United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. Ireland.

United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. is a breakaway organization from
the Criminal Action Force group they have killed a number of IRA people over an extortion racket run by Real IRA.

Late 2010 September was the first time the group did make a public statement when it claimed responsibility for two gun attacks, players lounge shooting and Daniel Gaynor .
http://www.herald.ie/news/i-waited-for-gunman-to-finish-me-off-27957797.html over the last 3 years a number of other people have been killed names in next link.

http://www.thestar.ie/star/coalition-denies-eamon-kelly-was-member/

Breakaway Organization, since April 2013.

United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. put out a public statement which said most of the Criminal Action Force members had left the group to set up their own Organization called United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. they said because a founder member had done something with the Real IRA and he was on his own.

I have a link to an exclusive story in todays Irish Star page 24 on the United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. the fact that they have not gone away like other poster was thinking.

http://imgur.com/nwDwX48

Double click Sean South you will see WARNING: THE UCA GROUP OF CRIMINALS FORMERLY CAF.

The warning is to the Real IRA in Galway and Sligo.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/i...-feud-1.1477477


Kinsealy shooting linked to dissident republican feud
Gardaí appeal for witnesses to incident at Russell Terrace.

A man is recovering in hospital after being shot and wounded in what gardaí believe is an internal feud within the dissident republican movement.

The injured man was a close associate of Alan Ryan, the leader of the Real IRA in Dublin who was shot dead last September near his home on Donaghmede, north Dublin.

Gardaí believe many of Ryan’s former associates are now being targeted after the leadership of the dissident republican movement in the north questioned their commitment to terrorism ahead of for-profit criminal activity.

The latest victim of that purge was wounded at around 11pm on Saturday during a gun attack at a house at Russell Terrace, Kettles Lane, Kinsealy, north Dublin. The victim, a 27-year-old from Tallaght in west Dublin, was visiting is girlfriend when attacked.

His injuries are not life threatening and he was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he was still undergoing medical treatment last night.

The injured man had just been released from prison. He was convicted of possession of a firearm in an usual incident where he and another man claimed they were about to save a woman from her ex partner.

They were caught in north Dublin in 2009 - with a firearm and were wearing balaclavas and rubber gloves - before they had a chance to attack the man.

In the period since the murder of Alan Ryan a new alliance of dissident organisations called the New IRA has emerged and has attacked a number of Real IRA members in the Republic, murdering one man and knee capping and wounding others.

The murdered man was Peter Butterly (35) from Dunleer, Co Louth. A suspected terrorist, he was shot dead in an ambush outside the Huntsman Inn, Gormanstown, Co Meath, in March.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/cro...h-29470810.html

JIM CUSACK – 04 August 2013
A BITTER feud has broken out between mainly Northern-based dissident republicans and their former associates in Dublin over drugs and smuggled cigarette money.

Gardai now fear a bloodbath between the two heavily armed factions – who both have access to deadly explosives, missiles and assault rifles. The feuding was sparked by an attempted murder in north Dublin last weekend. This came just hours after three Russian-manufactured assault rifles were seized by gardai in the south of the city. Gardai recovered three AK-47 assault rifles along with six full magazines, a handgun and several hundred rounds of ammunition in an apartment in the Coombe area. No arrests were made.

The seizure came shortly before an attempt was made to murder a former close associate of the Dublin 'Real' IRA figure Alan Ryan, who was himself assassinated as part of a feud with a north Dublin drugs gang last September.

The feuding stems from growing anger among so-called dissident republican prisoners in Portlaoise and in jails in Northern Ireland over revelations at the extent of the earnings among the mainly Dublin-based 'republicans' from the drugs and smuggled cigarette trade.

It recently emerged that one of the dissidents' main "finance officers" was closely associated with major criminal figures and was importing millions of euro worth of drugs, including heroin, and cigarettes.

This man, who was recently jailed for possession of a substantial quantity of drugs, had become a major heroin trafficker and had been living in Co Wicklow and living a playboy lifestyle.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/republicans-plotting-huge-march-mark-2189126

Republicans plotting huge march to mark death of IRA boss Alan Ryan

20 Aug 2013 07:00
Dissidents plan to honour slain leader on anniversary of his killing.

Republicans are planning a huge commemoration to mark the first anniversary of Real IRA chief Alan Ryan’s murder.

Dissident leaders are confident thousands of supporters will flock to Ryan’s North Dublin home and grave for the ceremony next month.

The tribute will be organised and run by the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, the political branch of the Real IRA.

A heavy Garda presence is expected to counter any repeat of scenes witnessed at Ryan’s funeral last September.

A spokesman for the Dublin 32CSM said: “We will be marching from Alan Ryan’s home in Grange Abbey Drive [Donaghmede] to his grave. We are expecting a huge crowd.

“People are coming from everywhere to this. There are even people coming from abroad for the march.”

Ryan was gunned down as part of a dispute with drug dealers last September as he walked near his home. At the 32-year-old’s funeral gunshots were fired over his coffin at his home before masked dissidents escorted his remains to the grave.

This sparked a public outcry with 17 people including Ryan’s four brothers being arrested days later. Justice Minister Alan Shatter described the funeral display as “reprehensible and absolutely unacceptable”.

He added: “Paramilitary trappings should not blind people to the fact that what is at issue is criminal terrorism carried on by people who, for their own reasons, want to drag the people of this island back to a dark past.”

Following Ryan’s death there was a major split in the Real IRA in the capital and earlier this summer up to 20 dissidents were booted out of the group.

Ryan’s brother Anthony, 37, was among those who got their marching orders by the movement’s Dublin leadership.

But a 32CSM spokesman claimed the political group is now reformed.

He said: “We are all working together now. A number of people were suspended from the organisation but there are still a lot of members there.”

http://www.herald.ie/news/gang-that-shot-ryan-imploding-over-drug-busts-29517525.html

Gang that shot Ryan imploding over drug busts.

KEN FOY – 21 AUGUST 2013 02:30 PM

THE gang that ordered and carried out the murder of Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan is imploding over fears of a garda informer in their rank.

The "tightly-knit and highly organised" crew have been left reeling after a number of major garda successes against the mob.

The north Dublin gang – who are linked to seven murders, a spate of tiger kidnappings and importing tens of millions of euro worth of drugs – have been thrown into a state of chaos after a lengthy surveillance operation by the garda organised crime unit.

The Herald has learned that the gang's leader and one of his most trusted associates have had a "major falling out" in recent days as concern grows about the gang boss's "paranoid state of mind."

Monitored

"He is getting more paranoid by the day. Everyone in the organisation is feeling major stress because of the heat that gardai are putting on them.

"Their movements are being very closely monitored," a source explained.

Gardai are now monitoring the dispute between the feared gang boss and his former mate who was previously involved in a bitter row at a Dublin car wash with a notorious Coolock-based Traveller criminal last March.

The gang murdered Alan Ryan last September, following a bitter feud with his Real IRA mob, which had been going on for around a year before Ryan was shot dead in Clongriffin.

The backdrop to the tension within the mob is the staggering amount of drugs seized from it this year.

Last month, detectives seized €250,000 worth of cocaine after they stopped and searched a car in Ballymun.

The bust happened only weeks after around €1m worth of cannabis was seized at a warehouse in Blanchardstown. The Blanchardstown operation was led by the Garda National Drugs Unit.

The cannabis herb and resin had been imported from Spain, disguised as a consignment of olive oil.

Paranoia

The Herald has previously revealed that many of the main players in the north Dublin gang are based in Spain's Costa del Crime where they have teamed-up with other Irish gangs to import vast quantities of drugs here.

In May, €1.7m worth of drugs was seized at a house in Donabate, Co Dublin, after an operation by the Store Street Garda Station drugs unit – the haul was made up of €1m worth of ecstasy and €700,000 worth of cannabis herb. A month earlier, almost €3m worth of heroin and a machine gun was seized at a vacant house at Garryross in Virginia, Co Cavan.

A source added: "No wonder there is such paranoia within their ranks – gardai have had some great success and all the specialist units continue to lean on them.

"This includes the Criminal Assets Bureau who are compiling lists of their assets and studying their financial transactions."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/riskmap/2013/08/14/lurking-not-acting-real-ira-remains-a-threat/

Lurking Not Acting, 'Real IRA' Remains a Threat.

By John Nugent

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The recent spate of violence by Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, primarily directed against local police, may seem like an unwelcome blast from an unhappy past. Indeed, since the 1998 Good Friday accords, which ended decades of bombings, assassinations and rioting pitting the mostly Catholic Irish Republican Army (IRA) against pro-British “Loyalist” paramilitaries, peace has generally reigned in Northern Ireland.

But sporadic clashes have occurred, mostly around the disputed routes of parades organized by each community in commemoration of highly divisive events. One such earlier this month, organized by Sinn Fein, the political wing of the demobilized IRA, was disrupted as it moved through a predominantly Protestant neighborhood. Police responded to bricks and other missiles with rubber bullets and water cannons. In the end, some 26 police were injured.

Even with such outbreaks, police and intelligence services generally agree that the main protagonists in the four decades-long “Troubles” – the so-called Loyalist militia groups and the main body of the Provisional IRA itself — have stayed mainly on the sidelines. Most believe the IRA – the “provos” in local parlance – have now committed permanently to the political process, as evidenced by their sustained engagement, prominent place in the provincial government and consistently good showings at the polls. The hardline Loyalist groups took longer to quell, but they, too, have, in the main, acceded to the peace accords.

The Real IRA and other splinter groups rejected the Good Friday accords, however, and soon afterward Real IRA carried out the single most lethal bombing in the province’s history at Omagh in 1998. To date, the group has not changed its determination to keep violence as an option. While large-scale attacks against targets in England appear to be a thing of the past, dissident factions like the Real IRA continue to plan and sporadically attempt lethal operations against targets in Northern Ireland and further afield. Given their continued activity, it is worth a deeper look at the Real IRA, its roots and its recent history.

Michael ‘Mickey’ McKevitt was in charge of the IRA’s armoury before he and his common-law wife, Bernadette Sands-McKevitt (sister of hunger striker Bobby Sands), created the Real IRA. A year after its emergence and four months after the Good Friday Agreement, the Real IRA conducted the August 1998 Omagh bombing, in which 29 people died when the group detonated a 500lb (225kg) explosive device during an annual street fair. Such was the opprobrium that followed, including public censure by other dissident organizations including the IRA and Sinn Fein, that the Real IRA declared a ceasefire that lasted around 18 months, before resuming terrorist operations in early 2000.

McKevitt was arrested in July 2001 – when the group’s operational tempo was at its peak – and subsequently sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment. The arrests of key members, such as director of operations Liam Campbell, and penetration of the organization by informants significantly weakened the Real IRA. Its last major bombing campaign on English soil was in 2001, when attacks were either undertaken or attempted at the BBC TV Centre in London in March; a sorting office in London first in April and then in May; in Ealing, London in August; and in Birmingham city Centre in November, resulting in injury to nine people in total. From Portlaoise prison, McKevitt and other imprisoned members in 2002 called for the group to stand down; the order was apparently disobeyed.The Real IRA is an offshoot of the Provisional IRA (IRA) formed in 1997 by hardline elements opposed to negotiations being pursued by the IRA and Sinn Fein, its political arm. It sought to derail the peace process and bring about the end of British sovereignty over Northern Ireland through force.

The Real IRA continues to operate in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, where its establishment of a base for criminal activity in the capital Dublin has worsened inter-gang clashes in the city’s criminal underworld and brought about a substantial rise in the number of pipe bombs discovered there over recent years. While it remains intent on targeting England, MI5 (internal security service)’s downgrading of the threat from dissident republican organizations from ‘substantial’ to ‘moderate’ in October 2012 underlined that, though an attack by the Real IRA and other groups is possible, it is not assessed to be likely.

The Real IRA is now thought to be comprised of fewer than 100 people, with its political department – the 32 County Sovereignty Movement based in Londonderry – adding further numbers, though members publicly disavow links to the group. It is unclear how a merger between the Real IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and other smaller armed collectives into a ‘unified structure’ called the IRA Army Council or ‘New IRA’ in July 2012 has affected the Real IRA in an organizational sense, though despite talk of a ‘single leadership’ group’s composition is likely to be unchanged. This ostensible formation of a ‘new IRA’ has brought few of the benefits that the Real IRA envisioned when it signed up for this union however, with splits reportedly having become particularly pronounced within the Dublin faction and bouts of discord seemingly set to characterize the organization’s future course.

Current attack patterns are likely to persist, with the Real IRA successfully undertaking a handful of assassinations each year, but more substantial operations in Northern Ireland involving the use of heavier explosive devices are likely to be almost uniformly thwarted. The organization has suffered from the death, departure or arrest of seasoned commanders, which have reduced its overall levels of operational tradecraft and sophistication, and new recruits appear driven as much by financial considerations arising from the Real IRA’s movement into criminal activity as firmly-held ideological motivations.

John Nugent is an analyst at Control Risks, the global political, integrity and security risk consultancy.

http://www.herald.ie/news/gardai-on-alert-for-anniversary-of-ryan-murder-29541580.html

CONOR FEEHAN – 31 AUGUST 2013 07:00 AM

DISSIDENT republicans will be prevented from making any military display marking the first anniversary of the murder of RIRA terror boss Alan Ryan.

Teams of gardai are already working undercover to monitor known criminals who might plan a commemoration.

Members of the Special Detective Unit, backed up by plain-clothes members of local stations around Donaghmede and the wider division, have stepped-up security in advance of the September 3 anniversary.

Ryan (32) was shot dead as he walked with friends near his home in Clongriffin, north Dublin.

VOLLEY

There was a national outcry when a volley of shots was fired over Ryan's coffin as it was led from his house for his funeral mass on September 9.

Gardai were strongly criticised for failing to intervene when dissidents dressed in black berets and military clothing fired shots into the air in broad daylight.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter described the funeral display as "reprehensible and absolutely unacceptable".

There was also local criticism when his associates placed black flags on lamp posts around the area and prevented residents from accessing Grange Abbey on the day he was buried.

"Ryan's murder was a very high profile killing and sparked a lot of tension within criminal gangs and subversive sympathisers all over the capital," said one source.

"Now that the first anniversary is approaching there will be a lot of garda activity around north Dublin, and subversives will be monitored just to make sure that a lid can be kept on any potential security situation," they added.

It is expected that plain-clothes gardai will be patrolling and monitoring areas around north Dublin and there will be a more visible garda presence in estates in Donaghmede and Clongriffin over the coming week.

MASSIVE

There have been reports that the 32 County Sovereignty Movement plan a massive march from Ryan's Donaghmede home to his grave on his anniversary next Tuesday.

His murder was organised when a number of the most dangerous gangs in the capital clubbed together after Ryan extorted money from them and engaged in a campaign of violent harassment.

He was killed when two gunmen opened fire on him and one of his associates.

A car carrying what gardai believe were two gunmen pulled up and at least one passenger got out and started firing at Ryan. His friend Aaron Nealis was shot in the leg.

Michael o'Toole Journalist,

Gangster BB member you write crap in your Irish Star paper seen a story today can't get a link on your site were you said two criminals got Ryan killed last year you said Criminal Action Force did the hit so what you now have two storys ?

His murder was organised when a number of the most dangerous gangs in the capital clubbed together after Ryan extorted money from them and engaged in a campaign of violent harassment.

http://www.herald.ie/news/gardai-on-alert-for-anniversary-of-ryan-murder-29541580.html

link, sounds like your story last year.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/l...h-29546366.html

03 SEPTEMBER 2013

Garda chiefs have ordered a major security operation to prevent a paramilitary display marking the first anniversary of murdered Real IRA crime boss Alan Ryan.

Up to 300 officers, including the Emergency Response Unit and a riot squad, have been detailed to police a memorial march by dissident Republicans to Ryan's grave on Saturday.

Detectives have also stepped up surveillance of known RIRA thugs who are planning a "grand gesture" by murdering the north Dublin gang boss who ordered Ryan's execution to coincide with the anniversary.

Officers recently uncovered a cache of weapons close to Clontarf garda station which they believe was going to be used to shoot the criminal when he signed on as part of bail requirements for a separate offence.

Ryan, who was heavily involved in organised crime, was shot dead on September 3 last year as he walked with two friends through Clongriffin in Dublin.

Dissident Republicans staged a major paramilitary display at the funeral and a volley of shots was fired over the coffin outside Ryan's home in Donaghmede.

Thugs dressed in military garb closed off the north Dublin suburb and then marched behind the hearse to Balgriffin cemetery followed by hundreds of Republican sympathisers.

But Commissioner Martin Callinan is determined that these scenes will not be repeated on Saturday.

At the time Justice Minister Alan Shatter said the paramilitary display brought the country back to the dark days of the Troubles.

In the aftermath of Ryan's murder tensions escalated as his associates swore to avenge his death.

The two leaders of a notorious drug gang, who organised the dramatic hit, left the country soon afterwards.

In the aftermath of Ryan's murder tensions escalated as his associates swore to avenge his death.

No United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. members were ever killed over the Ryan hit or any other hits for that matter, no Criminal Action Force members was killed ether tensions escalated, to what.

The two leaders of a notorious drug gang, who organised the dramatic hit, left the country soon afterwards.

In fact the criminals are the main power and are in the country mts walking around the place after the avenge Kelly hit the homes of the rest of the Ryan crew visited by gunmen from the Criminal Action Force,Kelly was not a C.A.F membersee links, interesting to watch over the next few weeks.

A GROUP calling itself "Criminal Action Force" was responsible for four attempted murders last weekend in retaliation for the murder earlier this month of the leading criminal figure, Eamon Kelly, by dissident republicans.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/criminal-gangs-target-real-ira-over-kelly-killing-28950875.html

MASKED criminals attacked the family homes of associates of Alan Ryan threatening to kill them. The move marks a new confidence among criminal figures feuding with the Real IRA in Dublin. Three homes were targeted last Saturday as part of the intimidation campaign.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/investigations/mr-big-targets-rira-gangsters

Coalition denies Eamon Kelly was member.

http://www.thestar.ie/star/coalition-denies-eamon-kelly-was-member/

http://www.herald.ie/news/fifteen-gangsters-behind-ryan-murder-29548324.html

Fifteen gangsters behind Ryan murder.

KEN FOY – 03 SEPTEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

AT least 15 gangsters planned the murder of RIRA boss Alan Ryan a year ago today, gardai believe.

A number of Ryan's girlfriends were also being watched in the weeks leading up to the killing.

On the anniversary of his murder, the Herald can reveal:

* Two months of planning went into the daylight killing, involving around 15 major gangsters.

* Senior figures within the Real IRA were aware an attack was imminent.

* Surveillance was carried out on Ryan and his many girlfriends in the weeks before the murder.

Ryan's ex-girlfriend Emma Maher (inset left) visited his grave yesterday which was covered in flowers.

Gardai have also ruled out one of two notorious brothers who have carried out a spate of gangland murders over the past decade.

Sources told the Herald that the killers were aware of Ryan’s every move during August and September last year.

“Intelligence has come in that there were a number of meetings between one of the leaders of the gang who had Ryan murdered and Ryan's bosses in the North,” a senior source explained.

“The crime organisation warned the senior dissidents that they would ‘take care' of Ryan if he and his cronies did not stop ripping them off and attacking them.

“They were warning Ryan's bosses that they would kill Ryan and yet nothing was done to stop them.”

Detectives also believe that at least one of Ryan's closest associates was involved in drugs and giving information to the crime gangs that clubbed together to murder the terror chief.

This criminal is now facing serious charges before the courts.

And they have been thrown out of the IRA which has been in a state of turmoil since Ryan was shot dead near his home in Clongriffin on September 3 last year.

Yesterday, on the eve the anniversary of his death, Ryan’s ex-girlfriend paid a special visit to the gang leader’s graveside.

Emma Maher (29) left two simple balloons at the grave which was covered in wreaths of flowers in the colours green, white and orange.

The highly decorative black marble gravestone bears the inscription: ‘Vol. Alan Ryan, Dublin Brigade IRA, Died 3rd September 2012 aged 32 years. RIP’

The gang who murdered Ryan are one of Ireland's biggest crime cartels who specialise in drugs trafficking, tiger kidnapping and armed robberies – they are led by two notorious north Dublin criminals.

All of the gangsters who were involved in the plot are still alive and have not been targeted in any meaningful way by the newly formed IRA grouping which has emerged since the start of the year.

Sources say that this is “extremely significant”.

“Look at it this way, a lot of these gangsters are now just walking the streets without a care in the world – they don't seem at all bothered about the IRA or their capabilities,” they explained.

“It should also be noted that in the past year virtually all of Alan Ryan's close associates have been booted out of the organisation including his older brother Anthony.”

Shooting

The garda investigation into the murder is ongoing and senior sources say that the gangland hit was “one of the best organised” in recent years.

“The shooting was far from a spur of the moment thing. It was planned for many weeks and even up to two months,” a source told the Herald.

“Cars and apartments were all sorted in advance – flight tickets were booked – it was a large enterprise involving criminals acting in a disciplined and determined way.

“These lads carried out their own surveillance on Ryan and had a great handle on his movements.

“They were watching as he spent many of his evenings visiting his string of girlfriends and they were obviously watching as he walked down Grange Lodge Avenue on the day of the killing.

Gardai have not identified the actual gunman but have been investigating a small list of names.

The gunman who is described as “very tall” was wearing a disguise and was caught on CCTV from a medical vehicle when he shot Ryan and his pal Aaron Nealis from Sligo who was hit in the leg in the gun attack as they walked on the road with a third man who was uninjured.

Sources say that the investigation team have not ruled out the involvement of a foreign criminal in the murder but describe it as “unlikely.”

Two months of planning went into the daylight killing, involving around 15 major gangsters.

Criminal Action Force or United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. members.

You can take it the the Real IRA fear the 15 major gangsters and will do not much to them, you would think that Ryan was the only person killed by the 15 major gangsters in the feuding with the Real IRA, We know that up to 6 other people were killed before Ryan by the gangsters alliance and a lot more people have injuries from gun attacks by the criminals alliance and lived to tell the tale.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/real-ira-leaders-grave-vandalised-29560841.html

JEROME REILLY – 07 SEPTEMBER 2013

The grave of Real IRA Dublin leader Alan Ryan was desecrated overnight, heightening tensions ahead of a memorial march and ceremony to mark the first anniversary of his death.

Ryan was shot dead by a masked gunman close to his home, while walking with two other men at Clongriffin in north Dublin last year.

More than 300 gardai including the Emergency Response Unit and sections of the riot squad are on standby ahead of the memorial march to Ryan's grave this afternoon

Red spray paint was used to vandalise the grave with the insult “Rat Scum” painted on the headstone. Other family keepsakes and small memorials were also defaced.

The attack on his grave at Balgriffin cemetery was discovered by members of Mr Ryan’s family who immediately began a clean up ahead of the ceremony.

In the aftermath of Ryan's murder tensions escalated as his associates swore to avenge his death.

The two leaders of a notorious drug gang, who supporters of Alan Ryan believe organised the murder, left the country soon afterwards.

http://www.herald.ie/news/ryans-pals-stage-a-dress-rehearsal-for-march-in-cemetery-29560608.html

NIALL O'CONNOR – 07 SEPTEMBER 2013 07:00 AM

ASSOCIATES of murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan held a menacing graveyard dress rehearsal ahead of today's commemoration.


Ryan's pals stage a dress rehearsal for march in cemetery.

Pals of the terror chief met in Balgriffin graveyard last night and prepared for the march under cover of darkness.

Officers from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and the riot squad were today on high alert for the prospect of criminal behaviour during the demonstration.

Several well-known republican figures, including dissident Gary 'Donzo' Donnelly, are expected to turn out at the march.

Donnelly was jailed for seven months in 2010 after losing his appeal against convictions for assaulting and obstructing a police officer.

TOLERANCE

Senior garda management has demanded that a "zero tolerance approach" is taken to any form of public order or criminal activity.

"Gardai are prepared for all possibilities and we are ready to move if we get any sign of trouble," a senior source explained.

Dozens of garda barriers were laid out today in preparation for any unruly behaviour at the march. Gardai are aware that a group of Ryan's pals entered Balgriffin graveyard last night. They were seen practicing for today's march – which is beginning at the Ryan family home on Grange Abbey Drive.

Our pictures show Ryan's brother, Dermot, holding a ladder close to the home as a male associate hung a tricolour.

Dermot Ryan was one of a number of family members and loved ones of the gang boss who visited his grave on his anniversary.

Gardai are particularly concerned about the attendance of well-known dissident figures at the event.

Organisers have requested that attendants were black and white.

"We will assemble at Alan's family home at Grange Abbey Drive and march to the graveyard. We would like to ask can every republican to wear black and whites. A function will follow afterwards. All genuine republicans welcome, Beir Bua," organisers said on Facebook.

Sources say that because of the "robust policing plan" that will be in place tomorrow, it is hugely unlikely that there will be similar scenes to what happened at Alan Ryan's paramilitary funeral last September when a volley of shots were fired over his coffin.

Today's commemoration will leave Ryan's family home at Grange Abbey Drive at 2.30pm before marching to Balgriffin Cemetery.

http://www.herald.ie/news/no-overtime-for-gardai-to-help-solve-murders-29558533.html


No overtime for gardai to help solve murders.

KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 06 SEPTEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

GARDAI have not been allocated even one additional hour of overtime to investigate Dublin's latest gangland murders.

The shocking gun slayings happened just five days apart in west Dublin last month – but so far there have been no arrests.

Jason Carroll (39) was murdered on Thursday of last week and Dean Johnson (21) was shot dead 13 days ago.

But sources say the investigation teams have been hampered due to a lack of overtime resources.

A senior source explained: "It should be no surprise to anyone that there have been no arrests – the investigation teams have been told that they cannot take a single hour of overtime as they try to solve these cases.

"This is an unprecedented and frankly ridiculous situation for the gardai dealing with these two murders."

The source explained that there is "no money left in the garda budget for overtime in these cases or any other for that matter.

"There can be no doubt that the situation is compromising the investigations – it is destroying continuity," the source said.

"For example, if you have a detective who has been in the middle of the investigation for a number of days, when his four days off work come up, he is off and that is the end of it until he comes back to work. When he gets back five days later, the investigation has moved on.

"There is huge frustration within the force and this is all about not getting enough resources from the Department of Justice – this is a new situation and not a good one."

LINKED

Both shootings happened in the Clondalkin area and gardai have established that they are linked to each other.

Senior sources say that gardai are now satisfied that the first shooting victim, Dean Johnson, was not the intended target and that he was shot dead by mistake instead of a notorious criminal who he had been socialising with earlier on the night of August 23.

The intended target is a Clondalkin-based criminal who is the chief suspect for the unsolved murder of a young man called Dean Johnston (not related) who was shot dead in May 2011, in Neilstown.

Sources say that associates of this "extremely violent criminal" then organised the murder of Jason Carroll after he blamed Carroll for trying to shoot him in the gun attack that claimed Johnson's life.

Jason Carroll was shot six times with a high-powered handgun outside his home in Cherrywood Drive at around 10.30pm last Thursday.

Carroll, who was strongly linked to a number of serious criminals, was an extremely close friend of Daniel Kinahan – the son of the leader of Ireland's biggest and most dangerous drugs syndicate, Christy Kinahan.

It is not known if Daniel, who is based in Spain's Costa-Del-Crime, will attend Carroll's funeral tomorrow.

Gardai are braced for further bloodshed at the weekend after receiving reports that Carroll's faction are intent on a bloody revenge.

But the criminal who organised his murder is believed to now be in hiding at a rural location.

Meanwhile, it emerged last month that there would be fresh garda cutbacks, which were signalled to garda management by the Department of Justice.

They were brought in as part of a drive in the public service to find €1bn in savings under the Haddington Road Agreement.

Garda management is hoping the deal negotiated with the rank-and-file Garda Representative Association and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors will help to offset some of the cuts.

Concessions include members of the force up to the rank of inspector working 30 hours a year without pay instead of sustaining a wage cut implemented on more senior ranks.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/one...w-29561352.html

One year after Ryan's murder, threat of new terror campaign is low
With gangs feuding over spoils of drugs trade there is little risk of renewed 'republican' violence, says Jim Cusack.

08 SEPTEMBER 2013

A YEAR after the murder of Dublin "republican" gang leader Alan Ryan the threat of any renewed terror campaign by dissident republicans has collapsed amid feuding over spoils from the drugs trade.

Before he was killed by a coalition of Dublin criminals who had been the subject of his violent extortion demands, Alan Ryan was coming under pressure from the leadership of a re-organised dissident republican group, including former members of the Provisional IRA, to provide them with funding.

The leadership of the group, dubbed the "New" IRA, was demanding that Ryan hand over €300,000 from the extortion and drug dealing rackets he had come to control in Dublin.

Ryan was enthusiastic about the new terror group which was planning attacks on police in Northern Ireland and considering a bomb attack in Britain, possibly at a British Army base, according to sources. He began assembling the cash they had demanded.

Ryan was a republican since his teens when he joined the "Real" IRA. He was arrested at an arms training camp in Co Meath and supported a renewed terror campaign. Despite this, he found no contradiction in trading in drugs and demanding money from other dealers. He also found no conflict with supposedly traditional republican values and living the high-life of a drug trafficker. He had expensive foreign holidays and had a string of girlfriends, fathering two children from two of them.

The "New" IRA group he became affiliated to recruited former bomb makers from the Provisional IRA who had begun manufacturing bombs and mortars identical to those used in the Provisional IRA campaign up to 1997.

A week before his murder, he attended a meeting with the leaders of the group which was led by a former Provisional IRA prisoner from West Belfast. As well as providing the €300,000, Ryan was involved in staging the robbery of high-velocity hunting rifles from a dealer near the village of Ashford, Co Wicklow, for use in sniper attacks on police and soldiers in Northern Ireland.

The robbery went ahead, three weeks after his murder, and most of the 28 rifles stolen remain unaccounted for. Three were found by gardai in a car belonging to one of Ryan's associates two weeks after his murder.

Ryan was in the process of assembling the €300,000, proceeds of drug trafficking and of extortion demands from a large number of other drug dealers in Dublin, when he was shot dead outside his home in Clongriffin, north Dublin, on September 3 last year. The €300,000 never reached Northern Ireland.

After his death Ryan's racketeering and drug trafficking organisation collapsed.

Most of the money remained missing. In response, other members of Ryan's gang began informing on the new organisation, allowing gardai to make substantial weapons discoveries and leading to the crushing of the "New" IRA.

Simultaneously, the PSNI and the British security service, MI5, also made major arms seizures and arrests in Northern Ireland. The threat from the "New" IRA, which was formed only in July 2012, has been effectively countered and the organisation broken up, according to gardai. An attempted mortar attack on a PSNI station in Derry city in March was thwarted as was a massive car bomb attack, aimed to kill PSNI officers, in Belfast a week later.

In July this year gardai recovered 15kg of Semtex explosive and assorted weapons that had been acquired by the new group from one of the Provisional IRA arms dumps that had not been decommissioned. Two weeks later gardai also seized 350,000 ecstasy tablets and 80 kilos of cannabis that had been imported into Ireland by Ryan's gang.

As well as being up to his neck in drugs trafficking, Ryan had spread his extortion rackets across the city. Up to last year he had operated largely in the north Dublin suburbs where he lived. But as his notoriety spread Ryan extended his rackets across the city to the Crumlin-Drimnagh and Tallaght areas.

He had a deserved reputation for violence, chopping off the fingers of two men who had refused his extortion demands. Middle-ranking drug dealers in Dublin were paying Ryan €20,000 on a regular basis for his protection. He also ensured that drugs brought into Ireland by his associates were being sold by these dealers.

Gardai believe Ryan had reached the point where he was challenging to become the main drug supplier in Dublin. This brought him into direct conflict with several long-established and heavily armed gangs. These gangs are supplied with drugs and weapons from the middle-aged Irish criminals based in the south of Spain.

