N SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2019 e2.60 8-PAGE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER LOVE ISLAND n wedrugtestthenation n ourdial-a-dealsting EXCLUSIVE STARTS n ON PAGE MEET eamondunphyexclusive:legalisecokeforusers 41 MAURA’S FAMILY NICOLA TALLANT EXCLUSIVE MASSIVE HAUL: US authorities seized more than FULL STORY 16 tons of cocaine on board the MSC SEE PAGES ship in Philadelphia 4&5

SEE PAGES 2&3 KINAHANS’ FREE

€1BILLIONCARTEL BOSS: 7-DAY GLOSSY COKE BUST TELLY n Cartel linked to record-breaking seizure on Philadelphia ship GUIDE n U.S. feds alerted Gardai gang’s cargo was headed for Irish market 4 June 23, 2019 N BUSTS: TOP GARDA ‘CONFIDENT’ THAT CARTEL’S HIGH SEIZE

MASSIVE: Cops took in 16.5 tonnes of drugs

n Kinahan hit hard as American cops land record-breaking n Police forces across the globe are united in crackdown on

DANIEL KINAHAN is one of a group of EXCLUSIVE on Tuesday originated in Chile and travelled organised crime groups pool their resources Europe’s top drug bosses believed to through Panama and the Bahamas before together – someone will provide a route and BY NICOLA TALLANT docking in Philadelphia. someone else will give the transport. Then have lost a record-breaking €1 billion Assistant Commissioner O’Driscoll, who is they split up the load when it arrives. cocaine haul following a seizure in are currently liaising with the authorities there,” Head of Special Crime Operations, said that “We are linking in with law enforcement Philadelphia this week. he said. huge hauls like this week’s are a result of inter- on this and in the case of Philadelphia we “The extent to which organised crime groups national police agencies sharing intelligence would have linked in with the law well in A massive 16.5 tons of ‘white’ was being with links to are involved in this type transported through the U.S. to the Neth- like never before. advance. In general, our crime groups can of joint enterprise is reflected in the fact that “You can maximise the extent to which you be part of these consortium.” erlands on board the MSC Gayane. the Garda Síochána are investigating any can achieve results through the meaningful The Assistant Commissioner said last Officers suspect it was being shipped on behalf possible Irish dimension to this Philadelphia exchange of intelligence at an international year’s haul on the Cork-bound Polar Chile of a number of different criminalorganisations, seizure.” level. There are a lot more operations going including the Kinahan Cartel, who pooled their The Kinahan Cartel are the only Irish organ- is an indication that Ireland is being used as on where we will work with law enforcement a direct route to Europe. wealth and resources to transport the massive ised crime group with enough connections and agencies in other countries. That is what de- cargo. wealth to invest in such a huge consignment of livers results,” he said. IMPACT Assistant John cocaine directly from South America. Gardaí have been working intensively with O’Driscoll said gardaí are liaising TRAVELLED their colleagues in Europe, Australia and with “In that case there was a company operat- with law enforcement colleagues in the DEA and other U.S. agencies since funding ing in north linked to that shipment. the U.S. to examine Irish involve- Daniel Kinahan has established links was put in place to dismantle the Kinahan Cartel. What is for certain is that there were numer- ment in the seizure aboard the with Dutch, Moroccan and Estonian “The seizure in Philadelphia this week fol- ous consignments of fruit heading in the ship, which was raided on the criminal gangs who have been targeted lows on from a number of significant seizures same direction before that sting. River Delaware. by European police forces. He was also of drugs coming into Europe. Last August we “A lot of that will be legitimate transporta- “We were privy to this opera- linked to Chilean Cartel boss Richard saw a seizure of €10million of cocaine in Costa tion of fruit but there is a distinct possibility tion as it was underway as this Eduardo Riquelme Vega, nicknamed ‘El Rica which was bound for Cork in a container that shipments like what was discovered on vessel was destined for Europe. Rico’, who is currently before the courts of pineapples,” said O’Driscoll. the Polar Chile had been previously trans- We have been in constant in Holland. “What is suspected with these cargoes is ported through the same route – through discussions with our U.S. The cargo ship subject to the bust that the quantity would indicate that it isn’t Cork and onwards to Europe. counterparts and we at the Packer Marine Terminal just one group. It is suspected that a number of “For a short period of time big seizures

LIASING: Asst. Commissioner John O’Driscoll 8-PAGE SPECIAL N June 23, 2019 5 THEY WILL DISMANTLE ORGANISATION IGH SEIZE

SUCCESS: Cops swooped to bring in huge haul in Philadelphia

$1 billion cocaine haul major drug operations

like this week’s will have an impact on the recently attended a major market, but it doesn’t take that long to get drug enforcement con- back up and running again.” ference in Azerbaijan O’Driscoll has been at the helm of the where they represent- PRESSURE: massive Garda offensive against the ed Ireland among the Daniel Kinahan Kinahan Cartel which got underway DEA’s international after the Regency Hotel attack of 2016. partners. is feeling the The Assistant Commissioner, who has Together they believe heat as cops worked on the drug beat throughout his in cementing Garda continue career, said the approach of the Drugs co-operation with law pursuit and Organised Crime Bureau has been enforcement agencies the “unrelenting pursuit” of the Cartel. throughout the world “There hasn’t been a day that we as being the key to fu- haven’t been working full steam in our ture successes in policing attempts to dismantle this organisation. crime gangs. It is the continuous targeting of them which is doing the damage and I am GANGS confident that we will dismantle this group. Our intelligence gathering is far “We have had results with the Dutch, beyond where we were at the time of the Spanish, the Australians and clearly the Regency. we are working closely with the DEA,” “There is no organised crime group he added. that cannot be policed once the resources “We have also just seen the European are in place. And it has been our focus report which puts figures around all of on international co-operation that has this and looks at Ireland’s drug use. The been most damaging to them.” Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau has O’Driscoll and his colleague Detective always been dedicated to a drug strategy Superintendent Seamus Boland of the at home and that is another major part Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau of our work.”

STARTS ON ON THE COUNTRY’S ESCALATING COKE ADDICTION PAGE 41 N June 23, 2019 41

IT is the white powder that has become a multi-million euro industry on the Island of Saints and Scholars. In our eight-page special, the Sunday World today reveals how Ireland is in the grip of a cocaine epidemic. We trace how the drug originates in the hills of Colombia before being trafficked across the world by criminal gangs. We also reveal how it is now easier to order a gramme of cocaine online in Dublin than buying a pizza from a delivery outfit. Our team also used cocaine- detection swabs in pubs and clubs across the country to see how widespread the use of the drug is. And Eamon Dunphy speaks in detail about his own use of the drug and how he believes it should be legalised. 8-PAGE SPECIAL ON THE COUNTRY’S COKE ADDICTION 42 June 23, 2019 N THE

