland Europe.
- Tom Brady Security Editor
Irish Independent
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Who shot Ireland's No 1 gang boss?
Sunday Tribune
Eamon 'the Don' Dunne was so universally hated 'literally anyone' could have killed him, say gardaí
Mick McCaffrey and Ali Bracken
Eamon Dunne: believed to have ordered 17 murders Gardaí have identified at least a dozen suspects in the murder of Eamon 'the Don' Dunne, the most notorious figure in Irish gangland history, who was shot dead on Friday night.
The 34-year-old was shot eight times as he sat in a pub in Cabra, Dublin, at around 10pm. His 17-year-old daughter was with him and witnessed the attack, which was captured on CCTV. Dunne was aware his life was in danger and had received at least 10 warnings about his personal safety from gardaí over the last two years.
He is thought to have personally ordered 17 gangland murders since 2005 and has been the gardaí's number one target for several years.
Dunne was part of the gang that murdered Latvian mother Baiba Saulite in November 2006 and also had his boss, Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, killed the following month.
He then took over the Finglas-based drugs gang and ruthlessly expanded his empire across the capital since then, stepping on the toes of several major gangland players.
The fact he was prepared to murder his own gang associates because of suspicions they might have been plotting against him added to his reputation as a ruthless hothead who would shoot first and ask questions later.
It is not thought Friday's murder will lead to any retaliation because Dunne was so despised among fellow criminals and brought so much garda attention to the underworld with the number of murders he organised.
Senior gardaí are privately expressing relief about the murder as it will reduce tensions among criminals across Dublin who feared they might be singled out by the paranoid Dunne.
Dunne was due to face trial later this year for the attempted robbery of a cash-in-transit van in Celbridge, Co Kildare, in November 2007. As well as drug dealing and armed robberies, Dunne and his gang were involved in protection rackets and ran the doors of pubs and nightclubs across west Dublin.
A source said: "Usually when you have a serious gangland player shot dead it almost immediately becomes clear who was responsible. The problem with Dunne is that he was universally hated and literally anyone could have done it. People are making comparisons to the Simpsons episode 'Who Shot Mr Burns?' because there are so many suspects, including his own gang. It will probably take weeks before things become clear."
The main line of initial inquiry being pursued is that associates of Michael "Roly" Cronin and James Maloney, who were both shot dead in a double murder in January 2009, may have murdered Dunne in a revenge assassination. But detectives simply do not know at the moment.
April 25, 2010
Eamon 'the Don' Dunne was so universally hated 'literally anyone' could have killed him, say gardaí
Mick McCaffrey and Ali Bracken
Eamon Dunne: believed to have ordered 17 murders Gardaí have identified at least a dozen suspects in the murder of Eamon 'the Don' Dunne, the most notorious figure in Irish gangland history, who was shot dead on Friday night.
The 34-year-old was shot eight times as he sat in a pub in Cabra, Dublin, at around 10pm. His 17-year-old daughter was with him and witnessed the attack, which was captured on CCTV. Dunne was aware his life was in danger and had received at least 10 warnings about his personal safety from gardaí over the last two years.
He is thought to have personally ordered 17 gangland murders since 2005 and has been the gardaí's number one target for several years.
Dunne was part of the gang that murdered Latvian mother Baiba Saulite in November 2006 and also had his boss, Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, killed the following month.
He then took over the Finglas-based drugs gang and ruthlessly expanded his empire across the capital since then, stepping on the toes of several major gangland players.
The fact he was prepared to murder his own gang associates because of suspicions they might have been plotting against him added to his reputation as a ruthless hothead who would shoot first and ask questions later.
It is not thought Friday's murder will lead to any retaliation because Dunne was so despised among fellow criminals and brought so much garda attention to the underworld with the number of murders he organised.
Senior gardaí are privately expressing relief about the murder as it will reduce tensions among criminals across Dublin who feared they might be singled out by the paranoid Dunne.
Dunne was due to face trial later this year for the attempted robbery of a cash-in-transit van in Celbridge, Co Kildare, in November 2007. As well as drug dealing and armed robberies, Dunne and his gang were involved in protection rackets and ran the doors of pubs and nightclubs across west Dublin.
