Sunday Tribune
Gangland deaths for this year already at 2004 levels
John Burke and Eoghan Rice
THE number of ganglandstyle asassinations carried out since the start of this year is equal to the total number of similar murders in the previous 12 months, according to figures on homicide and violent death compiled by the Sunday Tribune.
As gardai yesterday made the ninth arrest in their investigation of the murder of Jimmy Curran in the Green Lizard pub in Dublin on 3 April, senior officers said they were concerned that gangland killings could spiral back to the high levels seen in the 1990s.
To date, four young Dublin men have been murdered in gangland hits in the first 14 weeks of this year. There were four such slayings, in total, in 2004. While last year's figure was a record low, senior gardai are concerned that the level of gangland slayings could return to the high of two years ago, when 17 people were murdered in gang conflicts in Limerick and Dublin, at a time when several major drug gangs were embroiled in internecine feuding.
While gardai have achieved undisputed success in quelling gang-related bloodshed in Limerick, the number of killings in Dublin looks set to return to its worst with the shooting of three people in the past fortnight alone.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe this weekend warned that there is growing evidence that a system of "assassins-for-hire" is taking root in the criminal underworld. "The last couple of weeks have seen a shocking number of murders, which have overshadowed Justice Minister Michael McDowell's attempt to suggest that serious crime has fallen. In terms of homicides, particularly those involving the use of guns, it would appear that Ireland is returning to the bad old days."
The first gangland hit this year took place on 9 March, when 24-year-old John Roche, who was known to gardai, was shot on Military Road in Kilmainham. The shooting is thought to be linked to a fouryear gangland feud which resulted in the deaths of two other men in 2001 and 2002, as well as a number of attempted murders and drive-by shootings.
Gardai are also investigating the possibility that a 29year-old man murdered in west Dublin last week was killed on the orders of a major Dublin drug dealer. Joseph Rafferty was shot twice by a lone gunman as he left his apartment in the Ongar Park housing estate near Clonsilla.
One line of enquiry being explored is the possibility that Rafferty was shot dead as a result of a personal dispute with a drug dealer.
Gardai are this weekend believed to be near a breakthrough in the killing of 42year-old Jimmy Curran on 3 April, in a shooting that had all the hallmarks of a ganglandstyle hit. The Dubliner was shot in the head as he drank in the Green Lizard pub opposite the Tivoli Theatre in the south inner city. Garda now believe that he may have been targeted after a personal dispute.
Yesterday's arrest, of a man in his 40s, took place in the Meath Street area of Dublin close to where the murder occurred.
Terry Dunleavy, a wellknown hard-man and cannabis dealer in inner-city Dublin, was the third man shot dead in a 10-day period, when he was killed on Thursday evening on his way to conduct a drugs deal. He was shot five times before the gunman fled on a moped in what gardai believe is part of a longrunning inter-gang feud.
Dunleavy was not a significant player on the city's drugs scene, but had a reputation for violence and convictions for armed robbery and assault.
He was ambushed as he was approaching his girlfriend's flat at Croke Villas, off the Ballybough Road on the northside.
The growing trend in gangland slayings is particularly worrying for gardai dealing with the growing menace of young Dublin drugs gangs in the south and north innercity areas of the capital, with indications that criminals have increasingly easy access to powerful firearms.
Last year's gangland killings were concentrated exclusively in the Dublin area.
One senior garda source told the Tribune last week that murders arising out of socalled 'turf wars' over the control and supply of drugs are uncommon among Dublin criminals.
"They seem to have easy access to guns and they just shoot someone when they have a falling-out with them.
The tit-for-tat continues along similar lines until someone is murdered."
Last year's killings were also mostly inner-city based.
Kenneth Byrne, 30, was shot dead at his home in St Theresa's Gardens flats complex in Dolphin's Barn on 1 February 2004. Gardai suspect the convicted armed robber was targeted by former associates in a revenge attack.
Paul Warren, 23, also from St Theresa's Gardens, was shot dead in Gray's pub, formerly the Red Lion, at Newmarket Square, off Cork Street, Dublin, by two masked gunmen, three weeks later.
He was a minor drug dealer, and gardai suspect a gangland connection.
One of the most high-profile victims was Jonathan O'Reilly, 25, from St Mark's Gardens, Clondalkin. He was a well-known member of a west Dublin drugs gang.
The father of one was shot dead by a masked gunman on a motorbike who fired three shots into O'Reilly's BMW, as he sat in the parked car outside Cloverhill Prison, on 17 April, in a ganglandstyle assassination.
Gardai still fear that a major backlash in tit-for-tat shootings may arise out of the death of west Dublin criminal Paul Cunningham, 23, who was shot dead as he lay in bed with his partner and young child at their Mulhuddart home on 29 November.
Cunningham was a close associate of Declan Curran, a major player in the Dublin crime scene who had died a week earlier.
April 17, 2005
Sunday, 17 April 2005
Sunday, 20 March 2005
SUSPECT GANGS CARRY OUT 50 ROBBERIES IN 12 MONTHS
Sunday Tribune
THE two gangs that are the main focus of Garda attention this weekend have had major success robbing banks. In particular, the Finglas-based gang, run by two brothers, has been prolific over the past 12 months.
Before last week's robbery, the biggest of the recent heists was a 1m raid on a cash-in-transit van delivering to an ATM at Bettystown in Meath last July.