SERVICE: Our man was offered a line before purchase DIAL EXCLUSIVE BY NICOLA TALLANT IT has moved off the street corners and has gone digital. Last week, a new study revealed cocaine use is booming in Ireland as a result of the ‘Uberisation’ of the trade. The report claimed dealers are exploiting technology and social media to sell their wares – transforming the cocaine trade in the way Uber changed the taxi business. It’s a regular day and around the time when most office workers think about boosting their morning with a flat white or a cup of tea when HIGH I set out to find if it is really so easy to buy a different stimulant online. I pick up my phone and text the number I have found on the internet advertising a “discreet” delivery service for “lovely white” or “pure nose food”. “Hey, saw yer ad, you still got sum white,” I type, trying to sound casual and a little bit ‘street’. It’s 10.51am and I wonder will my message be answered at all – but I needn’t have been concerned. I haven’t even put the phone out of my hand before it beeps. “Yeah pure 100 a g [a gram].” A gram of cocaine for €100 is expensive – it usually costs between €60 to €80 and I have no idea what the quality is or if I am going to be sold talcum powder. After all, this is some CLUB random number off the web. I OUR TEAM ORDERS AWASH “Bit pricey. That de best you can do?” I re- spond. “Ye,” comes the one word reply. At 10.53am I type: “Is it decent gear?” and COKE OVER PHONE one minute later I get: “Pure.” “Can ye drop it into town or wha?” I text. “Yeah when suits?” comes the reply. And it is as easy as that. By 11am – less than I 10 minutes since I first contacted my ‘dealer’ DEAL AS EASY AS – we have agreed to meet and the only delay for the handover is on my side. While he wants to pop over to my part of town immediately, I need to buy time. ORDERING A PIZZA I claim to be unable to slip out of work until later that afternoon, but really I need to make arrangements so a Sunday World team can record the transaction and prove that it’s now market in which sellers compete for offering Galway to Dublin and Belfast to Cork, we as easy to order a gram of cocaine in Dublin additional services such as fast and flexible found particles of the ‘Colombian Marching as it is to ring for a pizza. delivery options”. Powder’ on toilet seats, lids and even baby Just last week a major new study found that Everyone knows that coke is easy to get, changing presses. cocaine use is growing faster in Ireland than but it is hard to believe just how simple it has However, it’s the sale of cocaine through a in most European countries and that is being become to literally dial a deal. simple text which is a new phenomenon and fuelled by the ‘Uberisation’ of the trade. The last cocaine boom of the Noughties made this extraordinary delivery service means a The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs a killing for the gangs and turned the Kina- 24/7 supply to anyone with a phone. and Drug Addiction report states that the use han Organised Crime Group into a European of social media and technology means instant Cartel who now work hand-in-hand with their PURCHASE delivery of the drug to users in the way Uber international partners. By 2pm we’ve assembled our undercover transformed the taxi trade. On the ground the boom is clearly drawing more team in the city centre. We arrive at the “Smaller criminal groups have been able and more workers into the market and as demand agreed meeting spot for our purchase. to enter the market by using a range of infor- grows so does the industry’s ability to reach out The phone buzzes and we expect a cancel- mation technology like encryption, dark-net to customers. lation or last-minute nerves – but instead market places, social media for dealing and Our special investigation this week shows we get an apology that the man with the cryptocurrencies,” the report states and con- how traces of the Class A drug can be found ‘white’ is going to be a few minutes late. tinues that smart phones mean “a competitive in pubs and clubs across the country. From Our man describes what he is wearing N June 23, 2019 43

DEALERS

Hey, saw yer ad, you still MOVING got sum white? TO ‘UBER’ Yeah pure 100 a gram. Bit pricey. That de best MODEL you can do? BY PATRICK O’CONNELL COCAINE use is booming in Ireland and the drug has become purer Ye. due to the ‘Uberisation’ of the trade, a study from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Is it decent gear? Drug Addiction has revealed. The report – published earlier this month – showed more people Pure. in Ireland had used cocaine in the “last 12 months” than any other nation apart from the United Can ye drop it into town Kingdom and . or wha? The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) claimed the Uberisation Yeah when suits? of the cocaine trade has made the drug easier to source. The report claims technology has lead to the diversification of the cocaine trade – in the same way Uber transformed the taxi industry. It said the use of social media and darknet marketplaces are allowing smaller groups and individuals to engage in drug dealing. The group claimed that there is evidence of “call centres” SCARY: We had operating, with couriers providing drug deal set up fast and flexible delivery. within just 10 MARKET minutes of “Such methods – reflecting texting number a potential ‘uberisation’ of the cocaine trade – are indicative of a competitive market in which sellers compete by offering additional services beyond the product itself,” said the report. “Smaller (criminal) groups have been able to enter the market by using a range of information technology like encryption, darknet market places, social media for dealing and cryptocurrencies,” the European Drug Report, Trends and Developments concludes. The report also states that the number of seizures and the volume involved in seizures was “at an all-time high” in Europe. Cocaine purity at retail level was at its highest for a decade. “Cocaine enters Europe through numerous routes and means, but the growth in large-volume trafficking, using maritime shipping containers, stands out as a major challenge,” said the report. There are also more signs that cocaine use is causing more health problems, with a 37 per and what he looks like. “See you in a minute we have bought. We crush the tiny rocks mate,” comes the response. cent rise in people in the European into powder form and marvel at how small Union needing medical treatment With that a young man in his early 20s the gram looks in the little see-through bag. EASY: Our dressed casually in shorts and runners between 2014 and 2017, the report Later I go into the bathrooms to dispose of said. reporter picks approaches and apologises again for being the substance down the sink. up cocaine late. He extends his hand for a shake and A total of 73,000 people a year I have no idea what is contains and it would needed specialised treatments for from dealer we slips a small ziplock bag into our man’s palm. be illegal for me to be in possession of a Class cocaine, of which 11,000 were for met online “There it is,” he says. A drug. “Are you sure you aren’t ripping me off?” As it goes down the sink I open a cocaine crack cocaine, it said. we ask, but are assured again that this is the detection wipe. In relation to the Republic, real thing and are even offered the opportu- the report said 7.8 per cent of nity to take a line before payment. REAL people aged 15 to 64 years had We decline the offer and hand over two tried cocaine during their lifetime crisp €50s. The swabs can immediately detect the compared to the European average “Come back to me if you need more. I’ll deliver presence of traces of cocaine on surfaces by of 5.4 per cent. The UK was highest, anywhere in the city,” he says as he disappears turning an immediate blue colour. I wipe it over the remnants in the bowl in on 10.7 per cent, followed by Spain into the crowd. on 10.3 per cent and Ireland third. Back in the office we have no idea what front of me and the tissue illuminates blue. Looks like it was the real deal after all. 44 June 23, 2019 N

140 IN 2017 AN ENORMOUS 140 TONNES OF COKE WAS SEIZED IN EUROPE

CHEAP LABOUR: Farmers in hills of 125 Colombia are well 125 KILOS OF paid to pick coca LEAVES TO leaves for gangs PRODUCE JUST CARIBBEAN ONE KILO OF OUTPOSTS COCAINE WITH ‘HIGHWAY 10’ WORKERS

HIGH SEAS: Cartels COLOMBIA send out massive shipments to Africa for distribution

HIGH in the Colombian hills, la- ROADbourers pick millions of leaves TO SNOWWHERE off the coca plant and haul their product to dangerous Cartels shifting tonnes of cocaine on trade route from Colombian hills to clubs of Ireland jungle labs; in neighbouring EXCLUSIVE A kilo of paste refined further into en over the trafficking of Colombian heads east for West Africa. For years, Peru, and to a lesser extent powder will now be worth between cocaine to worldwide markets. Colombian coke was shipped directly BY NICOLA TALLANT $2,000 and $7,000 per kilo as it makes Today, the Jalisco New Generation into Europe, but in recent years West in Bolivia, similar production picked. At one point it was estimated its way down from the mountains to Cartel, which swooped after the de- African war-torn states and the area lines are also in place. that each kilo processed, shipped ports for shipping. mise of Sinaloa boss Joachim ‘El of sea known as ‘Highway 10’ – the The journey to Ireland will be a and distributed comes at a cost of six The transport of Colombia’s most fa- Chapo’ Guzman, are major players shortest sea-faring route between the long one, but by the time cocaine mous export is by far the most important and drugs seized in Ireland have been two continents – is the favoured route. human lives. aspect after production. The notorious Along the way, guerillas, traffickers, hits our streets its value will have traced back to the Mexican mob. CRUSH cartels began in the late 1970s with Pablo drivers, shippers, mules, gang members, multiplied almost 500 times. Escobar’s Medellin establishment and the OUTPOSTS cartel bosses, hitmen, wholesalers and It takes 125 kilos of leaves to produce In the labs, impoverished workers Rodriguez Orejuela brothers’ Cali Cartel. dealers will all take their cut as tonnes of just one kilo of cocaine, with workers crush the leaves and douse them with soon followed suit, as it be- From South America, the cocaine coke moves across the globe. in the Andes – which extends along chemicals – including diesel oil, caustic came an important trans-shipment moves north through Central America The 2017 World Drug Report esti- the western edge of South America soda and cement – and through a series point into the U.S. and in recent years and traditionally onwards to Carib- mated that two thirds of all cocaine – earning just over a dollar per kilo of processes turn it into a white paste. the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels have tak- bean outposts – but more recently it bound for Europe now makes its way June 23, 2019 45

