Shay O'Byrne was shot dead in a gun attack in Tallaght

Shay O'Byrne was shot dead in a gun attack in Tallaght. His girlfriend suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. His murder is being linked to an ongoing bloody feud between some of Dublin's major criminal gangs based in the Crumlin and Drimnagh areas.Four people arrested over the gangland killing of a leading Dublin criminal have been released.The four - a 16-year-old girl and three men - were detained at Terenure, Tallaght and Rathfarnham garda stations. Gardai said they have been released and files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

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John Carroll, a 33-year-old father of three, was gunned down as he sat drinking in Grumpy Jack’s pub in the Coombe, Dublin

John Carroll, a 33-year-old father of three, was gunned down as he sat drinking in a pub in the city centre on Wednesday night.The killing was the sixth fatal gangland-style shooting of the year
The victim of Wednesday’s attack had been living at addresses in Kilbarrack and Baldoyle in recent times, but was originally from Charlemont Street in the south inner city. He was drinking with a number of friends in Grumpy Jack’s pub in the Coombe, Dublin, shortly after 9.30pm when two men pulled up outside the premises on a blue motorbike.The pillion passenger got off the bike and went into the pub. He singled out his victim and discharged a number of shots from a handgun. The victim tried to run but was hit six times in the stomach, hip, buttocks and arm.The gunman escaped the scene on the waiting motorbike. Both the gunman and his accomplice wore helmets with dark visors pulled down throughout the attack.Carroll, who worked as a car salesman, was taken by ambulance to St James’s Hospital, where he died shortly after 11pm. He had initially been expected to survive, but is believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest.The dead man had earlier been drinking in a pub in Rialto before moving to Grumpy Jack’s. Gardaí believe Carroll was being kept under surveillance by his killers or that the gunman and his accomplice were being kept informed as to their target’s movements.
Carroll was known to gardaí for his links to the drugs trade. He was a target of the Garda National Drugs Unit for a number of years.
Gardaí believe he was centrally involved in organising drug smuggling routes from the UK and Europe for gangs operating in Ireland. He was not involved in the sale of drugs once they reached Ireland. One Garda source described him as a “freelance trafficker” who worked for very well-known drugs gangs, mostly in north Dublin, but he was not affiliated to any one gang.Gardaí believe his murder is drug-related, and are trying to establish whether Carroll was killed by a gang that owed him a large sum of money.“He was working for a number of gangs at any one time, so there would be plenty of drugs on the move and plenty of money owed,” said one Garda source.
Some of Carroll’s associates are members of a drugs gang that has recently received extortion demands from the INLA in Dublin. However, there is no firm intelligence linking Wednesday’s attack to the INLA extortionists.Gardaí are studying CCTV images of the attacker entering and leaving Grumpy Jack’s.Supt Thady Muldoon said a “mid-range” blue motorbike was used by the killers. He said the men wore dark clothing as well as dark helmets and that they escaped towards Dean Street and on to Kevin Street.

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Murder of Roly Cronin who had been involved in the drugs trade imminent arrests.