A source said: "Usually when you have a serious gangland player shot dead it almost immediately becomes clear who was responsible. The problem with Dunne is that he was universally hated and literally anyone could have done it. People are making comparisons to the Simpsons episode 'Who Shot Mr Burns?' because there are so many suspects, including his own gang. It will probably take weeks before things become clear."
The main line of initial inquiry being pursued is that associates of Michael "Roly" Cronin and James Maloney, who were both shot dead in a double murder in January 2009, may have murdered Dunne in a revenge assassination. But detectives simply do not know at the moment.
April 25, 2010
'He was the worst we've seen... He had it coming
Sunday Tribune
Few will mourn the murder of Eamon Dunne, the country's most feared criminal, whose ascent up the gangland hierarchy was marked by paranoia and extreme violence. Ali Bracken and Mick McCaffrey report on the death of 'The Don'
Eamon Dunne: shot eight times in the head at a pub in Cabra on Friday night
Scene where Eamon Dunne was shot in the head eight times
Baiba Sauiite: gunned down
1 2 3 SHORTLY after the shots rang out just after 10pm on Friday night, ending the life of the country's most notorious gangland criminal, hundreds of people gathered outside the north Dublin pub where he was murdered. 'The Don' was dead, and the public post mortem about who could have ordered his murder began in earnest.
Gardaí from five different stations as well as locals from Cabra and Finglas descended upon the scene of his murder, Fassaugh House in Cabra. Some of the gathering crowd were elated by the news of the criminal's murder; others were openly mourning his death.
Thirty-four-year-old Eamon Dunne's murder was no surprise. Senior gardaí had repeatedly warned Dunne about threats to his life. The criminal was cautious about his own personal safety; he often wore a bulletproof vest and had minders whose sole job was to protect him. But a bulletproof vest and bodyguards couldn't protect him from getting shot in the head and face eight times at close range in a pub on a busy Friday night.
Dunne was the country's most ruthless and dangerous criminal. He was a man with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. He seriously assaulted his girlfriend several years ago but she later withdrew her complaint because she was so afraid of him. He also murdered one of his closest associates over unfounded fears he was plotting against him. Dunne was hated by the vast majority of the criminal underworld. He was trigger-happy, unpredictable and paranoid. He brought unwanted garda attention to criminals all over the country by the sheer volume of murders he arranged. He had ordered 17 killings since 2005.
The Finglas native was public enemy number one for gardaí. He was a major focus of the new anti-gangland legislation. Detectives were pursuing him for directing a criminal organisation, which carries a maximum life sentence. His death will not prevent gardaí from pursuing the rest of his Finglas-based gang under the new legislation.
Suspicions
Dunne was a serious criminal for much of his adult life but came to prominence when he helped arrange the murder of his boss, drug trafficker Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, in December 2006. He arranged his killing in order to take over the sale and supply of heroin and cocaine in the north Dublin area. Hyland was murdered after suspicions emerged that he was a garda informant because detectives had seized millions of euro worth of drugs from the gang. Most of the other people Dunne ordered murdered were killed within a two-year period, four of them within four months.
Dunne's killing spree over the past two years was his attempt to use violence to assert his authority, but ultimately showed his lack of control.
In the last 18 months of his life, he no longer trusted any member of his own gang. It was only a matter of time before he was assassinated. Gardaí knew it and Eamon Dunne knew it.
When he ordered the murder of his closest lieutenant Graham McNally last January because of his intense paranoia, the writing was on the wall about his own fate. He had McNally killed when he learned that gardaí stopped a man with a gun close to the scene of a planned meeting that McNally had brokered with one of Dunne's enemies. He then ordered that McNally, a close friend as well as criminal ally, be shot in the head near Ashbourne, Co Meath, to ensure that he couldn't change sides.
Dunne had been in control of Hyland's criminal empire for less than four years before his own demise. He showed similar characteristics to his heroin trafficker boss – extreme mistrust of criminal associates matched with an ambition to be the country's richest and most feared criminal. Within those four years he ordered the murder of several up-and-coming drug dealers he considered were becoming too successful.
Dunne showed great skill in avoiding serious criminal convictions. He had only a couple of District Court convictions against his name. A large number of cases against him have been struck out.