€60K When it BY THE TIME IT LANDS IRELAND UK c IN IRELAND THE SAME KILO THAT NETTED lands into COLOMBIAN FARMERS ROTTERDAM, JUST €137 IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED HOLLAND Europe drug €50,000 TO €60,000. gangs begin GALICIA, SPAIN to cut their PORTUGAL product to bulk up what they have to sell on – products ‘HIGHWAY 10’ MAURITANIA like laundry SENEGAL MALI detergent, GUINEA caffeine and NIGERIA laxatives are

often used SEIZURES: d International operation has HAULED IN: been clamping Drug lord down on gangs El Chapo

salers and drug gangs until it makes its ROAD TO SNOWWHEREway down to street dealers. Each time it changes hands it is likely cut again. Cartels shifting tonnes of cocaine on trade route from Colombian hills to clubs of Ireland By the time it lands in Ireland the same kilo that netted Colombian through West Africa and the UN Office Together, European crime fighters have Colombian cocaine into Europe. Boats towards Ireland. The latest European farmers just €137 is worth an estimated on Drugs and Crime described three tried to fight back and have developed meet at sea and divide the shipments, Drugs Report cited Ireland as being €50,000 to €60,000. main hubs – The Northern; made up of the Maritime Analysis and Operations landing some into Galicia and sending among five European countries with a The price of the drug in Australia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, The Gambia Centre (MAOC) – an agency to co-ordinate more north to Madrid, Barcelona and high prevalence of cocaine use amongst €235,000 per kilo, has prompted mobs and Senegal; The Southern of Benin, anti-drug trafficking by Portugal, Spain, Rotterdam in Holland. young people. here to set up human smuggling routes Togo, Ghana and Nigeria and the East- the U.K., Ireland, France, The Netherlands Along with Denmark, Spain, France and from Dublin to Sydney and Brisbane. ern hub of Mali and Mauritania. and Italy. They try to track smuggling op- DEMAND the Netherlands, cocaine use among young This week Colombia’s President Ivan erations by air or sea and deploy military people is soaring at more than 2.5 per cent Duque laid the blame firmly at the feet BLIND to intercept them before they are landed. When it lands into Europe drug gangs here. In 2017 an enormous 140 tonnes of of middle-class cocaine users who he From West Africa the cocaine goes on begin to cut their product to bulk up coke was seized in Europe – seizures are described as hypocrites. Experts say corrupt government the move again, this time in shipments what they have to sell on – products recognised as being just a tenth of supply. But he also said that his country had officials, cops and port authorities are and flights towards Europe. like laundry detergent, caffeine and The cocaine that ends up in the pubs a moral authority to act and pledged paid to turn a blind eye in West Africa, Galicia in Spain – an area synony- laxatives are often used. and clubs enters Ireland through the to consider tougher measures against where organisations including the mous with smuggling – is believed to be It is the demand for cocaine that U.K. and from Spain and Portugal. the coca growers – the impoverished Italian Mafia and Hezbollah operate. one of the most popular regions to land drives it ever onwards on its journey Here, it is distributed among whole- farmers at the start of the chain. 46 June 23, 2019 N If you still want to take cocaine then it should be ‘available – not through the hands of gangsters & drug lords – it should be for sale like everything

EXCLUSIVE BY NICOLA TALLANT BROADCASTING legend Eamon Dunphy tells today how he took cocaine twice a month for three years, but now believes that children should learn in the class- room how it is cut with rat poison. The outspoken pundit says he was once part of a social elite whose appetite for cocaine turned the likes of the Kinahan Cartel into millionaires. Now he believes we should cut off their oxygen by educating chil- dren and teens about the dangers of the drug and legalising supply for those who still insist on taking it. “Coke is everywhere but if we continue to pretend it doesn’t exist we are just fuelling a situation where there is more money for the gang- sters. At the moment, if people come out and speak about it they risk losing their job and that isn’t good. We need to have an adult conversation about COMMON: Dunphy this and start being honest. “I don’t think the great crime is tak- became a user in his ing it. The crime is being hypocritical 40s on the showbiz about it and damning anyone who elite party circuit tries to speak about the problem.” STOPPED Dunphy, who regularly discusses gangland violence and its links to the cocaine industry on his podcast The Stand, has previously revealed that he took cocaine, but stopped around the time his pal Gerry Ryan died, in 2010. Today, in a searingly honest inter- view, he says that he was a regular user of the drug, which he bought in clubs and restaurants in Dublin during the country’s last boom. “I will put it like this,” he says. “I started working when I was 14 years old and because I was a footballer I didn’t even have a drink of lager until I was about 35, because you had to be fit and healthy. I had no adolescence so some time around my 40s I became a teenager. “I was working really hard, doing three jobs and writing books and I used to go out at the weekends and have a blowout. I was never a great drinker and cocaine would be there and I would just take it. “I suppose it presented itself to me in the same way, as it is in every pub and club and restaurant now. And I would buy it – from the dealers. One dealer I bought it from died because she took her own stuff and what was in it was rotten.” Dunphy says he never had a cocaine habit, but was more of a recreational user like the thousands of socialites that are now fuelling a €100 million industry for gangs.

N June 23, 2019 47

‘ If you still want to take cocaine then it should be ‘ available – not through the hands of gangsters & drug lords – it should be for sale like everything EAMON DUNPHY EXCLUSIVE

cAt the moment, if people come out and speak about it they risk losing their job and that isn’t good.d

HONEST: Dunphy says that we need to have an adult conversation about drug use in Ireland

take all that away from them by legalising it. “We really need to be talking about BROADCASTER SAYS WE NEED TO STOP this and stop being so hypocritical. I came clean because I didn’t want to be hosting a radio show and talk- ing about it while all the time I had BEING HYPOCRITICAL & LEGALISE TRADE taken it myself. I prefer to be honest. “I wasn’t habitual, I would just be out ists, politicians and businesspeople and skunk, prescription pills and “The fact is that the U.S., the most People like me have to be able to put and decide to take it if I was on the lash. – who are out taking it at weekends. alcohol – and tobacco for that matter. powerful nation in the world, de- up our hands and say ‘I took it, I was I would take a line and be high for about “There is a drug culture out there “Who the f**k needs geometry? We clared war on drugs and pumped tril- wrong’ without being shunned or 15 minutes. I knew it was wrong. And I and we have got to work out what to need to graphically show kids and teens lions of dollars into it. And they have risking our jobs.” was never caught taking it. do about that. Pillorying those who what cocaine does to their body and lost. The only winners are the cartel Dunphy says he isn’t surprised with “I outed myself because I believed speak out will not get us anywhere.” their mind and show them how it can bosses who became billionaires the results of a Sunday World swab we should be talking about it. It take a grip of them. Kids aren’t stupid. – people like Joachim ‘El Chapo’ test which found more than 80 per nearly cost me my job. Kevin Myers AWASH We should be educating them and then Guzman and Christy Kinahan. cent of clubs, pubs and venues tested said I should never be allowed into let them make up their own minds. positive for cocaine. Dunphy believes cocaine is so CHASING “It’s everywhere,” he said. “It’s a broadcasting studio again because prevalent that education about it and “If you still want to take cocaine I admitted to taking it. That sort of or whatever else then it should be all over Dublin 4 and Dublin 6, but other drugs should start in school. “Law enforcement both here and it is also in every country town and thing isn’t helpful. “I genuinely believe that instead of available for them – but not through abroad are pumping way too much “I believe it is wrong what I did, but the hands of the gangsters and the village. This is a big problem for this teaching kids geometry we should be resources chasing these dealers and country and we need to start talking I also believe there is a whole section giving them information on cocaine drug lords, it should be for sale like producers of drugs when you could of society – people who are journal- everything else. about it.” 48 June 23, 2019 N

