Dunne's gang face charges under new laws
By Tom Brady
Thursday May 13 2010
GARDA files on at least eight gangs have been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) under the tough legislation introduced by the Government last year.
The DPP will decide whether the suspects are to be charged under the anti-gangland laws, which carry jail sentences up to life imprisonment.
Several files focus on gangs led by major criminals in Dublin including the group that surrounded Eamonn Dunne, the notorious thug shot dead in a city pub last month.
The file on Dunne was one of the first three submitted to the DPP before Christmas and, despite the gang leader's death, it is still being processed.
It contains extensive details of the activities of Dunne's gang, including drug trafficking, armed robbery, illegal debt collections, extortion, threats and intimidation.
Officers have also submitted files on a number of other Dublin-based gangs as well as criminals in several other cities including Limerick.
It is expected that several prosecutions will be brought in the non-jury Special Criminal Court, particularly where threats or intimidation have been made by gang members against witnesses in the past, and these are likely to include any charges pressed against Dunne's associates.
Other cases will be dealt with through the "regular" criminal courts.
The files stem from a massive review by gardai of criminal files, which began last summer while the new legislation was being piloted through the Oireachtas.
A list of about 80 top criminals was drawn up and their names were discussed by senior officers at a crime summit in the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Convictions
Trial judges will be able to take into account the opinions of a senior garda officer when making a decision on the guilt of the accused and the officer will have the flexibility to refer to crimes in which the accused is suspected of being involved as well as those that resulted in their convictions.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said earlier this year that he could assure the public that his force had not been "sitting on their hands" since the Criminal Justice Act 2009 had been enacted and were working diligently to put the cases together.
A gang boss can be jailed for life if convicted of a charge of directing the activities of a criminal outfit, while a maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment can be imposed for those found guilty of participating in or facilitating the activities of a criminal gang with the aim of helping it to commit offences.
- Tom Brady
Irish Independent
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Prisons fight losing battle with vicious gang culture
Prisons fight losing battle with vicious gang culture
Life in Ireland's ageing jails has become hellish as gangsters bring their brutal feuds inside with them, writes Jim Cusack
Sunday May 09 2010
The statement by the Prison Officers' Association (POA) last weekend that a quarter of the State's prisoners are under 23-hour lock down for their own protection from gang members was not as much of a revelation as it was perceived to be.
Judge Michael Reilly, the Inspector of Prisons, came up with his figure of 26 per cent of the prison population, or 825 prisoners, being locked down because they or prison staff believed that their lives were in danger. They are, effectively, in prisons within the prison system.
This record number of inmates locked away for 23 hours a day, 365 days a year, has come about as a result of the entry into the prison system of the increasingly brutal feuding between large drug gangs on the outside.
Garda successes against key figures in these gangs have led to both senior and junior members being imprisoned together, which has meant the duplication of criminal structures within the prison system. As on the outside, the major gangs from Limerick and Dublin have established an ascendancy over rivals and non-gang members, forcing them off the ordinary wings and into the protection cells.
There is, prison sources say, constant violence from the big gang members against others, along with attacks and verbal threats against staff, particularly from younger gang members trying to impress their bosses.
Asked how young gangland figures were behaving behind bars, an experienced prison officer last week replied: "If I had a euro for every time they threatened to kill me, I'd be a millionaire."
He echoed the sentiments of the POA that staff members are barely able to cope with the levels of violence and intimidation and are suffering from stress.
The violence and brutality towards non-gang prisoners was displayed vividly in mobile phone images sent out from Wheatfield Prison earlier this year by members of Limerick's Southill gangs, which are led by members of the notorious Dundon family.
The pictures were of an "ordinary" prisoner who had been stripped naked, beaten and then tied to a bunk bed. They had put lipstick on his lips and drew the words "f**k me" on his forehead.
Last month, young members of the south inner city Dublin gang that is led on the outside by Freddie Thompson texted images of themselves brandishing "shanks" -- knives made from box cutter blades with improvised handles. The leader of this inmate gang, 23-year-old Joseph Duff, is serving an 11-year sentence for possession of drugs and a gun.
His trial in 2008 was told that he came from an extremely violent background. His father beat him mercilessly when he was a child. People in Drimnagh, where Duff comes from, confirm this but say Duff, too, is extremely violent.
In the images and texts sent out from Mountjoy Prison, the unrepentant gang members promise to mirror the bloody feuding that has so far claimed the lives of 17 people on the outside.