But had a gunman not caught up with Dunne on Friday night, the law most likely would have. He was out on bail awaiting trial on a charge of conspiring to rob €1m from a cash and transit van outside a Tesco supermarket in Celbridge, Co Kildare, in November 2007.
Although he had many enemies, Dunne was keenly aware that he also needed allies within the criminal underworld. He was close to the gang led by jailed rapist Christy Griffin in Dublin's north-inner city, and had also forged alliances with 'Fat' Freddie Thompson's gang in Crumlin and was close to the Dundon-McCarthy mob in Limerick.
Highly intelligent
He was also a highly intelligent criminal. Well aware of his legal rights, every time he was stopped by gardaí he recorded the conversations on a dictaphone he always carried with him and took photos on a digital camera. He always took the gardaí's identification numbers and threatened to report them to the garda ombudsman for harassment.
He became the butt of jokes among some of his associates when gardaí discovered Viagra in his BMW during searches on several occasions. He also reported several journalists to the garda ombudsman, accusing them of colluding with senior gardaí to have him murdered. After court appearances, he followed photographers and journalists and took note of their cars' registration plates in order to intimidate them. He was also astute enough to try and bribe gardaí to find out intelligence about his enemies. Internal garda enquiries are under way to establish how successful he was at corrupting gardaí.
Detectives regarded Dunne as a violent sociopath who was capable of anything. He was considered more dangerous even than the McCarthy-Dundons in Limerick, who at least live their lives to a certain criminal code. Not so with Dunne.
He first raised eyebrows among gardaí when he was stopped at a checkpoint and a man was found bound and gagged in the boot of his car. Charges against him were later dropped because this man was too terrified to give evidence against him. As well as assaulting his girlfriend, he had a history of violence against other women and had no qualms about arranging the murder of Latvian mother-of-two Baiba Saulite.
This weekend, gangland criminals are quietly celebrating the death of Ireland's most notorious crime boss. Although many of them had working relationships with him, no-one trusted Eamon Dunne because of how quickly he could turn on his associates. Detectives have not ruled out that a member of Dunne's own gang could have organised the killing.
Senior gardaí who came into contact with Dunne are also breathing a collective sigh of relief. "Quite simply, he was the worst we've ever seen in terms of body counts and propensity for violence and mayhem," said a source. "Plain and simple, he had it coming."
For people to rejoice in someone's death seems callous. But the suffering Eamon Dunne inflicted in his short life justifies the celebrations of his victims' families. It's likely the only people who will truly mourn the death of Eamon Dunne will be members of his own family.
Body count Eamon Dunne's bloody trail of terror
1) Andrew Dillon (29), from Berryfield Road in Finglas, Dublin, died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head in August 2005. His murder was the first Dunne is believed to have ordered. The small-time criminal fell foul of the rising crime boss over a drugs debt.
2) Drug trafficker Martin 'Marlo' Hyland was murdered in December 2006 by Dunne and two of his criminal associates. Hyland was Dunne's boss. He arranged his killing in order to take over the sale and supply of heroin and cocaine in the north Dublin area.
3) Innocent apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell was murdered alongside Hyland as he was fixing a radiator in the house where Hyland was hiding out in Finglas.
4) Latvian mother-of-two Baiba Saulite (28) was gunned down outside her home in November 2006. Dunne arranged for her to be murdered on behalf of her estranged husband, Hassan Hassan.
5) John Daly (27), the criminal who became infamous after phoning Liveline from his prison cell, was shot dead in October 2007.
6) Career criminal Paul 'Farmer' Martin (30) was shot in the head and stomach at the Jolly Toper pub in Church Street, Dublin, in August 2008.
7) Graham McNally (34), from Finglas, formerly a close associate, was shot dead in January 2009.
8 & 9) Michael 'Roly' Cronin (35) and James Maloney (26), were shot dead in a car in Summerhill, Dublin, also in January 2009.
10) The gunman Dunne arranged to carry out the double murder fled to Spain in the aftermath of the killings. Christy Gilroy, in his early 30s and from Sean O'Casey Avenue, Dublin, left vital evidence behind at the scene. Dunne later tracked him down to Spain and he is missing, presumed murdered.