POPULAR: Cocaine is being used more than ever A WHITE ON

REVELATION: Our swab tests uncovered the THE TILES... extent of drug use across the country Pub owners face impossible task to stamp out coke use IRELAND is awash with cocaine including The Long Hall, Peter’s Pub and including the Blame Game, The Nolan Show EXCLUSIVE Hogans also tested positive during a Friday and previously live shows of Give My Head and a Sunday World investigation night in the city. Outside the city centre area, Peace. The studio is filled with security and BY DEIRDRE REYNOLDS visitors must produce a driving licence or team has found that it is being AND STEVEN MOORE Doyle’s Corner in Phibsborough also proved used as part of an ordinary night socialites were mixing drink with coke. passport to enter the building. have strong anti-drugs policies and work Revellers attending concerts in the 3Arena But despite the strict security regulations, out across the country, from small with local gardaí. may already have to fork out up to €100 per we discovered traces of cocaine in a down- towns to big cities. However, the widespread use of cocaine ticket, but that doesn’t stop the spend on a stairs toilet which is used by members of the across Ireland means it is impossible for pubs night out. On two occasions during the month, public and staff alike. The capital is a hotbed of ‘white’ and Later, we went to a well-known chain of we used cocaine detection wipes over to completely stop the use of the drug in their once at the Hugh Jackman concert, cocaine establishments. was picked up on our detection wipes. family pizza restaurants and found some a month-long period on random nights Also, the law which bans the use of CCTV in Belfast is also awash with cocaine and users customers wanted more than just parmesan to find what popular clubs and pubs toilet cubicles means cocaine will be used in have been snorting the dangerous drug in the on their pepperoni slice. show traces of the drug. nightspots – despite the determined efforts BBC studio where the Stephen Nolan Show is We went to several bars in the popular Ca- of pub and club owners. filmed, we can reveal. thedral Quarter and discovered cocaine was Our results show more than an 80 per cent being taken in such large amounts we didn’t rate of cocaine use over a period, varying In Dublin, the Dean Hotel tested positive for cocaine in a number of cubicles on an early TIGHT need to use the detection wipes – often white from quiet weekday nights to busy Friday powder was clearly visible to the naked eye. and Saturday soirees. Saturday evening. The busy Sophie’s Bar on We went to bars, family restaurants, swanky the rooftop was buzzing following the Taste We spoke to one bar owner who told us they Over a four-week period we swabbed bathrooms hotels and found nowhere immune to the drug. had done all they can to try and stop people across Dublin, Belfast and Galway. In many cases of Dublin event nearby, but the toilet area Our undercover team even tested out the clearly showed that it was nose food that was taking the drug, but it was impossible. we didn’t even need a wipe as cocaine particles BBC’s flagship TV studio where, despite tight “I got rid of the toilet cisterns because I were clearly visible on toilet cisterns and in one the order of the day. security, we discovered traces of the addictive Opium on Wexford Street tested positive knew people were snorting it on top of them, case on a baby changing unit. drug in the toilets. but it didn’t stop them,” he said. The wipes, which are used for testing sus- repeatedly over a number of weeknights in We checked out 14 venues across Belfast Dublin. The restaurant and cocktail bar was “They just found other flat services or pect surface areas work by turning blue in and found 12 had been used to snort cocaine. brought their own with them to the bar. It’s swabbed in both the male and female toilets And in a startling revelation, we discovered the presence of cocaine or its derivatives, on three different evenings and each time impossible to stop – you’d have to strip search including crack. They are simple and reliable coke fiends are even snorting the drug off every customer or put cameras in toilet cubi- test products for the drug, are available to our swabs turned blue. baby changing units – putting the health of cles, and that’s clearly never going to happen. buy online and do not react to other drugs. We swooped on Temple Bar, one of the innocent toddlers at risk. “But you can tell when people are on it – they We used them in bathroom areas in coffee busiest night spots in Dublin, and got mixed As well as Belfast, we also tested the toilets can drink all day and not seem drunk, which shops, department stores and pubs – the results. The male toilets in Bad Bobs had been in a number of venues in Downpatrick and seems an expensive waste of time!” majority of which showed the presence of used to snort coke, but neither Fitzsimons or Bangor. In one bar in Downpatrick we found Galway is renowned as a party city, and last the drug. The Temple Bar tested positive. The nearby users were so desperate to find a flat surface weekend pub-goers were certainly giving it There is no suggestion that any of the pubs, Garage Bar lit up our wipes, with specs of co- to snort the drug that they selfishly used the their all, with 100 per cent of the pubs we restaurants or shops mentioned condone or caine clear on the cistern in the unisex toilets. baby changing unit. visited testing positive for cocaine. An Púcán, allow drugs use in their premises. The popular Ivy Restaurant on Dawson Blackstaff Studios on Great Victoria Street the Skeff, the King’s Head and the Quays bar In fact, all of the nightspots mentioned Street, the Spencer Hotel and city centre pubs is where the Beeb film their biggest shows, toilets all showed particles of cocaine on swabs. SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2019 e2.60

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER

8-PAGE CRIME SPECIAL STARTS ON PAGE 10

GARDAI TARGET KAVANAGH’S ‘BOMBER’S’ MOB LINKED TO €100M CRIME EMPIRE HORROR MAJORCA MURDER FREE PATRICK O’CONNELL EXCLUSIVE INSIDE THE BASHIN’

GLOSSY INDUSTRY n Woman-beater n Monster who 7-DAY McSherry sells battered lover now THUG: McSherry knock-off ladies’ delivers garments to driving delivery TELLY van and (inset) pictured previously designer clothes women door-to-door without beard. Far left, victim GUIDE Jessica Bowes FULL SHOCKING STORY SEE PAGES 2&3 10 January 20, 2019 N LEADER S

EXCLUSIVE BY NICOLA TALLANT

GARDAI are set to dismantle the €100 million criminal em- pire headed up by Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh that has laundered funds through one of Ireland’s most high-profile businessmen and which has controlled a vast criminal network in Ireland and the U.K. for over a decade. CRASH OF Kavanagh and his associates have been linked to murders, including the feud killings of innocent Trevor O’Neill – whose murder forms a special investi- gation in the Sunday World today – and innocent Martin O’Rourke, along with the gangland assas- sinations of Jason ‘Buda’ Moly- neux, Derek Coakley Hutch, Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan and attempts to kill Patsy Hutch and James ‘Mago’ Gately. Father of six Bomber (51), heads up the ‘Byrne Organised Crime Group’, which is aligned with the Kinahan Organised Crime Group. However, many senior sources believe that Bomber is the real boss of the mob, as opposed to Daniel Kinahan, who inherited his position €100M from his father, ‘Dapper Don’ Christy Kinahan Senior, and who has been hiding out in Dubai for the past two years. SERIOUS Bomber was arrested by the U.K.’s feared National Crime Agency (NCA) last weekend after he jetted in to Birmingham from a family holiday in Mexico. He has been charged with possess- ing a stun gun and approved for bail, although it is understood that further, more serious, charges may follow as part of a four-year Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and NCA probe into his empire. In 2015 the Sunday World named EMPIRE Kavanagh as a major underworld figure and photographed him at his stunning home in the wealthy suburb of Tamworth in Birmingham. Today, in a major investigation, we uncover Bomber’s wealth and elite inner circle. We also probe links between his n Gardaí ready to bring mob to associates and the murder of in- nocent Dubliner Trevor O’Neill, gunned down in front of his partner and children while on a family holiday in Majorca. its knees as chief finally nabbed We can reveal how Gardaí are investigating if he has laun- dered millions through invest- ments and properties linked to a well-known businessman in West Dublin who is under investigation by the CAB. A massive cache of weap- n High-profile businessman is ons, including an assault rifle and a sub-machine gun, seized in Greenogue Industrial Estate in recent linked to notorious crime group years has also been linked to Kavanagh’s outfit. Among those being tar- geted in Kavanagh’s inner circle are his brother Greg Kavanagh (41). in the name of Bomber’s son work of car garages in Dublin and Clonsilla, was killed because he was He is a younger brother of Karl Kavanagh (20), who was the U.K. which have been identified being blamed for Arakas’s arrest. Bomber and a car dealer oper- arrested alongside his dad last as being part of a VAT scam and a Associates of Keating are also ating off the Naas Road for week. Karl was released without laundering facility for dirty money. suspected of being involved in the years. CAB have identified charge. In Ireland, 37-year-old Peader Keat- murder of innocent Dean Johnson him as importing vehicles Greg has tried to live under the ing is seen as one of ‘Bomber’s’ most in August 2013. He was shot dead by from his brother’s busi- radar at his modest home on Raft- senior lieutenants. He was arrested hitman Glen Clarke, who also carried ness, TK Car Sales, ers Road, but Gardaí have been last year at Dublin Airport for al- out the botched assassination attempt which is now focusing on his Authentic Car legedly conspiring to murder Hutch on Jonathan Hutch which resulted in operat- Sales company. He has been associate James ‘Mago’ Gately. the murder of innocent dad Trevor ing targeted by the Criminal O’Neill. Assets Bureau, who seized BLAMED Johnson was not the intended target of a number of vehicles the 2013 hit. He was caught in the middle from his forecourt. Estonian hitman Imre Arakas was of a dispute between Keating and volatile COLLAPSE: The Kavanagh flown into Ireland to assassinate criminal James ‘Nellie’ Walsh. Cops have brothers form Gately and pleaded guilty to the crime The feud between the pair resulted last month. He will be extradited to finally got just a part in the murder of Keating’s brother- Lithuania on murder charges once his in-law, Cartel-linked criminal Jason Bomber where of a net- six-year sentence here is completed. ‘Jay’ Carroll (39), who was fatally shot they want him Gardaí are still trying to estab- at his home in retaliation for the at- lish if Eric Fowler, murdered before tempted hit on Walsh. Tensions ended Christmas at Blakestown Cottages, when volatile Walsh was arrested and N January 20, 2019 11 R SUPPORTED BY ELITE INNER CIRCLE