Murder of Roly Cronin had been involved in the drugs trade since his teens, and he received a 13-year sentence for possession of heroin in 1996. He enjoyed the usual trappings of drugs wealth -- expensive holidays, upmarket cars and a generally lavish lifestyle.
He lived with his partner and child in Buckingham Street, a short distance from where he died, for a number of years but had moved to Finglas last year, apparently after running into trouble with other drug dealers in the north inner city.GARDAI have obtained crucial DNA evidence from the Magnum pistol used in the killing of Michael ‘Roly' Cronin and his driver. Officers are expected to swoop on the chief suspect for the double murder in the coming days in an effort to match his DNA to the sample recovered from the powerful pistol used in the shooting. Dozens of officers are this weekend hunting the man in his 30s they suspect of the hit - an associate of drug boss Cronin's from the north inner city. The second man shot in the incident, James Moloney, from Poppintree in Ballymun, died yesterday afternoon from his injuries. He had been on life support at St James's Hospital since being shot twice in the head as he sat beside Cronin. A breakthrough in the case occurred last night when preliminary forensic tests on the gun yielded a DNA sample, which gardai believe belongs to the killer. A source told the Herald: "It's a key piece of evidence and the next step is obviously to match it to the hitman.
"We have a chief suspect and we are trying to locate him this weekend. But we're keeping an open mind and there'll be a few other people we'll need to speak to as well. "The case is progressing slowly but surely. Given the nature of DNA analysis, it could take four to six weeks to get a full match." The main suspect is known to gardai and was friendly with Cronin in the past, and officers believe that this friendship explains why the gang boss allowed him into his car at Langrishe Place, off Summerhill, last Wednesday night. As the black Volvo S40 drove off, the gunman fired one shot at Cronin and two at Moloney before fleeing. He dropped the murder weapon, a Magnum .357, under a car at Gloucester Place, and also discarded a black jacket and gloves nearby -- all of which have been recovered by gardai. Forensic tests are continuing on the jacket and gloves, and gardai are hopeful of obtaining DNA from one if not both pieces of evidence. The source added: "It's rare that a hitman would leave so much evidence at the scene. He was obviously panicking as he ran from the car on Summerhill down into Gloucester Place." Moloney, in his 20s, was an associate of Cronin's. He was originally from Poppintree, but more recently lived at Braithwaite Street in the south inner city. He had been on life support since the shooting last Wednesday but a decision was made yesterday to switch off the machine.
While Cronin was a major drug trafficker, Moloney had no criminal convictions. Moloney had been warned in recent weeks there was a hit out on his boss and told to stop working for him. The remains of Cronin, who was originally from Ballymun but had also lived in the north inner city and Finglas, will be released for burial in the coming days. The dad of one was released from prison four years ago, after serving a 10-year sentence for drugs possession. After his release from jail, he aligned himself to Marlo Hyland's Finglas-based crime gang, while also running his own business in areas from Ballymun to Poppintree. Officers are examining a number of motives for Cronin's killing, but the chief line of inquiry is that he fell out with other criminals in the north inner city over cash owed for drugs. Gardai in the city divisions on both sides of the Liffey expressed concern last week that the new young gangs, aged mainly in their late teens and early 20s, are causing a great deal of trouble. They are putting intense pressure on their younger teenage street dealers and any drug seizures by gardai or losses of earnings are punished with severe violence. These gangs are mainly involved in heroin dealing. They are also unafraid of the established, older gang figures in the city.
Senior sources also said that with cutbacks on the garda budgets, there are strict controls on overtime, with detectives being made to work general office hours which is curtailing murder investigations. They also claimed that there appears to be relatively little interest expressed in the gangland crime from senior garda management. One pointed out that while three very senior gardai attended the investigation of one very high profile "domestic" murder last year, none has been seen near any of the ordinary gangland murder scenes or other less high profile killings in the city

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Sean Cloherty known to gardai as a drug dealer shot up to six times in the head, neck and chest.

Sean Cloherty (27), known to gardai as a drug dealer, was targeted in his home on Ashcroft Grove, off the Blakestown Road in Mulhuddart. There was no sign of a struggle or forced entry. The victim, originally from Champions Avenue in the city centre, had been shot up to six times in the head, neck and chest. Cloherty was known to city centre detectives for dealing cocaine, particularly in the Temple Bar area. He was targeted by officers in the South Central Division and was arrested and taken to Pearse Street station during the summer. He had convictions for drugs, abusive behaviour and traffic offences. “Gardai have come across this man before and know his track record. He was associated with some of the big heads on the Blanchardstown scene,” said a source. A neighbour noted that Mr Cloherty, his partner and two children had only been living in the area for a short period.
The body was found slumped on a couch in the living room, and it is believed the killer calmly walked out of the house, closing the door behind him. It is likely that the gunman was either known to his victim or that he arrived at the house under false pretences and was invited inside. The weapon was probably fitted with a silencer. The grim discovery was made shortly after 8pm when a man who had a prearranged appointment to view a car for sale, looked through the living room window. He immediately contacted a doctor who arrived at the scene and the man was pronounced dead immediately. Gardai arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and the area was sealed off as top level investigators moved in. The Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis was expected to arrive in Mulhuddart this afternoon and will carry out a post-mortem. The body will remain at the scene until a crime scene unit have completed a detailed examination of the home. The house was the subject of garda attention and had been raided by detectives exactly a week ago today. In recent months the man was said by sources to have been picked up by gardai near a heroin seizure in Louth. The victim's next door neighbour said that she was at home all yesterday evening but heard nothing. “It wasn't until all the gardai started arriving that people realised something had happened,” she said. The victim previously had an address at Champions Avenue in the north inner centre.
This year ten people have died in gangland murders in Dublin alone. Another known drug dealer from Dublin, Paddy Doyle, was shot dead near Estepona in Spain in February.