11) Michael Murray (41) was shot in the head at Kippure Park, Finglas, in March 2009.
12) Paul Smyth (34), from Finglas, was killed and dumped near Balbriggan, Dublin, in June 2009.
13) David Thomas (43) was shot dead outside the Drake Inn pub in Finglas in October 2009.
14) John Paul Joyce (30), the drug-trafficking Traveller, was murdered and his body dumped at the back of Dublin Airport in January 2010. He was involved in a long-running feud with Dunne and his Finglas gang.
15,16 & 17) Eamon Dunne arranged to have three other men murdered but people are currently before the courts so the cases cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
25th April 2010
Few will mourn the murder of Eamon Dunne, the country's most feared criminal, whose ascent up the gangland hierarchy was marked by paranoia and extreme violence. Ali Bracken and Mick McCaffrey report on the death of 'The Don'
Eamon Dunne: shot eight times in the head at a pub in Cabra on Friday night
Scene where Eamon Dunne was shot in the head eight times
Baiba Sauiite: gunned down
1 2 3 SHORTLY after the shots rang out just after 10pm on Friday night, ending the life of the country's most notorious gangland criminal, hundreds of people gathered outside the north Dublin pub where he was murdered. 'The Don' was dead, and the public post mortem about who could have ordered his murder began in earnest.
Gardaí from five different stations as well as locals from Cabra and Finglas descended upon the scene of his murder, Fassaugh House in Cabra. Some of the gathering crowd were elated by the news of the criminal's murder; others were openly mourning his death.
Thirty-four-year-old Eamon Dunne's murder was no surprise. Senior gardaí had repeatedly warned Dunne about threats to his life. The criminal was cautious about his own personal safety; he often wore a bulletproof vest and had minders whose sole job was to protect him. But a bulletproof vest and bodyguards couldn't protect him from getting shot in the head and face eight times at close range in a pub on a busy Friday night.
Dunne was the country's most ruthless and dangerous criminal. He was a man with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. He seriously assaulted his girlfriend several years ago but she later withdrew her complaint because she was so afraid of him. He also murdered one of his closest associates over unfounded fears he was plotting against him. Dunne was hated by the vast majority of the criminal underworld. He was trigger-happy, unpredictable and paranoid. He brought unwanted garda attention to criminals all over the country by the sheer volume of murders he arranged. He had ordered 17 killings since 2005.
The Finglas native was public enemy number one for gardaí. He was a major focus of the new anti-gangland legislation. Detectives were pursuing him for directing a criminal organisation, which carries a maximum life sentence. His death will not prevent gardaí from pursuing the rest of his Finglas-based gang under the new legislation.
Suspicions
Dunne was a serious criminal for much of his adult life but came to prominence when he helped arrange the murder of his boss, drug trafficker Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, in December 2006. He arranged his killing in order to take over the sale and supply of heroin and cocaine in the north Dublin area. Hyland was murdered after suspicions emerged that he was a garda informant because detectives had seized millions of euro worth of drugs from the gang. Most of the other people Dunne ordered murdered were killed within a two-year period, four of them within four months.
Dunne's killing spree over the past two years was his attempt to use violence to assert his authority, but ultimately showed his lack of control.
In the last 18 months of his life, he no longer trusted any member of his own gang. It was only a matter of time before he was assassinated. Gardaí knew it and Eamon Dunne knew it.
When he ordered the murder of his closest lieutenant Graham McNally last January because of his intense paranoia, the writing was on the wall about his own fate. He had McNally killed when he learned that gardaí stopped a man with a gun close to the scene of a planned meeting that McNally had brokered with one of Dunne's enemies. He then ordered that McNally, a close friend as well as criminal ally, be shot in the head near Ashbourne, Co Meath, to ensure that he couldn't change sides.
Dunne had been in control of Hyland's criminal empire for less than four years before his own demise. He showed similar characteristics to his heroin trafficker boss – extreme mistrust of criminal associates matched with an ambition to be the country's richest and most feared criminal. Within those four years he ordered the murder of several up-and-coming drug dealers he considered were becoming too successful.