With millions of euros at stake, up to 15 of these gangs came together to decide Ryan's fate. A contract – understood to have been €30,000 – was placed on his head.

In the end, according to well-placed garda sources, the contract was taken up by a heroin addict from north Dublin who was acquainted with Ryan's movements. Ryan was remarkably lax about his personal security and had a near-daily routine of driving from his home in Balgriffin to his mother's home in nearby Donnycarney. He was murdered as he was walking from his car by a lone gunman who walked up behind him, shot him in the back and then fired another shot into his head. The gunman calmly walked away to a waiting car. No one has been charged with his murder.

Although some 2,000 people attended his paramilitary funeral, complete with a volley of shots over the coffin and a graveside oration extolling his supposed dedication to the cause of re-unifying Ireland, Ryan had brought the mantle of Irish republicanism to the point where, gardai now say, it is indistinguishable from common drug-fuelled criminality.

The attempt to re-launch the terror campaign has failed and northern elements eventually were only able to grab a fraction of the €300,000 Ryan had promised to donate to the "cause". The northern-based elements, who have some support in Dublin, attempted to murder one of Ryan's remaining associates. He was shot twice but survived.

Sean South, take note.

Gardai believe Ryan had reached the point where he was challenging to become the main drug supplier in Dublin. This brought him into direct conflict with several long-established and heavily armed gangs. These gangs are supplied with drugs and weapons from the middle-aged Irish criminals based in the south of Spain.

With millions of euros at stake, up to 15 of these gangs came together to decide Ryan's fate. A contract – understood to have been €30,000 – was placed on his head.

Up to 15 gangs came together to decide Ryan's fate, Now Sean,

not what you was making out just A GANG that would be around a few mts heavily armed gangs get it.

http://www.herald.ie/news/guns-bombs-seized-in-ryan-crew-swoop-29574321.html

Ken Foy Crime correspondent – 12 September 2013 02:30 PM
FIVE men with links to murdered terror boss Alan Ryan – including a suspected member of the colour party for his anniversary march – have been arrested.

Armed gardai recovered guns, ammunition, components for pipe bombs and four cars as part of a major surveillance operation.

The five men – all in their 20s – remained in custody in three separate Dublin garda stations last night. They include two young criminals who survived gun attacks in the past year.

Investigating officers will now try to pin IRA membership charges on the five men.

A senior source said: "To call these fellas a motley crew is an understatement – what they all have in common is an allegiance to the Alan Ryan IRA faction which has been decimated in recent months.

"They have well over 200 previous convictions between them and have been long-term targets of the Special Detective Unit.

"The fear was that they were planning to murder someone or certainly carry out an attack," the source added.

The men were detained after the two cars they were travelling in were stopped near Ashford, Co Wicklow, shortly after 4am yesterday. In follow-up searches, a woman in her 20s was arrested in Ballymun.

Apart from the duo who survived assassination attempts, two of the other arrested men are notorious Traveller criminal brothers who have been involved in the manufacture and distribution of pipe bombs.

The fifth man is a Kosovan national who is based in Dublin's north inner city and is suspected to be a member of the colour party at Alan Ryan's commemoration last weekend

The other four are all based on the capital's northside.

http://www.herald.ie/news/murdered-ryans-pal-on-memorial-march-despite-death-threats-29558519.html

Murdered Ryan's pal on memorial march despite death threats.

KEN FOY – 06 SEPTEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

A close pal of slain Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan is expected to be a prominent figure at a commemoration tomorrow, despite being under a death threat.

Derek Nolan (31) has returned to Ireland and is understood to be staying in Ryan's family home ahead of tomorrow's dissident Republican march.

The march will begin at the Ryan home in Donaghmede and continue to Balgriffin Cemetery.

Up to 300 officers, including the Emergency Response Unit and a riot squad, have been detailed to police the memorial march, which will also be attended by a number of well-known dissidents from the North.

Among those expected to attend is Gary 'Donzo' Donnelly (42) from Derry, who, like Nolan, was a very close friend of Ryan.

He is also under active death threat from the new IRA leadership, which formed after Alan Ryan's murder and has purged many of Ryan's closest associates from the organisation.



COLLAPSED

Donnelly was jailed for seven months in 2010 after losing his appeal against convictions for assaulting and obstructing a police officer.

In 2008, the trial of four Derry men – including Donnelly – dramatically collapsed at the Special Criminal Court after it was ruled that their initial arrests were unlawful.

Senior sources say that another prominent dissident Republican expected at the event is Anthony Beggs (49) from Balyfermot who was jailed for five years in 2000 after he shot the husband of his ex-girlfriend in December 1998.

Beggs was previously released from jail in 1995 under the terms of the Good Friday agreement – he was initially jailed for 10 years in 1990 for his role in a bank robbery in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.

Sources say that because of the "robust policing plan" that will be in place tomorrow, it is hugely unlikely that there will be similar scenes to what happened at Alan Ryan's paramilitary funeral last September when a volley of shots were fired over his coffin.

Tomorrow, the commemoration will leave Alan Ryan's family home at Grange Abbey Drive at 2.30pm before marching to Balgriffin Cemetery.

Organisers have requested that black ties be worn.

The Herald this week revealed that senior figures within the Real IRA were aware an attack on Alan Ryan was imminent in the weeks before he was shot dead.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gang-effort-to-storm-dail-link-to-terror-boss-29596565.html

JIM CUSACK – 22 SEPTEMBER 2013

A GROUP of dissident republicans with links to slain terror chief Alan Ryan tried to break into the Dail last week before causing widespread chaos that brought the capital to a halt.


The Sunday Independent today unmasks the shadowy group – which styles itself the Irish Republican Voice – who brought misery to tens of thousands of commuters on Wednesday.

Consisting of a few hundred individuals, the group has been actively trying to recruit in Dublin over the past month. Despite their tiny numbers, they managed to infiltrate a larger protest outside the Dail organised by socialist Richard Boyd Barrett and bring traffic to a standstill in the city centre.

A number of the dissidents were arrested following violent clashes with gardai, but they have since been released without charge.

There are now fears that the group – buoyed by its success in shutting down the city – is planning to employ similar "Belfast-style" tactics in future confrontations.

On Wednesday, a hard core of 40 to 50 of Ryan's supporters were forced back by gardai after they tried to force their way into the Dail in the morning and caused disruption at several locations in the city centre.

They invaded the GPO, shouted insults outside the Sinn Fein offices in Parnell Square and then targeted the Central Bank before blocking traffic for nearly two hours at Bachelors Walk, causing a two-hour gridlock.

Their attempt to storm the Central Bank was stopped by a quick-thinking garda on a bicycle who rode ahead of them and had the gates shut.

The Irish Republican Voice was formed last year after yet another split between warring dissident republican factions. It has been putting up posters with a mobile phone number around Dublin in an attempt to recruit members, but the group remains relatively small. It was at the centre of most of the disruption as the Dail reconvened after the summer recess.

Gardai south of the Liffey were well prepared for protests on the opening day of the Dail. An "anti-austerity" rally was applied for at 6.30pm in Molesworth Street opposite the Dail by the People before Profit group led by TD Richard Boyd Barrett. Several other legitimate groups took part in that rally, during which there were arguments with the mob linked to Ryan.

The Ryan group and two other small dissident republican groups tried to hi-jack the legitimate protest. When they grabbed barriers to try to ram their way through the garda cordon outside the Dail, gardai used pepper spray on the ringleaders.

Ryan's supporters were present in the south city centre from 5am on Wednesday, trying to find ways of getting into the Dail.

Gardai said their intention was to force their way in to grab international headlines and gain maximum notoriety.

But their attempts failed and gardai arrested three people after violent clashes throughout the day.

While gardai from the Pearse Street District, which covers the Dail, were ready for disruptive protests, this was not, apparently, expected north of the river in the Store Street District, which is where the traffic disruption took place during rush hour.

The blocking of O'Connell Street at Bachelors Quay took an hour and 45 minutes to break up as there were not sufficient numbers of gardai available to deal with the protesters. Tens of thousands of people were held up, with buses and cars stranded.

Gardai now expect the dissidents will attempt further disruptive activity on next Budget Day, October 15.

The Irish Republican Voice was formed earlier this year by associates of Ryan, who was shot dead near his home in Balgriffin, north Dublin, last September. Four of his close associates were shot and injured in the months after his murder.

Gardai believe a group terming itself the 'New Real IRA' was responsible. The dissident republican elements are deeply split.

http://www.thestar.ie/star/uca-denies-attacking-alan-ryans-grave-34012/


United Criminal Alliance denies attacking Alan Ryan’s grave

Alan Ryan A SHADOWY group claiming to be a coalition of criminals has claimed responsibility for two murders — but angrily denied desecrating the grave of slain Real IRA boss Alan Ryan.


Desmond

DEATH: Desmond

In an exclusive statement to The Star, the so-called United Criminal Alliance (UCA) — which says it represents hundreds of gangsters in Dublin and beyond — claimed the murders of Alan Desmond and Karl Wynne.



The body of criminal Desmond (38) was found in a field on Killinarden Hill in Tallaght, south Dublin, on May 18. He had been shot in the head in a gangland-style execution. Then, on May 30, notorious criminal Wynne (45) was gunned down on Mountain Park Road in Tallaght.






He suffered serious head injuries and died from his wounds on July 19.
Killed



Sources say gardai had no information of a link between the killings, but now the UCA has claimed responsibility for both in a statement to The Star. It said the men were killed because they were seen acting suspiciously outside the home of one of its members in north Dublin.



A UCA spokesman said: “Alan Desmond and Karl Wynne were executed after a UCA investigation was undertaken into CCTV footage showing the two men were concealing themselves in the
Wynne

SLAIN: Wynne

back garden of one of our members in Cabra.



“On further inspection two handguns were found in the undergrowth.


Assaults







“Harassment or assaults on any of our members by anyone will be met with a full military response.”

The spokesman also issued a warning to members of a notorious Sligo crime gang who are in dispute with the UCA that they would meet the same fate. The spokesman told members of the Sligo gang to “take note”.





The UCA, previously known as the Criminal Action Force (CAF), was set up three years ago to counter Real IRA extortion attacks on criminals in Dublin. It has claimed responsibility for the of murder of RIRA boss Alan Ryan (32) — but has angrily denied having any part in a recent attack on his grave.Graffiti accusing Ryan of being an informer was sprayed in red paint on the grave.

Alan Ryan headstone

The UCA spokesman said: “UCA had no part in the Alan Ryan grave attack and whoever did it should be ashamed of themselves.”

http://www.thestar.ie/star/criminal-group-we-are-ready-to-kill-rira-pirates-34932/

Criminal group: We are ready to kill RIRA ‘pirates’

Picture 23

THIS is the latest show of strength by an outfit claiming to be a nationwide coalition of gangsters.

The so-called United Criminal Alliance (UCA) was set up three years ago to counter extortion demands on gangsters by the Real IRA.

Here, it displays what appear to be four firearms — and the group has again said that it will protect its members.

The gang, set up in Dublin in late 2010, claims to have established networks as far away as Sligo.

Revolver

And the UCA, which has claimed responsibility for several murders in Dublin, has also vowed in an exclusive statement to The Star that it has the means to defend its pals.

Five masked members of the outfit posed with what appear to be a sawn-off shotgun, two semi-automatic pistols and a revolver — as well as more than a dozen shotgun cartridges.

There is no way of knowing if the weapons are real or replicas.

A UCA member told The Star: “If there is any Real IRA aggression against UCA members, we will not simply be bystanders.

“With regard to pirate acts by the Real IRA members on criminals, we will be forced on our part to take measures we consider necessary and adequate in order to protect our rights.

“We have everything necessary to do so.”

Just last month, the UCA claimed responsibility for two murders — but angrily denied desecrating the grave of slain Real IRA chief Alan Ryan (32).

The group claimed the murders of Alan Desmond and Karl Wynne.

The body of criminal Desmond (38) was found in a field at Killinarden Hill in Tallaght, south Dublin, on May 18 this year.

He had been shot in the head in a gangland-style execution.

Stash

Desmond went on the run after a weapons stash was found close to his home in Kilclare Avenue, Tallaght, at the end of April.

Officers recovered three rifles, a handgun, two sawn-off shotguns and a large amount of ammunition.

Desmond, who had a previous firearms conviction, was the subject of a Garda manhunt over the find.

Gardai believe he was killed shortly after he went on the run.

Then, on May 30 this year, notorious criminal Wynne (45) was gunned down as he stood outside a shop at Mountain Park Road in Tallaght.

He suffered serious head injuries and died from his wounds on July 19.

The UCA, previously known as the Criminal Action Force (CAF), said both men were killed because they were seen acting suspiciously outside the home of one of its members in north Dublin.

The group has also claimed responsibility for the murder in September last year of RIRA chief Alan Ryan — but said it was aghast at the attack on his grave.

Is Real IRA located in the USA (Cells, Factions?)? If so where?

Not a chance. They will have personal contacts through Irish workers but they don't have the kind of clout that the Provos had at their height.

When they go abroad now they go to Eastern Europe.

The Real IRA is run in its totality by MI5.if you guys think the American Mafia is riddled with informers then you can't even imagine what the Real IRA is like. It is essentially run as a way of getting angry young men off the street and into gaol and as a training exercise for MI5. Ireland is now a testing ground for them and they use the Real IRA to refine their tactics.

Dang, that would be pretty cool if they would set up here. I would think Boston and South Louisiana would be prime stomping grounds.

In what way would it be cool?

The existence of physical force Republican groups isn't a laugh or something that's fun to read about on a website dedicated to charting the lives of criminals, they are the result of a situation which causes great pain to Irish people - namely the occupation of the northern part of the island of Ireland by a foreign force and their planters. It isn't something cool, it is something extremely serious.

As for setting up in America - the current groups are as weak as piss. As I said before, thye don't have the ability to sniff one of their own farts without the security forces knowing about it. They'd have no chance in Boston or Louisiana if they can't even operate in Belfast. Maybe the Continuity IRA are still viable as they have more pedigree and a stronger political wing, but even they have wisely decided to keep a lower profile. They appetite is not there for war anymore. To take someone's life for the cause of an Irish Republic you have a certain responsibility to them that it is for a reason, part of a campaign, working towards an end...the recent deaths are irresponsible attempts to keep an ideology (anti-Treaty, anti-Good Friday Agreement, non-constitutional, physical force Republicanism) alive.

They should put down the guns until the time is right.

I am Catholic AND I SUPPORT the IRA until ALL of Ireland is freed from British Occupation. That means get their happy asses out of Northern Ireland then I will be content. Ireland is fighting the same fight America did 250 Years ago, No difference.

And it would be "cool" because I support them and would provide shelter and money to any of them that stand for a free Ireland.

You are painthing with a very broad brush there.

I don't think you would last long with silly posts like this one.

U.C.A. ARE a result of the REAL IRA on Irish people.

I can understand sympathizing with irish republicanism. People often forget that most of the UK are not a member by choice per se. Ireland has technically been an occupied nation for hundreds of years, yet, they have never become fully integrated Brits. Their cultural identity has never really waned as is typical of nations that are occupied for long lengths of time by a people that share some cultural affinities. So I can totally understand why half the country is not enough for Irish repubs.

That said, The IRA "died" when the South was founded and was amalgamated as the official republic army. PIRA was the only real successor to the cause and they put down their guns back in '05.

Remaining remnants of the republican movement(such as RIRA) militant arm are mostly low brow thugs who are looking to earn a buck rather than unification with the south.

HOWEVER, honestly, the IRA (every incarnation), has often employed some shamefully cowardly tactics and have littered history with the corpses of hundreds of civilians. there is also a whole other side to republicanism in North Ireland, it's really such a difficult situation, I don't think there will ever be a compromise that will satisfy the republicans, short of England completely removing any and all presence there, which isn't a feasible expectation for several reasons.

Another important thing to understand about the IRA's conflict with the British government is that there actually is SOME altruistic logic behind their staying and occupying North Ireland. Hundreds of years ago when the british first invaded and annexed Ireland to make way for British colonists, nobody could have guessed eventually Henvry VII(I?) would come a long and reform the religious institutions from the ground up, vis-a-vis bodily ejecting the papacy and Catholicism and creating Protestantism. Now, for a nation that has historically been extremely vested in the Catholic religion, this came as something of a blow to Ireland.

let me elaborate, it easy to overlook King Henry's reformations as something that influences the more modern conflict between the IRA and the UK, but it has to be a major part of the sectarian violence that occurs in ireland today. The colonists that settled Ireland were mainly english protestants, so, hundreds of years later we develop a unique situation wherein half the people of the Northern districts are the ancestors of people that technically have no right to settle where they did, yet, have been there for generations and are as much Irish as any catholic.

One of the big reasons the Uk chose to stay in N. Ireland is because of those people, the loyalists/protestants who come from an ethnically English background but have been in Ireland since the time of their grandparents grandparents grandparents. At the time of the original Easter Rising in 1916 we are emerging from a period where many Catholics felt religiously suppressed, to make matters worse, Catholics were also socially repressed by the minority of protestants. Nepotism among protestant transplantees was rampant, to the point where it didn't matter how much money you had as a Catholic, you were forced to live in run down ghettos, your Republican, catholic government candidates had no chance of achieving real political status as the Protestants, whom (again), despite their minority status, rule a majority of the seats in the House of Commons.

So, I suppose these descendants of English settlers are not seen as truly Irish (by the repubs) despite their having been there for generations. I mean honestly I can understand both sides of this conflict. it really just goes to show how nothing in this world is black and white.

SO ALL THAT SAID, I don't see how an IRA presence in America would be at all good for anyone. HOWEVER, there WAS IRA presence in Boston for many years. Usually there to garner support from (then) recent Irish immigrants (whom no doubt became migrant because of the suppression of Catholics)in form of money, weapons, etc..

Now there would really be no reason for them to be in America. What would they get out of it? Anyone claiming to be "irish" is probably several generations removed from the Irish ancestor that originally settled in the US.

Don't pay no attention to him. He claims to be from Ireland, but denounces the IRA and using violence. Clearly doesn't understand the history of the Irish people at the hands of the Brits. Young Liberal kid that wants peace, love, and dope for everyone.

There's a lot wrong with that post, so I've taken it in bitesize chunks...



It's not half the country, it's six counties from 32 - only three of which have a Unionist majority. And it's not about getting enough of the country to satisfy Republicans or getting only areas with a Nationalist/Republican majority, it's about achieving the Irish Republic as proclaimed in 1916 and ratified overwhelmingly by Irish people in the 1918 elections.



The IRA never became the Free State Army. Elements of the IRA broke their oaths to the Irish Republic and the Irish people and formed the Free State Army. The IRA as it existed at the time technically still exists today as the Continuity IRA. The Provisionals were recognised as the legitimate IRA by General Tom Barry in 1969/1970, who conferred legitimacy on the Continuity IRA in 1986 despite efforts by the Provos to the contrary.



The fact that there are many 'dissident' Republicans sitting in British gaols as political prisoners today suggests that they are concerned with something other than making a buck.



The IRA even in the actions it carried out which I disagree strongly with (La Mon, Warrington, etc) was never a cowardly force. It consistently took on a stronger and better equipped enemy in combat and never complained when its volunteers were killed, brutalised, wounded or beaten by its enemy. Throughout the conflict its volunteers showed themselves to be brave and dedicated soldiers - as the British Army has stated many times since.

Why can England never leave? It left the 26 counties, and there were many loyalists and unionists there then. That can be the only just solution and it will one day come to pass. I only hope I am alive to see it.

If the IRA has 'littered history with the corpses of hundreds of civilians' then they will have bucked the trend of armies the world over who have left thousands upon thousands of civilians dead from their skirmishes. If it was left to the so called 'legitimate' western armies who have perpetrated wars in the last decade to carry out military actions for over thirty years then the civilian death toll would be counted in the millions, and you can take that to the bank.



You have misunderstood the plantation of Ulster completely.

The English who colonised Ireland were Catholic. They were Norman Catholics. They formed part of the Ascendency in Ireland, where they were granted the best lands, most of the wealth, the power and so on. But they were Catholic.

After the Reformation this English community in Ireland found itself in a similar position to the recusant Catholics of England.

The plantation of Ulster was something quite different and had nothing to do with King Henry VIII. Ulster was planted by Presbyterian Scots, not Anglican English - whose faith is quite different. Even then many of them went on to become Republican - which is after all the important part of this debate, Republicans and Unionists/Loyalists, not Catholics and Protestants.



Again, Loyalists are ethnically Scottish.

The repression in Ireland in the 19th and early 20th century in general was by English land-owning and ruling classes, not by Ulster-Scots Protestants.



I am an Irish Republican and I see them as Irish citizens, as mentioned in the Proclamation of the Irish Republic in 1916 - the document which has sat on my wall since my childhood and which is the first place I look to for guidance on issues related to Irish Republicanism.

"The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past."

It was also said in the Democratic Programme of the First Dail...

"...we declare that the Nation’s sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions, the Nation’s soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the Nation..."


It's a long post but I hope it challenges some of the things you stated and helps change you perception of Irish Republicanism.

The UCA are a shower of hoods and scumbags. I'm no supporter of the Real IRA but I'll back them any day of the week over drug dealing scum who cause misery throughout Ireland.

Don't know why you've got such a hardon for me. I have a far superior understanding of Republicanism than you do, so don't lecture me on the suffering of the Irish people. Also, I haven't denounced the IRA but I don't mind saying that I don't agree with the armed struggle continuing at this moment in time.

I've stated my position to you several times in these discussions. You want the war to continue/re-start, so let's hear your philosophy.

Who do you expect to prosecute the war against Britain? What actions would you like them to carry out? What would your overall strategy be?

Demands to see a war continue is easy talk for a big mouth sitting at a computer in America. Not so easy in practice.

1. Resume conflict because Britain will continue to suck the life blood out of an Irish economy for its own profit as long as it has a foothold in Northern Ireland (which they occupy this land behind the convenient reason that these people are descendants of "colonists" who came to Ireland, AKA DESCENDANTS OF INVADERS.

2. The Irish people need another charismatic leader to rise through the ranks. Your old guard Gerry Adams and is aging and resorting to politics because the younger generation is too liberal to stand up and fight.

3. Actions should be to resort to violence as long as the homeland is occupied by foreign invaders. This coincides with:

4: the strategy being engage in conflicts assuming the trusted guerrilla tactics until the fight is even more unpopular in Britain and its leaders are left with no other choice than to pull out.

Lastly, this big mouth was in the military and knows what it means to fight. You on the other hand will continue to take crap from the English until you decide to stand up for yourself.

What have you ever fought for? Obviously not for your beloved country

Not 100% sure, but, it seems like my ignorance may have offended you, if I have, sorry. Yeah, i don't have a complete understanding of irish history, and its cultural impacts. I'm not Irish, so obviously some of the social details escape me or the implications of them are subtly different than I might surmise.

I agree with you that the Loyalists are irish insofar as their families have (probably) been living there in the six counties (I realize its not literally "half" the country, that was just a bit of artistic license :P) for generations. But what constitutes an ethnic irish person to you? As you pointed out, ireland has been settled by many different peoples over the centuries, Gaels, Normans, Vikings, etc. I also realize that it's not really a religious conflict, although I think it is often seen as one and an argument could be made for it being one.

I think I have the general gist of the issues down, for a third person perspective whose never been to the UK and hasn't studied that particular period of history in great detail. I appreciate the corrections, though, as a student of history (I majored in medieval history back when I was still in university)I know the value of accurate information.

I wasn't trying to condemn the IRA for the civilians casualties they have inflicted, I realize that the English government is no more innocent than the political prisoners they have jailed and that every war has unfortunate fallout.

You know, as a citizen of canada - and this might seem a little empty to someone whose Irish - I can empathize with Irish republicanism. As much sovereignty as we have gained as democratic nation we are still subject to the queen in many respects and the house of lords/commons over in the UK, and there is an overarching royalist culture here. Even the small influences are easy to be resentful of; I'm tired of seeing a foreign ruler on my nations coins, for example.

Help me figure out something. So, I know PIRA (which seemed like the true successor to the early 1900's IRA to me, am I wrong?), but, what's the deal with CIRA and RIRA? Are they both break offs of PIRA? If so, what are the ideological differences that separated them into different camps? It seems like it would be more effective for militant republicans to operate under one banner.

I've seen a lot of opinion pieces of the newer incarnations of the IRA, and for the most part, they try to make them out to mostly criminals with out much conviction in a free and unified Ireland, how true is this? Most of the information I've seen on the subject has come from BBC which (for obvious reasons) should be taken with a grain of salt. Unfortunately you don'tr often get to hear the other side of the story.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk

Murdered Dublin RIRA leader Alan Ryan agreed to arrange the assassination of slain drug dealer Micka Kelly for a staggering €150k, underworld sources claim.

It is understood that Ryan agreed to be paid in three instalments after a meeting was arranged with a major drug dealer who wanted Kelly taken out for good.

A female go-between set up the meeting between Ryan and the criminal, who was a very close associate of Sean Dunne, the drug dealer who disappeared in Spain in 2004.

Ryan had intended paying 50 per cent of his windfall to ‘the cause’ and dividing the rest with a number of individuals who helped set up the deal.

It is understood that the man who ordered the hit is based in Co. Meath and is a major supplier of drugs and cigarettes to criminal gangs. He had been paying protection money to Ryan’s mob, but wanted Kelly taken out so he could muscle in on his patch.

Micka ‘the Panda’ Kelly was shot dead by two gunmen in September 2011 – one of whom is believed to have been Ryan himself.

Graffiti was later found scrawled on the wall of a housing estate in Baldoyle in north Dublin which read: “RIRA anti drugs. Micka Kelly drug dealer dead.”

Gardai initially thought up to eight different gangs could have been responsible as he had fallen out with so many different outfits.

His killers drove their car over his body after shooting him dead when he left his fiancée’s apartment in Clongriffen, in Co. Dublin.

The Panda, from Kilbarrack, had initially worked for the drug dealer David ‘Babyface’ Lyndsay and his sidekick Alan ‘Wacker’ Napper, but in 2008 in a notorious gangland double cross he arranged to get rid of the pair and a €2.8 million drugs debt he owed them.

Kelly hired the notorious assassin Eric ‘Lucky’ Wilson to help him do a job on his previous employers.

The duo were last seen in Clane, Co. Kildare, where they had gone to see a gang associate who loaned Lindsay his car. It is believed they then drove to a house in Rostrevor, Co. Down, to meet the Panda.

When Lindsay and Napper arrived at the house, Kelly and Wilson were waiting armed with a pistol, a silencer and a heavy duty electric chainsaw.

Lindsay had been told to go in alone, but took so long that Napper went in to see what the delay was. As he entered it is believed Wilson shot him, having already ended Lindsay’s life.

The pair then went to work with the chainsaw and chopped up the bodies and disposed of the body parts, which have never been discovered.

Underworld sources now say that less than three years later Alan Ryan took on the job to finish Kelly’s short reign.

The deal was done with another drug kingpin, originally from Donaghmede. A number of years ago he had survived an assassination attempt himself when he was shot in the stomach in a pub.

General Thomas (Tom) Barry (1 July 1897 – 2 July 1980)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Barry_(soldier)

Tom Maguire (28 March 1892 – 5 July 1993)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Maguire

When the majority of IRA and Sinn Féin decided to abandon abstentionism in the 1969–70 split, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill sought and secured Maguire's recognition of the Provisional IRA as the legitimate successor to the 1938 Army Council. Of the seven 1938 signatories, Maguire was the only one still alive.[fn 1] Likewise in the aftermath of the 1986 split in the Republican Movement, Maguire signed a statement in 1986 which was issued posthumously in 1996. In it, he conferred this "legitimacy" on the Army Council of the Continuity IRA (who provided a firing party at Maguire's funeral in 1993). In The Irish Troubles, J. Bowyer Bell describes Maguire's opinion in 1986, "abstentionism was a basic tenet of republicanism, a moral issue of principle. Abstentionism gave the movement legitimacy, the right to wage war, to speak for a Republic all but established in the hearts of the people."[9]
Although the 1938 conferring has been crucial to the ideology of republican legitimatists, for all intents and purposes its validity was rejected by the overwhelming majority of the Irish people. In 1986 "a delegation from the [Gerry] Adams leadership" asked for his support, but Maguire rejected them.[10]

Maguire was the last survivor, not only of the rump legitimist Second Dáil of 1938, but of all those who served in the Second Dáil in 1921–22.[citation needed] The last IRA veteran of the Irish War of Independence, Dan Keating, who died in 2007, also supported Republican Sinn Féin.

You say your an Irish Republican get a grip, and get your facts right no Republican would get this IRA history wrong.

http://www.herald.ie/news/ryan-mob-link-to-shootings-of-halfbrothers-29818409.html

KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 07 DECEMBER 2013 07:00 AM

There has been a big increase in tensions within dissident republicanism after a mob who were aligned to slain Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan have increased a campaign of extortion and intimidation.


Sources have revealed that this faction, who are in conflict with a larger IRA group, came to the fore in the months after Ryan's murder and have been targeting a large number of low-level drug dealers in the Artane, Coolock and Kilmore areas.

A source said: "They are carrying on with the exact same kind of stuff that was taking place before Alan Ryan was murdered and the talk is that if they keep it up, it won't be long before one of them is whacked.

"Their activities are not impressing the IRA's Northern leadership and the senior Dublin men who have been installed down here – they should really watch out now for their former IRA colleagues. Things are tense.

EXTORTION

"A woman from Ballymun and some of Alan Ryan's closest associates are the big movers in this and it is leading to a lot of tensions within dissident republicanism in the capital."

The Herald has learned that some of those involved in the extortion drive are linked to the Irish Republican Voice movement that was formed earlier this year and held a fundraising event in a Dublin pub last weekend.

Separately, the rival IRA faction has given leadership roles to two veteran Dublin dissident republicans – men from the north inner city and Ballymun.

Sources say that gardai are investigating if Ryan's associates were involved in the shooting of two half-brothers aged 32 and 23 who hobbled into a Dublin fire station on consecutive nights last weekend.

The Herald can reveal that detectives believe the siblings were shot at Fairview Park.

The special detective unit is now assisting gardai at Mountjoy Garda Station in relation to the bizarre shootings of the two north Dublin men who have addresses in Artane and Coolock, with officers are saying that the shootings were "punishment attacks".

http://www.herald.ie/news/teen-abducted-and-given-savage-beating-29822262.html


KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 09 DECEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

A TEENAGER suffered serious injuries after he was abducted close to his home and taken to the Phoenix Park where he was attacked with baseball bats.

The savage abduction and beating happened less than three hours before a 25-year-old man was shot in the leg in a separate incident in Coolock on the capital's northside.

In the first incident at 7.15pm yesterday, Daryl Doherty (18) was abducted by two men in Cherry Orchard Court in Ballyfermot, bundled into the back of a car and driven to the Phoenix Park in the west of the city.

Mr Doherty was stripped, tied up and restrained in a car at a location at Military Road.

He was beaten with baseball bats and sustained serious injuries during the incident and was being treated in hospital this morning.

Mr Doherty managed to escape from his attackers and gardai were alerted after he flagged down a passing motorist in the park.

The crime scene was sealed off this morning and a garda forensic team was conducting an examination.

No arrests have been made and gardai are still trying to seek a motive for the abduction and assault.

In a separate case, a 25-year-old man named locally as Paul Norton was shot in the lower leg at the Cromcastle Court estate in Coolock at around 10pm yesterday, suffering minor injuries to his leg.

The gunman left the scene in a white Volkswagen Golf and the victim sustained minor injuries to his lower leg.

Sources say that while garda investigations are at an early stage into the Coolock shooting, detectives are looking at whether it was carried out by a dissident republican faction who are linked to slain Real IRA figure Alan Ryan.