A month before, three raiders made off with 80,000 from a Securicor van delivering to an ATM at Marian Park in Drogheda.
The same gang are the chief suspects in the 200,000 robbery of an ATM delivery in Swords, Co Dublin, last May, while another Securicor van was hit for 217,000 when delivering to the Supervalu at Palmerstown shopping centre in west Dublin last March.
In total, a small core of no more than two or three organised crime gangs have carried out over 50 robberies of cash-in-transit vehicles since the start of 2004, mostly in the greater Dublin area.
The trend points to one stark fact: gangs such as John Gilligan's, Martin Cahill's and the notorious Dunne outfit (who showed Cahill the robbery ropes) all started out robbing banks and later used much of this cash to buy into the drugs market.
It took over a decade for special garda units such as the criminal assets bureau (CAB) and the national drugs unit (GNDU) to force these gangs out of business. Some senior gardai believe that the re-emergence of such a trend . . . thieves working to fund large drugs enterprises . . . is a warning sign that a small core of criminal gangs has begun to approach a level of power not seen since the mid to late 1990s.
March 20, 2005
THE two gangs that are the main focus of Garda attention this weekend have had major success robbing banks. In particular, the Finglas-based gang, run by two brothers, has been prolific over the past 12 months.
Before last week's robbery, the biggest of the recent heists was a 1m raid on a cash-in-transit van delivering to an ATM at Bettystown in Meath last July.
A month before, three raiders made off with 80,000 from a Securicor van delivering to an ATM at Marian Park in Drogheda.
The same gang are the chief suspects in the 200,000 robbery of an ATM delivery in Swords, Co Dublin, last May, while another Securicor van was hit for 217,000 when delivering to the Supervalu at Palmerstown shopping centre in west Dublin last March.
In total, a small core of no more than two or three organised crime gangs have carried out over 50 robberies of cash-in-transit vehicles since the start of 2004, mostly in the greater Dublin area.
The trend points to one stark fact: gangs such as John Gilligan's, Martin Cahill's and the notorious Dunne outfit (who showed Cahill the robbery ropes) all started out robbing banks and later used much of this cash to buy into the drugs market.
It took over a decade for special garda units such as the criminal assets bureau (CAB) and the national drugs unit (GNDU) to force these gangs out of business. Some senior gardai believe that the re-emergence of such a trend . . . thieves working to fund large drugs enterprises . . . is a warning sign that a small core of criminal gangs has begun to approach a level of power not seen since the mid to late 1990s.
March 20, 2005
Wednesday, 16 March 2005
'New kids on block' key targets in €2m raid
By Tom Brady
Wednesday March 16 2005
GARDAI believe the gang responsible for the €2m security van heist in Dublin may have been 'new kids on the block'. Descriptions of the raiders involved in the abduction and robbery vary but they are thought to be fairly young and unlikely to have been linked to similar crimes in the past.
GARDAI believe the gang responsible for the €2m security van heist in Dublin may have been 'new kids on the block'.
Descriptions of the raiders involved in the abduction and robbery vary but they are thought to be fairly young and unlikely to have been linked to similar crimes in the past.
Senior detectives are now examining the recent movements of members of crime gangs established in the past few years.
They think the culprits may have been involved in less spectacular crimes such as hit-and-run cash robberies from security vans but have now graduated to a new level of crime.
One of the crime gangs on the suspect list is led by two brothers who operate on the northside of the capital.
They have been responsible for masterminding a series of raids on ATM deliveries in Dublin and surrounding counties in the past couple of years.
Last night gardai were also awaiting important information on the notes taken in the raid that could assist in identifying anyone who tried to off load them.
According to Garda sources the money was in €50, €20, €10 notes. They had already been in circulation but were of a good enough quality to be usable in the ATM machines.
The gang faces the same money laundering headache as the robbers of the €38m Northern Bank haul in December.
Only a small amount from that raid has so far emerged. It was found in a PSNI sports centre outside Belfast while Garda forensic experts are trying to determine if bundles of notes found during a raid in Cork in recent weeks was part of the same cache.
Throughout yesterday the Richardson family at the centre of the drama were continuing to work with detectives as they tried to obtain as much detail as possible about what happened and who was involved.
Gardai also preserved the scene at the family's home in Raheny and the site in the Dublin mountains where Mrs Richardson and her two sons were taken and held.
While a new breed of armed robber is now high on the list of suspects, gardai are not ruling out that hardened criminals could have been behind the raid. These criminals are all in the 40s and 50s, are well known to gardai and are suspected of having carried out a similar abduction and raid six years ago, as well as a series of computer-chip robberies. One of the gang has recently settled a €200,000 case with the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Garda sources say they are investigating links between this latest raid and a €1m Bureau de Change heist in November 1999, believed to have been carried out by this gang.
In that robbery, a bureau employee was held hostage in her home overnight and forced to open the city centre office the next morning.
Officially gardai are keeping an open mind on the inquiry, spearheaded by Assistant Commissioner Martin Callinan, and have not ruled out paramilitary involvement in the raid.
The Richardson family are still deeply traumatised after their ordeal and at this stage have only made brief preliminary statements to the gardai.
Marie and Paul Richardson and their two teenage sons Ian and Kevin are popular in their area. Neighbours yesterday expressed concern for their welfare.