SHOT: Noel Kirwan with Gerry Hutch BRUTAL: Scene where Kirwan was killed SLAIN: Mob are linked to the murder of Jason Molyneux

LOADED: Thomas and wife Joanne Byrne at their plush home in Birmingham

imprisoned for a botched attempt on ed drug dealer Andy Goonery, who is event in the recent the life of Mickey Frazer. also under investigation by the CAB. past and is a pal of the Keating was arrested as part of a Gardaí are still investigating if the UFC star’s brother-in- garda probe into an intricate plot to murder of two associates of Walsh, law Mark Elliot. murder Gately in May 2017. During namely Darragh Nugent (36) and John Also under inves- the sentencing hearing of Arakas it Gibson (28), were killed by Cartel tigation by the NCA was heard that encrypted phones associates. in the U.K. are Kava- were used to organise and direct the Cocaine dealer Graham ‘the Wig’ nagh’s close associates hit. Keating was released without Whelan has been a key part of Kavan- Maurice Sines and James charge following his arrest. agh’s inner circle for years. He moved Crickmore – property de- to Birmingham in 2011, but has had to velopers and multi-million- CLOSEST spend time in Ireland in the past year aires who have convictions A month after his arrest at Dublin to ‘crisis manage’ the cartel. for the largest bet fixing Airport, Keating was picked up by The notoriously private ‘Wig’ shot to scams in the history of the cops in Birmingham, in October 2017, worldwide fame more than a year ago horse racing. in connection with a €5.5 million drug when reports went viral that his father In Ireland the probe into Bomb- seizure at the port of Dover. Keating had been caught in a pub fracas with er’s network has fed into a major has no convictions for organised MMA champion Conor McGregor. CAB investigation into a high-profile crime, but sources say he is Bomber’s However, despite reports that businessman who is understood closest associate. McGregor was in fear of his life, the to have been providing a money In turn, Keating has links to convict- Sunday World reported that the ‘Wig’ laundering service to criminals and had attended a McGregor family paramilitaries. MEET THE ‘BOMB’ SQUAD – SEE PAGES 12&13 12 January 20, 2019 N THE TIES

BYRNE CRIME MEET GANG THE

‘FAT’ FREDDIE THOMPSON ‘BOMB’ LIAM BYRNE

SQUAD DAVID BYRNE GRAHAM How family and friends formed a close ‘THE WIG’ WHELAN criminal bond with busted Godfather

THOMAS ‘BOMBER’ KAVA- vanagh’s closest confidantes and just EXCLUSIVE like his brother he hates publicity. NAGH sits at the verytop of BY NICOLA TALLANT Kavanagh was dealt a massive an organised crime gang blow in recent years when his core made up of family members Anthony is at the top tier of the group operational group was busted and and has served an 11-year sentence his partner and first cousin James McGOVERN and close associates who for the sale and supply of drugs. Mulvey was forced to go on the run. SEAN have formed a blood bond Their sister Maria is not directly He was eventually jailed last year for JAMES ‘JAWS’ involved in criminality, however, 32 years. During his trial it emerged with their ‘Godfather’. her assets featured in a recent CAB BYRNE Kavanagh, who was arrested that he, Bomber Kavanagh and their probe. cousins Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh and Y McENROE in Birmingham last weekend The Byrne siblings’ cousins include Paul Kavanagh were working together ANTHON PAUL GRAY and who faces weapons charg- convicted murderer ‘Fat’ Freddie as “four bosses”. es there following the seizure Thompson, criminal Eoin ‘Scarface’ Both Gerard and brother Paul O’Connor and Cartel lieutenant Liam Kavanagh were shot dead in 2014 in of a stun gun, has been a top ‘Tango One’ Roe. Another relative is target of the Garda’s Drug hits suspected to have been ordered currently facing charges of conspir- by Daniel Kinahan. and Organised Crime Bureau acy to murder. On the streets of Crumlin and for years. SKILLS Drimnagh others were swept up into He is suspected of heading up the group over the past three dec- a massive drug gang who supply Kavanagh is said to be extremely ades. Sean McGovern has no blood vast swathes of Dublin, Limerick, close to his mother-in-law Sadie ties to the Byrnes or Kavanagh, yet he WEST DUBLIN Birmingham and Liverpool with Byrne who is not involved in crimi- has been accepted into the bosom of HITMAN narcotics and weapons and who nality. His father-in-law James ‘Jaws’ the family. Paul Gray, who is related are structured like the Mafia. Byrne is a veteran criminal noted for to ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson through The gang, which were named as the his skills in forgery. marriage, has also been targeted Byrne Organised Crime Gang by affida- But it’s not just Kavanagh’s in-laws by CAB and has been linked to the vits submitted to the by the who have found roles in his business. Byrne Crime Gang. NATHAN ‘BIGGIE’ , are partners The 51-year-old father of six, who Others like Graham ‘the Wig’ Whelan LITTLE with the Kinahan Organised Crime hails from Drimnagh, has a large have key roles in Kavanagh’s outfit Gang, headed up by Daniel Kinahan. extended family himself, many of and he has been based with him in While Daniel Kinahan was gifted whom are involved at the top level Birmingham for years. his position as the boss when his of his organised crime outfit. A group of young men without any BYRNE father handed him his business, Ka- When Kavanagh first moved to the serious criminal convictions - including vanagh has had to earn his position U.K. after being hit by CAB he estab- Nathan ‘Biggie’ Little and Lee Gibson CRIME at the top and is far more feared lished himself as a car salesman, but - have also been identified by CAB as in underworld circles than the son Gardaí suspected he was using the foot soliders for the gang. GANG of the ‘Dapper Don’ Christy, who business to launder drugs money. Thug Eds McCarthy may have once has been hiding out in Dubai. The In affidavits put before the courts lived in fear of Wayne Dundon but he NEXT GEN. groups share members, transport in the past year, officers detail how is now the new drug king of Limerick. costs, customers and even buy from Liam Byrne and other members of So close has he got to Kavanagh that the same sources. the gang used cars as currency as he has moved his operation to Birming- Internal Garda reports have de- they washed drug funds. ham, where he works side by side with tailed how the marriage of Kavanagh Kavanagh’s brother Greg (46), a Bomber in a bid for ultimate control LEE GIBSON and Joanne Byrne serves as the glue director of Authentic Car Sales in over lucrative turf that extends south that holds the gang together. Dublin, was raided as part of the from Limerick into Munster and up to Joanne is a sister of Liam Byrne, probe and is described in High Court the north-west. who sits beneath Kavanagh in the documents as a “target” for the CAB. Other associates of Kavanagh’s in the structure and who takes orders from Greg Kavanagh has no serious U.K. include a hugely wealthy gypsy his brother-in-law, often operating criminal convictions. family under criminal Maurice Sines as his chauffeur. He is married to He is pictured here for the first who are also being targeted under a Simoan McEnroe, whose brother time and sources say he is one of Ka- joint NCA and Garda operation. INNOCENT VICTIM GUNNED DOWN IN MAJORCA – SEE PAGES 14&15 N January 20, 2019 13 THAT BIND RUTHLESS MOB TOGETHER