EXTORTION

Last week, the Herald revealed that the mob have increased a campaign of extortion and intimidation in north Dublin.

Some of those involved in the extortion drive are linked to the Irish Republican Voice movement which was formed earlier this year and who are suspected of being already involved in a number of punishment shootings, including two last week when two brothers were shot on consecutive nights.

Both were shot in the right leg, one in the upper and the other in the lower part of the leg, and were left with non life-threatening injuries.

One resident in the Cromcastle Court complex told the Herald this morning that he didn't hear the gun being fired last night, but that he wasn't surprised to wake up to the hear the news that there had been another shooting in his local area. He said: "I wasn't surprised. It's an ongoing feud going on here between some of the residents.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/forces-of-evil

A NEW dissident terror organisation has formed in Ireland and aligned itself to a political group set up by associates of murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan.

The Saoirse na hEireann group is suspected of already carrying out a pipe bomb attack and a shooting in north Dublin after a criminal gang tried to gun down a member of political group Irish Republican Voice (IRV), who was putting up posters in the area.

IRV is now the political wing of Saoirse na hEireann, the Sunday World can reveal. And this week a spokesman claimed the terror splinter group has elected an “army council” to wage a renewed campaign of violence.

The group is suspected of carrying out a shooting hours after an IRV spokesman released a verified statement to the Sunday World on behalf of Saoirse na hEireann announcing a new armed campaign. Carlo Moloney (22), was injured in the leg and arm in a drive-by shooting in Ferrycarrig Park in Coolock at 6.45pm last Thursday.

At war: Scene of shooting in Coolock

Moloney, from Greencastle Avenue, was taken to Beaumont Hospital where he was treated for his injuries, which are not life-threatening. Moloney had no involvement in the hit attempt on the IRV member, but it is believed he was targeted because of his links to other people in the area.

Republican sources claimed Moloney was shot by Saoirse na hEireann after a botched attempt on the life of an IRV member who had been putting up posters. The IRV was set up by murdered terror boss Alan Ryan’s pal James McDonagh following the infighting in republican circles after Ryan’s death.


Shot: Carlo Moloney

McDonagh has been recruiting former IRA members from different factions, including the New IRA and Continuity IRA, into the grouping. Earlier this month he visited Portlaoise Prison to recruit former New IRA member Declan Geraghty, who is serving a sentence for possession of a firearm.

McDonagh was accompanied to the meeting by his associate Trevor Conlon and a female connected to Geraghty. Republican sources claim he has also formed an allegiance with Dean Evans, who is in Portlaoise awaiting trial for the murder of former dissident republican Peter Butterly, who was shot dead earlier this year.

“They have been stepping up activity in recent weeks and they are clearly on a recruiting drive,” said a security source. They’re relatively small in numbers, but they intend to make an impact.”

Republican sources claimed they targeted Moloney to send out a message after someone made a hit attempt on an IRV member who was putting up posters in north Dublin.
It is claimed that a criminal tried to shoot the man putting up posters, but the gun jammed.


Dissident leader: James McDonagh

However, hours before he was shot on Thursday, gardai raided the home of a known criminal and seized a 9mm firearm, ammunition and cannabis. The man is now facing a weapons charge. Security sources say the new dissident group was also suspected of being behind a pipe bomb attack on a Coolock traveller family during the week.

Members of that family are associated with the man arrested over the firearm. Shortly before Moloney was shot, a republican spokesman contacted the Sunday World to say IRV had aligned itself with a new terror group. The spokesman said they had aligned with Saoirse na hEireann who “recognised the political leadership of IRV”.

A spokesman went on to warn: “Saoirse na hEireann would also like to state that any intimidation or threats to our members will not be tolerated and will be met with severe military action.”

The Independent Monitoring Commission released a report in 2006 to say Saoirse na hEireann formed following a split in the Continuity IRA.

The group was responsible for a number of bomb hoaxes, but was believed to have ceased operations in 2009. However, in the statement the spokesman claimed the group had elected an army council and declared their “intention to raise arms in defence of our country and our people”.

The spokesman added: “We demand the British government declare its intention to withdraw from out country and no more excuses are acceptable.”

http://www.herald.ie/news/real-ira-plot-to-kill-cash-row-brothers-29767190.html

KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 19 NOVEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

THE Real IRA plans to kidnap, question, torture and murder two west Dublin brothers in the latest internal dissident Republican cash row.

The brothers, who live in the Blanchardstown and Ongar areas of the capital, have been officially warned by gardai of an "imminent and active" threat against their lives.

Senior sources have revealed that the people who took control of the Real IRA after last year's murder of terror chief Alan Ryan have accused the pair of large-scale theft.

The Herald understands that the issue centres on extortion and protection rackets on the city's northside, and the fact that the brothers are said to have been "using the IRA's name to get cash".

"There is a very credible threat against these individuals – make no mistake about that," a garda source said.

"Extra patrols have been keeping an eye on both (their) houses in recent weeks."

GRISLY

"The plan seems to be to abduct them, and what would happen to them would be very grisly to say the least."

Both brothers, who are aged in their 30s, were considered major players in the Real IRA in Dublin, but are now targets of their former associates.

One of them was previously involved in a bitter row with Alan Ryan's mob, which led him to being shot in an incident in north Dublin.

He had been targeted by Ryan's gang on at least three previous occasions.

At one point during 2011, Ryan and an associate were on the verge of murdering him in Lucan, but they got spooked while under surveillance by gardai.

KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 19 NOVEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

THE Real IRA plans to kidnap, question, torture and murder two west Dublin brothers in the latest internal dissident Republican cash row.

The same man was also arrested at the scene of the gun murder of dissident Republican Peter Butterly at the Huntstown Inn in Gormanston, Co Meath, last March, but was later released without charge.

Sources said he could have been shot himself, only he turned up late for the bogus "peace meeting".

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/kinahan-gang-linked-to-botched-gilligan-hit-29819650.html

08 DECEMBER 2013

THE botched assassination attempt on John Gilligan may have been ordered by the man who gardai believe has become the main representative here for the Irish drugs kingpin Christy Kinahan.

Gilligan has been under surveillance by the organisation which has taken over the drugs distribution network formerly led by the city’s major crime leader, Eamon Dunne, who was shot dead in April 20 10.

Dunne’s former right-hand man has assumed control of this network and has become the dominant figure in organised crime in Dublin.

The man, in his early 40s, is little known publicly and has survived at least two murder attempts.

He had been a target of the ‘Real’IRA group led by Alan Ryan, who was assassinated in September2012.

However, the criminal figure has associations with other dissident republican rivals of Ryan’s group.

And one of the theories being examined by gardai is that the criminal figure may have contracted the assassinations out to his “republican” gang based in the Ballymun area.

However, a source admitted that Gilligan has a long list of potential enemies and has made the mistake of “trying to get back into the game”.

The 61-year-old has visited the homes of a number of former associates who he believes owe him allegiance and money.

One source pointed out yesterday that Gilligan, who is living in a apartment close to his former Jessbrook home in Co Kildare, has yet to realise that assassination in Dublin can be commissioned for relatively small sums of money.

Gardai believe that one murder in Dublin earlier this year was carried out to pay off a debt of only a few thousand euro.

Garda sources yesterday admitted they were uncertain who was behind the attempted assassination last Thursday afternoon.

Gilligan attended the High Court on Friday where the Criminal Assets Bureau wants the court to strike out a potential legal impediment to the sale of property seized from Gilligan and his family.

Speaking outside the court, Gilligan said: "I'm doing grand. I just think it was a Halloween prank, too late. I've no problem with anybody and I've no fear of anybody. No problem whatsoever and I've no enemies."

And the Herald has learnt that in a bizarre move, the deluded criminal started mouthing outside court that the Criminal Assets Bureau were responsible for the failed murder attempt.

"It looks like he has gone mad -- can he not keep his trap shut? What a stupid thing to say," a source pointed out.

Shortly after the court hearing, Gilligan was officially warned by gardai of the threat against his life and given advice on his personal security, a senior source has revealed.

This followed the incident in the Castleknock pub in which a raider armed with a 9mm handgun entered the Halfway House looking for the gangster who was drinking with his son, Darren, in a nearby Hole in the Wall pub.

The gunman entered the Halfway House pub reportedly saying "where's Gilligan, where's Gilligan?"

After failing to find his target, the bungling hitman left and was pursued by armed gardai, dropping his loaded handgun on the River Road in Finglas, before fleeing on foot after he discarded his bike.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/bodybuilder-sean-enright-claims-offered-2802537

Gunned down bodybuilder Sean Enright claims he was offered a role in Love/Hate

17 Nov 2013 16:19
The amateur cage fight, who has survived a number of assassination attempts, made boast about hit crime drama on Facebook.

He was shot four times and left for dead but bodybuilder Sean Enright has claimed he was offered a role on top TV crime drama Love/Hate.

The 31-year-old, who was riddled with bullets as he entered the gym he runs in Dublin on May 15, said he should have taken the part when approached to appear in the hit RTE programme.

Enright, who has been nicknamed The Man of Steel by friends after surviving a number of assassination attempts, took to social networking site Facebook to tell friends how he turned down the chance to star in the show after last weekend’s season four finale.

The amateur cage fighter, who is close pals with jailed gangster Alan “Fatpuss” Bradley, posted: “Well after tonight’s Love/Hate I have my Sundays back to myself.

“I should have taken the part when I was offered it, crying now ha.”

When asked by a pal if he was in fact offered a role in the show and not just joking, he replied: “I was indeed last year. Ah well.”

However, an RTE spokeswoman dispelled Enright’s claims and said he was never asked to become a cast member.

She said: “Mr Enright was not approached to appear on series four of Love/Hate.”

Enright’s life reads like an episode of the show after he was shot at and survived twice.

And the fitness fanatic joked if rapper 50 Cent can act on screen after surviving being hit with bullets then surely he can too.

Enright added: “50 cent made money after his eight. I have 14 so I’m more like 2 euro so I will be grand. haha.”

Enright was blasted up to four times by a lone gunman as he entered the gym he runs in Glasnevin, North Dublin.

It is understood he was targeted by the gang once controlled by slain RIRA boss Alan Ryan over an ongoing turf war with some of Enright’s pals.

It is believed he was warned on several occasions recently that his life was in danger.

Enright survived several attempts to kill him over the years.

He was blasted five times in the chest, twice in the right arm and once in the hand as he sat in a car outside his girlfriend’s house in Clonsilla, West Dublin, in 2011.

But the former Mr Ireland managed to walk home and raise the alarm.

It was thought Enright would not live but he amazed doctors with his recovery and was out of hospital after less than a week.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/dissidents-raise-cash-to-grow-group

Dissident Republicans raise cash to grow group.

DISSIDENT republican group Irish Republican Voice turned out on Friday night for a fundraising event in a Dublin pub.

The breakaway group which formed after a split in dissident republican circles following the murder of Alan Ryan are trying to raise cash to grow their organisation.

Leader James McDonagh, a close pal of Ryan, was among those in attendance at the event which took place in the Barn House pub in Dolphin’s Barn on Friday night.

He was joined by pals including Darren Whelan, Darren Gleeson and Hazel McDermott at the event which was only attended in small numbers.

Gleeson is a relative of cousins Gary and Christy ‘Git’ Gleeson who were among three men shot and injured in a gun attack in Blanchardstown in 2011 following a localised dispute.

IRV are the political wing of a new armed group calling themselves Saoirse na hEireann.

The group elected an army council in recent weeks and vowed to carry out an armed campaign.

They are the prime suspects behind an attack on Carlo Meloni who was injured in a gun attack in Coolock three weeks ago.

Meloni is believed to have been targeted because of his links to a group of traveller criminals who had tried to intimidate members of Irish Republican Voice.

Growing

A large number of members of that traveller gang have since been arrested for an unrelated matter.

Republican sources say IRV/Saoirse na hEireann have recruited significant members in recent weeks including a well known former Continuity IRA man from Ballyfermot in west Dublin.

They have also recruited CIRA members from Belfast, Cork and other areas.

A source said: “A lot of the CIRA lads have joined up with them now and they’re growing in numbers. Around seven members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement from Ballyfermot have also joined up. Members of Saoirse na hEireann are attending meetings but they’re not going to the IRV protests.

“So numbers look small at protests but there are a lot more people in the background.”

James McDonagh is the leader of the IRV group and has made a number of visits to Portlaoise Prison in recent weeks to speak to former Real IRA members who have joined up with IRV.

These include Declan Geraghty who is serving a sentence for firearms possession.

He was accompanied to the prison by Trevor Conlon whose cousin Colin John Conlon was jailed for five years in 2007 for possession of an improvised explosive device at the M1 motorway at Cloghran, Co Dublin on November 25, 2005.

http://www.herald.ie/news/hit-gang-paid-50000-to-take-out-crimelord-29773762.html

Hit gang paid €50,000 to take out crimelord.

KEN FOY, CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 21 NOVEMBER 2013 02:30 PM

A RUTHLESS Dublin gang who murdered a major crimelord were paid €50,000 to carry out the hit.

Evil Gintaras Zelvys was shot dead after he ripped off a senior Irish drugs trafficker based in Amsterdam of €800,000, sources have revealed.

It has now emerged the three man hit-team – including a taxi driver – divided up a bounty of €50,000 after the clinical daylight murder of the Lithuanian gangster.

There has still been no charges in the case of Zelvys (43) who was shot dead in front of his wife in the Greenogue industrial estate in Rathcoole, west Dublin on May 1.



Arrested

However, the trio who detectives believe were involved in the murder have been arrested and a file on them has been sent to the DPP.

"They were well paid for this job but that won't be much use to them if they are charged in this case and there is a good case against them," a source told the Herald.

The trio are made up of a major 35-year-old criminal who is originally from Clonsilla but now lives in the Clondalkin area as well as two men in their 30s from the Blanchardstown area.

The 35-year-old was previously in a major dispute with Alan Ryan's Real IRA crew.

While two of the suspects have multiple previous convictions for offences such as burglary, criminal damage, theft, and motoring offences, one of the suspects is a taxi driver with barely any criminal convictions.

The taxi man is suspected of driving the killers from the scene when they abandoned the silver Audi A3 at the Aylmer Housing estate in Newcastle, Co Dublin, immediately after the murder of the Lithuanian.

The Audi was in Pace Avenue, Little Pace, between March 19 and April 30 and Newcastle Boulevard or Aylmer Road on April 30 and May 1.

Murder victim Zelvys had "known form" for kidnapping, hijacking, extortion, burglary, and extreme violence including rape and other offences.

The Herald previously revealed the McCarthy-Dundon gang in Limerick were so intent on murdering prosecution witnesses to the Shane Geoghegan murder trial, they attempted to source contract killers through Zelvys' underworld contacts.

The Lithuanian gangster became close to members of the Dundon gang in prison after he was jailed for seven years for extorting money with menaces from fellow eastern Europeans in Co Monaghan.

Zelvys had previously been observed by gardai on at least one occasion entering John Dundon's home in Hyde Road, Limerick, where Dundon's girlfriend, Ciara Killeen, was living. At an adjourned inquest into Zelvys' death in August, it emerged that he died from gunshot wounds to the trunk.

He was killed as he arrived with his wife Edita to his "cash-for-clothes" business at the Rathcoole industrial estate.



Identified

Edita told Dublin District Coroner Dr Brian Farrell she and her husband had one son. Her deposition was also read to the court, saying she had identified the body of her husband to a garda at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital on May 1.

Not a chance. They will have personal contacts through Irish workers but they don't have the kind of clout that the Provos had at their height.

When they go abroad now they go to Eastern Europe.

The Real IRA is run in its totality by MI5.if you guys think the American Mafia is riddled with informers then you can't even imagine what the Real IRA is like. It is essentially run as a way of getting angry young men off the street and into gaol and as a training exercise for MI5. Ireland is now a testing ground for them and they use the Real IRA to refine their tactics.

Irish Republican who backs MI5 gang very very funny, that says it all.

You sound like an ass licking West Brit abe. Where'd you come up with that shit?

Newsflash buddy, there's been a drug problem in Dublin for decades, and there's always been gangs and crime.

Alan Ryan wasn't a bad fella, you swallow all that fooking shite the Brit media feed yer. You want some more kiss ass Brit kidney bacon mash or whatever the fuck I'll feed yer this. Shove this down yer piehole abe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9Rjjocwf8k

Listen I don't support the killing of innocent people but Alan Ryan genuinely believed in what he stood for and it wasn't harming innocent people. he protected them from scumbags slinging shit to kids on street cornersmlike a proper old fashioned Irishman.

And you really talking some bull to blame the drug crews and organised crime in Ireland purely on the IRA is bullshit. Check your history abe, it wasn't Irish burning women and children from their homes and taunting them.

The Brit scumbags created a monster, one that grew fiercer and became the most well organised freedom fighters in Europe according to the British intelligence. And the Brits never took South Armagh, never! They never hit and run in South Armagh and even the Brit special services got executed there. Erin go Bragh!

How'd you like them apples? Something tells me orange is more your colour abe

I Like this guy Sean South!!!

I don't know much about the Irish underworld, could somebody please tell me if it's illegal to be a member of the IRA, UCA and other such organizations in Ireland, like it is to be a member of the mafia in Italy or are the organizations legal by themselves, but only specific crimes are prosecuted?

I don't know why you put up some else's post and then make out it was mine.

nd you really talking some bull to blame the drug crews and organised crime in Ireland purely on the IRA is bullshit. Check your history abe, it wasn't Irish burning women and children from their homes and taunting them ?

Anyway i did not say the brits did not do this or that to the Irish people the history is there with that just google.

there's been a drug problem in Dublin for decades, and there's always been gangs and crime ?

Where did i say other wise ?

The Brit scumbags created a monster, one that grew fiercer and became the most well organised freedom fighters in Europe according to the British intelligence. And the Brits never took South Armagh, never! They never hit and run in South Armagh and even the Brit special services got executed there. Erin go Bragh!

Where did i say other wise ?

Now Sean go back into your box and came back out in a few mts time like you always do.

Sean ? Funny you put up posts of other people as they was mine and never reply to posts i left you in the passed on Criminal Action Force thread and on this thread when you have been found out.

They are all illegal.

He is ok sometimes.

Sean South a man who says he is a Republican on this thread says Real IRA are a MI5 run organization is this true or not ?

Well the Real IRA no longer exists, there is now a union of separate groups who have broken up into splinter cells to make them harder to track down and trace.

Hence the fact that the recent attacks in Belfast which included the security forces coming under heavy gunfire and a bomb that nearly took out a leading Unionist have crept under the radar of British intelligence.

So one thing we know for sure is that there is at least one cell operating under the radar of the security forces at present.

Anyway merry xmas abe,keep us posted

Yes a number of small attacks in around belfast over last few weeks one bigger attack did not come off.

Shots have been let off at police cars afew times over the last few mts in belfast.

operating under the radar of the security forces at present ?

Well the small jobs are getting done, anything big has went wrong.

Yes seems to be small attacks right now but not like the IRA before 1998.

Óglaigh na hÉireann (Real IRA splinter group)

This group are doing the attacks in belfast.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/debate...s-29837744.html

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/scots-gang-leader-faces-jail-2924388

Scots gang leader faces jail for mocking killings of two Manchester policewomen on Facebook.


A GANG leader faces jail for a sick Facebook message gloating about the gun deaths of PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone.

Sick Chris McCann tried to blame a mystery friend for posting that the two officers’ deaths were “karma” for the removal of a cross honouring a Real IRA leader killed weeks earlier.

The posting mocked the tragedy with the words “ha ha ha boom” – referring to the grenade thrown by killer Dale Cregan.

Cregan had led the officers into a trap with a fake 999 call before unleashing his gun and grenade attack.

Yesterday, McCann, 30, pled guilty to a charge of breach of the peace at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

He admitted he had allowed the offensive message to appear and remain on his Facebook page the day after Fiona, who grew up in Moray, and Nicola were killed in Manchester last September.



Sheriff Ian Miller deferred sentence for reports but told him: “Custody is very much in my mind.”

The court was told the message on father-of-two McCann’s Facebook page read: “F*** your GMP (Greater Manchester Police) only 2 of yous should have been 22 of yous.

“Thats karma coming back to bite yous ratbags for removing the cross monument honouring the late great Alan Ryan. Hope more of yous get took out watch out for they housebreakings ha ha ha boom TAL32.”

Alan Ryan was a Real IRA leader shot dead in Dublin two weeks earlier.

Harry Findlay, prosecuting, said TAL stood for an Irish phrase meaning “our day will come” and the figure 32 referred to the number of Irish counties.

McCann, from the Gorbals, Glasgow, told police he had given another person access to his Facebook page. He added he knew the message was there but did not authorise it.

Had McCann gone to trial, he would have lodged a special defence of incrimination blaming a mystery friend. Des Finnieston, defending, told the court McCann was "completely stunned" by the message and agreed it was “despicable”.

In 2007, McCann was said to be a ringleader of a gang called Young xCross Cumbie.

Four members were jailed for eight years after young dad William Smith was battered to death near his home in the Gorbals.

A video of the killers during a court appearance was put on YouTube titled: “The troops in the high court fur murder”. It was posted by someone with the username chrismccann1888.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/irish-republican-voice-led-james-2971554

Dissident group responsible for September protests threatens chaos in 2014

30 Dec 2013 06:00
Irish Republican Voice has been recruiting over the past six months.

A dissident group blamed for grinding Dublin to a halt in September has threatened a series of large-scale disruptions next year.

Irish Republican Voice was formed in the summer when ex-associates of murdered Real IRA chief Alan Ryan came together to start a new splinter group.

The republicans have been recruiting over the past six months and its leader has outlined their plans for a series of protests.

James McDonagh, 35, said: “IRV is a political pressure group and civil disobedience is the No1 priority for IRV – but in a peaceful manner.

“IRV is there now and it’s there to fight austerity and British rule and it will be carrying out national protests in relation to austerity.

“We hope there will be similar events to what happened on O’Connell Bridge in September.

“We want to see a 24-hour national strike where we will bring this Government down once and for all.”

IRV is the political wing of a new armed group calling itself Saoirse na hEireann.

The organisation elected an army council recently and vowed to carry out an armed campaign.

A series of shootings in Coolock, North Dublin, has been linked to the mob.

O'Connell Bridge in Dublin was ground to a halt in September because of the protest
McDonagh denied any association with the group but added it is the only legitimate armed body.

He said: “We don’t recognise the PSNI, Stormont or Leinster House. We don’t recognise the gardai, the courts system. The only army we recognise is Saoirse na hEireann.”

McDonagh was a close pal of RIRA chief Ryan and was regularly seen by his side at 32 County Sovereignty Movement protests.

Ryan was linked to a series of murders in Dublin and chopped off the fingers of a criminal rival.

Despite this McDonagh claims the 32-year-old was a “kind gentle person”.

He said: “Following the murder of Alan Ryan, things evaporated within the 32 CSM.

“Alan was a personal friend of mine. He was a true republican. Alan Ryan is held in very high regard within the republican movement.”

The leadership of the 32CSM said they booted McDonagh and others out of the group but he claims he left of his own volition.

But he said: “The membership of IRV resigned from other organisations, they weren’t expelled. I did not get kicked out from any other organisation.

“I resigned from the 32 CSM back in April.”

In September IRV took to the streets during an anti-austerity march in Dublin city centre.

The group protested at the Dail and then staged a sit-down protest on O’Connell Bridge – grinding traffic to a halt for up to three hours.

McDonagh, a settled Traveller, is no stranger to protests and has fought a legal battle to return his daughter to a speacial needs school attended.

cathal.mcmahon@irishmirror.ie

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/dissidents-in-disarray

Dissidents in disarray.

DISSIDENT terror groups in the Republic were divided and in disarray in 2013, with infighting and arrests leaving them significantly weakened.

The death of Dublin terror boss Alan Ryan in 2012 led to a major split in the New IRA – the group formed out of an amalgamation of the Real IRA and two other terror factions earlier that year.

This year saw yet another new dissident faction emerge due to the serious problems within the New IRA in Dublin.

Irish Republican Voice (IRV) was set up by Ryan’s former pal James McDonagh after he fell out with the new leadership in Dublin.

At the beginning of the year it was already obvious that Ryan’s death had caused serious problems for the New IRA.

In January 2013 senior dissidents told the Sunday World they were carrying out a “root and branch” review of the organisation, saying it had become tarnished by criminality.

Punishment shootings followed, including an attack on Ryan’s pal ‘Fat Deccy’ Smith.

In March, former Real IRA member Peter Butterly was shot in the car park of the Huntsman Inn at Gormanstown, Co. Meath and several dissidents were arrested.

They included Dean Evans, from Raheny, Eddie McGrath (32), from Tallaght, David Cullen (29) and Sharif Kelly (43), both from Balbriggan.

The group was to suffer a further blow when eight men were arrested in Clondalkin as part of an investigation into dissident activity on Good Friday.

Kevin Braney (38), Des Christie (49), Hubert Duffy (45) and John Brock (40) were among those charged with IRA membership.

Eamon McNamee, from Lucan, was also charged. McNamee was arrested in the wake of the shooting of ‘Fat Deccy’ Smith.

His links to republicans raised eyebrows due to his serious convictions for drug dealing.

There were a number of other shooting punishment attacks throughout the year.

The infighting and arrests led to an emergency meeting of leaders of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement – the political wing of the New IRA – in June.

In July, gardai arrested eight people and uncovered a massive haul of the plastic explosive Semtex as well as a machine gun, at least four handguns, a couple of shotguns, a hand grenade, and a huge amount of assorted ammunition after two raids in Dublin.

Around this time a veteran republican suspected of involvement in the murder of three British soldiers lashed out at the leadership of the New IRA in Dublin.

Roisin Kane, whose son, Ronan McLoughlin, was shot dead by gardai during a RIRA raid in Wicklow in 1998, said under the new leadership the New IRA is “a gangster-ridden movement that only fosters fear into those who do not carry out their totally unjust orders”.

During the year James McDonagh set up Irish Republican Voice after falling out with the New IRA leadership.

Members of the group were pepper sprayed at a protest outside the Dáil in September.

In October, Alan Ryan’s brother Vinny (22) and his pal Daragh Evans (23), were acquitted of firearms possession on the day gangster Micka Kelly was shot dead in 2011.

They have kept low profiles since their release.

Meanwhile, the IRV and their military wing, Saoirse na héireann, were intent on building their profile, carrying out minor non-fatal shootings on low-level criminals in Coolock and surrounding areas.

While small in numbers, they have recruited former New IRA and Continuity IRA members into their ranks and gardai are closely monitoring their activities.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday...t-29862021.html

BY CIARAN BARNES – 23 DECEMBER 2013

Leading dissident republican Colin Duffy's arrest on IRA membership charges came after months of surveillance by a specialist police team investigating a DOZEN murders.

The Colin Duffy squad: Dedicated police surveillance unit monitored Lurgan dissident.

Sunday Life can reveal that the unit was set up in the wake of the November 2012 killing of prison officer David Black by the New IRA which Duffy, 46, was arrested and questioned about.

Since the horror M1 motorway shooting the Lurgan-based republican has been under 24-hour watch from the PSNI and MI5.

And at least 12 Provo murders, some of which Duffy has previously been publicly connected to, are currently being re-examined by cops.

These include the 1998 IRA abduction and killing of cigarette smuggler Kevin Conway in Aghalee.

Last Wednesday Gary Marshall, 45, appeared in Craigavon Magistrates' Court charged with murdering Conway.

The dad of four was shot dead because he tried to muscle-in on an IRA illegal cigarette racket in Lurgan's Kilwilkie estate.

Marshall — the man charged with the ruthless execution — is a close pal of Duffy, who was with his brother Sam Marshall when he was murdered by loyalists in 1990.

Before freeing Gary Marshall on bail totalling £6,000 the court heard there was “new forensic evidence” linking him to the case.

The specialist PSNI unit which has been monitoring Colin Duffy is still investigating him for the Conway murder.

Experienced detectives drafted into the team have spent the past 12 months reviewing the original exhibits and forensic evidence.

The fresh probe was sparked after Sunday Life exclusively revealed last year that Duffy's name was all over Special Branch intelligence files that identified him as one of Conway's killers.

The documents were made public during the inquiry into the 1999 murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson by the LVF. The high-profile lawyer acted on behalf of Colin Duffy until she lost her life in a brutal car-bomb.

One intelligence document written by detectives in 1998 about the Kevin Conway murder states: “Colin Duffy organised and participated in the abduction and murder”.

Another reveals: “Conway was working for PIRA in the importation/distribution of cigarettes. He recently crossed Duffy over profits gained from these ventures.”

Small-time criminal Conway was babysitting his 14-week-old son when he was taken from his home in Lurgan's fiercely republican Kilwilkie estate in February 1998.

He was brought to a derelict building near Aghalee and blasted in the head.

Because the horrific execution took place two months before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement anyone convicted of it will have to serve just two years in prison. A dozen other IRA murders that occurred between 1989 and

1997 are being re-examined by specialist cops who are also investigating Colin Duffy.

They all took place in the greater Lurgan area and include:

l The killings of gun-store owner Roy Metcalfe, and UDR men Colin McCullough and Iain Warnock;

l The 1990 Lough Neagh duck-hunting atrocity in which four friends, two of whom were off-duty cops, were gunned down;

l The murder the same year of RUC reservist Wilfred Wethers;

l The fatal 1997 attack on policemen John Graham and David Johnston in Lurgan;

l The killings of Catholics Denis Headley and Ian Lyons in the town;

A security source with knowledge of the Duffy surveillance team said: “He had become a creature of habit over the past number of months.

“Sometimes he would stay overnight at addresses in the Ardoyne area and other times he would drive back to Lurgan.

“Surveillance teams from MI5 and the Army’s Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRS) were watching his every move.”

Our source explained how Colin Duffy would regularly use a park to meet with his closest friends.

The insider added: “As a result, the PSNI, MI5 and SRS decided they needed to hear what he was talking about.

“Up to a dozen high-powered listening devices were secretly planted overnight in the park.

“They were strategically placed at various points around the park so they could listen in on his conversation. “Everything he talked about was picked up on the microphones, recorded and transcribed.’’

As well as mounting an unprecedented surveillance operation on Colin Duffy the specialist PSNI team probing his activities has also been looking at his friends.

Among this group are former IRA blanket-man Alex McCrory, 52, and 45-year-old republican Harry Fitzsimmons.

McCrory is often seen by Duffy's side and was photographed with him during a parade protest in Ardoyne last year. Riots broke out later that evening.

He was also pictured with him during the summer at the funeral of Republican Sinn Fein and Continuity IRA chief Ruairi O'Bradaigh.

Last Tuesday McCrory and Fitzsimmons appeared in the dock of Belfast Magistrates' Court charged with attempting to murder members of the PSNI in a gun attack on the city's Crumlin Road earlier this month.

They are also accused of possession of a with intent to endanger life.

Along with Duffy, shaven-headed McCrory and Fitzsimmons are charged with conspiracy to possess firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life, conspiracy to murder and IRA membership.

All three refused to stand-up during proceedings at Belfast Magistrates' Court and were remanded in custody.

New IRA have assault rifles

A new IRA assault rifle recovered by cops after a failed murder bid in north Belfast earlier this month was one of six smuggled into Northern Ireland by the republican gang.

Sunday Life can reveal that leaders of the dissident group recently purchased six ‘clean’ Kalashnikov-style weapons to use in a fresh terror campaign.

The first time a gun from the batch was used was in Ardoyne on December 5 when a New IRA member opened fire on a police patrol travelling up the Crumlin Road.

In his panic to escape he dropped the prized machine-gun which was later recovered by police.

This newspaper understands that a second Kalashnikov hidden in a house nearby was also discovered during follow-up searches.