It emerged that some of the gang members briefly took their masks off while seizing the family and as a result may eventually be identified.
Around 100 gardai from Dublin and the midlands, along with detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, are working on the probe.
A garda spokesperson yesterday said it is clear the gang was well organised and were willing to take risks. "Quite a bit of work went into organising this heist," he said.
Gardai are now interested in receiving any information from motorists passing the Angler's Rest pub on Knockmarroon Hill, Chapelizod at 8.30am on Monday.
They would like to hear from anyone who may have noticed a small dark car in the carpark there, with a number of men who had been seen standing around.
They are also seeking information on anyone who may have been in the following areas: Ashcroft housing estate, Raheny after 8pm Sunday; Glencree Wood and Enniskerry Road from 8pm Sunday to 9am Monday; Strawberry Beds area of Lucan from 7am Monday; the Mullingar to Kinnegad road between 7am and 10am Monday.
Anyone with information can contact Santry gardai at 01 666 4000.
- Tom Brady
Wednesday March 16 2005
GARDAI believe the gang responsible for the €2m security van heist in Dublin may have been 'new kids on the block'. Descriptions of the raiders involved in the abduction and robbery vary but they are thought to be fairly young and unlikely to have been linked to similar crimes in the past.
GARDAI believe the gang responsible for the €2m security van heist in Dublin may have been 'new kids on the block'.
Descriptions of the raiders involved in the abduction and robbery vary but they are thought to be fairly young and unlikely to have been linked to similar crimes in the past.
Senior detectives are now examining the recent movements of members of crime gangs established in the past few years.
They think the culprits may have been involved in less spectacular crimes such as hit-and-run cash robberies from security vans but have now graduated to a new level of crime.
One of the crime gangs on the suspect list is led by two brothers who operate on the northside of the capital.
They have been responsible for masterminding a series of raids on ATM deliveries in Dublin and surrounding counties in the past couple of years.
Last night gardai were also awaiting important information on the notes taken in the raid that could assist in identifying anyone who tried to off load them.
According to Garda sources the money was in €50, €20, €10 notes. They had already been in circulation but were of a good enough quality to be usable in the ATM machines.
The gang faces the same money laundering headache as the robbers of the €38m Northern Bank haul in December.
Only a small amount from that raid has so far emerged. It was found in a PSNI sports centre outside Belfast while Garda forensic experts are trying to determine if bundles of notes found during a raid in Cork in recent weeks was part of the same cache.
Throughout yesterday the Richardson family at the centre of the drama were continuing to work with detectives as they tried to obtain as much detail as possible about what happened and who was involved.
Gardai also preserved the scene at the family's home in Raheny and the site in the Dublin mountains where Mrs Richardson and her two sons were taken and held.
While a new breed of armed robber is now high on the list of suspects, gardai are not ruling out that hardened criminals could have been behind the raid. These criminals are all in the 40s and 50s, are well known to gardai and are suspected of having carried out a similar abduction and raid six years ago, as well as a series of computer-chip robberies. One of the gang has recently settled a €200,000 case with the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Garda sources say they are investigating links between this latest raid and a €1m Bureau de Change heist in November 1999, believed to have been carried out by this gang.
In that robbery, a bureau employee was held hostage in her home overnight and forced to open the city centre office the next morning.
Officially gardai are keeping an open mind on the inquiry, spearheaded by Assistant Commissioner Martin Callinan, and have not ruled out paramilitary involvement in the raid.
The Richardson family are still deeply traumatised after their ordeal and at this stage have only made brief preliminary statements to the gardai.
Marie and Paul Richardson and their two teenage sons Ian and Kevin are popular in their area. Neighbours yesterday expressed concern for their welfare.
It emerged that some of the gang members briefly took their masks off while seizing the family and as a result may eventually be identified.
Around 100 gardai from Dublin and the midlands, along with detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, are working on the probe.
A garda spokesperson yesterday said it is clear the gang was well organised and were willing to take risks. "Quite a bit of work went into organising this heist," he said.
Gardai are now interested in receiving any information from motorists passing the Angler's Rest pub on Knockmarroon Hill, Chapelizod at 8.30am on Monday.
They would like to hear from anyone who may have noticed a small dark car in the carpark there, with a number of men who had been seen standing around.
They are also seeking information on anyone who may have been in the following areas: Ashcroft housing estate, Raheny after 8pm Sunday; Glencree Wood and Enniskerry Road from 8pm Sunday to 9am Monday; Strawberry Beds area of Lucan from 7am Monday; the Mullingar to Kinnegad road between 7am and 10am Monday.
Anyone with information can contact Santry gardai at 01 666 4000.
- Tom Brady
Thursday, 10 March 2005
Murder 'linked to other gang killing'
By Tom BradySecurity Editor
Thursday March 10 2005
TWO women have been arrested by gardai in connection with the savage murder of a young Dublin man early yesterday.
The death of John Roche (25), of Clonmacnoise Road in Dublin is being linked to the fatal shooting of another gang-feud victim in the capital last year.
Mr Roche was hit at least twice in the chest when gunmen opened fire on him as he left his parked car at Military Road in Kilmainham shortly after midnight.
Four shots were fired from a handgun and the two gunmen then jumped into a black car which was seen speeding away shortly afterwards towards John's Road.