Keeping apart the feuding Dublin and Limerick gangs is a logistical nightmare for prison staff, complicated by inter-relations and inter-rivalries. The Thompson gang in Dublin is related in its drugs business to the Dundon-led gangs of Limerick.
Thompson's rivals, formerly led by Joseph Rattigan, are related to the Dundon rivals, who are a spread of several Limerick families from the Island Field to Moyross.
A truce in Limerick at the end of the 1980s did reduce tensions between the two sets of prisoners inside, but the terrible conditions in Limerick's 19th century prison have resulted in an almost permanent state of tension and for safety's sake the two sides are still kept apart.
The appalling pressure-cooker conditions in Dublin's Mountjoy make it the most dangerous of the institutions within the prison system according to staff -- whose views are reflected in annual reports by Judge Reilly and his predecessor, Judge Dermot Kinlen.
The sanitary conditions in Mountjoy, where more than 270 prisoners have no in-cell sanitation and have to "slop out" each morning, have been described repeatedly by the International Committee for the Prevention of Inhuman and Degrading Treatment as "inhuman and degrading" -- and it is a view which Judge Reilly says he shares.
Limerick and Cork prisons also lack in-cell sanitation.
In Mountjoy, there is constant fear of violence from the Thompson gang members who are also allied with members of the northwest Dublin gangs formerly led by Eamon Dunne, who was assassinated while socialising in Cabra two weeks ago.
The 150-year-old prison is constantly overcrowded and its lay-out does not make it easy for staff to provide protection for vulnerable prisoners.
There is, according, to one source, a constant stream of prisoners being taken to the accident and emergency department of the adjoining Mater Hospital to receive treatment for injuries sustained in beatings, stabbings and slashings.
Much of the violence is meted out to non-gang prisoners, who are put under pressure to hold drugs or mobile phones. Staff say that even though stringent search measures at the "front" of the jail, introduced in July 2008, are stopping most of the drugs and phones coming in with visitors, Mountjoy and Cloverhill in Dublin have a constant stream of contraband being thrown over the back walls of the jails.
They say that some of this is intercepted, but pressure on staff means there are frequently insufficient prison officers to monitor what is coming over the wall into the exercise yards during the day breaks between 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm and all day on Saturday and Sunday.
An experienced Dublin officer said: "There is a class of prisoner now that you didn't have before. They think nothing of attacking prisoners or staff.
"There are less staff and the prisoners are getting bolder. Discipline is virtually non-existent. There is a moratorium on staff recruitment and overtime is down. Drugs are a big issue.
"It is harder, more stressful, for staff because of what they have to deal with. There are officers threatened every day of the week and there should be a system in place that the ones who behave get rewarded and the ones that don't be dealt with. There should be incentives and disincentives."
He said that prisons in the UK have such systems and consequently have to deal with less violence.
Despite all the violence and gang activity in the prisons, surprising numbers of inmates still try to make the best of their time.
Last year, nearly 200 inmates in Mountjoy managed to succeed in junior and leaving cert exams and some even achieved Open University degrees. Crafts and other skills courses are well attended and the prison has a lively arts programme and well-stocked library.
Sunday Independent
Life in Ireland's ageing jails has become hellish as gangsters bring their brutal feuds inside with them, writes Jim Cusack
Sunday May 09 2010
The statement by the Prison Officers' Association (POA) last weekend that a quarter of the State's prisoners are under 23-hour lock down for their own protection from gang members was not as much of a revelation as it was perceived to be.
Judge Michael Reilly, the Inspector of Prisons, came up with his figure of 26 per cent of the prison population, or 825 prisoners, being locked down because they or prison staff believed that their lives were in danger. They are, effectively, in prisons within the prison system.
This record number of inmates locked away for 23 hours a day, 365 days a year, has come about as a result of the entry into the prison system of the increasingly brutal feuding between large drug gangs on the outside.
Garda successes against key figures in these gangs have led to both senior and junior members being imprisoned together, which has meant the duplication of criminal structures within the prison system. As on the outside, the major gangs from Limerick and Dublin have established an ascendancy over rivals and non-gang members, forcing them off the ordinary wings and into the protection cells.
There is, prison sources say, constant violence from the big gang members against others, along with attacks and verbal threats against staff, particularly from younger gang members trying to impress their bosses.