A security source said: “Intelligence indicates that the New IRA has recently acquired a batch of high-powered rifles to use in a new campaign.

“Two have been recovered, but a further four are believed to be out there.”

Belfast republicans Alex McCrory, 52, and Harry Fitzsimmons, 45, appeared in court last Tuesday charged with possessing the gun used in the December 5 Ardoyne attack.

They were remanded in custody along with Lurgan dissident Colin Duffy, 46, who is accused of IRA membership and conspiracy to murder members of the security forces.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/northern-ireland/ex-hunger-strikers-role-for-new-real-ira

Dope head who'll front dissident council fight.

This is the pot smoking ex-hunger striker recruited by the leaders of dissident republican outfit the New Real IRA.



Veteran republican Gerard Hodgins has been drafted in by the terror group’s leadership to oversee council election campaigns with hand picked runners standing under the banner of Independent Republicans

He will team up with cancer stricken dissident chief Tony ‘TC’ Catney to promote the push for district council seats.

The Sunday World can reveal the die hard republican is now a prominent member of the so called Independent Republicans which are under the control of the Collective Leadership consisting of Alex McCrory, Collie Duffy, Brian Arthurs and Frankie Quinn.

His selection however has been strategic as the CL, Brian Arthurs and Frankie Quinn in particular, have had their reputations damaged by their close association to criminals such as tiger kidnapper Brain Conway.

Bringing in someone of Hodgins’ calibre was designed to quieten the discontent among the ranks and to give an air of credibility to the dissident leaders and the Independent Republican candidates.

However the Sunday World can reveal that Hodgins himself is connected to criminal circles and uses his associates to feed his drug habit.

And as our exclusive pictures reveal Hodgins is more than happy to enjoy the perks of the criminal underworld he inhabits.

Hodgins allied himself to the NRIRA after a falling out with the Continuity IRA in which he held the prominent position as finance officer.

The gang was headed up by Christopher ‘Cricky’ Notarantonio who is currently serving a jail sentence for blackmail.

During his time with the CIRA criminal gang Hodgins received large amounts of cannabis which had been stolen in raids carried out by CIRA members including Notarantonio.

This was given to him for his own personal use.

All involved took large amounts for themselves, the rest was passed on to be sold to raise money for the CIRA.

Such incidents include a substantial amount of cannabis being taken from a house in Ballymurphy.

In another raid 20 black bin liners full of cannabis was taken from a storage unit in Springbank Industrial Estate in Poleglass and in another raid on a warehouse in Antrim Industrial Estate £18,000 in cash and a another substantial amount of cannabis was also taken by the paramilitary group.

Hodgins fell foul of the CIRA after he claimed that a large amount of cash he was holding for the CIRA, raised from drug dealing, kidnapping and extortion, was stolen from his flat in Lenadoon during a robbery.

The west Belfast man claimed that the flat was broken into while he was out and the money in question was taken.

So desperate to have his ‘story’ backed up he gave a media interview claiming that his house had been broken into and personal items were taken.

The CIRA did not believe his claims. Members were dispatched to search his home and Hodgins began to seek protection from other dissident groups.

The Sunday World can reveal Hodgins was suspected by the dissident group of stealing the money to enable him to travel to Amsterdam along with a close friend who has an extensive criminal past.

Said one dissident source: “It’s hard to understand the rationale behind the leadership’s decision to hang our hat on Gerard Hodgins.

“Everyone and their granny know Hodgies is into drugs big style, he makes no bones about it, in fact he promotes the use of drugs on his Facebook.

“How do we justify killing Kevin Kearney, yet promote Gerard Hodgies as a sound republican?” he said.

“As for his mates, they’re pure scum and have terrorised the very community we claim to be acting on behalf of. It’s inexcusable, just because Hodgies has a history with the Ra and says the right things – let’s all turn a blind eye to his drug dealing? I don’t think so.”

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/c...-out-of-control

Turf war threatens to spiral out of control.

These chilling messages sprayed on the walls of a housing estate are intended for a brave garda who was the subject of a recent death threat case.

Graffiti in the Hazelwood estate in Bray, Co. Wicklow, tells courageous Detective Garda John O’Reilly “Suck rats c**s stitch up scum” while in nearby Ashlawn the message addressed to him reads “I’m watching you dirty pig”.

The messages mark a sinister escalation in the activity of drug gangs as the first anniversary of 33-year-old murder victim Philip O’Toole approaches.

The latest incidents read like an episode of Love/Hate: A 40-year-old woman missing… a family abducted from their home in the middle of the night… a young man driven up the mountains and forced to kneel as the barrel of a gun is shoved in his mouth… houses full of children riddled with bullets… and now gardaí under threat of death.

Fear and intimidation have become petrifyingly real for the residents of the seaside town and other picturesque villages dotted all over the Garden County as two drug tribes go to war.

‘Philly’ O’Toole had almost 40 convictions when he was shot and dumped in a ravine in Trooperstown, near Laragh, after disappearing on January 7 last year.

His murder remains unsolved, but all hell has broken loose as rival drug gangs have gone to war from within and without ever since.

O’Toole, the dad of a seven-month-old baby, had refused to work for the Puck Ugly gang controlling the drugs scene in Bray, headed by ‘the Gutter Man’ Brendan Kinlan, prior to his jailing in the UK in 2012.

The Pucks have close ties with ‘Fat’ Freddy Thompson’s mob and their drugs are delivered wholesale to the town once a month in a Transit van – the underworld’s terrifying take on operating a professional business.

For attempting to go solo in Arklow, O’Toole became a marked man and in August 2011 an attempt was made to kill him. But the hit failed and he found out exactly who wanted him dead because the gunman told him when he was pulling the trigger: “This is from [named three Puck Ugly kingpins]. Take it like a man”.

After surviving the botched attempt to kill him, O’Toole formed an allegiance with his enemies’ main rival, ‘Mr Big’ – a notorious Wicklow dissident and pimp.

Mr Big has been taking over the drugs supply all along the east coast and he recently bought into a legitimate business, which was firebombed by the Pucks earlier this year.

The paranoid Pucks’ determination to kill O’Toole then went into overdrive, in case he got his revenge strike in first.

The file on the murder has now gone to the DPP. It suggests that for all the enemies he had, Philly O’Toole was in fact shot dead by a trusted friend.

The veteran drug dealer pal – who was associated with the Pucks, but who had known Philly for years – was the only one the slain mobster had been confiding in about his movements.

Detectives believe the murder may have been ordered by Mr Big, the Continuity IRA thug double-crossing O’Toole.

Since the slaying, all hell has been breaking loose. Mr Big has taken over Philly’s patch in Arklow and the Pucks have gone head-to-head with Mr Big – firebombing his business after he attempted to impose a tax on the gang for selling their drugs in Bray.

Another arson attempt on the home of a close relation was never even reported to gardaí.

The Pucks have been asserting their dominance within the gang too.

When a rumour went around that one of their own runners – who is in his twenties – was building contacts of his own with a drugs gang in Tallaght, west Dublin, he was told to collect a €20,000 consignment of cocaine from under a hedge on the Ballywaltrim Road.

But when he got there the stash was gone, and he was blamed for selling it and pocketing the profits.

The man was told he now owed the gang €30,000 – the extra €10,000 was added on as an interest charge.

After he was driven into the mountains and given a warning – a gun was put in his mouth – he was told in no uncertain terms to pay up or he’d be killed.

Members of his family borrowed amounts of €2,000 to pay the debt.

The shooting of a 15-year-old in the foot in Fassaroe in recent weeks is also believed to have been carried out by one of the Pucks. The fear of what the gangsters are capable of is now so overwhelming that several men have been forced out of their homes.

And in April, 40-year-old Jacqueline Smith – who is understood to have lived in terror of the gang – disappeared and was last seen in Carlow.

Meanwhile, the Pucks are also increasingly involved in recruiting new blood.

Gardai have also investigated the links between the abduction of a woman and her two sons from a housing estate in Arklow and those responsible for the murder of Philip O’Toole.

love this thread by the way. saw an article about a russian mob in Belfast cornering several rackets there (http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/northern-ireland/gangsters-running-drug-and-vice-rackets)

But I was wondering, the chief o' irish police say ireland has 25 organized crime mobs operating in ireland, 5 of which have international connections. Anyone know who these mobs are? or have an educated guess with links? TY

Belfast is in Northern Ireland, not 'Ireland'....

He's full of shit.

im well aware of where belfast is and the chief described them as 'gangs' but i assume they are more than petty street thugs.

and in the article, 'the russians' in Belfast report to their bosses in Dublin.

There is 25 big time gangs in Ireland, and a lot of the gangs are in this United Criminal Alliance group up to 15 of them i seen in a report.

http://www.herald.ie/news/fifteen-gangsters-behind-ryan-murder-29548324.html

I never did hear of Russian bosses in Dublin, i don't think there is much Russian crime in Ireland to small for them, prostitution you may get the odd one doing that as Irish Top criminals keep away from prostitution.

I see you put Ireland in your post two times so where is Belfast.

United Criminal Alliance group would cover most of the 25 up to 15 gangs.

for now. Tiocfaidh ár lá!

http://www.herald.ie/news/ryan-case-suspect-fighting-extradition-over-murder-fear-29911875.html

Ryan case suspect fighting extradition over murder fear.

FIONA DILLON – 13 JANUARY 2014 02:30 PM

A MAN who fled the country after being charged in relation to the murder of RIRA boss Alan Ryan is challenging his extradition.

Ryan (32), a paramilitary leader, was shot dead in north Dublin in September 2012. He was killed as he walked through Clongriffin with two friends.

Unemployed Robert Carroll (27), of Clonee, Co Meath, disappeared last April. He was charged in October 2012 with withholding information aboutRyan's murder.

He was granted bail and disappeared after gardai told him they had information that his life was under threat.

A bench warrant was issued for Carroll's arrest after he failed to turn up for a hearing at Dublin District Court last April.

Garda intelligence subsequently tracked him to Wales, where he was arrested on suspicion of using false travel documents. He is being held on remand in England pending an extradition hearing.

CHALLENGING

However, Carroll is claiming that he had no choice but to jump bail and did so only to protect himself.

It is understood he is challenging his extradition on the grounds that he will be murdered by the IRA if he is returned to Dublin.

During his first court appearance, he was subjected to abuse and taunts from associates of Ryan during a tense hearing.

An organised crime gang is said to have killed Ryan. However, there are suspicions that they were helped by dissident republicans who regarded him as a maverick.

The fenian scum surrendered yet again

NO SURRENDER!

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/commun...-ways-1-5788288

Parades in Limerick call for ‘return to Republican ways’

RENEWED calls have been made for a return to republican traditions at two commemorations in Limerick city over the weekend.

There was a strong turnout at commemorative marches honouring Garryowen man, Sean South, who lost his life during a raid on an RUC barracks in Fermanagh in 1957.

The marches, organised by Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) and Sinn Fein respectively, got under way an hour apart from Bedford Row on Sunday, and went to the Republican plot in Mount St Lawrence cemetery, Mulgrave Street.

Sinn Fein’s parade - the second to leave the city - welcomed Liadh Ní Ríada, a daughter of the late Irish composer Sean O’Ríada.

She will stand for the party in this May’s European elections, and is also their Irish language officer.

A colour party drawn from all over the 32 counties led the RSF parade, which also saw attendance from the Irish Republican Voice Movement.

Those marching were backed by a bagpipe player, which fell silent as it progressed past Limerick Prison, where some republican prisoners are serving sentences.

Banners demanded the release of “republican prisoners of war”, while wreaths were laid at South’s grave by a number of groups, including Cumanns from Tyrone and Fermanagh.

RSF president and historian Seamus O’Suilleabhain described Mr South as an “icon of the Republican movement”.

He urged all Republicans to get involved in the 2016 centenary commemorations, saying: “It cannot be left to that government there at the minute who have every intention of turning 2016 into a British commemoration.”

Limerick man Joe Lynch, RSF’s national spokesman, said it is hoped that an anti-Good Friday agreement rally will take place in the city in that year.

“We hope to have all republicans, and non-republicans to join with us. We want anyone who is proud of their country to join us for one anti-Good Friday agreement commemoration,” he said.

RSF vice-president Sean Mac an Ghirr added: “We must renounce British symbols, whether they be poppies, flags, crowns, or cities designated as UK capitals of British culture. Many in this island mistakenly believe they are free while they are happy to regurgitate a West Brit culture while seeing nothing wrong in the partition of our land.”

I used to provoke a British guy I knew by saying England should surrender Northern Ireland to Ireland and move the border between England and Scotland to the Roman wall for aesthetic reasons

The fenians have never won a battle, a war, and go crying if someone shoots back at them.

They are finished , HaHa!

"British is best...."

haha are fucking kidding me with that signature?? yeah ive been to Britain once it sucked, it rained the whole time i was there, and for the country that supposedly spawned the English language, no one over there seems to know how to fucking speak it!!

Bullshit, that's why the Brits flew Chinooks over South Armagh during the majority of the troubles is it? EVen your scumbag Special forces couldn't infiltrate South Armagh. Fact!

Quick history lesson...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DO71o2LrjY

Tell me about it! Bunch of fags and I never met one who could fight his way out of a paper bag!

Is that why the British governed a large part of the world at one time or another, is that why us British fought European papists over hundreds of years and were never defeated..


The day is get history lessons of some yank plastic paddys is the day the fenians win a military conflict,,, never!

The fenians planted bombs and ran away, of course they abused children as well...


You will never beat us British and Ulster will ALWAYS remain British

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW31yYLSmoc




NO SURRENDER!

Is that why we saved your sorry ass in World War I and II? Limey cocksucker. Assume the position douchebag

Child abuse? The fuck you talking about? The most celebrated British gangsters of all time were the Krays, both fags and Ronnie a well known child abuser so don't come to me with that crap buddy, the fuck were you in Vietnam?

My Uncle lost his life fighting the Cold War the fuck you do Limey? Kiss my Irish American ass that's all you Brits seem to ever do

And that's the final time I'll bite on this piece of bait. So fish away I ain't chomping no more. Said my piece.

The Brits never took South Armagh and were too cowardly to fight it out, flying over on chinooks. Even the top brass admits that the Brits were outfought in South Armagh it is all here in black and white douche....

Educate yourself... Read it and weep Limey...

'Enemy Respect For The Provisional IRA in South Armagh'

"Even Harnden's sources within the British security forces, admit they feared and grudgingly respected the South Armagh Provisional IRA's ingenuity and ruthless determination".

http://irishistory.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bandit-country-by-toby-harnden-review.html

Plastic paddy twat!

Cut it out, you two!

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gan...d-29931178.html

Gangland murder linked to pub shooting in which three innocent women were injured.

THE gangland murder of Michael Devoy is believed to have been a revenge attack for a near fatal shooting outside a Dublin pub late last year.

The shooting occurred outside Hanlon's pub in the north of Dublin city.

The target of the shooting was a drug dealer who sustained a number of injuries in the assassination bid but survived.

Three innocent women who happened to be standing in the area were also injured in the incident.

Michael Devoy (42), originally from Balbutcher Lane, Ballymun, was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot in the head on Saturday night.

Less than a week before his murder, an explosive device was placed under his car.

The eighth murder investigation of the year was under way today following Devoy's murder.

He was released from prison just over 24 hours before being shot on Saturday night.

His murder means that eight people have suffered violent deaths in the first 18 days of the year. At the same stage in 2013 there were no murders.

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore yesterday expressed his shock at the spike in killings, describing it as "horrific" and criticising such "savagery". "These killings have no place in our country. We have to support the gardai in trying to identify those responsible and bring them to justice. As a society we have to work harder to eliminate violence," Mr Gilmore told the Irish Independent.

Devoy, from Balbutcher Lane in Poppintree, Ballymun, north Dublin, was a notorious criminal who had more than 60 convictions.

His body was discovered on a secluded roadway in south Co Dublin by gardai while on patrol late on Saturday.

It is believed that his killers were trying to dispose of his remains over a 30ft wall when they were disturbed by gardai on routine patrol in the area.

Officers noticed two men standing at the rear of a silver hatchback car on the isolated Foxhill Road, near the Bohernabreena Road in Tallaght.

The two men fled the scene when approached and a car chase ensued -- but the suspects were able to make their escape over the narrow and winding country roads.

Gardai then returned to the scene expecting to find dumped drugs but were shocked to find Devoy's body. He had sustained gunshot wounds from a handgun to the head and neck as well as other injuries.

Gardai attempted resuscitation but he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after the discovery.

Devoy -- who was released on the orders of a court -- knew that his life was under threat and was wearing a bullet-proof vest at the time of his killing.

EXPLOSIVE

A sophisticated explosive device was placed under his car only last week in another sinister attack. Sources said he had been linked to the failed assassination attempt on drug dealer Greg Lynch outside Hanlon's Pub in Dublin last October, though it is unclear if he actually fired any shots in the attack.

Lynch miraculously survived that attempt on his life despite suffering serious injuries after one of the bullets lodged in his head. In 2006, Devoy was jailed for four years for threatening to gouge out a neighbour's eyeballs and slash his face after a row over their bins.

The first killing of the year came on January 1. Dale Creighton (20) died after an assault in Tallaght. Eight people have been charged in connection with the incident.

Hours later, Wayne McQuillian (30) was found stabbed in the neck outside his home in Drogheda. Gardai rushed him to hospital but he didn't survive.

On January 6, Thomas Horan (63) was found dead at his sheltered accommodation in Ringsend, Dublin. Kenneth Cummins (26) and his sister Sabrina Cummins (36) were charged with murder.

A day later, father-of-six Christy Daly (47) was found dead in an Offaly drain.

Michael O'Dwyer (25) was fatally stabbed at a house in Waterford on January 7. A 32-year-old man, Tadhg Butler, has been charged with his murder.

The next murder was at an apartment in Finglas on January 11. A series of people have been quizzed by gardai Vincent Maher's death, including a 23-year-old woman.

And journalist Tom O'Gorman was killed at his home in Castleknock on January 12. His Italian lodger, Saverio Bellante (34), was charged with murder.

Sam Griffin and Tom Brady.

http://www.thestar.ie/star/gangster-alliance-we-killed-criminal-39865/

Gangster alliance: We killed criminal.

THE murderers of a violent criminal have told The Star that he was executed because of his links to a failed gangland hit last year.

Gardai are investigating claims by the so-called United Criminal Alliance (UCA) gangster group that it killed Michael ‘Mickey’ Devoy (42) in Tallaght, Dublin, over the weekend.

Devoy was arrested three weeks ago on foot of several outstanding warrants for minor offences, and put in jail — where gardai believed he would have been safest, as there had been death threats against him.

Devoy challenged his detention in court last Friday and was freed from Portlaoise Prison, but he was killed around 24 hours later.

A source said: “He effectively signed his own death warrant.”

Thugs from the shadowy UCA group, which boasts of being a coalition of criminals, claim they carried out the gangland slaying.

They claimed they shot the career criminal, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, up to six times in the head and neck with a .38 calibre revolver.

A source told The Star: “Gardai are taking the [UCA] claim seriously and are treating it as credible.”

Body

Gardai found the victim’s body in the Tallaght area, near the Dublin Mountains, at around 10.45pm on Saturday night.

Officers suspect that he may have been attacked by a dog before he was shot dead.

It was the second time that the UCA had targeted Devoy, after he previously survived a pipe bomb attack near his home in Ballymun, north Dublin.

The Star has learned that Devoy may have been lured to his death on Saturday night, meeting up with his killers before being driven to a secluded spot in Tallaght to be shot and his body dumped.

It’s believed Devoy, from Balbutcher Drive, Ballymun, was killed over his links to a failed hit on a serious gangland criminal in Dublin last year.

That gangster, who is head of one of the country’s largest drug importation gangs, survived being shot in the face at close range — and vowed revenge.

The UCA statement said: “The narrowness of their escape first time from our explosive device in Belclare area, Ballymun, Dublin.

“There will always be tomorrow and there was. We executed Mickey Devoy. UCA council.”

The victim’s body was found off the Foxhill Road at Bohernabreena, Tallaght. Detectives came upon the scene while on routine patrol.

The officers had initially stopped to investigate a silver hatchback car parked suspiciously on the road, but as they arrived alongside it, two men jumped into the vehicle and sped away.

Garda spokesman Superintendent Dave Taylor said it was a narrow road and that it wasn’t possible for the detectives to follow.

Scene

“They did carry out an extensive search of the area but the car has not been located to date,” Supt Taylor said.

However, he said when they returned to the original scene, the detectives came upon the victim with “obvious wounds to the upper body”.

The area was sealed off pending forensic tests and the body was (above) removed from the scene.

Gardai have called for any witnesses to contact them at Tallaght Garda Station on 01 666 6000.

History for YOU.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfe_Tone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Emmet

Protestant Irish men.

http://www.thestar.ie/star/murdered-crim...him-dead-40046/

Murdered criminal Mickey Devoy told cops name of gang boss who wanted him dead.

GANGLAND gun victim Michael ‘Mickey’ Devoy told gardai the name of the crime boss who was gunning for him — just days before he was murdered, The Star has learned.

Sources said detectives visited Devoy in his cell at the top-security Portlaoise Prison early last week to warn him of an imminent threat to his life — that they believed to be credible.

But Devoy, shot dead late on Saturday night in Tallaght, south Dublin, told gardai that he not only knew about the threat — but named the man who was behind it.

Sources revealed that he named a key associate of a man whom Devoy (42), from Ballymun, north Dublin, was blamed for almost killing when that man was shot in north central Dublin last year.

That associate, who is in his 50s, is a well-known drug dealer from the city and is regarded as a major criminal by gardai.

Twist

Gardai believe he ordered the murder in revenge for the botched hit — because he blamed Devoy for it.

But, in a shock twist, sources told The Star that gardai now don’t believe Devoy was involved in the original hit.

A source said: “Two detectives went to the prison last week to give Devoy a formal warning that he was under death threat.

“They told him that they had information that the threat was credible and that they judged that an attack on him was imminent.

michael devoy
TARGET: Criminal Michael ‘Mickey’ Devoy (pic from Courtpix)
“But he turned to the gardai and told them he was well aware of the threat. And he told them that he knew [the gangster] who was behind the threat and wanted him dead. It was no surprise to him and he knew all about it.”

Victim Devoy, who had over 60 convictions, was only released from Portlaoise Prison on Friday.

He had been jailed on warrants a few weeks earlier after gardai became concerned for his safety.

Victory

But he took a legal challenge to the detention — and won, being released on Friday night. However, that hollow victory meant he only had around 24 hours to live.

Devoy’s body was discovered off the Foxhill Road in Bohernabreena, Tallaght, at around 10.45pm on Saturday night after detectives from Tallaght Garda Station came upon the scene while on a patrol.

The officers had initially stopped to investigate a car parked suspiciously — but as they arrived alongside it, two men jumped into the vehicle and sped away.

Devoy had been shot several times in the head and neck in a brutal slaying.

He spent most of his adult life in prison for a string of violent offences, including a four-year stretch for threatening to kill a man and gouge his eyes out.

Devoy was also prime suspect for the 2005 murder of criminal Mark Byrne — who was shot moments after he left Mountjoy Prison.

Gardai are focusing their probe on a freelance hitman from the border counties who previously worked for Eamonn ‘The Don’ Dunne — himself gunned down in April 2010.

The criminal, who was formerly associated with dissident republicans, branched off into mainstream crime in the middle of the Noughties.

He was close to Dunne’s then boss, Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland (39), and acted as one of his enforcers.

But when Dunne had Hyland murdered in Finglas, north Dublin, and took over his empire in December 2006, the hitman quickly aligned himself to the new boss.

Bomb

He became one of Dunne’s key henchmen, but when the Don was gunned down by his own gang in Cabra, north Dublin, in April 2010, he branched out on his own.

Sources say gardai arrested the hitman close to Devoy’s home around two weeks ago — and that he was staking out the property for a hit.

Officers also believe he was the man who placed a sophisticated pipe bomb under a car near Devoy’s home last week in another murder attempt.

Devoy, who had more than 60 criminal convictions, only survived that attack because gardai had jailed him days earlier.

The Star revealed on Monday that a gang calling itself the United Criminal Alliance claimed responsibility for the murder of Devoy on Sunday.

http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepage/news/article5390577.ece

Gangland deal to whack Mickey Devoy sealed over a pint.

THE plot to whack thug Michael ‘Mickey’ Devoy was finalised during a drugs summit last week.
The Irish Sun can reveal heroin dealer Greg Lynch’s mob met in a pub in the Crumlin area of Dublin to discuss the hit.

And gardai believe the gang paid a former republican hitman, with links to the IRA and INLA, €20,000 to take out Devoy.

Devoy, 41, was targeted on the orders of crime godfather Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan after being blamed for shooting Lynch, 28, last October. We can also reveal Lynch was warned by detectives from Kevin Street Garda Station at Christmas that his life was in danger from a north Dublin mob.

A senior source said: “Lynch’s cronies held a meeting last week in a bar because they were worried about the threat against him.

“The decision was taken to pay someone from outside the capital to take out Devoy because they all knew how mad he was.

Scene sealed off after body find
Road closed ... scene sealed off after body find
“Lynch was convinced Devoy ordered the hit against him but there are other gangs from west Dublin in the frame.”

Detectives confirmed yesterday the main line of inquiry was that Devoy was blasted because of the botched hit on Lynch outside a pub on Hanlon’s Corner in Cabra in October.

But they’re also following a number of other lines of inquiry.

Devoy, from Ballymun in north Dublin, was found in the Foxhill Road area of Tallaght around 10.45pm after detectives stopped to examine a silver-coloured car.

Two men suddenly appeared from the rear of the vehicle before getting into the front and speeding off.

Detectives were involved in a high-speed chase through Dublin before the hoods managed to escape.

But when the officers returned to the scene they were left stunned to discover Devoy’s remains. The serious criminal, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, had gunshot wounds to his neck and head.

A post mortem on his remains was conducted yesterday morning.

Devoy had just been released from prison after he was locked up for failing to appear in court on various charges.

His previous convictions include assault, possessing drugs and making threats to kill.

Gardai were still searching for the getaway car last night and also trying to establish where he was shot.

Greg Lynch
Survived hit bid ... Greg Lynch
Since the attempt on Lynch’s life, the kingpin has rarely left his heavily-fortified home in Dublin’s south inner city.

He also installed CCTV cameras at his house over fears he would be targeted for a second time.

The source said: “The only time he answers the door is when he has a takeaway delivered.

“He’s terrified of getting shot but he’s determined to keep his patch at all costs.”

Devoy was the second gangland victim this month after the murder of Christy Daly, 47, in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

So far this year, eight people have suffered violent deaths.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/devoy-had-sourced-assassin-before-he-was-murdered

Gardai on high-alert over fears hitman paid to avenge Michael Devoy murder.

Gardai are on high-alert over fears that a hitman is preparing to avenge the murder of Michael Devoy who was shot dead last weekend on the orders of Christy Kinahan’s mob.

The Sunday World exclusively revealed that a former Provo assassin from Dundalk had agreed to whack 42-year-old Devoy, who was blamed for a failed murder bid on drug dealer Greg Lynch last October.

The 40 year-old was paid €20,000 by associates of Lynch and told not to rest until Devoy was dead.

Mickey Devoy survived two murder bids on January 7 and 10 but his luck finally ran out late last Saturday night when he was lured to a meeting before being tortured and shot in the head three times. His body was then dumped on a country road near Tallaght.

Devoy had been warned that his life was in danger and had secured the services of his own hitman before he was murdered.

Gardai do not know whether he had actually paid the shooter before he was shot dead but are taking no chances because he was well connected and had the contacts to lash back against Lynch.

The ERU has been ordered to continue patrolling around the streets of both Ballymun and the south-inner city where Lynch and his drug dealing cronies are based.

Detectives do know that a close friend of Devoy, who was also recently warned his life was under threat because of the failed Lynch murder bid, is telling friends that Devoy’s murder will not go unpunished.

However sources say they are not convinced that the Ballymun man has the capability of going up against the biggest gang in the country.

Nevertheless they are taking no chances and have intelligence that the Kinahan gang is planning more murders following an AGM of the mob last week after the death of one of their members.

Several senior gang members met at a pub in Crumlin last Thursday following the death of Eddie McLoughlin.

Among those collated by gardai at the Kinahan gang sit-down included Gerard ‘Hatchet. Kavanagh, Paul Rice, Gerard ‘Bra’ Brady, Greg Lynch, brothers Liam and David Byrne, and their father James ‘Jaws’ Byrne.

All the men are regarded as serious criminals and all have links to Christy Kinahan’s gang. They spent the afternoon and evening drinking at the pub are believed to have discussed gang business.

Top of the agenda is understood to have been all outstanding debts owed to the Kinahan mob.

The collapse of the economy five years ago really affected the cocaine market which led to scores of small and medium sized dealers being unable to pay what they owed.

The gang has ruthlessly been extracting money from drug dealers and the Sunday World has previously revealed how failed car dealer and money launderer Lee Cullen and drug dealer Christopher ‘Git’ Russell fell foul of the mob.

Kinahan is understood to have issued an order that his gang should use any and every means necessary to get what they are owed.

It is also feared that discussions took place about “sorting out” witnesses in several high-profile trials that are due to begin soon.

The identity of the witness and the trials that gardai believe the Kinahan mob is attempting to scupper cannot be revealed but it is understood several individuals have been informed about threats to their lives and given personal protection advice.

Michael Devoy was a veteran criminal who wass extremely well-known to gardai and had the reputation as a very violent individual.

He was the chief suspect in the murder of 30 year-old Mark Byrne in May 2005. Byrne had just been released from Mountjoy prison and walked out of a shop after buying phone credit when a gunman shot him dead. The murder was later re-created on RTE drama Love/Hate.

The Ballymun man was arrested over the murder and gardai were hopeful there was enough evidence to charge him but the DPP disagreed.

He had well over 70 criminal convictions and had served prison sentences over the last 25 years for making threats to kill, possession of firearms as well as burglary, driving offences and other public order matters.

He associated with several serious criminals from Finglas and Ballymun and a close relation is serving a lengthy jail sentence for a feud related shooting.

28 year-old Greg Lynch was left permanently disfigured after being blasted outside a pub at Hanlon’s Corner last October. He was in a coma for two weeks but discharged himself and his pals have been plotting revenge ever since.

He is the leader of a 60-strong drugs gang that is responsible for armed robberies and tiger kidnappings.

He is one of the main targets of the new anti-gang unit based at Kevin Street Garda Station. Gardai class him as one of the city's biggest drug distributors, despite his relatively young age.

Two years ago an undercover Sunday World team captured Lynch meeting his associates out in the open to avoid being bugged by gardai.

In scenes reminiscent of American TV series ‘The Wire’, he insists on conducting all his business face-to-face - and the paranoid mobster even frisks people for bugs before talking to them. He never talks on the phone or carries a wallet or any form of identification.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gun-found-in-bushes-just-metres-from-dead-body-29938349.html

Gun found in bushes just metres from dead body.

Michael Devoy: shot up to four times at close range with a handgun
TOM BRADY SECURITY EDITOR – 22 JANUARY 2014

GARDAI have recovered a revolver they believe was used in the weekend murder of Dublin criminal Michael Devoy.

The weapon was found in undergrowth about 50 metres from where Devoy's body was discovered by a routine detective patrol.

Ballistic tests are being carried out on the gun at the garda technical bureau in the Phoenix Park.

The revolver had been dumped in recent days at the spot in Bohernabreena, Tallaght, where it was found shortly after first light yesterday by a garda search team.

Devoy (41) was shot up to four times at close range in the left side of the head.

A post-mortem examination, carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis, was unable to definitively determine the exact number of shots because of exit wounds but it is thought he could have been hit with four bullets from a handgun.