Mr Roche staggered around 100 metres along the road before collapsing outside Murray's pub. He was taken to St James' Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3.35am.
Gardai believe the dead man was associated with one of two gangs involved in a bitter feud over drug-trafficking for the past couple of years.
Mr Roche had been sought by gardai for questioning about the murder of a 23-year-old glazier, Paul Warren, of St Teresa's Gardens in the south inner city in February last year.
This was the first gangland murder this year. Last November career criminal Paul Cunningham (23), was shot dead in a house in Mulhuddart in west Dublin as part of a separate feud.
Cunningham was a close associate of gang leader Declan Curran who died in his cell at Cloverhill prison the previous weekend after being arrested at the scene of an armed hold-up. Last weekend another associate, Anthony Spratt, from Finglas, was found hanged in his cell at Mountjoy jail.
The level of serious gangland crime, particularly murders, has dropped significantly in the past year.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy described the fall as substantial and pointed out that some of the perceived gangland murders were family rows that developed for very little reason.
The two women are being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Kevin Street Garda Station.
They can be held without charge for up to 72 hours.
- Tom BradySecurity Editor
Thursday March 10 2005
TWO women have been arrested by gardai in connection with the savage murder of a young Dublin man early yesterday.
The death of John Roche (25), of Clonmacnoise Road in Dublin is being linked to the fatal shooting of another gang-feud victim in the capital last year.
Mr Roche was hit at least twice in the chest when gunmen opened fire on him as he left his parked car at Military Road in Kilmainham shortly after midnight.
Four shots were fired from a handgun and the two gunmen then jumped into a black car which was seen speeding away shortly afterwards towards John's Road.
Mr Roche staggered around 100 metres along the road before collapsing outside Murray's pub. He was taken to St James' Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3.35am.
Gardai believe the dead man was associated with one of two gangs involved in a bitter feud over drug-trafficking for the past couple of years.
Mr Roche had been sought by gardai for questioning about the murder of a 23-year-old glazier, Paul Warren, of St Teresa's Gardens in the south inner city in February last year.
This was the first gangland murder this year. Last November career criminal Paul Cunningham (23), was shot dead in a house in Mulhuddart in west Dublin as part of a separate feud.
Cunningham was a close associate of gang leader Declan Curran who died in his cell at Cloverhill prison the previous weekend after being arrested at the scene of an armed hold-up. Last weekend another associate, Anthony Spratt, from Finglas, was found hanged in his cell at Mountjoy jail.
The level of serious gangland crime, particularly murders, has dropped significantly in the past year.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy described the fall as substantial and pointed out that some of the perceived gangland murders were family rows that developed for very little reason.
The two women are being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Kevin Street Garda Station.
They can be held without charge for up to 72 hours.
- Tom BradySecurity Editor
Sunday, 16 January 2005
Drug barons set up base in Spanish resort
Sunday Tribune
Associates of crime boss John Gilligan are believed to be property hunting around the town of Torreviejo
Owen Conlon, Alicante, and John Burke
IRISH drug criminals, as well as former republican and loyalist paramilitaries, have set up a new base for their multi-million-euro illegal operations in the Alicante region of Spain . . . in the city of Torrevieja, a location which has also become hugely popular with Irish foreign-home buyers.
The Sunday Tribune understands that gardai and Spanish police are monitoring the influx of several well-known Irish criminals and paramilitaries into the city's property market in recent months.
Among those who are believed to have invested proceeds from armed robberies and drug sales are members of the emerging west Dublin gangs, seeking a safe place to conceal their illicit cash.
Over half of the 85,000 population in Torrevieja are foreign nationals . . . mostly Irish and English couples in their 40s and 50s who have paid out thousands of euro on second homes for investment or pension purposes.
A two- to three-bed townhouse in a good part of the city can cost from around 140,000 upwards while small apartment are much cheaper than here, at around 85,000 for a 75sq ft apartment.
However, many expatriate Irish citizens who travel back and forth to the city, and who have invested much of their savings there, have become uncomfortable at the sight of increasing numbers of Irish criminals in clubs and bars, enjoying the city's many popular nightlife venues.
While there is no clear indication that a large amount of illegal drugs business is being conducted by Irish criminals in the city, the booming property trade has also seen an influx of Russian mafia as well as Moroccan and expatriate English drug dealers, all of whom are eager to expand traffic routes for the transit of hard drugs . . . especially cocaine . . . into western Europe.
Pedra Cerrada, crime reporter with the regional newspaper Diario Informaci n de Alicante, told the Sunday Tribune that the emergence of Irish criminals in the region has become particularly noticable over the past eight to 10 months.
But scant police resources are provided to tackle the newly arriving foreign criminals, he says.
Among those believed to have been property shopping are associates of jailed crime boss John Gilligan, including John Traynor.
While Traynor has denied in media interviews since that he is involved in drug dealing, he is reported to be on the move to southeastern Alicante, after previously being based in Costa del Sol.
It is also believed that top members of a handful of emerging west Dublin gangs have bought into the residential market in Torrevieja in recent months.
These include several small-time, but nonetheless ruthless, former associates of slain criminals Declan Curran and Paul Cunningham and their former crime boss, 24-year-old John Daly, who is presently in Portlaoise prison.