KINAHAN CRIME CARTEL DUBLIN OPERATION

ATING PEADER KE

CHRISTY KINAHAN DANIEL KINAHAN GREG KAVANAGH (BROTHER OF ‘BOMBER’)

BALLYFERMOT ANDY GOONERY CRIME BOSS EDS RYAN EDS McCARTHY

THE BER’ LIMERICK THOMAS ‘BOM CREW KIER ‘RASHE AN KAVANAGH RS’ RYAN PAUL KAVANAGH PAUL RICE

MAURICE SINES

U.K. JAMES CRICKMORE THE LLEN ION LEE CU OPERAT BIRMINGHAM MOBS GREG LYNCH GERARD ‘HATCHET’ JAMES MULVEY KAVANAGH 14 January 20, 2019 N SHOOTER HIT & MISSTAKEN INTENDED TARGET

INNOCENT: Jonathan Hutch HITMAN

INNOCENT VICTIM SICK: Bullet TRAGIC: Trevor got caught holes at the up in attempted murder scene

BOTCHED: Glen Clarke

HITMAN Glen Clarke shot in- nocent holidaymaker Trevor Hitman knew he had wrong man when he opened fire on O’Neill O’Neill in a fit of rage after his intended target Jonathan EXCLUSIVE headed up by the Guardia Civil, with dressed in a dark tracksuit and a Jonathan Hutch identified himself as Hutch dodged his bullets and BY NICOLA TALLANT the assistance of An Garda Síochána, hoodie. The quick-thinking 39-year-old the intended target of the shooting. fled down a narrow alleyway, has traced the activities of Clarke and bolted just as Clarke began to open Ports and airports were surrounded Island, while on neighbouring Ibiza, an accomplice in the days leading up fire. He ran down a laneway, dodging as the murder inquiry got underway hopping a wall to safety. to the murder and the route of their bullets and scaled a wall to safety, not – but officers believe Clarke was able Officers believe that Clarke investigations are also under way into the acquisition of properties by known getaway afterwards. realising that Clarke would turn his to slip away in the throngs of tourists. knew the father of three was members of his gang. The accomplice is an associate of gun on innocent Trevor instead. As efforts to identify the hitman began, As the bullets flew, Trevor tried to just a bystander when he shot Clarke (26), was promised a six-figure Kavanagh. Ironically, Clarke was only Gardaí were still investigating a number identified as the shooter after he died push his family to safety, but fell in the of feud murders, including that of inno- him repeatedly in August 2016, sum for a quick trip to Majorca after panic and ended up on the pavement Hutch was spotted relaxing with his from self-inflicted, accidental gunshot cent Martin O’Rourke, shot in a case of executing him in front of his wife wounds in Ireland some months later. underneath the furious hitman. msitaken identity, in April of 2016. and young children. family in August 2016. Despite being Officers believe that Clarke, who was a trusted hitman, it has since been His remains were discovered in a car DNA from the discarded gun was Clarke was working under the in the Leixlip area of Kildare a day after unfit and hadn’t the speed to give chase eventually linked to another murder direction of a criminal aligned to established that the thug had already to Hutch, flew into a temper and turned botched one assassination attempt in Majorcan authorities had released CCTV inquiry, that of 21-year-old innocent Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh when footage of a hooded man fleeing the scene the gun on innocent Trevor, shooting Dean Johnson – shot dead when he was Dublin, when he shot dead homeless him at point-blank range. he was hired to kill Hutch – a neph- man Martin O’Rourke on Sheriff Street seconds after the killing of Mr O’Neill. caught in the crossfire of a gangland ew of Gerry ‘the Monk’ and brother while making an attempt on the life of Ina major investigation into the mur- SCRAMBLED hit in Clondalkin in 2013. of murdered Gareth Hutch (36) – af- Hutch associate Keith Murtagh. der, the Sunday World visited Majorca Clarke was one of those arrested at ter he booked a last-minute holiday to examine the scene where Trevor He then turned on his heels and that time, but was released without to the island of Majorca. GETAWAY O’Neill was gunned down. ran back down the hill, past Trudy’s charge. By the time he died in early But officers now believe that Hutch Bullet holes can still be seen in the supermarket where a CCTV camera December 2016 his own DNA matched (39), had not been followed to the sun- Clarke was flown to Palma and then walls where the tragic dad died, gasp- caught his image, past the La Taberna that found on the O’Rourke gun and the soaked resort of Costa De La Calma driven to the resort of Costa De La Cal- ing for breath in front of his wife and restaurant and left on to La Portena to- forensics retained from the getaway – where the O’Neill family were also ma – about half-an-hour away – where his three children, a boy (12), girl (7) wards the beach. On a dirt road towards car and guns used in the Johnson hit. staying – but was randomly spotted by he was put up in a hotel near to where and the youngest boy, who was five. the shoreline, officers believe he may When it was established that he had a criminal closely associated with Ka- Hutch was staying. It is understood The O’Neill family were walking have scrambled up an embankment to also flown to Palma before O’Neill’s vanagh after he arrived on the island he was given a gun on the island and towards the restaurants and a play- the road above where a vehicle waited. murder and that he matched the stat- for a break with his family. shown a getaway route. ground area when they stopped on the Despite a huge search of the area no ure of the figure in the CCTV, Gardaí Majorca is a regular haunt of Kava- However, what the Kinahan mob be- corner of Carrer De’s Sol, where Trevor gun was ever found, leading officers knew they had identified the Majorcan nagh (51) and his wife Joanne Byrne lieved would be a simple assassination exchanged pleasantries with Jonathan to believe that Clarke was warned to killer. (45), as well as their extended circle to add to their sick list of Hutch family Hutch, who he had met at a pool in the keep the weapon with him at all costs. It is understood that police from the of family and associates. The couple kills, turned to disaster when Clarke resort earlier in the day. Suspicions remain that the gun was pro- Guardia Civil are still pursuing others are known to use a luxury villa in catastrophically botched the hit. Hutch spotted a man, later identi- vided by a senior Kinahan associate. involved in the O’Neill murder despite the Cala D’Or region of the Spanish A murder inquiry, which is being fied as Clarke, running towards him When police arrived to the scene the fact that Clarke is dead. SPANISH COPS STRONG LINKS TO GARDAI – SEE PAGES 16&17 N January 20, 2019 15 GUNNED DOWN INNOCENT VICTIM AKEN IDENTITY

ROUTE FLED: OF EVIL How SANTA PONSA gunman Nicola traces escaped getaway used by Clarke MAJORCA, SPAIN 16 January 20, 2019 N ISLAND

EXCLUSIVE BY NICOLA TALLANT IT is one of the most popu- ‘We are not used to lar holiday destinations for Irish tourists, with more than 150,000 sun seekers board- ing flights to Palma on the beautiful island of Majorca each year. The largest of the Balearic Islands, Majorca enjoys a low crime rate and, up until the a situation like that last few years, had an enviable position of knowing nothing of the Kinahan Cartel. In 2016 the Kinahans were in- volved in a bloody gang feud with their arch-rivals, the Hutch faction, and were being blamed for nine deaths between mainland Spain and Ireland. But on August 16, 2016, at the height which has happened of the tourism season, all that changed as Majorca was to experience the full horrors of gun violence. On a balmy evening in popular Costa de la Calma – about 15 miles from the capital Palma – innocent Irish tourist Trevor O’Neill was shot four times in the back by a hooded assassin who fled the scene on foot, leaving behind scenes of terror and confusion. Since then, the Guardia Civil – Spain’s military police force – have with Trevor. It was been working tirelessly to identify who was behind the shocking murder. This week a senior investigating officer tells the Sunday World how the murder probe is progressing, thanks in part to the assistance of members of An Garda Síochána. SOLVED In a wide-ranging interview, the investigator, who we will refer to as

unbelievable for us ‘Officer A’ for security purposes, describes how the murder team has identified several suspects and hopes to continue with their enquiries until the shooting is solved.