Searches of shrubbery and undergrowth along Foxhill Road continued yesterday while gardai extended their hunt for a silver-coloured hatchback car, used in the getaway by at least two killers shortly before 11pm.

Gardai think Devoy, from Balbutcher Drive, Poppintree, Ballymun, was shot dead after a €30,000 contract was placed on his head on the orders of a major Irish crime figure who is currently living overseas.

Devoy was targeted after he was blamed for pulling the trigger in the attempted murder of convicted heroin dealer Greg Lynch outside a pub in Dublin's north inner city last October.

HUNT

Meanwhile, Assistant Garda Commissioner John Twomey, who is in charge of policing in the Dublin region, has pledged that all available resources are being deployed in the hunt for the killers.

He said yesterday that officers were taking overt and covert action with high visibility uniformed patrols backed up by plainclothes units.

Mr Twomey called on members on the public who had information that could prove useful to the garda investigations into the recent spate of violent deaths to come forward and promised that they would be treated with the strictest confidence.

"We need the support of the community to bring the perpetrators of these absolutely horrific crimes to justice and the public can play a vital role in helping us," he added.

Irish Independent

http://www.herald.ie/news/devoy-murder-gun-found-close-to-crime-scene-29940902.html

Ken Foy is a joke reporter full of it.

The Ballymun man had been shot numerous times in the attack and there were a lot of spent rounds at the scene ?

What is this Ken Foy ?

GARDAI have recovered a revolver they believe was used in the weekend murder of Dublin criminal Michael Devoy.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gun-found-in-bushes-just-metres-from-dead-body-29938349.html

United Criminal Alliance statement says ?

They claimed they shot the career criminal, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, up to six times in the head and neck with a .38 calibre revolver.

http://www.thestar.ie/star/gangster-alliance-we-killed-criminal-39865/

Devoy murder gun found close to crime scene.

Ken Foy is a joke reporter full of it.

KEN FOY, CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 22 JANUARY 2014 02:30 PM

GARDAI investigating the murder of Michael 'Mad Mickey' Devoy have confirmed that the gun used to kill the north Dublin criminal has been found.

Sources have said that the handgun was located in a ditch close to where Devoy's body was discovered, at Bohernabreena, Tallaght.

The Ballymun man had been shot numerous times in the attackand there were a lot of spent rounds at the scene.

The Herald understands that the weapon was recovered on Monday, with gardai describing the find as "a major breakthrough" in the case.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that officers investigating the killing initially wrongly believed that the victim was a man who had survived a previous meat cleaver attack.

MISTAKEN

They realised they were mistaken when they visited the home of that man, Alan Hewitt, from Tallaght – who has no links to organised crime – in the early hours of Sunday and found him asleep in his bed.

"In fairness, you can't blame the officers at the scene for this," a source said.

"It was dark and these fellas look alike, but there is a major height difference.

"But for a number of hours on Sunday, gardai believed that they were dealing with the murder of Alan Hewitt, but obviously that is not the case."

Hewitt denied that gardai had called to his house when approached by the Herald, but he did speak about being the victim of the meat cleaver attack eight days earlier, which was reported in this newspaper at the weekend.

He said: "I basically got chopped up with a machete, but I'm doing a lot better now. I was totally shocked when it happened.

"There's no permanent damage done, but I got seven stitches in my head because the meat cleaver went right down to the skull. I also got four stitches in my finger.

"I was so lucky it didn't go right into my brain, but it did cut right through the bone. My friend now has to get an operation on his hand.

"I was in hospital for a few hours, but I discharged myself that day. My girlfriend was slashed in the chest and she got seven stitches in one area, and 16 in another," he explained.

"It happened after we walked home with my girlfriend. Before I knew it, this guy started swinging a knife at us. I had never seen the guy before."

Separately, the investigation into Devoy's murder continues, with officers convinced he was shot dead because he tried to murder heroin trafficker Greg Lynch last year.

Detectives have also rubbished reports that the Criminal Action Force (CAF) were behind the murder.

"CAF, they don't exist," a source said. "This is squarely linked to Greg Lynch's gang, and gardai believe a Dundalk hitman did this murder."



REVENGE

Gardai are on red alert as they believe that dangerous criminal associates of Devoy will attempt to get revenge.

The chief suspect in the killing is a 40-year-old former IRA man from Dundalk, who officers believe was paid €20,000 to take out Devoy.

He is also suspected of placing a pipe bomb under Devoy's car at his Ballymun home less than a fortnight ago.

The suspected assassin is well known to gardai and is said to be an extremely violent criminal who recently was before the courts for a serious assault.

He also has convictions for public order offences and drink-driving and is allegedly dangerous with alcohol in him.

kfoy@herald.ie

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/cri...g-29933702.html

Crime lord paid 'guns for hire' €30k to carry out revenge killing.

TOM BRADY SECURITY EDITOR – 21 JANUARY 2014

A "guns for hire" gang is being blamed for the weekend murder of Dublin criminal Michael Devoy.

Gardai believe Devoy was shot dead after a €30,000 contract was placed on his head on the orders of a major Irish crime figure, who is currently living overseas.

Devoy was targeted after the crime lord decided he had been the "trigger man" in an attempt to murder convicted heroin dealer Greg Lynch outside a pub in Dublin's north inner city last October.

Lynch was shot in the head, after a gunman opened fire on a crowd attending a 21st birthday party, but survived the attack.

He is linked to associates of the crime lord, who is believed to have ordered the hit on Devoy in retaliation.

Senior garda officers said last night they were sceptical of underworld intelligence indicating he had placed a €100,000 contract on the deaths of three men, including Devoy.

CONSORTIUM

The contract is believed by gardai to have been taken on by a group who have been involved in a series of criminal activities in counties Louth and Meath, as well as on the north side of Dublin, in the past few years.

The gang involves a 40-year-old Dundalk man, who is well known to gardai and is suspected of being responsible for issuing threats to other criminals who refused to hand over a slice of their profits to the group.

The gang uses cover names such as the "criminal action force" or the "united criminal alliance" to claim they carried out attacks.

The "criminal action force" claimed responsibility for the murder of Real IRA Dublin boss Alan Ryan, who was shot dead in September 2012.

Gardai say the shooting of Ryan was organised by a consortium of gang bosses, who had clashed with the dissident republican over his demands for cash from their drug trafficking and armed robberies.

Devoy was aware, along with two others, that his life was at risk and wore a bullet-proof vest.

He had been arrested by gardai last Tuesday with another man as a result of the execution of outstanding warrants against them.

Devoy (41), from Balbutcher Drive, Poppintree, Ballymun, north Dublin, was taken to Portlaoise jail. But his lawyers took an action against the State for alleged delays in serving the warrants and a court ordered his release from jail on Friday.

He was shot in the left side of the head with a handgun on Saturday night and his body was about to be dumped over a wall, leading to a 30ft drop, at Foxhill Road, Bohernabreena, Tallaght, in south county Dublin.

But local detectives, on a routine patrol, disturbed the killers who jumped into a car and fled. Garda gave pursuit but failed to locate the car, described as a silver-coloured hatchback.

When the officers returned to the scene they found Devoy's body. A post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis, who confirmed that he died from gunshot wounds to the head.

Detailed searches of shrubbery and undergrowth around the Foxhill Road continued yesterday as gardai searched for vital forensic clues to the identity of the killers.

Gardai said at least two men were in the silver hatchback car when it sped away from the scene, shortly before 11pm on Saturday.

Irish Independent

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/cri...g-29933702.html

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/armed-gardai-in-show-of-force-at-devoys-funeral-29961059.html

Armed gardai in show of force at Devoy’s funeral.

KEN FOY, CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 29 JANUARY 2014

A SIGNIFICANT armed garda presence is expected in north Dublin today for the funeral of gangland thug Michael ‘Mad Mickey' Devoy who was shot dead 10 days ago.

The funeral takes place at St Canice's Church in Finglas, and it is understood that Devoy (41) will later be cremated at Glasnevin.

He was waked last night at his family home in Balbutcher Drive in Ballymun. One of his closest friends acted as bouncer on the door.

The Herald has learned that the bulky, 23-year-old doorman – who was the victim of a serious assault in 2008 – was close to Devoy and his family.

The garda investigation into the murder is continuing, with a senior source revealing that detectives have raided and searched three houses. No arrests have yet been made.

Gardai have been working on the theory that a Co Louth hitman carried out the murder on behalf of the Greg Lynch drugs gang after Devoy was identified by them as being involved in a botched hit on Lynch last October.

A special policing plan has been put in place for today’s funeral, with armed and public order units in attendance and members of the Emergency Response unit located nearby.

One person who will not be there is Devoy’s younger brother Derek, known as Bottler, who failed to secure temporary release from Mountjoy Prison.

“It would be way too much of a security risk – we think that even he knows that,” a senior source said.

Volatile hood Bottler (31) is not due to be released from jail until February of next year. He is serving sentences for firearms and other offences.

In 2007 he was jailed for seven years for the attempted armed robbery of a post office in Balbriggan, north Dublin, the year before.

He was given extra jail time in November 2007 for the non-fatal drive-by shooting of two of his neighbours in Ballymun in September, 2005.

Devoy has had multiple serious disciplinary issues since being locked up, but sources said he has not been in trouble since last October.

At one stage in 2009 he was even transferred to a segregation area of Portlaoise Prison.

Bottler has more than two dozen convictions and is an associate of the two main suspects in the murders of Martin ‘Marlo' Hyland and innocent young plumber Anthony Campbell.

He also has close links with other Ballymun criminals and the Finglas gang who are suspected of the gun murder last summer of Tallaght criminal Carl Wynne.

“He is a dangerous and volatile criminal and despite being locked up he has continued to influence things on the outside,” a source said.

“He was absolutely distraught that his older brother was killed and he went mad when he was told the news in prison.”

http://www.herald.ie/news/chief-suspect-in-devoy-murder-has-left-the-country-29970426.html

Chief suspect in Devoy murder has 'left the country.

KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 01 FEBRUARY 2014 07:00 AM

The chief suspect for the murder of gangland criminal Michael 'Mad Mickey' Devoy has fled the country, detectives believe.

The development comes as it emerged gardai searched more houses in the hunt for the Louth gangster, who is known to be a cricket enthusiast.

The suspected assassin is known to gardai as an extremely violent criminal who recently was before the courts for a serious assault.

VIOLENT

He has a number of previous convictions for public order, traffic and drink driving offenses and is said to be "extremely violent with drink on him".

A source told the Herald last night: "He is gone – make no mistake about that."

Intelligence received by detectives several weeks ago indicated Devoy was the hitman who shot Greg Lynch in the face outside Hanlon's pub in the early hours of last October 13.

Lynch is a key member of a dangerous drugs gang that also includes Paul Rice and Gerard 'Hatchet' Kavanagh – a mob with close links to the international crime syndicate controlled by godfather Christy Kinahan who is based on the Costa del Sol.

In the aftermath of the attempted hit on Lynch, the gunman, who wore a balaclava, ran towards a waiting BMW and continued firing back towards the pub, hitting the three women.

The car was found burnt out in Walkinstown.

Devoy was shot numerous times 11 days ago and his body dumped on the side of the road in Tallaght.

Gardai have recovered the handgun but no arrests have happened so far.

HITMAN

The Herald previously revealed that the same hitman was enlisted to murder two brothers who were friendly with Devoy and who are being blamed for helping him with the botched hit on Lynch.

Both brothers who are from Ballymun and considered 'nobodies' in terms of organised crime have been officially warned by gardai that there is an imminent threat against their lives.

Neither man showed up for Devoy's funeral Mass in Finglas this week and are understood to be in hiding after being warned about the threats against them.

kfoy@herald.ie

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/cou...d-29974762.html

Dissident Republicans arrested in counterfeit cash raid.

KEN FOY – 03 FEBRUARY 2014

THREE men have been arrested after a raid on a counterfeit cash gang.

Two dissident Republicans and a major criminal are in custody after gardai busted a printing press and seized €20k in counterfeit money.

Heavily armed detectives raided a premises in Summerhill, Co Meath at 1.30pm yesterday and discovered a printing press, €20,000 in fake cash and a number of computers.

The three suspects, all in their 40s, were being questioned at Mountjoy and the Bridewell garda stations.

A number of follow-up searches took place in Dublin this morning.

A senior source described the SDU's operation as a “major coup” against dissident republicanism.

“This was a highly sophisticated counterfeiting operation and these men had been under surveillance for many weeks,” a source said.

The Herald can reveal that one of the suspects is on bail after being charged with membership of the IRA last year at the Special Criminal Court.

He is a 46-year-old man from Dublin's north inner city who was arrested on Good Friday last year after a search of a commercial premises in Clondalkin as part of a garda investigation into the activities of dissident republicans.

The other arrested dissident republican is considered one of the main leaders of the IRA in Dublin.

He has risen up the ranks of republicanism since the murder of Real IRA chief Alan Ryan in September 2012 and is considered one of three men who control dissident activity in the capital.

elaborate

Sources say the third man is a well-known criminal who works with gangs in both Co Meath and Dublin.

The counterfeit cash scam was described today as being “extremely elaborate”.

A source said: “The garda operation has made sure that the country has not been flooded with dodgy bank bills.”

Yesterday’s operation is the biggest counterfeit cash seizure by gardai since detectives raided an underground bunker in Co Laois in June 2010.

On that occasion, enough ink and specialist paper was found to produce €200m worth of €50 and €100 notes.

The operation leading to the discovery of the underground bunker near Borris-in-Ossory in 2010 started when police across Europe began detecting the near-perfect notes.

An international operation was put into place stretching as far as Japan, where it is believed materials were sourced.

http://www.herald.ie/news/fathead-and-the-mobsters-millions-from-drugs-and-cigs-29965147.html

Fathead' and the mobsters' Millions from drugs and cigs.

30 JANUARY 2014 02:30 PM

CHRISTY Kinahan's crime gang are not the only Irish operators making millions on the Costa-Del-Crime and beyond.

Yesterday we highlighted the dangerous power and evil capability of Kinahan's cartel.

But one of the most prominent Irish gangsters in Spain is a veteran Ballyfermot criminal who controls the illegal smuggling of cigarettes into Ireland.

This is an operation that is believed to be worth well over €10m.

The gangster, a long-term target of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), has made millions from smuggling illegal cigarettes over the past two decades.

He was arrested in relation to a gangland murder in Ballyfermot in the 1990s, but was released without charge. He cannot be named here for legal reasons.

A senior source explained: "He is one of the most feared and respected men involved in organised crime in Ireland.

"The likes of Eric 'Lucky' Wilson, who is linked to loads of murders, would ask how high, if this man told him to jump.

"Apart from his criminal business, he runs a number of profitable legitimate businesses and has a large property portfolio in Dublin and Spain."

With a criminal pedigree going back years, the gangster built up a reputation as a money launderer for the Provisional IRA in the 1980s and 1990s.

He came to prominence in 2010, when he became involved in a feud with the Real IRA faction then led by slain terror boss Alan Ryan.



SHIPMENTS

And members of a north Dublin gang whose leader was murdered by the Ryan mob in September 2011 have also relocated to Spain.

They are suspected of organising vast shipments of drugs into Ireland from Spain.

When Michael 'Micka' Kelly was shot dead by a Real IRA assassination team at the Marrsfield apartment complex at Clongriffin, north Dublin in September, 2011, it was witnessed by his right hand man.

The criminal nicknamed 'The Jew' has spent most of his time in Benalmadena in Spain's Costa-Del-Crime where he linked up with major Irish crime player Paul 'Burger' Walsh from Baldoyle, north Dublin. 'Burger' and 'The Jew' have worked with the Kinahan mob but also worked independently of them, sources say.

'The Jew' has barely any criminal convictions, but on one occasion he had almost €70,000 cash forfeited to the State after a court heard that gardai were satisfied he was friends with drug dealers and the funds were the proceeds of crime. 'Burger' has over 26 criminal convictions here and was targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau in 2007, when the agency confiscated property and cash valued at almost €600,000 from him.

Walsh had begun to build a property portfolio in Dublin, Laois and Wexford, when his drug-dealing activities came to the attention of CAB.

The bureau's investigation found that Walsh was a member of an organised crime gang in Dublin.

A source explained: "These lads have gone mega scale, they are easily importing over 100 kilos of high grade cannabis into Ireland each week but also bringing in cocaine and heroin.



DRUGS

"They are supplying a vast patch which not only includes Dublin but was also the midlands and the west of Ireland."

The Herald has learned that one of the big-scale dealers who is buying drugs from him is a hood known as 'Fathead' who now lives in north Co Dublin.

Despite being on the garda radar for years, he has barely any previous convictions and is said to be an "extremely smart criminal".

Sources say that the Spanish-based mobsters have been supplying a number of other senior criminals based here who use lesser criminals with drug debts to collect and courier drugs for them.

But Spain is not the only major base for serious organised Irish criminals in continental Europe – The Netherlands, and its capital Amsterdam, has been another major hub for our dangerous expat criminal fraternity. And there is no one bigger than George 'the Penguin' Mitchell (64) born in Ballyfermot, west Dublin.

The arch-criminal, who fled Ireland after Veronica Guerin's murder, is a cousin of Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell and is suspected of sending millions of euro of drugs into Ireland every year from his Dutch base.

He has remained an active drugs trafficker for two decades and gardai linked 'The Penguin' to the seizure of over €3m worth of cannabis from an Irish-registered yacht off the Spanish coast in August, 2012.

Mitchell was linked to a spate of gangland hits in the 1990s before he fled to continental Europe. More recently, gardai looked at the possibility that 'The Penguin' was behind the botched assassination attempt on his old drugs trafficking rival John Gilligan in a Castleknock pub, last December.

Another major player who is based in Holland, is Peter 'Fatso' Mitchell, not actually related to 'The Penguin'.

But like George Mitchell, he fled Ireland in the aftermath of the Guerin murder in 1996 because he was feeling the heat from the gardai. He set up base in Spain's Costa Del Sol and was often spotted in the company of 'Fat' Freddie Thompson and other members of the Christy Kinahan gang. However, he had a major disagreement with the Kinahan network which led to him narrowly escaping death, when he was shot a number of times in the summer of 2008.

After that, he fled to Holland and also spends a lot of time in the UK. Gardai believe 'Fatso' is still involved in drugs trafficking from his Dutch base and has connections with Dutch gangs. Peter Mitchell was arrested in Amsterdam in November 2004, with 10kg of cocaine, 3kg of heroin and ammunition but managed to beat the charges.



COCAINE

Another Irish criminal who was arrested in Holland last year, was notorious drug dealer Thomas 'The Boxer' Mullen from Dublin's north inner city as part of an investigation into a huge cocaine trafficking ring.

He is credited with flooding the streets of inner city Dublin with heroin in the 1990s and was handed a 15-year sentence in England for masterminding a £750,000 (€909,000) heroin smuggling operation in Britain in 1997.

But it is not just veteran Irish criminals who have made Amsterdam their home.

Keith Ennis (29) from Walkinstown, south Dublin, was stabbed to death before his dismembered body parts were found in a suitcase in an Amsterdam canal in February, 2009.

A suspect in that case Philip County (30) from Lucan was extradited from Ireland to face charges in 2011, but later got bail from the Dutch authorities and has been spotted with members of Christy Kinahan's mob in the Costa-Del-Crime in recent times.

kfoy@herald.ie

i really like this thread,keep it up!

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/hit...k-29964339.html

Hitman planning murder of brothers in revenge attack.

30 JANUARY 2014

GARDAI have discovered that the gang who murdered Mad Mickey Devoy also plan to murder two north Dublin brothers in a twisted campaign of revenge for a botched hit on a drug dealer.

Devoy (41) whose funeral happened yesterday – under close watch by gardai – was shot dead by a Louth hitman on the orders of the Greg Lynch drugs gang after a failed attempt on the heroin trafficker's life last October, detectives believe.

It has now emerged that the same hitman was enlisted to murder two brothers who were friendly with Devoy and are being blamed for helping him with the botched hit on Lynch.

Both brothers, who are from Ballymun and considered “nobodies” in terms of organised crime, have been officially warned by gardai that there is an imminent threat against their lives.

Neither man showed up for Devoy's funeral Mass in Finglas yesterday and are understood to be in hiding after being officially warned about the threats against them.

A source explained: “They have been served with the papers by gardai – they are in serious bother. They have been identified as being at the scene when Lynch was shot in the face.

“One of them is suspected of being the getaway driver while the other fella is thought to have acted as a scout and a look-out on the night.

“This gang revenge will not stop with the murder of Mickey Devoy.”

The Herald understands that the twisted hitman who gardai are desperately hunting for took up a six figure contract for the murder of three men – Devoy and the Ballymun brothers who are aged in their 20s.

Already three houses have been raided and searched but there has been no sign of the hitman who was previously strongly involved with dissident Republicanism.

The suspected assassin is well known to gardai and is known as an extremely violent criminal who recently was before the courts for a serious assault.

He has previous convictions, including public order, traffic and drink driving and is said to be “extremely violent with drink on him”.

Intelligence received by detectives several weeks ago indicated Devoy was the bungling hitman who shot Greg Lynch in the face outside Hanlon's pub in the early hours of last October 13.

Devoy was shot numerous times in the murder 11 days ago and his body dumped on the side of the road in Tallaght.

Gardai have recovered the handgun but no arrests have happened so far.

Armed detectives and uniformed officers patrolled the streets surrounding St Canice’s Church yesterday for the funeral.

There was also a large visible garda presence at Glasnevin Cemetery where a large group of mourners had gathered after the funeral for Devoy’s cremation.

Devoy is the eighth person to die violently this year when he was shot and his body dumped in the Bohernabreena area between Tallaght and the Dublin mountains on January 18.

A carriage drawn by four black-plummed horses carried his remains to the church for the small funeral.

Fr Eamon Sheridan from Balcurris told the mourners that Michael’s brother Johnny had been buried from the same church last May.

“There is too much grief and too much suffering,” he said.

“Today, this group of people, this community, is gathering around you, Nancy, and your family to say that we are here and we care,” he told Devoy’s mother.

“By being here today all of you share in that love and mercy as you embrace each other in grief and say goodbye to Michael,” he added.

A letter that Devoy had written to his mother was read out at the end of the Mass, in which he had told her how he had loved her, and would always love her, even though he had caused her worry.

Devoy's younger brother Derek, known as Bottler,

was not at the funeral because

he could not secure temporary release from Mountjoy

Prison.

He is not due to be released from jail until February of next year, and is serving sentences for firearms and other offences.

Ken Foy and Conor Feehan

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/its-party-crime-for-lynch-mob

Gang boss celebrates with pals after rival is whacked.

GANGSTER Number One Greg Lynch threw a party to celebrate his mob murdering Michael Devoy, the man who tried to kill him, the Sunday World can reveal.

While the 28-year-old was celebrating the demise of his sworn enemy, the brother of Michael Devoy smashed up his prison cell after learning one of his closest friends was behind the hit.

Devoy (42), was shot dead in Tallaght, south Dublin, last Saturday night and the chief suspect is a former Provo from Dundalk, Co. Louth, who is thought to have accepted a €20,000 contract.

The money was put up by Christy Kinahan’s gang in revenge for the attempted murder of Lynch last October outside a pub on Hanlon’s Corner in Dublin.

However it has emerged that the 40-year-old suspected triggerman was a close pal of Devoy’s brother Derek ‘Bottler’ Devoy.

The pair were involved with a Finglas-based mob led by Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland and later Eamon ‘the Don’ Dunne. Both worked as enforcers for the gang. They were “inseparable” for years, according to sources.
However, the suspected hitman, a former Provo, has now distanced himself from gangs and is operating as a “freelance” hitman.

When Bottler Devoy heard the news on Monday that his former friend had been responsible for killing his beloved brother, he smashed up his cell in Mountjoy Prison, where the 30-year-old is serving a seven-year sentence for armed robbery.

Gardai fear that associates of the Devoys will not take the murder lying down and will attempt to hit back against the Lynch mob.

If Lynch is concerned, then he didn’t show it this week. After months of lying low, the drug dealer finally emerged on Monday night when he was seen by gardai hosting a party in the Fountain Bar on Meath Street in Dublin’s inner city.

Lynch and his criminal father Gerard ‘Bra’ Brady, as well as a host of his lieutenants, spent the night drinking and celebrating the death of his would-be killer.

Sources say that they toasted Devoy’s death and the fact that the threat against Lynch has finally been lifted, although gardai have serious doubts that the feud is over.
The Emergency Response Unit is still patrolling the streets of Ballymun on the northside of the capital and the south inner-city this weekend and gardai are paying passing attention to Lynch’s house in Maryland, Dublin 8.

Devoy tried to murder Greg Lynch because the drug dealer, who operates on behalf of Kinahan from the Coombe in the south-inner city, tried to expand his territory into Devoy’s Ballymun patch.

Lynch was shot outside Hanlon’s pub from close range and although he lost half his jaw in the attack, he survived against all the odds.

Ever since that hit bid failed, Devoy was in serious trouble because Lynch is part of the country’s biggest and most feared gang.

The 40-year-old hitman from Dundalk was contacted by a close associate of Greg Lynch following last year’s murder bid and offered cash to murder Michael ‘Mickey’ Devoy.He was stopped by gardai close to Devoy’s home in Ballymun on January 7 and taken to the local station for a search because gardai knew of his reputation as a hired gun.

He was released without charge, but three days later a “highly sophisticated” device was placed under Devoy’s car outside his home but it was spotted before it detonated.

Devoy and a pal were warned that their lives were in danger because the Lynch mob had blamed Devoy for the failed shooting, but the criminal hired his own hitman to lash back. It is unclear whether or not he was paid before Devoy was shot dead.

Greg Lynch and his father were then warned by detectives that they were under threat and sources say they laughed when they were given the news.

Last week, the Sunday World exclusively revealed how Devoy’s life was in serious danger as a result of the €20,000 hit taken out on him by the Lynch gang.

The former Provo hitman caught up with Devoy last Saturday night after he had been freed from prison, having spent three days behind bars for outstanding
warrants.

He was shot three times in the head and was in the process of being dumped in a remote field at Bohernabreena in Tallaght when a passing patrol car arrived.

The three-man gang managed to escape following a high-speed chase and gardai found Devoy and the gun used to murder him when they went back to the scene.

Gardai believe they know the identity of the shooters and are hoping to make early arrests in the case.

Devoy was a veteran criminal with more than 70 convictions to his name.

He is the chief suspect in the murder of 30-year-old Mark Byrne in May 2005.

Byrne had just been released from Mountjoy Prison and walked out of a shop after buying phone credit when a gunman shot him dead. The murder was later re-created on RTE drama Love/Hate.

The Ballymun man was arrested over the murder and gardai were hopeful there was enough evidence to charge him, but the DPP disagreed. He associated with major criminals from Finglas and Ballymun who are very unhappy with his murder.

Garda intelligence places Greg Lynch at the head of a 60-strong drugs gang that is responsible for armed robberies and tiger kidnappings.

He is one of the main targets of the new anti-gang unit based at Kevin Street Garda Station in the capital. Gardai class him as one of the city’s biggest drug distributors, despite his relatively young age.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/c...ow-up-for-trial

IRA-accused arrested after Alan Ryan Funeral fails to show up for trial.

The IRA membership trial of a Dublin man arrested after a garda investigation in to paramilitary activity at the funeral of Alan Ryan could not go ahead on Tuesday after the accused failed to show up in court.

Nathan Kinsella (33) was due to stand trial for membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on September 13, 2012.

Last week the non-jury court issued a bench warrant for Kinsella’s arrest after hearing that Kinsella's bailsperson had not seen him since before Christmas and the Circuit Criminal Court had also issued a bench warrant for his arrest last November after he failed to appear there.

Counsel for Kinsella, Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC, told the court that he had not heard from Mr Kinsella and his solicitor had not heard from the accused in several months.

He said that he was not in receipt of any instructions as to where the accused man is and why he was not in court.

Mr Tom O’Connell SC, for the prosecution, said that he had received instructions that Mr Kinsella had not come to any harm and that gardai had made efforts to locate him to no avail.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler said the court noted there was a warrant from both the Special Criminal Court and the Circuit Court.

An earlier court hearing was told that Kinsella had suffered a “very traumatic injury” and his mobility was “quite debilitated”. He was released on bail in October 2012.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/ira-thugs-conman-nabbed-after-3109801

IRA thugs and conman’ nabbed after gardai smash major counterfeiting operation

4 Feb 2014 07:00
The IRA thugs were nabbed allegedly attempting to buy dodgy notes from the criminal at a Dublin bar on Sunday.

Two senior dissidents and a suspected fraudster have been arrested after gardai smashed a major counterfeiting operation.

The IRA thugs were nabbed allegedly attempting to buy dodgy notes from the criminal at a Dublin bar on Sunday.

And in a follow-up search later that day officers seized €20,000 in counterfeit cash after uncovering a major printing operation at a complex in Co Meath.

The discovery is considered a significant blow against both the New IRA in the capital, previously led by slain Real IRA chief Alan Ryan, and the suspected fraudster who is well-known to gardai.

Detectives are also hopeful that the arrests may lead to a breakthrough in a nine-year-old murder investigation.

Joe Rafferty, 29, was shot dead by a lone gunman in 2005 outside his home in the Hayward apartment complex in Ongar Park, West Dublin. The two dissidents are believed to hold crucial information that could help gardai crack the cold case killing.

A senior source said: “The senior dissidents were buying the counterfeit cash in a bar on the North Circular Road.

“They were paying €2,000 in regular cash for €10,000 of the counterfeit stuff.

“They were very convincing fakes and while they might not have worked on a bank clerk they certainly would have passed in pubs, clubs and shops.”

The Garda operation, led by the Special Detective Unit in conjunction with other national units attached to the Crime and Security Branch, swooped on the three men, aged 47, 44, and 42, on Sunday afternoon.

They were all detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939. As part of the operation four homes were searched in the North Dublin area as well as a commercial premises in Co Meath.

A range of printing equipment and computers was recovered along with the €20,000 in fake cash.

A source said: “The equipment was quite sophisticated and had the capacity to print thousands of notes.

“Computers and printing equipment have all been seized.”

The 47-year-old IRA man is currently before the courts on serious charges after he was arrested last year by gardai at a commercial premises in West Dublin.

The other dissident has risen up the ranks of the so-called New IRA in Dublin since Ryan’s murder in September 2012.

He is now considered one of the group’s major players in the capital.

The man selling the notes is believed to have a history of counterfeiting and gardai have been keeping a close eye on his activities.

It is the largest such operation to be uncovered by gardai since officers raided a bunker in Borris-in-Ossory, Co Laois, in 2010. During that raid they found enough ink and paper to produce €200million worth of €50 and €20 notes.

cathal.mcmahon@irishmirror.ie

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/...striker-hodgins

Irish dissident groups 'thwarted by surveillance technology'
Former IRA hunger striker Gerard Hodgins says British have 'permanent eyes and ears' inside terror organisations.

A former IRA hunger striker who has been a vocal critic of the Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has warned armed republican dissident groups that advances in surveillance have given the British state "permanent eyes and ears" inside their organisations.

Gerard Hodgins, who has called on the New IRA, Continuity IRA and Óghlaigh na hÉireann (ONH) to declare ceasefires, said dissident bomb attacks did the opposite to what hardline republicans intended – and delivered more votes for Sinn Féin.

In an interview with the Guardian,Hodgins, who is a former prison comrade of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, said the use of surveillance technology made conventional guerrilla warfare "exceedingly difficult". He said: "The widespread use of this technology gives the British almost permanent eyes and ears in places the dissidents would frequent."

Directly addressing the anti-Good Friday agreement armed republican groups, Hodgins pointed out that the level of British infiltration of the Provisional IRA, long before the peace process, had been "colossal and fatal" for the "armed struggle".

