‘Champagne killer’ Karl Breen has been released from prison – and Gardai are preparing for a gangland feud to escalate as a result.
The leader of the notorious D22 gang, based in Clondalkin, posted pictures of himself on social media after he was released two days early – a ploy by prison authorities who feared he may have been assassinated as he left Mountjoy prison on the day he was expected to be freed.
According to reports in The Irish Daily Star Breen was smuggled out in a relative’s car, but Gardai say the gangster’s release could be the beginning of an all-out war between rival drug gangs, and they are on high alert.
Apart from a much-changed gangland scene, Breen can expect to face threats on his life from the many enemies he made while doing his time. Breen has just completed his manslaughter sentence, as well as an additional six months he got for possessing a mobile phone and SIM cards while behind bars in 2008.
The Clondalkin gangster was moved to a protection wing in Limerick Prison earlier this year after he had crossed some of the prison system’s most notorious inmates. He had already been moved to a different wing of the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise after falling out with his own cronies.
But infamous jail hard-man and convicted killer Warren Dumbrell immediately made threats that he would kill Breen, according to sources.
When first banged up in the high-security Portlaoise Prison, Breen also made an enemy of Brian ‘the Tosser’ Meehan and ended up in protective custody. Meehan was enraged after he learned that D22 mobster Breen had been calling him “a rat”, according to sources.
The violent thug had been telling inmates in Ireland’s maximum security jail that a corrupt garda officer had told him Meehan was an informer. After being moved to Mountjoy prison, Breen became friendly with Derek Hutch, who is serving 15 years for drugs, guns and manslaughter. Breen and ‘Del Boy’ Hutch led a riot at the Midlands Prison in November 2011, during which 50 inmates fought pitched battles.
One officer was assaulted when the violence broke out as prisoners refused to leave the exercise yard at around 6pm. Order was restored after 90 minutes when officers in riot gear and dog-handlers took over control of the yard. Breen previously organised to have cars belonging to two prison officers burned out after he was transferred out of Mountjoy, according to sources.
He is also suspected of orchestrating a series of gun and pipe-bomb attacks from his prison cell when he was previously detained in the Midlands Prison.
Specific threats were also made to Garda officers investigating Breen’s criminal operations, sources say.
Breen was jailed after he stabbed Martin McLaughlin to death during a row at the Jury’s Inn Hotel beside Croke Park in 2007.