Garda sources suggest that some lesser-known criminals are using the booming residential market in Torrevieja to disperse some of their combined ill-gotten gains. The move is similar to a scam which was operated successfully by members of the Keane and Ryan gangs in Limerick in 2002, when they sought to hide large sums of cash by giving money to reliable associates, who then purchased the properties on their behalf.
Among other new residents are top Northern loyalists, brothers Gary and Donald Murno, who reside in Orihuella, beside Torrevieja.
Spain is Europe's biggest dropping-off point for drugs, accounting for 60% of the continental total, according to Europol.
Cocaine mainly comes via South America, in through the hundreds of unprotected river estuaries in Galicia in the northwest. Hashish largely comes across the straits from Morocco and into the Costa del Sol.
Hundreds of millions of euro obtained in drug sales are laundered into cashbased tourism businesses and then into property on the continent.
Alicante has been rough ground for some Irish criminals. Spanish police believe that former paramilitaries are behind the disappearance of missing criminal Sean Dunne, who is believed to have been abducted last August.
Dunne, who is under investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau, went missing shortly after arriving in Spain on 8 September last.
According to a Spanish newspaper, police believe Dunne's disappearance is the work of ex-IRA or ex-UDA members who have re-cast themselves as guns for hire in what can best be described as the new Old West.
It was here that the brutal Westies drugs gang leaders Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg fled after their shoot out with gardai at a safehouse in Virginia, Co Cavan, in Febrary 2003.
And it was from here that they disappeared amid claims that they fell foul of any one of a number of African and English criminals whom they associated with while in Alicante.
However, it is now believed that the duo arranged to have their abduction faked and are presently in hiding in Morocco. It is also here that one of the biggest drug gangs supplying dealers in Limerick and west Dublin, was dealt a major blow, just before Christmas, when the ringleader . . . a 40-year-old Dublin man . . . was arrested after a joint Irish, Dutch and Spanish police operation.
But there are many attractions to living in Torrevieja.
Few of the big players are well known in the city, giving them greater freedom to work and play.
There is also the added bonuses that Alicante airport is just 30 minutes drive away; the city boasts 320 days of sunshine a year; and temperatures in Torrevieja rarely fall below 150C in winter.
The ideal destination for drug dealers with some money to spare.
January 16, 2005
Associates of crime boss John Gilligan are believed to be property hunting around the town of Torreviejo
Owen Conlon, Alicante, and John Burke
IRISH drug criminals, as well as former republican and loyalist paramilitaries, have set up a new base for their multi-million-euro illegal operations in the Alicante region of Spain . . . in the city of Torrevieja, a location which has also become hugely popular with Irish foreign-home buyers.
The Sunday Tribune understands that gardai and Spanish police are monitoring the influx of several well-known Irish criminals and paramilitaries into the city's property market in recent months.
Among those who are believed to have invested proceeds from armed robberies and drug sales are members of the emerging west Dublin gangs, seeking a safe place to conceal their illicit cash.
Over half of the 85,000 population in Torrevieja are foreign nationals . . . mostly Irish and English couples in their 40s and 50s who have paid out thousands of euro on second homes for investment or pension purposes.
A two- to three-bed townhouse in a good part of the city can cost from around 140,000 upwards while small apartment are much cheaper than here, at around 85,000 for a 75sq ft apartment.
However, many expatriate Irish citizens who travel back and forth to the city, and who have invested much of their savings there, have become uncomfortable at the sight of increasing numbers of Irish criminals in clubs and bars, enjoying the city's many popular nightlife venues.
While there is no clear indication that a large amount of illegal drugs business is being conducted by Irish criminals in the city, the booming property trade has also seen an influx of Russian mafia as well as Moroccan and expatriate English drug dealers, all of whom are eager to expand traffic routes for the transit of hard drugs . . . especially cocaine . . . into western Europe.
Pedra Cerrada, crime reporter with the regional newspaper Diario Informaci n de Alicante, told the Sunday Tribune that the emergence of Irish criminals in the region has become particularly noticable over the past eight to 10 months.
But scant police resources are provided to tackle the newly arriving foreign criminals, he says.
Among those believed to have been property shopping are associates of jailed crime boss John Gilligan, including John Traynor.
While Traynor has denied in media interviews since that he is involved in drug dealing, he is reported to be on the move to southeastern Alicante, after previously being based in Costa del Sol.
It is also believed that top members of a handful of emerging west Dublin gangs have bought into the residential market in Torrevieja in recent months.
These include several small-time, but nonetheless ruthless, former associates of slain criminals Declan Curran and Paul Cunningham and their former crime boss, 24-year-old John Daly, who is presently in Portlaoise prison.
Garda sources suggest that some lesser-known criminals are using the booming residential market in Torrevieja to disperse some of their combined ill-gotten gains. The move is similar to a scam which was operated successfully by members of the Keane and Ryan gangs in Limerick in 2002, when they sought to hide large sums of cash by giving money to reliable associates, who then purchased the properties on their behalf.
Among other new residents are top Northern loyalists, brothers Gary and Donald Murno, who reside in Orihuella, beside Torrevieja.
Spain is Europe's biggest dropping-off point for drugs, accounting for 60% of the continental total, according to Europol.
Cocaine mainly comes via South America, in through the hundreds of unprotected river estuaries in Galicia in the northwest. Hashish largely comes across the straits from Morocco and into the Costa del Sol.