Hodgins said the spate of New IRA and ONH bombings across Northern Ireland over the plast 18 months "played into Sinn Féin's agenda". He said: "Sinn Féin will use the fear factor to appeal to voters. So the occasional dissident bomb in Belfast city centre makes sure everybody votes according to tribal camp."

His call for a dissident republican ceasefire is echoed by the website Pensive Quill, a site of republicans who are critical of Sinn Féin but opposed to any return to violence.

Hodgins, from west Belfast, last year publicly called on Adams to resign from the Bobby Sands Trust and accused him of lying about his relationship with his brother, the convicted paedophile Liam Adams.

The trust controls all of Bobby Sands's written material. The late hunger striker's family has been involved in a legal battle to wrest control of it from leading Sinn Féin figures.

Hodgins, like the dissidents, believes Sinn Féin's peace strategy has solidified the unionist veto over constitutional change in Northern Ireland but, unlike them, he opposes a return to violence.

Urging the dissidents to call off their violent campaign, Hodgins said: "The tactics and strategy they are trying to develop are tactics and strategy that we tried, but which failed: the British can deal with these frames of reference. There is also no popular support for armed insurrection and, without a support base, armed insurrection is irresponsible."

Hodgins is a former Sinn Féin press officer who spent 20 days on hunger strike with other Irish republican prisoners in 1981.

While deeply critical of Adams, Martin McGuinness and other Sinn Féin leaders, Hodgins said continuing the "armed struggle" today was a futile exercise. He said the republican dissidents should learn from the failure of the Provisional IRA to force Britain to issue a declaration of withdrawal from Northern Ireland.

"The infiltration was undoubtedly colossal and fatal. The British were regularly one step ahead of us on the ground, making life difficult," he said. "Squads were being captured, dumps compromised, [IRA] volunteers executed; even the Eksund [an IRA smuggling ship intercepted in the 1980s] was never intended to make it to Ireland.

"The British penetrated the Provos at every level and put their agents and spies in place to ruin us from within and deliver us to precisely where the British state wanted us.

"Add to this the success of the British in pioneering agent recruitment and handling, where they delivered one of the most resilient guerrilla armies, the IRA, to just where they wanted us and I don't for one moment doubt the security agencies have agents in place amongst the dissidents today."

He added that he was friendly with many, but not all, of the dissidents and vehemently denied any role in directing the hardline republican campaigns.

Following Hodgins's outspoken attack on Adams, he has faced stories in the media alleging links to leaders of the New IRA and ONH. However, reliable republican sources, as well as sources in the security forces, accept that Hodgins, while a political opponent of Sinn Féin, is a trenchant critic of the ongoing "armed struggle" and not involved in their armed campaigns.

Hodgins, who was first imprisoned when he was 17 years old, sounded cautious about any of the disparate dissident republican groups heeding his call for a ceasefire.

"The dissident world is fractured over many groups, ranging from some misguided patriots to agents of the state to outright rogues who are abusing my community rather than protecting it. But it is important to highlight the futility of pursuing a failed strategy," he said.

Republican groups still at "war"

The New IRA: The largest of the anti-ceasefire republican forces, which formed into an alliance between the Real IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs in Derry and independent armed republican units in east Tyrone in late summer 2012. It has been responsible for a series of bomb attacks from its main base in Derry, but the Guardian has learned that there has at least been some debate within the movement about the ongoing efficacy of its "armed struggle".

Óglaigh na hÉireann: A small hardline faction with a base in north Belfast, which has been behind recent bomb attempts in the city centre, including, it is thought, a firebomb incident that resulted in the activist setting himself on fire just before Christmas. ONH does speak to critics of continual "armed struggle" based around The Pensive Quill, but as yet shows no signs of moving towards a cessation of violence.

The Continuity IRA: The oldest and most ideologically rigid of the three main republican factions. CIRA is politically aligned to Republican Sinn Féin, which broke away from the mainstream Sinn Féin movement as far back as 1986 over Gerry Adams and his allies' plans to recognise the legitimacy of the Irish Republic parliament. While its political allies are mainly based in the Republic, CIRA maintains a small but troublesome presence in the Craigavon/Lurgan area of north Armagh. Responsible for the 2009 murder of the first PSNI officer, Constable Stephen Carroll, CIRA are the least likely of any of the anti-ceasefire groups to listen to any calls for an end to their armed campaign.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/ronan-kerr-murder-detectives-believe-3028962

Ronan Kerr murder detectives 'know the bomber'

16 Jan 2014 15:23
Dissident explosives manufacturer believed to be based in Republic.

By David Young

Detectives investigating the murder of police officer Ronan Kerr believe they have identified the man who made the bomb that killed him.

A senior detective said the dissident republican explosives manufacturer is based in the Republic and is “experienced and competent” in constructing the deadly devices.

The police team hunting the gang behind the April 2011 attack in Omagh, Co Tyrone, also believe they know who directed the bomb team.

Officers have linked the murder of the 25-year-old freshly qualified constable to 16 other crimes committed by a number of inter-linked groups belonging to a dissident outfit styling itself “the new IRA.

Among the 17 offences covered by the investigation are the attempted murders of Const Ryan Crozier near Castlederg, Co Tyrone in May 2008 and Const Peadar Heffron in Randalstown, Co Antrim in January 2010. Both officers suffered serious injuries, with Mr Heffron losing a leg.Detectives claimed they have gathered significant evidence linking three men to some of the most serious offences.

But no charges have yet been brought against them as more time is needed to build the cases against them.

The remains of Ronan Kerr's car at the blast scene
Fourteen arrests have been made in the investigation so far. The PSNI team outlined progress as the first man convicted as part of the probe was sentenced to 10 years for offences linked to a dissident arms dump found in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, days after Mr Kerr’s death in April 2011.

Police claim discovery of the arsenal, described as the biggest weapons find in a decade, saved lives. A senior detective said the hardware in the lock-up garage, including taped-together loaded ammunition magazines, was ready for use.

Four stolen vehicles were also found in the lock-up. In two of them police found water bottles filled with petrol – indicative of preparation to set them on fire after a crime. Two arms hauls have also been seized in Co Monaghan.

The PSNI also released new information about the high explosive bomb that killed Const Kerr. A spokesman said magnets used in the device were taken from a taxi sign stolen in the Arvalee area of Omagh two-and-a-half weeks before the attack.

Officers have carried out 11,750 tasks or actions so far – already more than the 10,500 undertaken during the investigation into the Real IRA’s 1998 Omagh bomb.

Almost 8,000 items have been seized for forensic tests, while reams of CCTV footage from Omagh to Coalisland around the time of the bomb have been reviewed.

The police are investigating small dissident gangs, comprising around 20 to 25 individuals in total, based in Omagh, Coalisland,Toomebridge and Ballyronan as well as Monaghan in the Republic.

Officers believe they take direction from leaders in Belfast.

http://www.herald.ie/news/cab-seizes-mobsters-home-29978955.html

CAB seizes mobster's home.

CAB now plan to sell the property previously owned by on-the-run mobster Paschal Kelly (48).


KEN FOY AND TIM HEALY – 04 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 PM

THE Criminal Assets Bureau has seized a home, high powered car and €14,000 from a leading Dublin gangster.

Kelly, who gardai believe is a leading member of the gang that murdered Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan, was not in court as he is rumoured to be hiding out in Spain.

CAB received the order from the High Court yesterday to seize the home in Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan – worth around €250k – along with a 4x4 vehicle, €11,000 from the sale of a Ford Focus, and around €3,000 in cash.

Known as an extremely volatile criminal, it was alleged at a court hearing in April, 2011, that he rang CAB and threatened to kill a garda officer.

Evidence was given that Kelly became annoyed when the CAB officer called to Kelly's partner's Balbriggan home, on April 7, 2011 and Kelly subsequently phoned the officer.

"He stated that if I continued to seek him at that address, or watch that house... he stated 'I will kill you, I will f***ing kill you', before hanging up," the detective told the court hearing.

This led the officer to re-evaluate his own personal security.

Last April Kelly's associates were linked to the seizure of nearly €2 million worth of heroin and a machine gun, discovered at a vacant house at Garryross in Virginia, Co Cavan.



The Ballyjamesduff bungalow, on three-quarters of an acre, was bought in 2004 by Kelly for €190,000 and is now estimated to be worth between €250,000 and €275,000.

Kelly, who is involved in a number of brutal gangland and personal feuds, was described in court as having links to a tiger kidnapping gang.

The Herald has learned that he has been hiding out in rural Spain after getting bail in Northern Ireland last October where he was facing serious money laundering charges.

Sources say he ripped up electronic tags that had been placed on him and used a disguise to get out of the country after that.

His girlfriend has not been seen at her north Dublin home for months since he fled Ireland.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/dissidents-target-gangsters-wife

Dissident's target gangster Paschal Kelly's wife.

Dissident republicans have been attempting to intimidate relatives of a major gangland criminal who has gone on the run.

Paschal Kelly (46), originally from Coolock in Dublin, went into hiding after he was released on bail in Northern Ireland last year on gangland offences.

He was arrested by the PSNI with a close associate who we can only identify as Mr Big, as he is currently before the courts on a separate matter.

Dissidents targeted the pair following the murder of terror boss Alan Ryan, who was shot dead in Clongriffin, north Dublin, in September last year.

Dissidents blame Mr Big for the hit on Ryan.

Gardai carried out searches in Balbriggan, north Dublin, for Kelly after he went on the run, but have yet to locate him.

As well as the charges in the North, there are also bench warrants out for his arrest in the Republic for other matters.

Dissidents are trying to lure him out of hiding by targeting his relatives in intimidation attempts.

Republicans visited the home of a close relative of Kelly in Balbriggan last week and covered her car in republican stickers.

A source said: “They were letting her know that they knew where she lived. It was an obvious attempt to intimidate her and get Kelly out of hiding.”
He was arrested with Mr Big in Tyrone in February 2013. PSNI officers recovered over €70,000 in follow-up searches of a flat in Enniskillen along with a number of cars, false passports and 24 mobile phones.

Kelly was granted bail and electronically tagged late last year. It is believed he travelled to mainland Europe after he went on the run.

http://www.herald.ie/news/rows-tear-republican-group-apart-29986358.html

Rows tear Republican group apart.

KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 06 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 PM

A DISSIDENT Republican group which was set up less than eight months ago has disbanded amid controversy over criminality and extortion.

The Irish Republican Voice (IRV) has been torn apart by infighting in the last couple of months and officially ceased to be an organisation at midnight yesterday.

In a statement released to the Herald, it said: "This decision was not taken lightly and we would also like to clear up that Irish Republican Voice was not involved in any criminal activities or extortion in anyway shape or form whatsoever during our existence.

"We believe a handful of people who are not members are going around using the name of Irish Republican Voice to engage in criminal behaviour and extortion in a direct effort to undermine Irish Republican Voice."

The IRV had been closely monitored by the Garda's Special Detective Unit since it was set up last summer and some members have been arrested.

GROUPING

Some of those involved with the group have shown loyalty to the faction which surrounded slain Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan, even though many have been kicked out of a separate bigger IRA grouping. One of the group's main organisers was Dublin man James McDonagh – a close pal of Alan Ryan.

The Herald previously revealed that a prominent member of the IRV was a young Co Westmeath man involved in robberies and a campaign of intimidation and extortion in the Midlands since he walked free from jail.

However, most of the group's small membership was based in Dublin and a recruitment drive last year failed to get hoped for numbers.

Some IRV members were prominent protesters at the Dail at events in October and September, while others attempted to form an alliance with the Continuity IRA in Limerick.

In January, members of the IRV attended a commemorative march honouring Sean South, who lost his life during a raid on an RUC barracks in Fermanagh in 1957.

kfoy@herald.ie

Dear Mr Sean South,

Irish Republican Voice.

Was just a gang who will not be around long ? recall YOU said that on Criminal Action Force Thread on CAF, WRONG AGAIAN.

The Republicans was the gang not around long.

http://www.thestar.ie/star/gangster-alliance-we-killed-criminal-39865/

The UCA statement said: “The narrowness of their escape first time from our explosive device in Belclare area, Ballymun, Dublin.

Since this statement above, irish daily star has reported United Criminal Alliance used a semtex explosive mercury tilt switch device.

Maybe like one in this link.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/n...-lunch-box.html

http://www.herald.ie/news/two-held-for-second-time-over-gun-death-29989329.html

Two held for second time over gun death.

KEN FOY, CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 07 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 PM

FORMER associates of murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan are being quizzed by gardai investigating the fatal shooting of gangland godfather, Eamon Kelly.

The two men who have strong links to dissident Republicanism have been re-arrested by detectives investigating the fatal shooting.

The duo were picked up in Dublin yesterday and last night were being questioned at Clontarf and Raheny Garda Stations.

Both are suspected of peripheral involvement in Kelly's death. They were previously arrested less than a week after Kelly was killed after the chief suspect was charged in the case.

SURVEILLANCE

The Dubliners were released without charge after being questioned for a number of days at a north Dublin garda station 14 months ago. Since their release, the suspects have continued to be under surveillance by gardai and sources say they have continued to be involved in criminal activity.

One of the suspects, aged 43, who is from the north inner city, is on bail in relation to IRA charges. The second suspect is a 35-year-old IRA man from Tallaght who previously served a four-year jail sentence for IRA membership.

A total of eight people have been arrested as part of the detailed investigation into the fatal shooting including the two re-arrested men but just one person has been charged in connection with it.

The arrests happened after it emerged at an inquest on Tuesday that Kelly's son Eamon Jnr died from drug-related injuries three weeks after his father was killed. He had taken a cocktail of drugs at a friend's house in north inner city Dublin.

Sean Connolly (35), of Bernard Curtis House, Bluebell, Dublin 12, has been charged at the Special Criminal Court with murdering Eamon Kelly on December 4, 2012.

kfoy@herald.ie

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/two-held-over-killing-of-gang-boss-29987725.html

Two held over killing of gang boss.

TOM BRADY, SECURITY EDITOR – 07 FEBRUARY 2014

TWO former associates of murdered Real IRA boss Alan Ryan are being questioned by gardai investigating the killing of gangland godfather Eamon Kelly. The two suspects, aged 35 and 43, were arrested by armed officers yesterday.

They are said to have links to the dissident republican gang but are not regarded as main players. They are suspected of being peripherally involved in the fatal shooting of Kelly on December 4, 2012.

One of the two, a former member of the Provisional IRA, was arrested at his home in Tallaght, Dublin; the other was detained in the north inner city.

Both have been questioned by gardai in the past about serious crime.

Kelly was shot in the chest with a handgun as he walked towards his home at Furry Park Road in Killester, on the northside of Dublin.

Irish Independent

http://www.herald.ie/news/drugs-gang-prime-suspects-in-murder-29986403.html

Criminal Action Force killed this person.

http://imgur.com/RD30siY

Drugs gang prime suspects in murder.

KEN FOY AND GARETH NAUGHTON – 06 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 PM

ONE of the capital's most dangerous drugs gangs is suspected of being responsible for the gun murder of a 28-year-old man whose inquest heard yesterday that he had been shot in the head.

The remains of James Kenny McDonagh were found in the Dublin Mountains, 14 months after he went missing from his home in Islandbridge.

Senior sources say associates of heroin dealer Greg Lynch and armed robber Paul Rice are believed to have been responsible for the murder.

The same people are suspected of ordering the murder of Ballymun criminal 'Mad Mickey' Devoy in Tallaght last month.

RUTHLESS

A source said: "It is believed that Kenny McDonagh was shot dead after agreeing to meet two members of this gang – they had not planned to murder him, but a dangerous criminal pulled out a handgun and coldly shot him in the head."

A major mobster from Tallaght and his ruthless sidekick are in the frame for the murder. The veteran Tallaght criminal was arrested and questioned about it last July.

McDonagh's remains were found at a clearing in the Dublin Mountains on January 7, 2012.

His mother, Jackie Kenny, told Dublin Coroner's Court that he had never expressed any concerns for his safety.

"He was really jolly. He would hide more. You wouldn't know from him that he was in trouble," she said.

She last saw him on the night of October 25, 2010, and became concerned for his safety when friends and family had not heard from him.

She reported him missing on October 30.

The last known sighting of Mr McDonagh, who was 28 when he went missing, was on the afternoon of October 27 when his neighbour, Emma Griffin, saw him driving on to the Naas Road at Bluebell.

She said they spoke briefly, and he told her that he was going to look at a jeep.

His remains were found by John Browne when he came across a human skull while hill-walking at Seahan Forest, off the Stone Cross Road at Ballinascorney.

He reported the discovery to gardai the next morning.

Det Sgt Mary Fitzpatrick said further remains were found over the following days.

Mr McDonagh's body was identified using dental records and DNA sampling.

The post mortem was carried out by former deputy state pathologist Dr Khalid Jaber, who gave the cause of death as a perforating gunshot wound to the head.

THREATS

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said that his impression was that death would have been instantaneous.

Det Insp Sean Campbell said that gardai believe Mr McDonagh died on October 27 because the car he was driving was found on fire at Peamount on the same night.

Gardai were unaware of any threats against Mr McDonagh's life, said Mr Campbell, but the dead man had not been staying at home in the days before his , so there may have been one.

kfoy@herald.ie

http://www.herald.ie/news/brother-of-mur...d-29982912.html

Brother of murdered terror boss Ryan flees to hide out in Scotland.

KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 05 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 PM

THE brother of slain Real IRA kingpin Alan Ryan has fled the country and is believed to be hiding out in Scotland, the Herald can reveal.

The development comes as the gang who murdered Ryan has been gripped by "major internal paranoia" over fears that at least one member is talking to gardai.

Alan's brother Vinny Ryan (23) is understood to have been based in Glasgow for the last six weeks where he has been joined by his older brother, Dermot.

However, unlike Vinny, Dermot has been spotted back at the family's home in Donaghmede in recent weeks.

He has also been doing "security" work at a Co Kildare pub.

Recently it emerged that dissident Republican gangs were working with local organised crime gangs in Scotland to generate funds, according to research.

And a small splinter dissident Republican faction loyal to the Ryan brothers has stepped up a campaign of extortion in recent weeks, the Herald has learned.

Alan Ryan was shot dead by the drugs gang led by so-called "Mr Big" in September, 2012, after a massive cash row between the two mobs.

RIFLE

In October, Vinny and close pal Darragh Evans (23) were cleared by the Special Criminal Court of charges of possession of an assault rifle and a handgun at Clonshaugh Walk, Coolock, on September 15, 2011 – the same day drugs trafficker Michael 'Micka' Kelly was shot dead.

Kelly, nicknamed 'The Panda', had been in a deadly feud with Alan Ryan after he refused to cough up a five-figure cash sum to Ryan's Real IRA extortionist gang.

The non-jury court ruled there was an insufficient evidence from which a jury could find Vinny Ryan and Evans were guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court heard a garda probe began after the execution of Kelly on Marsfield Avenue in Clongriffin.

Gardai who searched a Saab 95 car recovered near Marsfield Avenue found an AKM assault rifle, an AK-47 style ammunition magazine, a Webley revolver and a Nike bag containing a lid from a Pringles crisp container.

Forensic scientist Dr Fiona Thornton told the court that a DNA profile matching that of Evans was found on the assault rifle and on the Pringles foil lid, while a DNA profile matching that of Vinny Ryan was found on the AK-47 style magazine.

However, under cross-examination she also agreed the incomplete, low-level DNA profiles could have been deposited by secondary or tertiary transfer.

kfoy@herald.ie

Newsflash buddy, the Brit propaganda press have been putting out this crap since the 1700's.

I think you're a West brit abe, why don't you go and polish your Royal memorabilia instead of calling me out every time the Brit press prints another bullshit story about the death of Irish Republicanism.

Michael Campbell had his conviction overturned or didn't you read the news. You just print selected slurs to support your weird love affair with Irish dope pushers who are a dime a dozen.

Either that or some Brit propaganda about how the IRA are over and the Brits will conquer all and Irish Republicanism is dead...

But hey, according to British intelligence they remain a major threat and how comes they never managed to snag slab Murphy of the british intelligence is so fucking great?

You're a West brit abe, admit it.

Working with crime gangs in Scotland, and everyone knows there is no fag Brit gang that will mess with the Irish. I thought they were dead abe?

You seem to be doing a good job of keeping them alive.

The only cause I'm interested in keeping alive is that of a united Ireland. West Brits like you have an agenda. Wouldn't be surprised if you and 'British' were the same person.

Remeber Fergal O'Hanluain who died aged just 20 years old courageously fighting the Brits on the border so don't try to call me out cos I would wipe your clock if you ever tried to undermine the bravery of my family in favour of a band of no good drug pushers whose only bravery comes from the coke they snort up their nose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQfJ5AZRyk

West brit orangemen, I am now lol.

Sean, Brit propaganda did not put out the statement IRV group did who was part of the Real IRA in Dublin with Alan Ryan so cop yourself on.

Slab Murphy was never with the reals he was with pira.

Michael Campbell had his conviction overturned ? so what.

The Real IRA got a hiding of the U.C.A. NOW YOU admit it.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/c...-me-out-of-here

Whacked hood Devoy's crony flees to UK.

The crime partner of slain Dublin hood Michael ‘Mickey’ Devoy tearfully told gardai that he is fleeing the country because he fears he is going to be whacked.

The criminal had been told by gardai that his life was under threat over his links to Devoy, who was gunned down in a gangland feud.

Mickey Devoy was blamed for a failed murder bid on drug dealer Greg Lynch last October and a hitman from Dundalk took up a contract to murder Devoy, his partner and the man’s brother.

The under-threat man, who is not regarded as a serious player in gangland, walked into Store Street Garda station in Dublin city centre and asked to speak to detectives.

The hood, from Ballymun on the city’s northside, broke down as he told startled officers that he knew he would be murdered if he did not immediately leave the country.

He knows he is a ‘dead man walking’ and is understood to have taken a flight to the UK. It is understood that his brother also left with him. Before he left he refused to make a statement outlining his fears and would not even take up the offer of personal security advice.

Gardai had been fearful that he would be the next victim of the Lynch mob and they believe that tensions will reduce considerably now that he has left Ireland.

He was not present when Devoy was buried last Wednesday as most of Devoy’s criminal cronies shunned the funeral.

There was a massive garda presence at the church in Finglas and at Glasnevin cemetery, but the turnout was very low and, aside from one mourner trying to attack press photographers, it passed off without incident.

The prime suspect in the murder of 42-year-old Devoy is believed to have been paid €20,000 for the murder and the same amount is believed to be on the table for the heads of the dead man’s pal and his brother.

Associates of Christy Kinahan and drug dealer Greg Lynch have put up the money in revenge for Devoy trying to murder the 28-year-old last October.

Devoy tried to get rid of Lynch because he was expanding his territory from Dublin’s south-inner city to Coolock and Ballymun, where Devoy operated.

However the shooter failed to finish off Lynch and he survived after losing half his jaw. It was then a case of when, not if, Devoy would be murdered. Underworld justice finally caught up with him 13 days ago when he was shot three times in the head and dumped by the side of the road near Tallaght.

He narrowly escaped two murder bids in the fortnight before he was shot dead and the man who took out the contract on him was arrested close to Devoy’s house in Ballymun.

He is believed to have been staking him out and three days later a sophisticated bomb was left under Devoy’s car.

Last week we revealed that the hitman who shot Devoy was one of his brother’s closest pals.

The 40-year-old suspected triggerman was a close pal of Devoy’s brother Derek ‘Bottler’ Devoy.

The pair were involved with a Finglas-based mob led by Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland and later Eamon ‘the Don’ Dunne. Both worked as enforcers for the gang and they were “inseparable” for years, according to sources.

However, the former Provo has now distanced himself from the gangs and is operating as a ‘freelance” hitman.

Gardai believe that he is still in the country although several searches have so far failed to locate him.

When Bottler Devoy heard the news that his former friend had been responsible for killing his beloved brother he smashed up his cell in Mountjoy prison, where the 30-year-old is serving a seven- year sentence for armed robbery.

Gardai fear that associates of the Devoys will attempt to hit back against the Lynch mob.

Michael Devoy was a veteran criminal with more than 70 convictions to his name.

He was the chief suspect in the murder of 30 year-old Mark Byrne in May 2005. Byrne had just been released from Mountjoy prison and walked out of a shop after buying phone credit when a gunman shot him dead. The murder was later re-created on RTE drama Love/Hate.

The Ballymun man was arrested over the murder and gardai were hopeful there was enough evidence to charge him, but the DPP disagreed. He associated with major criminals from Finglas and Ballymun who are very unhappy with his murder.

Greg Lynch is the leader of a 60-strong drugs gang that is responsible for armed robberies and tiger kidnappings.

He is one of the main targets of the new anti-gang unit based at Kevin Street Garda Station. Gardai class him as one of the city’s biggest drug distributors.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/c...ndguns-and-ammo

Trinity College graduate guilty of possession of handguns and ammo.

A Trinity College graduate and two men who were intercepted by armed gardai outside the premises of a firearms dealer have been found guilty of the possession of handguns and ammunition.

Ursula Shannon (30), who is a Trinity College graduate and prominent member of socialist republican group Eirigi, and her co-accused John McGreal (37) were remanded on continuing bail following the judgement of the Special Criminal Court today and will be sentenced at later date.

Co-accused Colin Brady (24), who was granted bail but did avail of it, was remanded in custody. The non-jury court heard that the accused were wearing wigs and disguises when they were intercepted by armed gardai outside a residential premises which also doubled as a business for a licensed firearms seller.

CCTV footage of the interception of the stolen van they were travelling in was played to the court and the prosecution invited the court to infer that the people in the van were there to rob the shop and steal the firearms on the premises.

The accused had pleaded not guilty to the possession of two handguns and 32 rounds of ammunition at Tullybeg, Rahan, Co Offaly on November 27th, 2012, but had not challenged any of the evidence in the case.

They had pleaded not guilty to the unlawful possession of one 9mm parabellum calibre Taurus PT92 semi-automatic pistol, one magazine suitable for use with the Taurus PT92 pistol, one 9mm parabellum calibre Walther P5 semi-automatic pistol and one ZGJY branded combined stun gun and flashlight.

They had also each pleaded not guilty to the possession of 25 rounds of 9mm ammunition and 7 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

The court heard evidence that interviews were conducted with the accused where Sections 18, 19 and 19A of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 2007 were invoked.

The sections allow a judge or jury to draw inferences from an accused’s failure or refusal to account for an object, substance or mark, or any mark on such object, or failure to account for their presence at a particular place. The judge or jury may treat this as corroborative of other evidence against the accused.

There was evidence that John McGreal remained silent when questions were put to him where the sections were invoked in interview, while Shannon and Brady answered “no comment” when questions were put to them.

Returning judgement, presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler said the court was satisfied beyond doubt that each of the accused was in possession of the items referred to in the indictment.

He said the court was also satisfied that the failure of the accused to respond to questions in interview where the sections were invoked entitled the court to draw inferences in each case corroborating the evidence of possession.

By reason of this, Mr Justice Butler said the court found the three accused guilty of the offences with which they were charged.

It was the prosecution case that on the date in question gardai were in receipt of confidential information that a stolen vehicle would be used as part of an operation by dissident republicans for a theft at a property in Co Offaly.

The court heard that a search of the vehicle revealed the two handguns and the stungun along with the ammunition, cable ties, wigs and disguises.

Gardai gave evidence that the accused had taken some steps to conceal their physical appearance, and were wearing layers of clothing to make them appear heavier than they actually were. There was evidence that Shannon and McGreal were also wearing wigs.

Mr Justice Butler remanded McGreal, who has an address at Thornchase, Palmer Road, Rush and Shannon, of Inglewood Crescent, Clonsilla, on continuing bail until February 18 for sentencing.

He remanded Mr Brady, of Ashgrove, Baskin Lane, Kinsealy, in custody until that date.

The Real IRA is the IRA now and the Brit press used to print articles saying Martin Cahill's group of lowlife junkies gave them a hiding and look what happened to him.

Have the IRA been wiped out. By the U.C.A.


Abe, I want some of whatever you're on cos that's hilarious. All you do is print selected articles that fit your agenda and eveyone's onto you abe, you're a West Brit.

Has Slab Murphy given up his criminal activities? If the Brits are so good at surveillance and they got so many rats then why can't they snag him or put Campbell away in the slammer?

Simple questions Brit, remain unanswered.

And why are you so obsessed with a bunch of dime a dozen junkies? I don't get it abe you seem to have some puerile fixation with the UCA but the IRA's main operations are in the north and they have ran a successful campaign considering the millions of pounds f surveillance they are up against.

I don't see why you're a groupie for a bunch of dime a dozen drug dealers.

I agree that the dissident organisations have been deeply infiltrated more due to the calibre of the people they attract like low level criminals and drug abusers pf the type you seem to adore for some reason. But they also have many dedicated pros expert at counter-surveillance and who even had the Dublin police under surveillance themselves so they are hardly amateurs. The UCA are just pests and small fry. The IRA have bigger fish to fry.

But Gerard obviously has a chip against Sinn Fein and his former comrades as his arguments don't stack up to the facts. He states that the Eskund was never going to reach Ireland yet it was on its fifth run the other ones being successful. Everyone knows he's a West Brit and that you've selectively chosen to reveal his musings reveals your true colors.

When head of British Intelligence found out that four runs had been successful he told the British Government it was time to start a peace process. If the IRA had been infiltrated to the level that Gerard states then England especially the financial district would not have been allowed to be bombed which prompted the European Central Bank to site itself in Frankfurt losing billions to the British economy.


A recent unveiled British Army report stated that the IRA were undefeated and could remain so in the foreseeable future. It was lucky that Republicans had a leadership of the likes of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness that could deliver a peace strategy that has allowed Republicans to achieve their goals in a peaceful manner. Gerard may be bitter but he should not allow that to attempt to revise history.

Neither should you abe

Martin Cahill was not killed by IRA Sean, lol everyone knows that 15 years or more.

Has Slab Murphy given up his criminal activities? If the Brits are so good at surveillance and they got so many rats then why can't they snag him or put Campbell away in the slammer?

Simple questions Brit, remain unanswered.?

i don't know why Murphy is not in jail but ?

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analys...y-26485692.html

At the time of the raids, RTE's Tommy Gorman asked the Sinn Fein president what he thought of Slab Murphy and the various claims about his involvement in smuggling and crime. Adams replied: "Tom Murphy is not a criminal. He's a good republican. I read his statement after the Manchester raids. I believe what he says. He's also, and very importantly, a key supporter of the Sinn Fein peace strategy and has been for a very long time." The property, cash and other items referred to in Friday's hearings are the tip of the iceberg in terms of the earnings made by the IRA in south Armagh, gardai and English police believe.

The Campbell's have been in jail a lot over the years.

I agree that the dissident organisations have been deeply infiltrated more due to the calibre of the people they attract like low level criminals and drug abusers pf the type you seem to adore for some reason. But they also have many dedicated pros expert at counter-surveillance and who even had the Dublin police under surveillance themselves so they are hardly amateurs. The UCA are just pests and small fry. The IRA have bigger fish to fry. ?

Yes as people have said for years Real IRA in Dublin as hoods with not a Republican bone in their body and deeply infiltrated.

A recent unveiled British Army report stated that the IRA were undefeated and could remain so in the foreseeable future. It was lucky that Republicans had a leadership of the likes of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness that could deliver a peace strategy that has allowed Republicans to achieve their goals in a peaceful manner. Gerard may be bitter but he should not allow that to attempt to revise history.

It was lucky Republicans Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness deliver a peace strategy ?

lol are you mad they sent men to their deaths for years cowards of the 32 county's is all they are were under british protection for years when british loyalist death squads was killing people in collision with the force research unit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Research_Unit now if you think they could never get Adams McGuinness or Murphy for that matter you better think again

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regiona...ident-1-5833307

Sean look at this.

There is no appetite for terror campaign, says top dissident.

There is no appetite for the ongoing campaign of dissident republican violence, a leading dissident has said.