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Wayne Dundon, the Dundon gang leader, was seeking 'retribution' over his own conviction.

Wayne Dundon, the Dundon gang leader, was seeking 'retribution' over his own conviction. Gardai are also aware that a €50,000 'contract' is in existence for the murder of one witness. Garda sources said this weekend that there is no end in sight for the gangland war between the Dundon gang, their allies and their rivals, known as the Keane-Collopy faction. The head of the latter gang is due to be released next year after serving seven years of a ten-year sentence for possessing drugs in 2001.
Yesterday a man was shot and seriously injured in north Dublin. The shooting happened at 11.55am outside a bookmaker's on Cardiffsbridge Road in Finglas. The victim, 41, was last night in a stable condition in hospital. It is believed he was shot up to three times by a gunman who escaped on foot.

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Perry Wharrie (48), from Loughton, Essex, is wanted by the British authorities for disappearing after being released on licence from a life sentence

Perry Wharrie (48), from Loughton, Essex, is wanted by the British authorities for disappearing after being released on licence from a life sentence for murder in 2005. The case was listed for hearing today, but lawyers for Wharrie applied for an adjournment to reply to affidavits about the British prison system. Two members of Hertfordshire Constabulary flew to the Dublin to observe Wharrie oppose the warrant.
Security was tight at the Four Courts today as Wharrie arrived under armed escort.
Mr Justice Michael Peart said it was unsatisfactory and inconvenient to the court that a party could seek an adjournment on the day of a hearing. “Two officers from the UK who have travelled over for the case have not been told this application was going to be made,” he said. Wharrie was jailed for life in 1989 for the murder of an off-duty policeman in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, who tried to disarm a robber during a raid on a bank van. He was one of a three-man gang who had held up a security van outside a bank. Off-duty police officer Francis Mason attempted to tackle one of the armed men but was fatally shot in the back by a second. Wharrie was released in April 2005 and a year later disappeared, breaching the terms of his parole by leaving a specific address in Essex and leaving the jurisdiction.
Wharrie vanished until July 4th last year, when he and three other English men were arrested in west Cork over the €440 million euro drug smuggling operation.
Their boat, laden with drugs, capsized in rough seas after one of the gang had filled the two high-powered petrol outboard motors with diesel. After a 10-week trial Wharrie and two other men were given a total of 85 years in prison over the drugs operation. Wharrie and Martin Wanden (45) of no fixed address, were both jailed for 30 years while Joe Daly (41), of Bexley, Kent, was given a 25-year prison sentence. A fourth man, Gerard Hagan (24), of Liverpool, pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in November.

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Noctor's Pub gangland attack is believed to be linked to a long-running feud between criminals from the north inner city.