Dunne showed great skill in avoiding serious criminal convictions. He had only a couple of District Court convictions against his name. A large number of cases against him have been struck out.
But had a gunman not caught up with Dunne on Friday night, the law most likely would have. He was out on bail awaiting trial on a charge of conspiring to rob €1m from a cash and transit van outside a Tesco supermarket in Celbridge, Co Kildare, in November 2007.
Although he had many enemies, Dunne was keenly aware that he also needed allies within the criminal underworld. He was close to the gang led by jailed rapist Christy Griffin in Dublin's north-inner city, and had also forged alliances with 'Fat' Freddie Thompson's gang in Crumlin and was close to the Dundon-McCarthy mob in Limerick.
Highly intelligent
He was also a highly intelligent criminal. Well aware of his legal rights, every time he was stopped by gardaí he recorded the conversations on a dictaphone he always carried with him and took photos on a digital camera. He always took the gardaí's identification numbers and threatened to report them to the garda ombudsman for harassment.
He became the butt of jokes among some of his associates when gardaí discovered Viagra in his BMW during searches on several occasions. He also reported several journalists to the garda ombudsman, accusing them of colluding with senior gardaí to have him murdered. After court appearances, he followed photographers and journalists and took note of their cars' registration plates in order to intimidate them. He was also astute enough to try and bribe gardaí to find out intelligence about his enemies. Internal garda enquiries are under way to establish how successful he was at corrupting gardaí.
Detectives regarded Dunne as a violent sociopath who was capable of anything. He was considered more dangerous even than the McCarthy-Dundons in Limerick, who at least live their lives to a certain criminal code. Not so with Dunne.
He first raised eyebrows among gardaí when he was stopped at a checkpoint and a man was found bound and gagged in the boot of his car. Charges against him were later dropped because this man was too terrified to give evidence against him. As well as assaulting his girlfriend, he had a history of violence against other women and had no qualms about arranging the murder of Latvian mother-of-two Baiba Saulite.
This weekend, gangland criminals are quietly celebrating the death of Ireland's most notorious crime boss. Although many of them had working relationships with him, no-one trusted Eamon Dunne because of how quickly he could turn on his associates. Detectives have not ruled out that a member of Dunne's own gang could have organised the killing.
Senior gardaí who came into contact with Dunne are also breathing a collective sigh of relief. "Quite simply, he was the worst we've ever seen in terms of body counts and propensity for violence and mayhem," said a source. "Plain and simple, he had it coming."
For people to rejoice in someone's death seems callous. But the suffering Eamon Dunne inflicted in his short life justifies the celebrations of his victims' families. It's likely the only people who will truly mourn the death of Eamon Dunne will be members of his own family.
Body count Eamon Dunne's bloody trail of terror
1) Andrew Dillon (29), from Berryfield Road in Finglas, Dublin, died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head in August 2005. His murder was the first Dunne is believed to have ordered. The small-time criminal fell foul of the rising crime boss over a drugs debt.
2) Drug trafficker Martin 'Marlo' Hyland was murdered in December 2006 by Dunne and two of his criminal associates. Hyland was Dunne's boss. He arranged his killing in order to take over the sale and supply of heroin and cocaine in the north Dublin area.
3) Innocent apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell was murdered alongside Hyland as he was fixing a radiator in the house where Hyland was hiding out in Finglas.
4) Latvian mother-of-two Baiba Saulite (28) was gunned down outside her home in November 2006. Dunne arranged for her to be murdered on behalf of her estranged husband, Hassan Hassan.
5) John Daly (27), the criminal who became infamous after phoning Liveline from his prison cell, was shot dead in October 2007.
6) Career criminal Paul 'Farmer' Martin (30) was shot in the head and stomach at the Jolly Toper pub in Church Street, Dublin, in August 2008.
7) Graham McNally (34), from Finglas, formerly a close associate, was shot dead in January 2009.
8 & 9) Michael 'Roly' Cronin (35) and James Maloney (26), were shot dead in a car in Summerhill, Dublin, also in January 2009.
10) The gunman Dunne arranged to carry out the double murder fled to Spain in the aftermath of the killings. Christy Gilroy, in his early 30s and from Sean O'Casey Avenue, Dublin, left vital evidence behind at the scene. Dunne later tracked him down to Spain and he is missing, presumed murdered.