Dominic McGlinchey Jnr, 36, whose father of the same name was the notorious INLA leader before his 1994 murder, said that republicans opposed to Sinn Fein’s strategy needed to “have a conversation about the future of the republican movement”.

The intervention by Mr McGlinchey comes as the latest in a lengthening line of veteran republicans at variance with Sinn Fein who have spoken out about the futility of the continuing campaign of bombings and shootings.

Several former IRA men have given interviews to the News Letter in which they have urged fellow republican opponents of Sinn Fein to desist from violence.

In December, former prisoner Anthony McIntyre told this newspaper: “Republicans lost the war and the IRA campaign failed and the dissidents need to be told that it failed rather than be allowed to continue thinking what they do.”

Richard O’Rawe said at that time that the dissidents’ “whole campaign is insane” and should stop.

Mr McGlinchey — who has vigorously denied an allegation that he had any involvement in the 2009 Massereene murders and has never been charged in relation to the attack — told the Irish News: “I don’t believe the appetite exists among the people. That’s not to say there is not considerable support among certain segments of republicanism for particular types of resistance but what is very clear is that the appetite is not there for a full-blown campaign.”

He added that dissidents needed to consider if “certain tactics are holding you back from entering a new field of battle”.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/new...s-30008822.html

New terror alert as British Army hit by mail bombs.

TOM BRADY, SECURITY EDITOR – 14 FEBRUARY 2014

SUSPECTED explosive devices sent to British Army recruitment offices were sent by the New IRA Alliance, it is believed.

Garda anti-terrorist officers are now working closely with the PSNI to combat the new campaign.

Seven crude explosive devices were sent to British Army recruitment centres over the past three days. And it has been established that at least one of them was mailed from a Border county in the Republic.

None of the suspicious parcels exploded and they were dealt with by British Army bomb disposal experts.

Last night, the packages were undergoing forensic tests and officers were awaiting further details on the postmarks.

Security chiefs on both sides of the Border believe the parcels were sent by associates of a senior New IRA Alliance figure, based in Derry city.

This man is the former leader of the Real IRA in the city and had links in the past with the group led by murdered Dublin terrorist Alan Ryan.

The man had previously boasted that his gang would launch a campaign of violence in Britain, but so far their activities have been confined to the North.

The PSNI believe these latest attacks are linked to a letter bomb campaign in Belfast and Derry last October.

A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the devices bore all the hallmarks of "Northern Ireland-related terrorism".

Four parcels were discovered at British Army careers offices in Oxford, Brighton, Canterbury and the Queensmere shopping centre in Slough yesterday.

Another package was found in Aldershot, Hampshire, on Wednesday while two packets were intercepted on Tuesday at careers offices in Reading, Berkshire, and the British army and RAF recruitment building in Chatham, Kent. Following the discovery of the packages, Mr Cameron chaired a meeting of the British government's Cobra emergencies committee to discuss the threat posed by the new campaign.

The packages were said to be crudely designed but potentially viable and could have caused injury if they had exploded when opened.

The New IRA Alliance was formed in the summer of 2012 when four established dissident groups came together.

These included several factions of the Real IRA, the ONH faction, Derry-based Republican Action Against Drugs and another group comprised of former members of the Provisional IRA.

Gardai are also helping with the attempts to identify the postmarks on the packages and checks are being made with mail centres in a number of Border counties.



Irish Independent

http://www.herald.ie/news/feared-city-gangsters-in-titfortat-feud-over-woman-30010274.html

Feared city gangsters in tit-for-tat feud over woman.

BY KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 14 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 AM

A gangland feud has broken out in north Dublin between two criminals over a young woman.

The dispute centres on exiled crimelord Paschal Kelly and a drug-dealing rival, the Herald has learned.

Sources say that Kelly (48) has issued death threats from his hideaway in Spain's Costa-Del-Crime against the other man and has also ordered his gang members to carry out surveillance.

The car of a woman connected to Kelly's rival has been burnt out in recent weeks and, in a revenge attack, the home of a female relative of Kelly's was smashed up in the Edenmore estate in Raheny.

Neither of the women has any involvement in the feud and were singled out as "easy targets".

Sources say that Kelly has stepped up a campaign of intimidation against his rival who is believed to be refusing to back down in the tit-for-tat row.

Kelly's rival has links to a Coolock criminal who is on the run after being charged in relation to a 2011 drug-linked killing in Dublin's north inner city.

A source said: "This could get really messy. Kelly is at the top of the crime food chain, but no one is backing down here.

"What's causing concern is that innocent women are being dragged into a very complicated, deep-rooted feud."

On-the-run Kelly (48) is a member of the gang gardai believe killed Real IRA chief Alan Ryan.

This month his Co Cavan home was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

He bought the bungalow in 2004 for €190,000 but it is now estimated to worth between €250,000 and €275,000.

Kelly, who is involved in a number of brutal gangland and personal feuds, has been described in court as having links to a tiger-kidnapping gang.

The Herald has learned he has been hiding in Spain since getting bail in the North last October, where he was facing money laundering charges.

Sources say he ripped up electronic tags placed on him and used a disguise to flee.

Kelly's girlfriend has not been seen at her Co Dublin home for months. She is believed to have joined him in Spain.

I suppose now you're going to tell me your beloved Brit media were wrong for once

"Within hours of Cahill's murder, the Provisional IRA claimed responsibility in a press release. The reasons cited were Cahill's alleged involvement with a Portadown unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force. The unit in question had attempted a bomb attack on a south Dublin pub which was hosting a Sinn Féin fund-raiser on 21 May 1994. The UVF operatives were halted by the doorman Martin Doherty. In the ensuing struggle Doherty, who the IRA subsequently announced was a volunteer in their Dublin Brigade, was shot dead.[9][10] The Provisionals further alleged that Cahill had been involved in selling the stolen Beit paintings to the UVF gang led by Billy Wright.[11] The UVF then fenced the paintings for money, which they used to buy guns from South Africa. This act supposedly sealed Cahill's fate, and put him at the top of an IRA hit list.[12] In a later statement, the IRA said that it was Cahill's involvement with and assistance to pro-British death squads which forced us to act."[13]

Abe, you have been completely found out as a West Brit, Martin Cahill was killed by dissident Republicans and just like today's junkie scumbags Martin Cahill died just another deadbeat bum. My cousin lives in Rathmines and witnessed the slaying it was common knowledge it was the IRA but I suppose now you're going to tell me it was one of your superhero bums

Your pro-Brit agenda is so obvious abe it's painful you ain't kidding no-one.

Sean, you like to flog the dead horse all the time your very easy to debate Martin Cahill IRA statements was a pack of lies full stop.

INLA killed him for attack he'd nothing to do with...

CORMAC LOONEY – 27 OCTOBER 2011 10:05 AM

MARTIN CAHILL was not involved in the Widow Scallan's shooting the attack which may have cost him his life.

New information has come to light which reveals that a Belfast wing of the UVF were the sole suspects for carrying out the 1991 pub attack in which an IRA man was shot dead.

The General was blamed for assisting the UVF, but a new book by crime reporter Paul Williams reveals that the gardai and RUC did not consider him a suspect.

Despite this, the IRA claimed Cahill co-operated with loyalists to carry out the shooting, triggering a dispute between the General and republicans which culminated in this murder three years later.

"In the wake of the Widow Scallan's incident there was intense speculation that a criminal gang from Dublin had assisted the hit team. The Provos soon pointed the finger of suspicion at their old adversary Martin Cahill," Williams writes in Badfellas.







Plotting

"Neither Cahill nor any Dublin criminals were involved in the attack. Both the RUC and the gardai established that a UVF group from Belfast was actually responsible."

And despite claims that Cahill's gang supplied the car used in the incident it has emerged that the vehicle, a Triumph Acclaim, had been bought a day before the shooting, from a car dealer in Lurgan.

Although police believed that Cahill was innocent of any involvement, Dublin criminals John Gilligan and John Traynor told the IRA he was involved in the shooting regardless, Williams writes.

"Gilligan and Traynor were two people the Provos didn't have to approach for information. Factory John and The Coach had begun plotting the murder of their former pal but if the Provos -- or the INLA-- did it for them, then so much the better."

The pub shooting kicked off a chain of events which eventually saw Cahill in a dispute with INLA figures in Dublin. The culmination of this was his murder outside his Rathmines home on August 18, 1994. Gardai believe the INLA was responsible for the attack.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/a-woman-in-the-way-of-a-drug-barons-ambitions-26420738.html

There is a theory that Martin Cahill was murdered by the Provisional IRA because he was dealing with the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). This version suggests that the arrest in Istanbul of three UVF men trying to sell three Beit paintings was evidence of Cahill's links to the loyalists.

When Cahill was shot dead in August 1994, the IRA issued a statement saying that he had been killed because he had been in cahoots with the loyalists. They claimed he had helped them carry out a failed bomb attack on a Sinn Fein function at the Widow Scallan's pub in Dublin earlier that year, in which an IRA doorman had been shot dead.

The UVF have always denied this and claimed they had never heard of Martin Cahill until he was shot dead. But they did say their members had bought three paintings through an intermediary, Tommy Coyle, a leading underworld "fence" based in Drogheda who was known throughout the British and Irish underworld.

The Mid-Ulster UVF had apparently made a deal with Coyle and took the paintings as payment, they say.

A few weeks later the IRA called its first ceasefire..

It was not until a few years later, however, that a more plausible version of events came to light -- and John Traynor was at the centre of it.

After the murder of Veronica Guerin, a semi-autonomous investigation team was set up in Lucan Garda Station under the direction of Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey.

The Lucan team quickly discovered that John Traynor had been an informant for someone high up in the gardai. Given his relationship with Gilligan, Traynor was also a suspect in the murder.

As the Lucan team delved into Traynor's activities, this separate version of events surrounding Cahill's murder emerged. Traynor had negotiated a deal between Cahill and Gilligan that would effectively set up Gilligan's drug-importing empire.

Cahill had a large amount of cash that he needed to invest for his retirement -- he was suffering from worsening health due to diabetes. He agreed to put up a large sum, up to £600,000, to finance Gilligan's first large shipment of cannabis from his Lebanese contact in Amsterdam. In return, Gilligan would repay Cahill the £600,000, plus another £600,000, along with a percentage of all subsequent shipments. With Traynor present, a deal was struck. Within 18 months of his release from Portlaoise in 1993, John Gilligan was in the big time. The shipment came through; but he still had to pay about £1.2m to the ailing Martin Cahill.

The Lucan detectives discovered that at around the same time, Traynor had struck up a close relationship with the group called the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). This was little less than a few dozen ex-paramilitaries who still traded on the name of one of the most murderous terrorist groups to have emerged in the Troubles.

Traynor had used the Dublin INLA to pass several hundred thousand pounds- worth of dud cheques.

Although small in number, the INLA did have several members who were proficient in the use of firearms. More importantly, the INLA leadership had had a dispute with Martin Cahill, who had publicly humiliated them. They wanted revenge.

Gilligan was faced with the situation where he could either pay Martin Cahill a huge portion of his profits, or not. The latter required that Cahill be killed. It is believed that, through Traynor, the INLA was recruited to make that happen.

To shift the blame, the INLA arranged for their friends in the Dublin IRA to claim responsibility. It is believed that the INLA and IRA received £30,000 each for their part, with further payments in guns and cash as part of a "protection" deal for Gilligan and his gang. Gilligan was now in business, and Traynor was the king-maker who put him there.

Sean south you aint Irish, your a plastic paddy that does not have a clue

Fact is us British have pissed all over your cowardly terrorists for years

IRA stands for I Ran Away....

I never disputed the fact that he UVF were responsible abe, stop putting up straw men arguments in a lame attempt to shoot me down for pointing put the simple facts.

Martin Cahill was a lowlife scumbag who worked with the UVF, a traitor to his country and a pathetic bum who was nothing more than a jumped up petty thief and yet despite his links to Loyalist paramilitaries you still revere him which says everything about where your loyalties lie.

As for Paul Williams he is a self-serving publicist who is a well known fairy tale storyteller. From his Wikipedia profile:-

[u]'Williams has been the subject of criticism that he is a mouthpiece for the gardaí'

Sound familiar to anyone else we know around here people

[i]"who uses his column to shape the public perception of the criminals he writes about and, quite possibly, to stir up tensions between rival gangs and major league villains". The Sunday Tribune said a common criticism of Williams is that he is "little more than a cheerleader for the gardaí" and noted Williams's tendency to steer away from any crime or corruption within the force.

Williams has been criticised for his tendency to give nicknames such as "The Tosser", "The Penguin", "Babyface" and "Fatpuss" to the criminals he is reporting on. Critics complain this has served to glamorise the criminals and to boost their public profile.[1]

Reminds me of somebody else around here, can't think who. But hey abe, the phone's ringing pal, I think it's another newsflash for you from your buddy. The little green leprechaun in your bowl of Lucky Charms


In 2002, Williams and the Sunday World were sued for libel after a story he had written in 1999 was proved to be untrue. In the article, Williams claimed a nun named Nora Wall had procured children so that they could be raped by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth. The paper issued a full apology and was forced to pay a €175,000 settlement to Ms. Wall'.

So, yet another reference to a guy who has been completely discredited, stop with the comedy abe

This guy sounds so familiar it's just untrue

That old slur (yawn)

A reference to the cowardly scumbags who instigated the troubles in the first place. The old guard of the IRA having ceased their border campaign in a bid for peace was ceased upon by cowardly Loyalist paramilitaries who knowing that the Catholic/Republican community were vulnerable burned down the houses occupied by women and children and bombed businesses in some lame attempt to taint the IRA.


'In March and April 1969, there were six bomb attacks on electricity and water infrastructure targets, causing blackouts and water shortages. At first the attacks were blamed on the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In fact, it later emerged that members of the loyalist Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) had carried out the bombings in an attempt to implicate the IRA, destabilise the Government and halt the reforms demanded by the Civil Rights movement and promised by Terence O'Neill'.[7]

These atrocities were consequently committed by the protestants in full knowledge that the official IRA were looking to seek peace and had the support of the Civil Rights movements all around the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUKy29ZhP5Q&list=PL4D622E8822FDFD46&index=13

This ultimately led to the formation of the Provisional IRA, a group who were less compromising than their older peers and who became the worst nightmare the cowardly Loyalists ever created, which sadly ruined the peace process as the place descended into senseless violence that would kill many lives and wipe out entire families including many of my own.

But despite the cowardly Loyalist mobs being armed and aided by the Loyalist RUC (yeah so brave ) and gthe fact that the Republicans had to fight a war on three fronts (the British army, the cowardly Loyalists and the RUC) the IRA inflicted far more casualties on Loyalist paramilitaries than the Loyalist mobs did on the IRA. So the IRA (I ran away) warblings didn't last long and were only the scribblings at a time when the Catholic community were undefended so here are the facts, you Brit monsters created a monster and the IRA blew their opposition away if you want to weasel this heartbreaking conflict down to some kind of competitive death count which is childish, puerile and idiotic but the fact is you attacked vulnerable women and children and the army that arose from the ashes of that demolition became (according to British intelligence that abe loves to quote so much) 'the fiercest terrorist group in Europe' and a much more professional and organized threat than the low level bums that made up the ranks of the pathetic UVF and UDA.

Who even with the help of the SAS and the British army could never defeat the bold IRA. The truth...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhaaQ9TathM

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0217/504882-packages/

IRA' claims responsibility for suspect packages sent to British army recruitment centres.

A group calling itself the IRA has claimed responsibility for sending suspect packages to British Army recruitment centres in England last week.

Scotland Yard said a group using a recognised codeword had contacted a media outlet in Northern Ireland at the weekend.

Seven suspected explosive devices were sent to army careers offices.

One of the packages bore a Republic of Ireland postmark and the British government said the small but potentially viable devices bore "the hallmarks of Northern Ireland-related terrorism".

Scotland Yard said: "We are aware of the claim of responsibility for the devices that were sent to Army recruitment centres in England last week.

"The claim was received on Saturday February 15 by a Northern Irish media outlet using a recognised codeword. The claim was allegedly made on behalf of the 'IRA'.

"The public is urged to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to the Anti-Terrorist Hotline, 0800 789 321."

The IRA disbanded in the years after it declared an end to its armed campaign in 2005.

However, a group calling itself the New IRA formed just before the London Olympics in 2012 and was linked to letter bombs sent last autumn.

I never disputed the fact that he UVF were responsible abe, stop putting up straw men arguments in a lame attempt to shoot me down for pointing put the simple facts.

Martin Cahill was a lowlife scumbag who worked with the UVF, a traitor to his country and a pathetic bum who was nothing more than a jumped up petty thief and yet despite his links to Loyalist paramilitaries you still revere him which says everything about where your loyalties lie.

As for Paul Williams he is a self-serving publicist who is a well known fairy tale storyteller. From his Wikipedia profile:-

[u]'Williams has been the subject of criticism that he is a mouthpiece for the gardaí'

Sound familiar to anyone else we know around here people

[i]"who uses his column to shape the public perception of the criminals he writes about and, quite possibly, to stir up tensions between rival gangs and major league villains". The Sunday Tribune said a common criticism of Williams is that he is "little more than a cheerleader for the gardaí" and noted Williams's tendency to steer away from any crime or corruption within the force.

Williams has been criticised for his tendency to give nicknames such as "The Tosser", "The Penguin", "Babyface" and "Fatpuss" to the criminals he is reporting on. Critics complain this has served to glamorise the criminals and to boost their public profile.[1]

Reminds me of somebody else around here, can't think who. But hey abe, the phone's ringing pal, I think it's another newsflash for you from your buddy. The little green leprechaun in your bowl of Lucky Charms


In 2002, Williams and the Sunday World were sued for libel after a story he had written in 1999 was proved to be untrue. In the article, Williams claimed a nun named Nora Wall had procured children so that they could be raped by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth. The paper issued a full apology and was forced to pay a €175,000 settlement to Ms. Wall'.

So, yet another reference to a guy who has been completely discredited, stop with the comedy abe

This guy sounds so familiar it's just untrue [/quote

Martin Cahill was a lowlife scumbag who worked with the UVF, a traitor to his country and a pathetic bum who was nothing more than a jumped up petty thief and yet despite his links to Loyalist paramilitaries you still revere him which says everything about where your loyalties lie.

The IRA did not kill Martin Cahill is what i said.

As for Paul Williams he is a self-serving publicist who is a well known fairy tale storyteller. From his Wikipedia profile:-

[u]'Williams has been the subject of criticism that he is a mouthpiece for the gardaí'

Three people have got money in cases again William's Martin Marlo Hyland got big pay one time as well.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/gilligans-general-hysteria

JOHN Gilligan claims the attempted hit on his life was planned by associates of murdered gangster Martin Cahill.

The pint-sized thug is frantically putting the word out that he had nothing to do with Cahill’s death as he’s terrified he’ll be whacked in a revenge attack.

A gunman walked into the Halfway House pub in north Dublin last week looking for Gilligan (61), but he was actually in the Hole in the Wall pub nearby.

Gardai investigated the theory that the hit attempt may have been carried out by associates of John Cunningham and Christy Kinahan. But Gilligan has told pals he believes associates of Cahill were behind it.

A source said: “He’s desperate to get the word out there that he had nothing to do with Cahill’s death.”

Notorious criminal Martin Cahill was shot dead in August 1994. The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility.

However, another theory was put forward that Gilligan had organised the killing or assisted the IRA in the murder because he owed Cahill money and didn’t want to pay.

The drug baron denies this and also denies he owed Cahill money.

The source said: “Gilligan claims that he didn’t owe Cahill any money and that Cahill ‘hadn’t a pot to piss in’. He described Cahill as an ‘amateur hour’ criminal.”

It isn’t clear if there is any credibility to Gilligan’s theory that associates of Cahill were behind the hit attempt or if he is deliberately trying to cause confusion.

Gardai are also investigating whether associates of John ‘the Colonel’ Cunningham ordered the hit attempt on Gilligan.

Investigators believe Gilligan had been demanding money from Cunningham, which he claims he has been owed since the 1990s.

Cunningham is closely linked to Spanish-based mobster Christy Kinahan, who is suspected of being the leader of a major international crime syndicate.

While this theory is a major line of inquiry for gardai, Gilligan denies Cunningham was behind the plot.

“He said he doesn’t have any problem with Cunningham and claims he doesn’t know why people are linking him to the murder plot,” our source said

He added that there was one man in particular who blames him for Cahill’s death and he is behind the assassination attempt.

The main theory around the Cahill hit was that he was killed by the IRA because he assisted the UVF, who carried out a 1991 attack in which an IRA man was shot dead at the Widow Scanlon pub in Dublin. Cahill was shot just days before

the IRA ceasefire in 1994, in what was describe as “unfinished business.”

Security sources do not believe Cahill was involved in assisting the UVF in the attack.

However, there have been claims in the underworld that Gilligan told the IRA that Cahill was involved in the attack.

Gilligan said: “Martin Cahill was never an enemy of mine. He had fantastic bottle. He had good principles up to a point, but he had no money... I gave him some money. This thing about Cahill giving me 800 grand is nonsense.

“They are trying to throw mud at me and if enough is thrown, some of it is surely going to stick, right? There is nobody who’d give you that type of money.

What criminal would give another criminal that type of money? Cahill never even seen 800 grand in his life, or anything near it.”

Gilligan has now become more security conscious and a source said: “Gilligan has been trying to put on a brave face, but he’s obviously worried now. He’s told everybody that he’s not going to leave Ireland and that he’s not scared of anyone, but the longer he stays here the more chance he’ll be killed.”

Gardai officially warned Gilligan of an active threat on his life last week and issued him with security advice.

Since his release from prison he has been demanding money he claims he is owed from people dating back to the 1990s, as first revealed by the Sunday World.

“He’s stepping on a lot of toes and has the mistaken impression he’s still the main man, but a lot has changed since the 1990s and he is on thin ice at the moment,” said our source.

And gardai fear the gang who tried to have him whacked will attempt to get him again.

“There’s definitely unfinished business here. It’s unlikely they’re going to give up after one failed attempt,” added our source.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analys...n-26284218.html

Sean South, UVF touts was all over this pub attack Martin Cahill
had jackshit to do with it.

RUC 'collusion' in replacing bomb gel with putty saved the lives of IRA men.

JIM CUSACK – 04 FEBRUARY 2007

IN OCTOBER, 1993, a package with a note on the back saying it was a book was posted from Belfast to the then Tanaiste, Dick Spring. It was a bomb, a fairly well constructed one that would have killed anyone who tried to open the package. It didn't reach the Tanaiste. It was intercepted at the Central Sorting office in Belfast and made safe.

On the evening of Saturday, May 21, the following year, over 50 members of Sinn Fein - along with members of the Dublin IRA - were enjoying a night of drinking and music in the upstairs function room of the Widow Scallan's pub in Pearse Street.

Downstairs, the public bar was packed, with dozens of local men watching soccer on the television. Around mid-evening, two men appeared at the side-stairs door to the function room. They shot dead the doorman, IRA member Martin Doherty, and planted a hold-all inside the hallway.

The location of the hold-all was significant. The men had been told exactly where to place it. It was a bomb - or so the two Ulster Volunteer Force members who planted it there thought it was. It should have contained around 20lbs of the commercial explosive, Powergel.

If the bomb had gone off, the following would have happened: the horizontal pressure of the explosion would have blown out the side wall of the pub. That wall supported the beams that held up the roof and first floor of the 19th century building. The roof and first floor - along with 50-odd republicans in the function room there - would have fallen downwards on to even more local people in the public bar.

The explosion would also have caused a fire-ball which would have burned to death many people in its direct path and then, almost certainly set fire to the building, killing everybody trapped inside.

A few months later, as the Belfast Enterprise train pulled into Connolly Station on the afternoon of September 12, an explosion occured in a packed carriage. No one was killed or injured but the inside of the carriage was covered in a strange grey, putty-like substance. It was putty, two kilos of it. Who would make a bomb of putty?

Unwittingly it was the UVF. But, in the background, British Army ordnance officers were almost certainly involved. It was they who had been brought a large cache of real Powergel explosive by RUC Special Branch officers and asked to take out the explosive and replace it with something that looked and even smelled like explosive but was harmless.

They then, probably, took the 'explosive' back to their agent inside the UVF agent who had given it to them in the first place and he, in turn, carefully placed it back in the secret hide in north Belfast from where he had stolen it.

The reason behind the RUC and British Army's actions were this: they had left the UVF with something they thought was explosive but was harmless, so they couldn't kill people.

In doing so, they saved lives, lots and lots of them - dozens of republicans and locals in the Widow Scallan's, maybe another dozen passengers on the train, maybe even the Tanaiste.

The Branch men's agent was probably Mark Haddock, the man referred to as 'Informant One' in Nuala O'Loan's "damning" report on the RUC. The report, met with a clamour of condemnation and indignation, has irrevocably sullied the reputation of the RUC in many people's eyes.

The report was accurate in portraying Haddock and his associates in the Mount Vernon unit of the UVF as a bunch of murderers who killed not only Catholics but local Protestants who somehow fell foul of them. The Ombudsman's investigation was a result of a campaign by Raymond McCord snr, whose son, Raymond, was murdered by the UVF men in 1997.

Taken in isolation, the failure to prosecute Haddock and others for this and maybe six other murders seems an appalling indictment, but only if taken out of the context of the environment in which the RUC was operating in the early Nineties.

Northern Ireland was, at the time, on the brink of civil war. The IRA had stepped up its campaign of terrorism to

'In the background, British Army ordnance officers were almost certainly involved'

levels not seen since the Seventies. It was setting off huge bombs aimed at the commercial heart of London. It massacred eight Protestant workmen on their way to work at a construction company in Teebane, Co Tyrone. In October, 1993 - the same month the parcel bomb was sent to Dick Spring - an IRA bomb exploded in Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road, killing nine people. In March 1993, an IRA bomb exploded in a busy shopping street in Warrington, England, killing two children, Tim Parry, 12, and three-year-old Jonathan Ball.

Simultaneously, the IRA leadership was in talks with the Dublin Government and the SDLP in the lead-up towhat would become known as the 'peace process' and the first IRA ceasefire in 1994. The impression that a 'pan-nationalist front' of the IRA, SDLP and Irish Government was negotiating terms for some form of a settlement with the British and American governments was an alarming one for unionists and loyalist paramilitaries.

After more than a decade in which it had stopped bombings, the UVF had returned to carrying out explosions. It carried out attacks on Sinn Fein offices, including one in Monaghan in which, strangely enough, the bomb failed to explode.

The aftermath of the IRA's bombing of Frizzell's fish shop was one of the worst in the entire Troubles with over 30 people murdered in a month, including eight people shot dead by loyalists in the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel, Co Derry. The UVF planned to strike at the heart of the Republic's tourist industry by either blowing up or shooting up a coach load of American tourists.

Remarkably, almost none of this context was included in any of the commentary arising from the O'Loan report in the media here. The RUC Special Branch's undoubted protection of their valuable 'asset' - as such agents and informants are known - was viewed purely in a sense of there being proof-positive of 'collusion' between British state forces and loyalists. In fact, there was the opposite of collusion to commit murder against republicans. The Special Branch's actions in removing the UVF's explosive and replacing it with harmless putty, ironically, saved IRA and Sinn Fein lives as they were the main target of the loyalists.

And, at the same time, the Special Branch was running equally murderous 'assets' in the IRA who were also furnishing them with information and carrying out actions which were also saving dozens, if not hundreds of lives. It has since emerged that the head of the IRA's internal security unit, codenamed 'Stakeknife', was one of their agents, a man who oversaw the 'executions' of dozens of suspected or alleged IRA informers.

While retired RUC officers say they can handle Nuala O'Loan's report - accepting some of its criticisms as valid -they say that they are appalled that the report has, effectively, tarnished the reputation of an entire police force. Some 302 serving police officers were killed and 20 retired members were also murdered during the Troubles. Many were murdered by the IRA in front of their families.

The other aspect of the O'Loan report fallout is that it has played into Sinn Fein's prolonged campaign to reduce the role and function of the RUC to that of a collusionist conspiracy. For years it has been mounting various campaigns citing 'collusion' - from the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane back to the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. It is part of Sinn Fein's strenuous efforts to rewrite the history of the Troubles in which its military wing played the most murderous role.

Give it up abe, you have been completely discredited and exposed

The British army even had a 'Military Reaction Force' which acted as a terrorist cell inside Northern Ireland, colluding with the UVF in a pub bombing that took the lives of fifteen innocent civilians.

'On 4 December 1971, loyalists belonging to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonated a time bomb at the door of McGurk's public house in Belfast. The pub was frequented by members of the Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist community.[12] The explosion caused the building to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians and wounding seventeen more. It was the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles.[13] The book Killing For Britain (2009), written by former UVF member 'John Black', claims that the MRF organized the bombing and helped the bombers get in and out of the area'.

abe has sunk to a new low. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZrrBjuEv6w


Praising the Brit scum that have raped, pillaged and killed Irish men and women for centuries. You haven't criticised the Brits once in any of your pieces abe you have been found out, game over, your agenda has been exposed, sorry abe, time to give it up

Plastic paddy, what would you do without Google helping you?

You have no real idea about Loyal Ulster, and what really happened so go back to pretending to be Irish and impressing your friends with your knowledge....


Most people from the republic of Ireland hate the cowardly provos and the dissidents, but of course you can't understand that

Nobody should be killed because of their religion, but you are happy to cheer on scum from afar, I am sure most decent people on this forum think you are an idiot!

Also funny how many Irish are happy to live in Britain and many are also happy to serve in our armed forces and be part of the British community

Despite your warped view and limited understanding of reality, I am sure most 'real Irish' people are happy with their relationship with the British people...

Only a small minority of scum want to keep hate and murder, and their day will never come!

I won't bore the rest of the forum anymore with this shite, I somehow doubt you will remove the chip from your shoulder and give everyone peace though..

Toodlepip

You haven't criticised the Brits once in any of your pieces abe you have been found out ?

Sean South you are a nice guy sometimes and i don't wish to bring myself down to you debate debate levels the thread is about United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. Ireland.

Feel free to start a thread on the IRA if you wish to do so i will debate with you on that, i think your position has become untenable on this thread, no matter how many funny faces you put in your posts the fact remains you do not know what your on about. you like the gerry adams martin mcguinness leadership and on the other hand the IRA now are doing a good job the fact is the two Republican sides do not like each other and only someone like yourself would like to make it look like they are all good mates because you don't know what your on about.

IRA stand for "I Ran Away"?

British, in case you haven't noticed, the Irish have been skull dragging you and your country around, taking back piece by piece of its native land. Was it less than a hundred years ago you had all of Ireland? Now your reduced to a small portion of Northern Ireland?

Your country has been on a steady 250 year decline since we kicked you out of America, and the embarrassments have only gotten worse.

First the Revolutionary War, then the War of 1812, then the bailouts of WWI and WWII.

What's more, the majority of Americans sympathize with the Irish because you treated them the same as the colonies with your imperialistic tactics. But let me tell you, that mighty British navy that your country boasted of a few centuries back has been reduced to rubble. The majority of your outposts have declared freedom and broken away from "the crown". All you have left is that little island called England. Defeat is a painful pill to swallow isn't it?

With God's will, the Irish, my distant family members across the pond will claim what your ancestors unrightfully stole from them.

Blimey,here comes another clueless numbskull


If you feel so strongly I hope you are giving the American soil back to the native Indians!

We won the wars against the Native Americans and they have been compensated. We weren't ever kicked out by a liberating force as has happened to the mighty England on numerous occasions.

Is what I'm saying not true? did you not at one point have a vast empire that has been reduced to only England? And maybe the Falkland Islands?

Okay Pip, pip and cheerio Toodledoo/Toodlepip or whatever the fuck (British slang is so lame) you call yourself but plain facts are you have bought absolutely zero of substance to this debate.