Hundreds of millions of euro obtained in drug sales are laundered into cashbased tourism businesses and then into property on the continent.
Alicante has been rough ground for some Irish criminals. Spanish police believe that former paramilitaries are behind the disappearance of missing criminal Sean Dunne, who is believed to have been abducted last August.
Dunne, who is under investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau, went missing shortly after arriving in Spain on 8 September last.
According to a Spanish newspaper, police believe Dunne's disappearance is the work of ex-IRA or ex-UDA members who have re-cast themselves as guns for hire in what can best be described as the new Old West.
It was here that the brutal Westies drugs gang leaders Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg fled after their shoot out with gardai at a safehouse in Virginia, Co Cavan, in Febrary 2003.
And it was from here that they disappeared amid claims that they fell foul of any one of a number of African and English criminals whom they associated with while in Alicante.
However, it is now believed that the duo arranged to have their abduction faked and are presently in hiding in Morocco. It is also here that one of the biggest drug gangs supplying dealers in Limerick and west Dublin, was dealt a major blow, just before Christmas, when the ringleader . . . a 40-year-old Dublin man . . . was arrested after a joint Irish, Dutch and Spanish police operation.
But there are many attractions to living in Torrevieja.
Few of the big players are well known in the city, giving them greater freedom to work and play.
There is also the added bonuses that Alicante airport is just 30 minutes drive away; the city boasts 320 days of sunshine a year; and temperatures in Torrevieja rarely fall below 150C in winter.
The ideal destination for drug dealers with some money to spare.
January 16, 2005
Tuesday, 23 November 2004
Gangland shooting terrorises Dublin suburb
When a local criminal was found dead, residents in Blanchardstown thought it would end the fear on their streets ... but they were wrong
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 November 2004 00.03 GMT
It is known as Ireland's silicon valley, the heartland of a computer industry that fuelled the Celtic Tiger, bringing vast shopping centres and apartment blocks for yuppies. But north-west Dublin's violent underbelly is threatening to erupt after a weekend of gangland violence on its working-class estates saw one man shot dead in front of his baby and two men treated in hospital after drive-by shootings.
When one of Ireland's most notorious young criminals, a man with one kidney and a chronic cocaine habit, was found dead in a Dublin prison cell 10 days ago, it appeared to spark a wave of violence.
Armed police patrols were stepped up yesterday in an attempt to target 12 local gangland figures and avert further bloodshed in the run-up to Christmas.
Blanchardstown is a new town of 70,000 which has grown fast and nudges up against the northern Dublin borough of Finglas. Both have a brutal gangland history.
John Gilligan - acquittted of ordering the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996 - comes from a local estate. He is serving 28 years for drugs offences.
The Westies, one of the most dangerous of Dublin's organised crime gangs, dominated the local heroin trade in the 90s and still operate. But in an area where some children drop out of school at 11, the gangsters are becoming younger and better armed, with sawn-off shotguns sometimes handed to teenagers. One Dublin newspaper described the new gangs as "mini-armies".
One of the leading younger hard men was a figure worthy of one of Ireland's best gangster biopics. Declan Curran was a local drug addict and teenage car thief. By 24, he was linked to violent bank robberies, assaults, drive-by shootings and gangland executions.
He had worn a colostomy bag since 19 when he was shot in the back and lost a kidney fleeing a gunman during a feud. But he refused to let it hold him back. He took steroids to pump himself up and was addicted to cocaine.
Reckless
As his mood swung violently, he seemed to display an almost suicidal recklessness. He once drove at 100mph on the wrong side of the road while high on drugs and alcohol to avoid a police car he later crashed into. A murder trial against him collapsed last year after the suspected intimidation of a key witness, his ex-girlfriend. Despite his crimes, he did not make much money and still lived with his family, where police once arrested him wearing a bullet-proof vest in bed.
When Curran was recently found dead in a prison cell in Dublin, residents in Blanchardstown and Finglas thought it would end the fear on their streets. But they were wrong.
Curran had been remanded in Cloverhill prison after he botched an armed raid on a Dublin bank. Two days later, his body was found by two cellmates who had returned from Sunday mass. The post mortem examination was inconclusive and the results of toxicology tests are awaited.
Almost as if to say he was gone but not forgotten, hours after Curran's death, some of his associates attacked the house of a family with whom he had been engaged in a feud, shooting and injuring one man.
This weekend, the violence worsened. In the early hours of Sunday, Paul Cunningham, 23, was asleep in an upstairs room in a house in Blanchardstown with his girlfriend and their 18-month-old baby. Two men in balaclavas and gloves burst in and shot him dead. A police inspector yesterday called it "a horrendous killing", the latest in a series of incidents causing "serious concern".
Cunningham was the third son in his family of eight to meet a violent death. He had his own underworld connections and 20 previous convictions, including firearms offences. Police said they were not ruling out the possibility of a revenge killing against Curran's side.
Local residents said yesterday they were afraid. Joan Burton, the Labour MP for Dublin West, criticised the lack of community police. "Of course, I am worried this is going to escalate, everybody is," she said.
"A lot families here have been bereaved for Christmas. Already this month we had the fatal stabbing in a bar of a man who had no connection to crime. People are fearful, particularly the innocent people who could get caught up in this."