“Here in Majorca we haven’t got too much of this sort of crime,” the officer says. “Majorca is considered a very safe island. Murders mainly occur in do- mestic situations here and we try to ‘ keep it a safe place so people can come all to see a gunman on holiday. “Some years we can have no murders at all and other years there can be one or two so this was really very unusual.” “We didn’t even know about this or- ganised crime gang [Kinahan Cartel] until the murder of innocent Trevor O’Neill. “There is a unit based in Palma which monitors organised crime on all the Balearic Islands and they liaise shooting someone.. with several police forces from other countries – but for us we had never had cause to deal with the Irish Gardaí about organised crime before.” On the evening of August 16, 2016, Trevor O’Neill was making his way from his holiday hotel up the hill towards the cluster of shops and res- taurants that serve the Costa de la Calma region. INVESTIGATION: The innocent 41-year-old was walking with his partner and their three young Nicola talks to the children when he stopped to talk to officer at centre of fellow holidaymaker Jonathan Hutch, O’Neill case who he had met by the pool earlier in the day. Unknown to him, Hutch was a key target of the Kinahan Cartel since the Regency Hotel attack of February 2016 and had been spotted in the resort days previous. As they spoke, a gunman ran up the hill towards them dressed in a hoodie and dark trousers – but quick-thinking Hutch saw him coming and ran down a laneway, scaling a wall to safety. Trevor was shot four times in the back before the gunman fled in the same direction he had come. Officer A says that the immediate response of the Guardia Civil was to N January 20, 2019 17 STILL SHOCKED AT DEATH OF IRISHMAN

TRAGEDY: Funeral in Crumlin for innocent gun victim Trevor O’Neill DETERMINED: Nicola Tallant with Guardia Civil officer in Majorca MAJORCA COP VOWS TO IDENTIFY HITMAN WHO SHOT INNOCENT VICTIM attend the scene, where Jonathan to have accidentally shot himself in a Hutch identified himself as the pos- car in Leixlip in Kildare. sible target in the shooting. Clarke is understood to have been “What happened subsequently later identified as the gunman. would lead to unprecedented co-op- Senior sources have told the Sunday eration between officers from An World of his involvement in Trevor Garda Síochána’s Drug and Organised O’Neill’s killing and another botched Crime Bureau and their Guardia Civil feud murder – but Officer A cannot counterparts. confirm he is their suspect hitman. “This was really very random and “We have collected a lot of witness we are not used to a situation like that statements and have completed some which happened with Trevor. It was of our enquiries, but you can always unbelievable for us all to see a gunman find a new witness who has been quiet shooting someone. It was very serious for a long time. So I would ask anyone and very new,” says Officer A. that knows something to come forward “When Jonathan Hutch identified to us or to the Irish Gardaí. himself as a possible target we had to “There were lots of people on the start to investigate from there.” street at the time that Trevor was shot As is normal in most major serious because – it was sunny and in August – crime investigations, officers from that is the central street. People were the Guardia Civil se- very stressed by what cured the scene and they saw. began the lengthy “We have identi- process of piecing We have fied the hotel where together the move- } we believe the sus- ments of witnesses pect stayed. It has in the area at the a great been very hard work time of the shoot- and we are still work- ing. They locked relationship ing on it years later. down Palma air- I think we are doing port and the ports. everything we can. “We got in con- with the “We visited Mala- tact with the Irish ga twice and we went Gardaí and we were Gardaí now to talk to Guardia briefed on the sit- Civil there about uation. We tried murder enquiries to work with the and they they had – just to see family and to speak were there similar- with them, with have helped ities – and we have the widow, to try visited Ireland. to help her and the children as much us. The PLANNED as we could,” said “We have several Officer A. co-operation suspects and we have “We have a great to work on them. relationship with has never There were several the Gardaí now and people involved, we they have helped believe.” us very much. The been as Officer A says co-operation has Guardia Civil inves- never been as good. good tigators are focusing It has taken this ~ on how the murder murder to make us was planned and know one another – who helped bring the but it has very much hitman on to the island. helped progress the investigation.” They are also focusing on who sup- In Majorca, as in mainland Spain, plied the gun and anyone on the a magistrate oversees serious crime periphery who may have helped or- investigations, sanctioning search ganising the botched shooting. warrants or phone taps and rubber “We had a number of crime scenes. stamping the police probe. We had the scene where he was shot “I cannot tell you everything that and two different scenes. we have done and are doing because “We have identified what we believe our investigation is still going on and is the getaway route and we believe it is still with the magistrate,” Officer that the suspect went out of the island A explained. on a plane. “When we asked the magistrate to send “We will continue to work on this pictures to Ireland that we had from the murder as a priority until the magis- CCTV, that was to see would someone trate tells us to stop.” recognise him. We did get information l Anyone who has any information from that which was useful.” on the murder of Trevor O’Neill should Ironically, the images, which show contact the Garda’s Drug and Organ- a man in a dark hoodie and trousers ised Crime Bureau on 01-6669900 running past a supermarket, were or the Garda Confidential Line on published in Ireland just days before 1800666111. a man called Glen Clarke is believed SPORTS FINAL SUNDAY, JULY 8, 2018 e2.50€10

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FULL STORY SEE PAGES SECRET 4,5,6&7

PLUSH: Liam Byrne lives in this BOLTHOLE leafy UK suburb n Mob lieutenant’s n Kinahan chief pictured plush UK hideaway as CAB move on Irish home 4 July 8, 2018 BOLTHOLE: WE FIND N SCUM BRUMON THE n Our team tracks down Cartel mobster Byrne in Birmingham n Kinahan lieutenant

UNDERWORLD: living in gated mansion Unsuspecting neighbours have no idea where Byrne made his as CAB swoop on clan money

THIS is Kinahan Cartel lieu- Drug dealer Byrne and members of trial of his business partner James cocaine habit. He was bugged by the his extended family and friends are Mulvey – who got more than 30 years National Crime Agency (NCA) in the tenant Liam Byrne without EXCLUSIVE due before the High Court this week, for his role in a €45 million smuggling U.K. and was heard saying of his Cartel a care in the world as he BY NICOLA TALLANT where CAB’s case against them will operation into Ireland. partners: “They go to the people you waters the flowers outside be heard. Mulvey, a court heard, moved across love, they kill the people you love.” family have been raising eyebrows However, it is unlikely Liam or his the world like a “ghost”, clocking On the run, he was also recorded the Birmingham mansion in the Birmingham area recently with wife Simoan will return to Ireland to up thousands of miles as he moved saying: “Four, four, when we first which has been his hideout their inexplicable wealth and the defend the case against their home in between Spain, Brazil, Holland and started there was four bosses – me, for the past year. steady stream of expensive cars that Raleigh Square, which was doubled Portugal after five of his associates ‘glasses’, him who’s just got shot go in and out of their home. in size and fitted with a panic room, were busted in 2009. dead and another kid. The other kid’s Byrne, whose brother Da- Byrne insists he is a businessman a bar and a Jacuzzi in recent years. He spent a phenomenal €85,000 dead, he’s dead, so there’s just me and vid’s murder at the Regen- to those who ask and claims to have The CAB are also going after mur- a week and had a €4,000-a-month [glasses] left mate.” cy Hotel sparked the bloody made his money buying and selling dered David Byrne’s home on Kildare Hutch-Kinahan feud, fled his second-hand cars. Road and the pimped-up house of He had been believed to be moving McGovern – a business partner home in Crumlin, south Dublin, around the U.K., while also spending in Byrne’s LS Active Car Sales, after a major crackdown by the periods in Dubai, where his best pal which officers believe was Garda’s Drug and Organised Sean McGovern has been living since used as a front to launder the Crime Bureau, along with the fleeing Ireland following the cartel proceeds of crime. A fourth murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan. property in Clondalkin Criminal Assets Bureau. which detectives have set He has been living in hiding ever CHARMED their sights on is also be- since – but a Sunday World team However, the Sunday World can lieved to belong to Liam. tracked him down to a gated estate reveal that instead, the 37-year-old While Byrne is a major in one of the most affluent suburbs has been living a charmed family life target of an international of the West Midlands in the U.K. in one of the most exclusive suburbs crackdown on the Kinahan There, he has been tending to his of Birmingham. Cartel, he is just a minnow gardens, pruning his rose bushes We tracked down the ‘Enemy of compared to the top man and hosting barbecues, like many of the State’ to this stunning mansion who officers believe has been his other well-to-do neighbours who – which is just a stone’s throw from flooding Ireland with cocaine, include premiership footballers, the neighbourhood where his brother- heroin and cannabis. wealthy entrepreneurs and million- in-law Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh The gang lord, who is also aire professionals. and sister Joanne Byrne live in gated based in Birmingham, was However, the Dublin thug and his splendour. named as ‘Glasses’ in the recent GUNNED DOWN: Funeral of David Byrne (left) in capital D NOTORIOUS HOOD’S U.K. HIDEOUJuly 8, 2018T 5