Asked how young gangland figures were behaving behind bars, an experienced prison officer last week replied: "If I had a euro for every time they threatened to kill me, I'd be a millionaire."
He echoed the sentiments of the POA that staff members are barely able to cope with the levels of violence and intimidation and are suffering from stress.
The violence and brutality towards non-gang prisoners was displayed vividly in mobile phone images sent out from Wheatfield Prison earlier this year by members of Limerick's Southill gangs, which are led by members of the notorious Dundon family.
The pictures were of an "ordinary" prisoner who had been stripped naked, beaten and then tied to a bunk bed. They had put lipstick on his lips and drew the words "f**k me" on his forehead.
Last month, young members of the south inner city Dublin gang that is led on the outside by Freddie Thompson texted images of themselves brandishing "shanks" -- knives made from box cutter blades with improvised handles. The leader of this inmate gang, 23-year-old Joseph Duff, is serving an 11-year sentence for possession of drugs and a gun.
His trial in 2008 was told that he came from an extremely violent background. His father beat him mercilessly when he was a child. People in Drimnagh, where Duff comes from, confirm this but say Duff, too, is extremely violent.
In the images and texts sent out from Mountjoy Prison, the unrepentant gang members promise to mirror the bloody feuding that has so far claimed the lives of 17 people on the outside.
Keeping apart the feuding Dublin and Limerick gangs is a logistical nightmare for prison staff, complicated by inter-relations and inter-rivalries. The Thompson gang in Dublin is related in its drugs business to the Dundon-led gangs of Limerick.
Thompson's rivals, formerly led by Joseph Rattigan, are related to the Dundon rivals, who are a spread of several Limerick families from the Island Field to Moyross.
A truce in Limerick at the end of the 1980s did reduce tensions between the two sets of prisoners inside, but the terrible conditions in Limerick's 19th century prison have resulted in an almost permanent state of tension and for safety's sake the two sides are still kept apart.
The appalling pressure-cooker conditions in Dublin's Mountjoy make it the most dangerous of the institutions within the prison system according to staff -- whose views are reflected in annual reports by Judge Reilly and his predecessor, Judge Dermot Kinlen.
The sanitary conditions in Mountjoy, where more than 270 prisoners have no in-cell sanitation and have to "slop out" each morning, have been described repeatedly by the International Committee for the Prevention of Inhuman and Degrading Treatment as "inhuman and degrading" -- and it is a view which Judge Reilly says he shares.
Limerick and Cork prisons also lack in-cell sanitation.
In Mountjoy, there is constant fear of violence from the Thompson gang members who are also allied with members of the northwest Dublin gangs formerly led by Eamon Dunne, who was assassinated while socialising in Cabra two weeks ago.
The 150-year-old prison is constantly overcrowded and its lay-out does not make it easy for staff to provide protection for vulnerable prisoners.
There is, according, to one source, a constant stream of prisoners being taken to the accident and emergency department of the adjoining Mater Hospital to receive treatment for injuries sustained in beatings, stabbings and slashings.
Much of the violence is meted out to non-gang prisoners, who are put under pressure to hold drugs or mobile phones. Staff say that even though stringent search measures at the "front" of the jail, introduced in July 2008, are stopping most of the drugs and phones coming in with visitors, Mountjoy and Cloverhill in Dublin have a constant stream of contraband being thrown over the back walls of the jails.
They say that some of this is intercepted, but pressure on staff means there are frequently insufficient prison officers to monitor what is coming over the wall into the exercise yards during the day breaks between 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm and all day on Saturday and Sunday.
An experienced Dublin officer said: "There is a class of prisoner now that you didn't have before. They think nothing of attacking prisoners or staff.
"There are less staff and the prisoners are getting bolder. Discipline is virtually non-existent. There is a moratorium on staff recruitment and overtime is down. Drugs are a big issue.
"It is harder, more stressful, for staff because of what they have to deal with. There are officers threatened every day of the week and there should be a system in place that the ones who behave get rewarded and the ones that don't be dealt with. There should be incentives and disincentives."
He said that prisons in the UK have such systems and consequently have to deal with less violence.
Despite all the violence and gang activity in the prisons, surprising numbers of inmates still try to make the best of their time.
Last year, nearly 200 inmates in Mountjoy managed to succeed in junior and leaving cert exams and some even achieved Open University degrees. Crafts and other skills courses are well attended and the prison has a lively arts programme and well-stocked library.
Sunday Independent
Gangster still on run after no-show
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
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
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
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