Sunday, 21 November 2004
First of the gang to die
Sunday Tribune
No-one save closest family will mourn the passing of Declan Curran, a trigger-happy thug with little regard for human life
John Burke and Eoghan Rice
WHEN the heavily armed garda unit burst open Declan Curran's bedroom door they found him lying in his bed wearing a bullet-proof jacket.
Curran was expecting trouble that November day in 2003, but not necessarily from the gardai. Just 23 years of age at the time of his arrest, the Dubliner had already carved out a name for himself as an armed robber, a violently unstable cocaine addict, a hater of gardai and killer.
He was a man with enemies.
Gardai last week found it difficult to mourn the passing of a young man who had ruled his own personal fiefdom around his native Cardiffsbridge Avenue in Finglas with a frightening measure of wickedness and efficiency.
Toxicology reports are still awaited to determine why the 24-year-old died in his cell in Cloverhill prison last weekend, post mortem results having proved inconclusive. But his death, just two days after being arrested for an attempted robbery on a TSB branch in Sutton, came too late for some.
Willie O'Regan (33) had the misfortune of dating Curran's ex-girlfriend. Bitterly jealous, Curran challenged him to a fist fight, but lost. Without a gun he wasn't much of a fighter. Revenge was swift. A fortnight later, on 10 June 2003, two gunmen kicked in the door to O'Regan's flat on the New Cabra Road . . . amputating his right hand at the wrist with one of the seven shots fired after surprising the victim as he sat watching television in his flat.
When gardai arrested Curran for the murder in November 2003, they thought they had got their man. Curran's ex-girlfriend signed two statements stating that he had told her he was going to kill O'Regan, and then showed her the "little gold bullets".
But her garda protection proved inadequate and her home was broken into by two armed men. She denied they threatened her not to give evidence but when the case came before the Central Criminal Court in June of this year, she withdrew her allegations.
Curran was known to gardai in Finglas and Blanchardstown from an early age. At 16 he was a regular cocaine user. By age 18, he was a chronic addict. He was arrested over a dozen times in his late teens for vehicle theft, assault and damage to property.
One retired senior garda recalls Curran as a teenager who had a brazen lack of fear for gardai or anyone else. "He was tough as iron and very determined. There was a stong feeling that he was going to be more difficult to handle than most of his contempories by the time he got older and more established."
But at 19-years-old, Curran was dealt a blow that stalled his criminal exploits, even if it didn't end them. He came into dispute with a wellknown family of criminals in the west Dublin area.
Informed sources suggest the row was about money owed for a gun.
The dispute became bitter, and Curran was ambushed by a gunman outside his home. He was shot in the back as he fled the assassin.
He lost a kidney and spent the remainder of his short life wearing a colostomy bag.
By then, he was known to be a member of one of the toughest gangs of armed robbers in west Dublin, who rivalled the likes of the Westies in ruthlessness. Curran's cocaine habit continued to spiral and he began taking steroids which swelled his physique although he remained in uneven health for the following five years.
A three-year sentence in 2001 for ramming a garda car while under the influence of drink and drugs had done little to discourage his criminality. Before gardai nabbed him at Ashbourne he was doing 100mph on the wrong side of the road.
Garda sources described Curran as untypically brutal, even for a thug, and lacking even a basic regard for human life. But experienced gardai say that his story is most significant insofar as he was one of a new breed of young gangsters who rose to prominence at a time when the availability of illegal guns turned bands of petty thugs into mini-armies.
It was this level of access to weapons . . . mostly sawn-off shotguns . . . which allowed Curran and his criminal crew to carry out an inestimable number of raids on banks and credit unions over the past five years. It allowed them to spread their influence by giving guns to youths as young as 15 to enforce their own bailiwick in west Finglas, terrorising the local community into silence in sight of their transgressions.
In addition to killing O'Regan, Curran was connected to two other murders. On 9 October 2003, the body of father of three Peter Sheridan (27) was found dumped at Scribblestown lane in Finglas. He had been hooded and shot in the head. Information since given to investigating gardai suggests that Curran feared that Sheridan was about to inform on his criminal activities.
Two months earlier, the remains of Victor Murphy of Deanstown Green, Finglas, were found at Dunsink Lane.
Wounds to the lower body indicated to investigating gardai that the victim had been travelling in a car when a gun went off accidentally.
Garda intelligence suggests that Murphy believed he was on his way to "do a job" along with Curran but gardai suspect it was Curran's intention to murder him at a remote location.
Murphy had been friends with Curran's older brother, who had died in a car accident 15 years before. Curran had no regard for sentiment and informed sources said Curran would have felt that Murphy had become a liability.
Those who work in the Finglas community have also found it difficult to mourn Curran's passing. As one community worker told the Sunday Tribune: "He was known as someone who would shoot you for looking at him the wrong way. It didn't matter who you were, Curran wasn't afraid of anyone."
It was initially feared that Curran's departure would start a bloody war. Within 18 hours of his death, Curran's gang attempted to kill a man closely connected to the family who ordered Curran to be shot in 1999. But, long term, his departure is likely to pacify the area rather than lead to increased conflict.
Curran was by no means the only violent and heavily armed thug in west Dublin.
But for many ordinary decent people who lived amid the terror that Curran wrought by armed intimidation, his departure will allow them to enjoy a sense of calm they haven't known for quite some time.