LUXURY: Liam Byrne outside his plush Birmingham hideout

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It is understood that the man re- they discovered a panic room, a Cartel and spent years living be- ferred to as ‘Glasses’ is the gangland Jacuzzi and drinks cabinets stocked tween Dublin and Spain. codename for the senior Irish Cartel with fine champagnes. While the Byrnes have been under BYRNE’S drug boss based in Birmingham. His used-car company, LS Active investigation by the CAB for some The ‘kid’ is understood to refer to Car Sales, was also raided and years, it is understood that the Paul Kavanagh, shot dead in Dublin €1 million in luxury cars seized. probe was given the utmost priority BOLTHOLE in April 2015. And the fourth was The company, which he ran with after the crass display of wealth Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh, who co-director McGovern, was later at the funeral of murdered David. MANSION was gunned down in Marbella. dissolved. Then, an army of mourners were While it was not heard in court, A month later he returned to decked out in matching Mafia-style sources have told the Sunday World Ireland for a family party and was suits, while a €20,000 blue casket SEE PAGES 6&7 that the NCA understands that arrested by officers who quizzed held Byrne’s remains as pipers, Hatchet was murdered after Cartel him about his lavish lifestyle, which horse-drawn carriages and lines boss Daniel Kinahan told ‘Glasses’ they believe is funded by drugs. of limos followed him to his final that he was plotting to kidnap one Early last year he left Ireland for resting place. of his children. good in fear for his life from rivals on the Hutch side of the feud and under CHARMED CHARMED huge pressure from gardaí. The Byrnes have already been It is unclear whether there was a On Tuesday, gardaí from the CAB dealt a number of blows in the plot or if it was merely a means to are expected to present their case to courts in their fight against the have the father of champion the High Court when it is expected CAB. Jamie Kavanagh assassinated. that Liam Byrne’s sister, Maria, Cars seized from Liam Byrne Byrne was revealed as a top target will contest that she is the owner and business partner Sean of the Garda’s €100 million clamp- of her brothers’ homes – and that McGovern’s business were sold down on organised crime following she bought them with compo funds. a number of months ago and six his brother’s murder at the Regency The CAB will argue that the members of the Byrne clan who Hotel. He led mourners at the lavish homes represent the proceeds of wanted honest taxpayers to foot Mafia-style funeral of David but crime and were funded by cartel their bill for fighting off the CAB just a month later officers from CAB drug money. lost their applications for free raided his home. Liam and David Byrne were the legal aid. Detectives, with back-up from scourge of Crumlin for decades and Then CAB laid bare their wealth, specialist units, had to use an an- were both involved in the bloody including details of expensive gle grinder to get into his Raleigh Crumlin-Drimnagh feud. They later foreign trips, luxury motors and Square home during a raid where rose up the ranks of the Kinahan extravagant lifestyles. 6 July 8, 2018 EXODUS: IRISH CRIMS

KITCHEN

MINTED: Liam Byrne with wife Simoan

BYRNE’S SECRET HIDEAWAY STUNNED: Locals had no idea who was staying in their community

BACK GARDEN TO THE MANOR BYRNE

WHEN the five-bedroom detached home on Dosthill Kinahan gangster Liam living it up in new UK dream home beside Road at Two Gates in Tam- worth, Birmingham, sold last Sadie still live. His sister Maria Byrne major €100 million Garda offensive spat at officers and issued a series of December for stg£460,000 EXCLUSIVE lives next door while his brother against the Kinahan Cartel and its expletives about those he believed it delighted neighbours with BY NICOLA TALLANT David and partner Kelly Quinn lived associates. were the cause of his downfall. just across the road before he was A month after the lavish funeral of His business, LS Active Car Sales, the record price it fetched. tragically shot dead at the Regency David Byrne, his brother Liam was was being raided at the same time Set over three stories and with While alleged drug dealer Byrne Hotel in February 2016. and a fleet of high-powered vehicles is living the good life in England woken from his sleep to the sound of five bathrooms, a substantial It was the shooting and the subse- an angle grinder cutting through his worth in excess of €1 million were with wife Simoan McEnroe, they are quent threat of organised crime that removed on trucks. landscaped garden and a large facing the prospect of losing their reinforced front door. put the Byrnes at the epicentre of a The 37-year-old was so incensed The business shut down, front drive, few could even as- fortified Dublin home to the Criminal never to re-open. In pire to the stunning property in Assets Bureau this week. by the CAB raids that he hissed and the affluent suburb. It was refurbished at the cost of However, the thrill at the in- hundreds of thousands of euro and crease in house prices was short- fitted out with a playground on the lived, as locals now realise just who roof and a Jacuzzi. the new neighbours are. FORTRESS One of Ireland’s most notorious criminals, Liam Byrne has now set No expense was spared on the up home in the quiet, leafy suburb. Raleigh Square fortress and Byrne The house was bought in 2015 by a even fitted it out with bullet-resist- CLOSE PAL: ant windows and a panic room should company, called Leisure Parks Real Maurice Sines Estate, which is owned by Byrne’s close his enemies ever come knocking. associate, ‘Gypsy King’ Maurice Sines. Byrne grew up in Raleigh Square at David Sines was one of the chief mourners whwheerree his father, the veteran crimi- Byrne’s funeral at the funeral of Liam’s brother David. nal James ‘Jaws’ Byrne, and mother LOADED: Bomber Kavanagh’s (right) home START AGAIN IN AFFLUENT SUBUJuly 8,RB2018 7 LIVING ROOM BEDROOMS

SUN ROOM BACK OF THE HOUSE

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MANOR BYRNE

Sines was involved in a massive race fix- unsuspecting locals ing scam in the U.K. and was also forced to pay up €400,000 in fines and compen- sation for bullying elderly homeowners. the months that followed, Gardaí set Just a few years ago he locked horns their sites on an identical home under with retired bankers, doctors and even construction a few doors down from Elton John with plans to open a gypsy Liam’s, the ownership of which is still camp on the grounds of Windsor Castle. under investigation. The millionaire, who claims Romany The house was sold for cash in 2015 and heritage, stunned the wealthy residents it is understood that Byrne’s pal Maurice of Windsor with his plans to turn a plot Sines – a self-professed Gypsy King of land into a ‘gypsy and traveller accom- and multi-millionaire who once locked modation site’ which never went ahead. horns with Elton John – had showed an Both he and his business partner Crick- interest in it. more have been close friends with ‘Bomb- er’ Kavanagh – a convicted armed robber MOVE – for at least a decade. Sines, who along with his business Bomber, who is married to Joanne Byrne, partner James Crickmore owns vast left Ireland more than 10 years ago and swathes of mobile home sites across the moved to England apparently penniless, U.K., even allowed Byrne to stay in one of having told a court the CAB were taking his his caravans for a period as he remained only asset – a three-bed house in Drimnagh. on the move. When the Sunday World tracked him In the U.K. Byrne is regularly seen in down, we discovered that by 2005 Bomb- the company of Sines, who is a close friend er had managed to get together enough of his brother-in-law Thomas ‘Bomber’ money to buy a beautiful home on Whi- Kavanagh – whose stunning pile just a tesands road in Birmingham and within short drive from Byrne’s home stands in two years upgraded it to a €1 million home private grounds. in Tamworth.