The dead man has not been officially named, but was named by Garda sources as Gavin McCarthy, with an address at Oriel Street, close to where he was gunned down. The shooting took place outside a pub in Dublin's north inner city.It was the 16th gun murder of the year, with two other men missing and presumed shot dead.The victim was one a group of people standing outside Noctor's Pub, Sheriff Street, Dublin 1, when a gunman opened fire, wounding him in the face a number of times.The victim was immediately put in the back of a car and taken to the Mater Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.The scene of the shooting was sealed off and a murder investigation was begun.The attackis believed to be linked to a long-running feud between criminals from the north inner city.Last night's killing was the third gun murder to take place in the area in two years, despite an intensive policing operation put in place there to help stem the violence.The latest attack will increase fears that the feud, which has now claimed four lives, is escalating after a period of relative calm in recent months.That feud began when well-known drug dealer and armed robber Christy Griffin, who was jailed for life in April 2007 after being convicted of raping a young girl, was first accused of the crime.Griffin (38), Ridgewood Green, Swords, and formerly of Canon Lillis Ave, Dublin 1, was the leader of a major criminal gang which split when he was accused of rape.One faction supported Griffin, while the other faction believed his victim's account and formed a faction opposed to Griffin and his associates.Both sides have targeted each other through shootings and grenade attacks. While the incidents have mainly taken place in the north inner city, the violence has spread as far as Swords and Finglas.
Before last night's killing three other men had lost their lives in violence related to the feud.In December 2006, as Griffin's rape trial approached, two men - Gerard Byrne and Stephen Ledden - were shot dead in feud-related attacks.Ledden (28), was shot in the head at Oriel Street, Dublin 1, on December 27th, 2006. Byrne (25), of Ferryman's Crossing, Dublin 1, was shot dead in the IFSC on December 13th, 2006

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Shane Moloney is charged with the possession of heroin and possession of the drug for sale or supply.

Twenty-seven-year-old Shane Moloney, from Drimnagh Road in Dublin, is charged with the possession of heroin and possession of the drug for sale or supply.
Detective Diarmuid Maguire from the Organised Crime Unit told Judge John Lindsey that Mr Moloney was arrested and charged yesterday at Ballyfermot Garda Station.
He made no reply when the two charges were put to him and has been remanded in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on August 21st.Two other men, also in their 20s, are due before the court shortly on the same charges in connection with the haul.Six kilos of heroin were seized on Wednesday night after four cars were stopped on the Kennelsfort Road in south Dublin.

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Gangland wars have turned Dublin into the Chicago of the 21st century

‘Dublin now resembles Chicago in the Roaring Twenties, when the gangsters were out of control,’ he said. ‘There is no joined-up strategy to fight these gangs, either at a national or international level. All of our drugs are imported, mostly by sea along Ireland’s coastline, yet we have no proper network with our fellow Europeans to patrol the seaboard. We don’t have enough boats, planes or helicopters to intercept the smuggling networks,’ he said.Gangland wars have turned Dublin into the Chicago of the 21st century, a TD and chairman of a drugs task force in the Irish capital said last night.Labour TD Joe Costello also revealed that a preliminary study by the Inner City Drugs Task Force has found that a majority of drug dealers arrested on serious offences were out on bail.Costello made his remarks following two more gangland-related murders in north Dublin this weekend. Gardai have launched a murder investigation following the fatal shooting of a 33-year-old man in Finglas early yesterday. The victim was named as Trevor Walsh, from Valley Park Road in Finglas. He had been serving a three-year prison sentence for possession of firearms, but was let out on temporary release on Thursday.The attack, which happened at about 12.20am outside a house on the Kippure Park estate, was the second fatal shooting in the capital in 24 hours.
A gunman approached the victim outside a house in the estate and shot him in the neck and chest, before fleeing the scene on a bicycle. It is understood that the killer used an automatic pistol. Walsh was taken to Blanchardstown Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 1am.The victim was associated with the late John Daly, a Dublin criminal who was shot dead last October. Walsh had been a member of a gang which specialised in importing drugs and armed robberies in the city.
It is not clear whether yesterday morning’s attack was connected to the shooting of a man in Coolock, north Dublin, on Friday afternoon. The man, named locally as 34-year-old Anthony Foster, was killed with a shotgun as he left a top-floor apartment at Cromcastle Court. Commenting on the latest gang-related shooting, Costello, who represents inner-city Dublin in the Dail, said there was no coherent plan to counter the rising number of killings.
Over the last three years there have been more than a dozen killings in north Dublin alone related to rival drugs gangs. Costello added that, while the Irish government talks tough in regard to Ireland’s gangland wars, the system remained loaded in the criminals’ favour. ‘We have found that the overwhelming majority of people arrested on serious drug offences almost all get bail and are back on the streets. The turf wars over who controls drug supplies in certain parts of Dublin have been fuelled by the easy availability of firearms and now explosives.’
Costello said the expertise of retired republican paramilitaries had been harnessed to arm and train the city’s criminal gangs.

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