11) Michael Murray (41) was shot in the head at Kippure Park, Finglas, in March 2009.
12) Paul Smyth (34), from Finglas, was killed and dumped near Balbriggan, Dublin, in June 2009.
13) David Thomas (43) was shot dead outside the Drake Inn pub in Finglas in October 2009.
14) John Paul Joyce (30), the drug-trafficking Traveller, was murdered and his body dumped at the back of Dublin Airport in January 2010. He was involved in a long-running feud with Dunne and his Finglas gang.
15,16 & 17) Eamon Dunne arranged to have three other men murdered but people are currently before the courts so the cases cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
25th April 2010
Monday, 22 March 2010
Gangland figure shot six times in packed Dublin bar
Irish Herald
The scene yesterday at the Faussagh House pub in north Dublin where Eamon Dunne was gunned down. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA WireRelated
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Dublin criminal Eamon Dunne was shot six times in the head and body at close range, the preliminary results of a postmortem have indicated.
Dunne (34), the leader of one of the biggest organised crime gangs in the country, was gunned down while socialising with his daughter in the Fassaugh House pub in Cabra, north Dublin on Friday night.
Gardaí believe four men were involved in the attack. The killing is one of the most significant gangland murders of the last decade.
It is understood the shooting may have been captured on CCTV cameras.
The motive for the murder remains unclear but Dunne’s gang are the chief suspects for more gun murders than any other group in the history of Irish organised crime.
One Garda source said: “The list of suspects will be very, very long.”
Local Sinn Féin councillor Seamus McGrattan said he spoke with two shocked people who were at the function at the pub on Faussagh Avenue.
“The magnitude of what happened is affecting people. It was so easily done. The fact that you could walk straight into a pub and shoot the man several times and walk straight back out again, and do it in a couple of seconds,” he said.
Dunne, Dunsoughly Drive, Ratoath Road, Finglas, had assumed control of the major Finglas-based drugs and armed robbery gang once led by Martin “Marlo” Hyland.
Along with a gang leader involved in the Limerick feud, Dunne has been the Garda’s main gangland target of recent years.
Dunne was awaiting trial for the attempted armed robbery of a cash-in-transit van in Celbridge, Co Kildare, in November 2007.
He was arrested at the scene of the alleged attempted robbery with a number of other men after a major surveillance operation was put in place for months by key Garda specialist units.
He was a target of the Garda National Drugs Unit, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Criminal Assets Bureau and Organised Crime Unit.
Under his leadership his Finglas gang imported vast quantities of drugs from outside the State and supplied them to smaller gangs nationwide. Dunne also smuggled weapons and was implicated in a number of armed robberies.
Dunne was suspected of helping to organise Hyland’s murder in Finglas in December 2006. Since then, the gang, under Dunne’s leadership, have been the most significant players in the drugs trade in Dublin and are the chief suspects for a string of gangland murders.
They killed young plumber’s apprentice Anthony Campbell during the same attack that claimed Hyland’s life.
In January of this year Dunne’s gang abducted and shot dead Coolock gangland figure JP Joyce and dumped his remains in a frozen ditch at the back of Dublin airport.
At least two other men have been killed by the gang this year but details cannot be disclosed for legal reasons.
Last October David Thomas (43), of Cloonlara Crescent, Finglas, was shot in the head as he smoked a cigarette outside the Drake Inn, Finglas. He was killed by Dunne’s gang in revenge for another murder.
In January 2009 the gang shot dead Michael “Roly” Cronin (35) and James Moloney (26) in Summerhill, Dublin. They are also believed to have murdered the man they paid to shoot Cronin and Moloney.
Less than two weeks later Dunne’s gang shot dead one of their own members, Graham McNally (34). He was a very close associate of Dunne’s and was killed as part of an internal gang dispute.
In March 2009, Michael Murray (41) was shot dead at Kippure Park, Finglas, as part of a row with Dunne’s gang.
In June 2009 the remains of Paul Smyth (34), Finglas, Dublin, were found dumped near Balbriggan. He too had been involved in a feud with Dunne.
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