November 21, 2004
No-one save closest family will mourn the passing of Declan Curran, a trigger-happy thug with little regard for human life
John Burke and Eoghan Rice
WHEN the heavily armed garda unit burst open Declan Curran's bedroom door they found him lying in his bed wearing a bullet-proof jacket.
Curran was expecting trouble that November day in 2003, but not necessarily from the gardai. Just 23 years of age at the time of his arrest, the Dubliner had already carved out a name for himself as an armed robber, a violently unstable cocaine addict, a hater of gardai and killer.
He was a man with enemies.
Gardai last week found it difficult to mourn the passing of a young man who had ruled his own personal fiefdom around his native Cardiffsbridge Avenue in Finglas with a frightening measure of wickedness and efficiency.
Toxicology reports are still awaited to determine why the 24-year-old died in his cell in Cloverhill prison last weekend, post mortem results having proved inconclusive. But his death, just two days after being arrested for an attempted robbery on a TSB branch in Sutton, came too late for some.
Willie O'Regan (33) had the misfortune of dating Curran's ex-girlfriend. Bitterly jealous, Curran challenged him to a fist fight, but lost. Without a gun he wasn't much of a fighter. Revenge was swift. A fortnight later, on 10 June 2003, two gunmen kicked in the door to O'Regan's flat on the New Cabra Road . . . amputating his right hand at the wrist with one of the seven shots fired after surprising the victim as he sat watching television in his flat.
When gardai arrested Curran for the murder in November 2003, they thought they had got their man. Curran's ex-girlfriend signed two statements stating that he had told her he was going to kill O'Regan, and then showed her the "little gold bullets".
But her garda protection proved inadequate and her home was broken into by two armed men. She denied they threatened her not to give evidence but when the case came before the Central Criminal Court in June of this year, she withdrew her allegations.
Curran was known to gardai in Finglas and Blanchardstown from an early age. At 16 he was a regular cocaine user. By age 18, he was a chronic addict. He was arrested over a dozen times in his late teens for vehicle theft, assault and damage to property.
One retired senior garda recalls Curran as a teenager who had a brazen lack of fear for gardai or anyone else. "He was tough as iron and very determined. There was a stong feeling that he was going to be more difficult to handle than most of his contempories by the time he got older and more established."
But at 19-years-old, Curran was dealt a blow that stalled his criminal exploits, even if it didn't end them. He came into dispute with a wellknown family of criminals in the west Dublin area.
Informed sources suggest the row was about money owed for a gun.
The dispute became bitter, and Curran was ambushed by a gunman outside his home. He was shot in the back as he fled the assassin.
He lost a kidney and spent the remainder of his short life wearing a colostomy bag.
By then, he was known to be a member of one of the toughest gangs of armed robbers in west Dublin, who rivalled the likes of the Westies in ruthlessness. Curran's cocaine habit continued to spiral and he began taking steroids which swelled his physique although he remained in uneven health for the following five years.
A three-year sentence in 2001 for ramming a garda car while under the influence of drink and drugs had done little to discourage his criminality. Before gardai nabbed him at Ashbourne he was doing 100mph on the wrong side of the road.
Garda sources described Curran as untypically brutal, even for a thug, and lacking even a basic regard for human life. But experienced gardai say that his story is most significant insofar as he was one of a new breed of young gangsters who rose to prominence at a time when the availability of illegal guns turned bands of petty thugs into mini-armies.
It was this level of access to weapons . . . mostly sawn-off shotguns . . . which allowed Curran and his criminal crew to carry out an inestimable number of raids on banks and credit unions over the past five years. It allowed them to spread their influence by giving guns to youths as young as 15 to enforce their own bailiwick in west Finglas, terrorising the local community into silence in sight of their transgressions.
In addition to killing O'Regan, Curran was connected to two other murders. On 9 October 2003, the body of father of three Peter Sheridan (27) was found dumped at Scribblestown lane in Finglas. He had been hooded and shot in the head. Information since given to investigating gardai suggests that Curran feared that Sheridan was about to inform on his criminal activities.
Two months earlier, the remains of Victor Murphy of Deanstown Green, Finglas, were found at Dunsink Lane.
Wounds to the lower body indicated to investigating gardai that the victim had been travelling in a car when a gun went off accidentally.
Garda intelligence suggests that Murphy believed he was on his way to "do a job" along with Curran but gardai suspect it was Curran's intention to murder him at a remote location.
Murphy had been friends with Curran's older brother, who had died in a car accident 15 years before. Curran had no regard for sentiment and informed sources said Curran would have felt that Murphy had become a liability.
Those who work in the Finglas community have also found it difficult to mourn Curran's passing. As one community worker told the Sunday Tribune: "He was known as someone who would shoot you for looking at him the wrong way. It didn't matter who you were, Curran wasn't afraid of anyone."
It was initially feared that Curran's departure would start a bloody war. Within 18 hours of his death, Curran's gang attempted to kill a man closely connected to the family who ordered Curran to be shot in 1999. But, long term, his departure is likely to pacify the area rather than lead to increased conflict.
Curran was by no means the only violent and heavily armed thug in west Dublin.
But for many ordinary decent people who lived amid the terror that Curran wrought by armed intimidation, his departure will allow them to enjoy a sense of calm they haven't known for quite some time.
November 21, 2004
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