A minute ago you were braying about how tough your Loyalist paramilitary heroes were and yet when I explained to you the realities and truth of where the 'IRA ran away' taunts originated from you threw a tantrum like a little squealing Royal bitch Don't dish it out if you can't handle the truth, simple.

You either know full well those taunts originate from a time when Loyalist bullies attacked unprotected families as the IRA sought peace and chose to brag about it or are now backtracking in full knowledge of how cowardly you were and how guilty they were in using the RUC as a shield to torment, murder and torch Catholics from their homes which created a war that the Loyalists came to regret because they weren't as brave or as tough as the IRA and the IRA kicked their asses even though they had the RUC, British army and British terrorist special forces to hide behind because as an army they simply couldn't compete. The leader of the UDA was recruited because he threw a beating to an 80 year old man. Says it all about the Loyalist scumbags.

Bigots and scum the lot of them. Like most protestants.

If the truth hurts don't hurl insults you know fuck all about Pip, simple.

You were the one that came on here to spit your prejudices but the facts are your most famous pop stars the Beatles were in favor of a united Ireland and the most breathtaking ignorance you have shown is that you believe this conflict has anything to do with religion.

Only to the protestant hate-mongers and the Brit media who tried to make it so cos they have absolutely nothing else to fall back on not only did they partition a land they have illegally occupied but they tried to fabricate an IRA campaign at a time when the Irish were seeking peace in order to destroy equality for Catholics which was the catalyst which ignites the troubles in the first place.

Protestants live free and in peace in Ireland but even Catholic children are attacked walking to school in protestant areas of Belfast.

Because you started this war, you are illegally occupying Irish land and are so paranoid about the fact that Catholics will soon be the majority all you can do is wave Union flags and live on your bigotry because bigotry is all you have.

You have some balls trying to depict yourself as some kind of voice of peace and reason. Bit late in the day for that . Look at your previous posts buddy, nothing but bigotry and slurs.

Typical Brit, truth hurts, and because you don't know your own history you try and backtrack and portray yourself as some kind of beacon of peace and harmony when you've proved yourself to be nothing but a troll lacking even the most simple of facts.

Toodlepip now...

abe, I gave you a chance and you blew it, don't try to sidetrack me now with BS you called me out on the IRA enough times now so don't try and sidetrack this thread now because I have revealed the truth.

You stick to the facts and I will but call me out and I will cut out the bullshit buddy, it really is as simple as that.

It was not England, it was the whole of GREAT BRITAIN, the partition of 1921 was a political agreement and nothing to do with any military conflict with the Irish.

The Irish have never won a battle, let alone a war so we got rid and kept Ulster which is British


Funny how you go on about America being a beaming light of hope that saved our bacon in WW1 and WW2, we were actually there for the whole war and not hiding away till we had no choice but to get involved.

The British army is recognised as the best in the world, we are a small country that does not get pushed around by anyone. The British people could not be destroyed by the luftwaffe, or the IRA and now by Islamic nuts. As Churchill said we will NEVER SURRENDER

Be careful LaLouisiane, truth hurts to these guys, before you know it they'll be running to the Palace blubbering to their dear old Queen

We leave running away to you lot....

they are right up there, that's for sure. along with us over here, they are widely regarded to have the best trained, best motivated and most experienced guys in the world. a strong case can be made that the SAS are hands down the best special operations force in the world. the royal marine commandos are the cream of the crop as far as amphibious forces are concerned. they have the 2nd best navy in the world and a top notch airforce.

now i already know that some are going to use that against me and say "and the ira beat them" blah, blah, blah. you guys do realize that the conflict in northern ireland was fought with political decisions in mind right? to put it bluntly, if we are talking a real war the brits could round up the whole country and put them in internment camps if they saw fit, or simply reduce the whole of ireland to a pile of rumble from the air.

Exactly five felonies, well said


I think you will be wasting your time trying to explain that to some though


They want to drag this thread on and on with a blinkered view

I should not have got back involved with their nonsense and will not even bother reading this thread anymore

It wasn't a real war FF, we know that buddy. It was more insurgency and counter insurgency. IRA could never stand up a conventional army against the British Military, and I doubt they ever intended to do so. It was the same tactics used by VC in Vietnam and The war in Iraq, hit them where it hurts, but don't leave a conventional fighting force for them to attack.

The British Army with all of its might could do nothing to the IRA because they didn't know who were the fighters and who were the civilians. What are they going to do now, round up all the Irish and stick them in camps? In this day and age every country in Europe and around the world would be calling for England's head and even more support would be leveraged to the IRA.

The Brits are in a lose-lose situation and they know it. They can't launch an all out attack against Ireland because they will look in the wrong. What are they gonna do to justify it?? "uh....we invaded these guys a few hundred years back, so this is technically our land"..I don't think so, amigo.

Besides the Irish have too much support in the USA with the high numbers of Irish immigrants in the country. Wasn't it the first attack against the British where there was an Irish American guy involved and they executed all of them but him? Britain knew not to jeopardize its political relations by executing an American.( I may be off a little on that story but it followed those guidlines)

It's a tricky situation for Britain even though they labeled the IRA as a terrorist organization if fighting ever started again, you can bet that the USA would sit back and not get a dog in that fight. Likewise, when it comes to Ireland, Britain doesn't have much support from anyone. The world is too liberal and no one believes in Britain's right to take over a country it never had the business being in in the first place. They only wanted to exploit Ireland for it's resources the same as they did America, trust me everyone sees that.

The IRA doesn't need to spill blood anymore they have proven their point. All Britain can do is beef up its military presence in Northern Ireland and watch its power slowly dissipate from their hands. The Irish are slowly taking back what's rightfully theirs. Ireland was never Britains to begin with, so its absolute justice seeing the People of Ireland finally take back what is rightfully theirs.

And yet they could never infiltrate the South Armagh brigade, causing the British army to overfly South Armagh in Chinooks, many an SAS soldier died at the hands of the IRA even with the hunderds of millions of pounds at their disposal they still never ran any Irish soldier in South Armagh who gave as good as they got.

And the Brits through everything they had at them. And it still wasn't enough.

seems alot of people don't!


that statement is a joke. within the confines of the conflict, perhaps. as far as true military power, they could have destroyed the whole area in ten minutes if they wanted to.


this whole debate is a joke. we have people here wanting to see a return to the good old days when people were blown up in the streets on a weekly basis by both sides. this is directed at you SS. you have family over there, you are so down for the cause. ok, stop your silly shit, go over there, hook up with the brigade, get a few RPG's and an assault rifle and go to town. shoot a few rockets into a loyalist bar and spray a few neighborhoods. kill some innocents and then chalk it up to "the cause" the same way your typical black gangbanger here in the states will chalk it up to "the game".

A real war? What on earth are you talking about? They deployed an active terrorist cell in Northern Ireland that colluded with the UVF to commit the biggest bombing atrocity in Belfast so what is so 'real' about that?

The hunger strikers grew up watching their homes burned down by cowardly Loyalists and it has been proven that they instigated the troubles at a time the Republican community simply wanted equal rights and peace. And you're singing the praises of the SAS? Why? They failed miserably in Ireland and what's more you are completely missing the point. Everyone knows the IRA were not an army with millions upon millions of pounds worth of resources, they were freedom fighters living on courage and grit. Something the protestants didn't have. Bobby Sands went 66 days without food before dying. When the Loyalist prisoners went on hunger strike they couldn't last one.

And if the SAS were so good why could they never infiltrate the South Armagh brigade? Why did they overfly South Armagh in Chinooks? They had more money, resources and power, everybody knows that. But the IRA were just a band of freedom fighters fighting on pure courage, bravery and out of a damn righteous fight for survival so you are displaying your ignorance again like the posters above.

It was a real war and I lay wreaths down every year to commemorate my fallen comrades as do many Americans from Boston and New York who fought in Vietnam so you can stick your worship of the SAS where the sun don't shine.

Real war? A real war would have been the Loyalist paramilitaries who instigated this fight against the IRA and without the SAS, the RUC and the British army to hide behind I think we all know who would win that fight.

The IRA inflicted more casualties on Loyalist paramilitaries than they ever did on the IRA so the SAS, the RUC, the paras, the marines, the British army or even the damn Queen couldn't keep down the Irish who were fighting a war they never started in the first place, remember that.

Explain to me what right they have to occupy six counties and then get back to me. Even SAS soldiers have confessed that the IRA soldiers in South Armagh were too tough and secretive to infiltrate.

The British have no right to occupy Irish land, that's why it is called Ireland. You tell me the 'political decisions' that give Britain the right to occupy Ireland?

And fuck the SAS, they got their asses kicked in Basra too.

Why is it directed solely at me FF? I've explained the history of the conflict and it was the IRA who were the ones seeking peace before the outbreak of the troubles. That little nugget seems to have escaped your attention.

But then you're just another Brit lover that's cool. But you cannot counter any single of the political points I have made.

Number 1: They are illegally occupying Irish land

And Number 2: It was the RUC and Loyalist paramilitaries who ceased upon the IRA ceasefire in the late-60's to burn Catholic homes that caused the troubles in the first place.

Many of my family have been wiped out during the troubles and whether I have contributed any service to the cause is none of you damn business so back off, you no shit about the troubles FF, and you ain't got one political argument to make that can justify what the Brits have done.

sean, i don't know you but i'm sure i could beat you up!

i haven't discussed the politics of the situation at all really, just pointed out the silly outfit inspired fanboy shit shown by some (you) who hold the ira on some sort of a military pedestal. only a very small minority want to go back to the old days, again you. futhermore, you must be some kind of disabled person if you aren't willing to fight. if members of my family were killed, i would join the struggle rather than babble like some nutter on a computer.

Exactly, the whole international community was behind Ireland's plight for equality, civil rights and freedom including the majority of Americans.

FF's argument is preposterous, it doesn't even make an ounce of rational sense.

So now the disabled are bought into it

Please son, don't embarrass yourself, if you want to have a drink to discuss things further we'll see who's disabled by the end of the night.

i'm sure i could out-drink you as well. also, irish whiskey is trash. real men drink scotch! strike another blow for the UK!

Real men drink Scotch?

What kind of lame shit is that? Get the fuck out of here you waster you ain't got shit to offer this thread except your devotion to the Brits and the Queen.

Real men drink Scotch, yeah, they also eat a meal called haggis which is made out of cowshit, which ain't too far from the shit you been talking tonight

I gave you a chance and you blew it ?

Yes cool Sean South so with all the facts i put to you Martin Cahill had no part in UVF Pub attack in Dublin the IRA statements on Cahill was all lies,

the UVF gang who did the attack had touts in their ranks who NEVER gave Cahill's name to RUC OR GARDA as been part of the plot, the intelligence services new everything about the pub attack as NEWS reports of the day said the explosive's at the pub that did not go off was real, when in fact the so called explosive's was putty.

Now because i deal in facts and not he said she said or would could have been bullshit.

YOUR the one who you blew it.

Martin Cahill was not part of the UVF plot to blow up the Dublin pub and the IRA did not kill Cahill.

John Traynor was an informer for paul williams, williams got a garda intelligence file on Trayor which williams took to John Traynor office in the file was info showing Traynor was a garda informer, williams told Traynor he was going to run a story in the sunday paper saying Traynor was a garda rat, the story never seen the light of day as Traynor told williams all about cahill,

paul williams did a book on Cahill most of the info in the book was from Traynor.

PAUL WILLIAMS sold Traynor and did a story on his dealing with Traynor a few years back journalist protecting sources golden rule went out the window.

And i am sure PAUL WILLIAMS will never get any story from criminals again outing sources.

Blackmail with a Garda file is a dog that would not hunt today, as all a criminal today would have to do is call the garda and say Williams has a garda file and let the garda see where he got the garda file in the first place.

abe, you were the one that referenced Paul Williams, a reporter who has been completely discredited as a fraud as well as a Gardai mouthpiece who is well known for dreaming up comic book nicknames glamorizing low level bums with dumb nicknames in order
to make out some next band of deadbeats are the new superhero gangsters on the block that will wipe out the IRA or failing that like the UCA (Universal Cheerleaders Association) at least supply aspiring Irish crooks with some distracting "GO CAFF BOYS" dance routines to distract the IRA as they reach for their guns .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm_18ixJZ9I


This reporter is a renowned fraud who is also irrational in his anti-IRA propaganda to the point of hysteria that even the Irish Independent have told him to "Pipe down a bit". A paper which despises the IRA with a passion. They even go as far as to say that his obvious bias renders his reporting almost irrelevant due to it being so unbalanced and misleading. Here's a critique of his hysterical reporting on a TV report. He was supposed to be exposing criminal activity...

'However, instead of providing an exposé he contented himself with innuendo and abuse, some of it so vehement that the viewer almost felt sympathy for the die-hard fanatics and professional agitators who've latched on to this bitter campaign'.

Wow! Even the Irish Independent see his anti-IRA bias bordering on downright comedy perhaps he should stick to comedy instead? His anti-Irish bitterness is astounding but then he is a West Brit so I can understand why you reference him so frequently abe .

Dubliner Niall Harnett was "one of the ringleaders" and "a full-time eco warrior", while retired local schoolteacher Maura Harrington was the "diva" of the protest and the "pin-up girl of every sect of the republican movement". Apologists for the Real IRA, he confided, "are among her biggest fans". Harrington and her "vociferous comrades", he told us later, "run a slick propaganda machine", while in general the protest has attracted "every shade of red and green".

But you may as well be asking an orange order drum-beater for his opinion than expecting any nuance or balance from this guy. Sadly abe I'm sorry to say all you seem to be doing is putting words in my mouth that I never said or manipulating what I have wrote down to the point where you just ain't making any sense.

I said Martin Cahill colluded with the UVF and worked with them, I never said he had a hand in setting up the pub bombings though I couldn't give two fucks what the RUC or Gardai says. They are plain liars and scumbags anyway and I wouldn't believe a word they say. I'm not Paul Williams, West Brit Gardai mouthpiece and drug bum propaganda King.

He was certainly killed by Irish dissidents we can qyibble about the who's, the where's and why's but what we can take as golden is that Paul William's word don't mean shit.

abe you have posted some interesting stuff in the past so I don't wanna be too hard on you but it is important for readers to know you're a West Brit because for balance alone it is important to know how distortion of facts can revise history. The Brits are experts at that hence the typical ignorance of posters like 'British' and 'Five Ritalin Please I Need Therapy' whose only felony is the crap he posts which is just juvenile trash.

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.ie/2000/09/biggest-fence-in-irish-history-dies.html

Cahill never met the loyalists.


FACTS again Sean, come back when you have some thanks.

20 September 2000
Irish Times
Elaine Keogh and Jim Cusack

Known associate of the country's most dangerous criminals succumbs to cancer after a lifetime handling stolen property. Tommy Coyle, the biggest criminal "fence" ever to operate in the Republic and associate of some of the State's most infamous criminal and paramilitary figures, has died of cancer at the age of 50.

Coyle, who lived in Drogheda, "handled" the multi-million-pound haul of paintings stolen from the home of Sir Alfred Beitin Co Wicklow in March 1986. In 1990 he was detained in connection with one of the biggest robberies in Britain. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport as he was about to board a flight to Dublin along with two other men. British police found #77.3 million sterling in treasury bonds in luggage but were unable to get convictions. Charges against one of the men were withdrawn and Coyle and the other man were acquitted on charges of conspiracy to handle stolen treasury bonds.

The bonds were part of a haul worth #291 million which had been stolen in the City of London from a courier in May 1990. Other bonds turned up around the world as other criminal fences tried to dispose of them. Coyle's reputation as the State's leading "fence" (an agent who accepts and sells on stolen goods from robbers) led to his relationship with the notorious Dublin criminal, Martin Cahill, in the mid-1980s. Cahill's gang had carried off the relatively simple robbery of the paintings from Russborough House, Co Wicklow, on March 19th, 1986. Coyle had links to a former RUC detective who had turned to crime and built up a career as an international drug trafficker and who, in turn, had links to the stolen art and artefacts trade in Europe.

This man had close links with loyalists in mid-Ulster. Cahill handed over the paintings to Coyle who passed them on to the ex-RUC man and his associates. Cahill never met the loyalists.

The process of disposing of the paintings was difficult and in March 1990 three of the loyalists were arrested in Istanbul trying to sell the paintings. All the paintings, including a priceless Vermeer, were later recovered. It is believed that Coyle might have paid Cahill about #400,000 for the paintings but made relatively little himself.

Coyle, who was married with two adult children, was also an associate of the notorious republican gunman Dominic McGlinchey, who led a murderous gang of Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) members in the Border area during the 1980s before he was arrested after a shoot-out with gardai. After he was released from prison in the Republic McGlinchey moved back to the Border and was seen in the company of Coyle and another Dublin criminal figure, Martin Foley, who was shot and injured only a week ago.

On the evening of February 10th, 1994, McGlinchey and his son Dominic jnr had eaten with Tommy Coyle in Drogheda. A few minutes after McGlinchey left Coyle's company he was killed in a hail of bullets as he made a telephone call from a kiosk in the town.

McGlinchey was killed by members of a Border family with paramilitary and criminal connections. McGlinchey, and his wife Mary who had been assassinated in January 1987, had been blamed for killing two members of the family.

At the time gardai denied allegations that he was shot by the loyalist gunman Billy Wright who founded the extreme Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) in 1996. This story appeared to arise from reports that Coyle met Wright some years ago as part of his operation to "fence" the Beit paintings. On July 4th, 1997, he was brought before the Special Criminal Court and charged with conspiring to rob millions of pounds worth of computer equipment being shipped from NEC Semi-Conductors, in Ballivor, Co Meath.

Gardai also recovered two stolen oil paintings by the leading Victorian Irish artist, Sir John Lavery. The charges against Coyle were subsequently withdrawn. The Criminal Assets Bureau looked into Coyle's sources of income, as he had no visible means of support. An enthusiastic gambler, he at one point owned a horse he named 77 Mill, apparently in memory of the treasury bond scam he almost pulled off. Gardai say Coyle maintained links to the international drugs scene and was a frequent visitor to a London-based criminal dynasty and to the south of Spain where he met a number of Irish drug dealers and criminals.

Last year Coyle allegedly suffered a beating at the hands of a UK drugs gang. He never made any complaint to police.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/how-cahill-tried-to-cash-in-fr-molloy-murder-file-29721923.html

More facts Sean.

JIM CUSACK – 03 NOVEMBER 2013

OVER the weekend of September 6-7, 1987, some 100 files were stolen from the Director of Public Prosecutions' office in St Stephen's Green. The building, containing some of the State's most sensitive and major criminal files, had no adequate security and it was simple to break in through the original 19th Century windows in the basement. The files were kept in filing cabinets which were easily jemmied open.

The burglars – it is thought up to three took part – were led by the man who was soon to become Ireland's most notorious criminal, 'The General' Martin Cahill. He was, effectively, at war with the State. He wanted to humiliate the Government and gardai through the secrets he believed the files contained.

Included in his haul were the DPP's files on Malcolm MacArthur, the man then serving life imprisonment for the murder of nurse Bridie Gargan in Phoenix Park in the summer of 1982. MacArthur, now free and living in south Co Dublin, was at the centre of a hugely publicised manhunt and subsequent trial.

The fact that he was arrested at the home of the then Attorney General Patrick Connolly, in Dalkey, had been one of the most bizarre elements of the story. Mr Connolly was socially acquainted with MacArthur and had been allowing him to stay temporarily at his home. The Attorney General, who was on holiday in the US, was totally unaware he was harbouring the State's number one fugitive.

Cahill believed there were secrets in the files that could bring down major government and legal figures.

He, like almost everyone in Ireland, was also well acquainted with the story surrounding the killing of Fr Niall Molloy during a lavish wedding at Kilcoursey House in Co Offaly in July 1985. The owner of the house, Richard Flynn, was charged with manslaughter and brought before the Central Court. In what was seen as a remarkable turn in the story, which had consumed acres of newspaper coverage, Judge Frank Roe suddenly brought the trial to a close after accepting a defence submission that there was no evidence to suggest Fr Molloy did not die of a heart attack. An inquest later found that he died from blows to the head. Cahill, who was illiterate, presumably failed to find anything that could bring down the Government in the files but decided to hold on to them anyway as a bargaining chip.

The Fr Molloy file would subsequently become just that four years later for his friend and criminal associate, John Traynor, who could read, and was good at deals.

In July 1990, Traynor was arrested in London while handling stolen bearer bonds with a value of £4m that had been snatched from a courier in the City of London. He was facing seven years jail in Wormwood Scrubs and was desperate to get out and get home. He made contact with Cahill and the gardai. Traynor was transferred to the low security Highpoint Prison in Suffolk.

He was given "temporary home leave" in November 1992 and travelled home to Dublin. Traynor was awaiting trial for possessing stolen cigarettes in Dublin and, given his string of previous convictions, was also facing jail time in the Republic.

A few weeks later he arranged a meeting with a lone detective near the Garda Social Club in Harrington Street in south Dublin. The detective arrived and Traynor directed him to walk down nearby Stamer Street. As he did so, Martin Cahill stepped out from behind a hedge and handed the detective the Fr Molloy file, which – as crime journalist and author Paul Williams recounts in his book Evil Empire – was contained inside a Dunne's Stores shopping bag.

Traynor and Cahill had been in business together since the early Eighties.

Traynor was involved in cheque forgery and any other scam that could net him money. A year after his return, however, a new face emerged on the major organised crime scene in Dublin. John Gilligan, having finished a five-year sentence in Portlaoise Prison had re-established links with his Lebanese hash trafficker in Amsterdam and had in place a major shipment, so long as he could raise the finance.

Traynor put a deal together between Cahill and Gilligan. Gardai believed that Cahill was prepared to put up £600,000 so long as he received the same amount in interest.

The deal was entered into and Gilligan's importation business took off.

Repayment of the loan and interest began in the summer of 1994, but didn't last long. Cahill was shot dead near his home in Ranelagh in August.

Two days later, the Dublin IRA issued a statement saying they had killed Cahill because he had been trading with the outlawed loyalist organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force. The UVF had never heard of Cahill but some of its members had been arrested in Turkey in 1993 trying to sell some of the paintings Cahill had stolen from Russborough House in 1986. The UVF men had acquired the paintings from Ireland's top criminal fence, Tommy Coyle, who had been handling the sale of the art collection for Cahill.

The IRA statement was a ruse, gardai discovered later. They had been bought off to cover for the real assassins, members of the splinter group the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), who had links to both Gilligan and Traynor.

Gilligan had befriended INLA members in Portlaoise Prison and Traynor was involved with them in a cheque fraud in Dublin.

Gilligan's operation flourished for two years under the radar of the gardai and journalists. Then, in 1995, the late Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin picked up Gilligan's name in a conversation with another journalist and double checked with one of her garda sources.

He confirmed that from nowhere Gilligan had suddenly become the richest criminal in Ireland and was probably the main supplier of hash in the country. Veronica had already established a rapport with Traynor as one of her main underworld contacts.

Traynor fed her stories about other criminals, diverting attention away from his cash-cow associate Gilligan. Veronica's stories led to death threats. Shots were fired at her home in October 1994 and in January 1995 a story that Traynor had given her about Cahill's remarkable double life with his wife and her sister led to demands by Cahill's associates – who knew of his contacts with Veronica – that she be assassinated.

The drug-addict gunman sent to kill her had a defective gun which misfired when he pointed it at her chest and pulled the trigger. The jam cleared and the bullet fired as the gunman shook the weapon, striking Veronica in the leg.

To avoid blame and show he was still amenable to the queries of the journalist, Traynor again turned to the Fr Molloy file which he had photocopied for future use. To divert Veronica's attention he again produced 'juicy' parts of the file to lead her away from Gilligan's life and drug trafficking network.

A story is a story and Fr Molloy was still news.

It was unlikely, however, that Veronica would miss out on Gilligan. Within days of hearing his name for the first time she had discovered Gilligan had set up home and had built a massive equestrian centre at Mucklon in Co Kildare. She set out for the house and confronted Gilligan on September 13, 1995.

He savagely attacked her and subsequently made threats to rape and kill her son. Gilligan was arrested and charged with the assault. A week before Gilligan was to have appeared in court on the assault charge the journalist was shot dead as she stopped at the traffic lights at Newlands Cross.

Since her revelations, the Fr Molloy case has cropped up again and again. Three years ago gardai agreed, in response to yet more publicity, to re-examine the file.

They did so and sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions who found no grounds for any further charges. Last week the Government concurred and refused a request for a public inquiry.

Now Sean, David Blaine the American magician could now get you out of all the facts you have on your table. your opinion posts are nothing.

http://www.herald.ie/news/gangsters-held-after-dawn-raids-in-murder-probe-30024077.html


This was a United Criminal Alliance-U.C.A. hit.


Gangsters held after dawn raids in murder probe.

BY KEN FOY CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 19 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 AM

THE gunman who is suspected of murdering a 47-year-old criminal in Tallaght last summer was one of two gangsters arrested by gardai in dawn raids this morning.

The duo – who are aged 28 and 25 –were being questioned by detectives today at Tallaght Garda Station about the shooting of Karl Wynne last May, at St Dominic's Shopping Centre in the south Dublin suburb.

Wynne, who was shot three times, died from his catastrophic injuries in hospital about six weeks later. The pair were arrested this morning in Finglas.

While today's arrests are the first in the case, detectives from Tallaght previously raided and searched the Finglas homes of the two suspects last July, along with that of another criminal who is currently in custody on unrelated charges.

Gardai believe three men were actively involved in the murder, which was organised by a notorious Finglas-based crime gang.

BLASTED

Sources believe that the gunman who blasted Wynne is the same criminal who shot drug dealer Paul Cullen dead in a Cabra pub last February.

He has "come to the fore" as a ruthless hitman in the gang that was once led by Eamon 'The Don' Dunne.

The suspected motorbike getaway driver for the Wynne murder was a very close associate of murdered Finglas gun-for-hire Daniel Gaynor, who was 25 when he was shot dead in front of his young family in August, 2010.

A senior source said: "These arrests are very significant and gardai have now built up a clear picture as the events of the night of May 30 last. Gardai have always believed that Wynne's murder was linked to his attempt to murder Sean Enright in Cabra a fortnight before he was shot in Tallaght – there was never much doubt that the crew responsible for shooting Wynne are based in the Finglas area."

Wynne, who was nicknamed 'The Lone Ranger', was linked to a spate of armed robberies in the months before he was shot.

He was arrested and questioned for five days about the Enright shooting before being warned by gardai to be "extremely careful" on his release.

Wynne was then shot less than a week later.

Such was the catastrophic nature of his injuries, Wynne was never expected to survive and medics were shocked that he survived as long as he did.

Wynne – who was originally from Finglas but lived in Tallaght at the time of his death – previously served a lengthy jail sentence for an armed bank robbery in Cork and spent over half his life in prison in England and Ireland.

HEROIN

Sources say that he battled a heroin addiction for years and in the months before his murder he had been offering himself as a gun for hire.

However, he "signed his own death warrant" when he botched the hit on Enright and gardai believe that the same gang who ordered Enright's murder may also be responsible for Wynne's murder.

According to the man who depends on reports written by journalists who fabricate lies about frail old nuns

Listen abe, the best you can come up with is the revelation that the murder of Martin Cahill was carried out by the Irish National Liberation Army instead of the IRA.

They also executed Billy Wright the leader of the LVF so they were proud Republicans doing their duty. I don't see the reason for the melodramatics abe

Three of their members died during the hunger strikes so I don't see the big revelation you are trying to hype up abe.

I have cousins who lived on the same street as Martin Cahill and what we can say for sure is he was slain by Irish Republicans so your distortion of a petty fact is a pretty lame attempt to dig yourself out of a very deep hole.

Word around town at the time was that it was committed by the IRA.

Anyway, you have repetitively printed the words of a known liar who even sank so low as to try and incriminate a nun.

A known cheerleader for the Gardai, a known Brit lover and a known anti-IRA propagandist his word means absolutely nothing all the facts I have printed about the troubles however happen to be irrefutable and true.

Martin Cahill was a traitor who lived and died a bum. You may want to glorify the next generation of nobodies and big them up with dumb nicknames. Give it up abe

So Cahill didn't meet with Loyalists according to some obscure blog you have found in the darkest recesses of the web.

I don't see where this is going abe, what difference would it even make if Cahill never met the Loyalists? He knew he was colluding with them and that fact alone sealed his sorry fate.

That simple fact will not change no matter how much spin you out on it. Paul Williams is a well known liar and the fact that you keep referencing him as a source on this forum is nothing but a total disgrace .

Ok Sean we move on from this i put two of your posts into one i will let you answer your own questions.

On a side note what did you make of the putty at the pub ?

Irish Times report.

http://www.herald.ie/news/murder-suspects-released-in-probe-30027328.html

Murder suspects released in probe.

KEN FOY, CRIME CORRESPONDENT – 20 FEBRUARY 2014 02:30 AM

THREE men arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Karl Wynne have been released without charge.

Mr Wynne died last July after being shot three times at St Dominic's Shopping Centre in Tallaght in May of last year.

He died from his injuries in hospital about six weeks later.

The three men were released last night and a file on the case is being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Two well known Finglas criminals aged 28 and 25, including the suspected gunman, were arrested in dawn raids yesterday.

Just hours after the duo were held, gardai also arrested a third man from Finglas, who is currently in custody at maximum security Portlaoise Prison in relation to a different offence.

The 31-year-old Finglas gangster, who has been locked up for the last number of months, had been causing mayhem in Finglas before being arrested by gardai.

The criminal has very close links with Derek 'Bottler' Devoy, the Ballymun criminal whose brother 'Mad Mickey' Devoy was killed this month.

He previously served a jail term for firearms offences and a post office robbery and has been linked with the murder of a 31-year-old man in Finglas in 2006.

He also had links to the drugs gangs of slain 'Marlo' Hyland and Eamon Dunne and some of his associates are involved in drugs trafficking.

Last night, a source conceded that the Karl Wynne case "will be very difficult to crack".

However, they added: "These arrests show that the investigation is progressing."

CCTV has played a major role in the investigation and gardai have tracked the motorbike used to the Finglas area.

Officers believe three men were actively involved in the murder, organised by a notorious Finglas-based crime gang.

I call bullshit on the putty just as I call bullshit on all the other pro-Brit propaganda you print.

Martin Doherty and Paddy Burke were two brave unarmed doormen who foiled the attack by the UVF who were happy to claim responsibility even though armed with guns and a holdall full of explosives the cowardly Loyalists still fled after Burke bravely fought them off and shut the door on them.

The UVF left behind a holdall containing an 18 pound bomb which the Gardai stated failed to explode but there is no reference to putty so again your pro-Brit propaganda is just pure fantasy even 'British' would back away from trying to set this fairy tale alight

A quote from a Trinity University report into media bias found the Irish Times was the most pro-British of the lot. Same agenda as yours abe


'The Irish Times was the primary press supporter of the pro-Brit policy; the pro-British Irish Times argued consistently that a united Ireland was unrealistic'.

A quote from a Trinity University report into media bias found the Irish Times was the most pro-British of the lot. Same agenda as yours abe


'The Irish Times was the primary press supporter of the pro-Brit policy; the pro-British Irish Times argued consistently that a united Ireland was unrealistic'. [/quote]

Irish times the paper of record, record of Cahill is right, pro-British and all.

Policy the pro-British Irish Times ? is true.

3 or 4 U.V.F. attacks went down containing explosives none of the explosives went off only the detonators in the attacks went off, it look's like someone does not know what they was doing or they used putty of some kind without knowing someone had done a trick on them.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/riskmap/2013/08/14/lurking-not-acting-real-ira-remains-a-threat/

Lurking Not Acting, 'Real IRA' Remains a Threat.

By John Nugent

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The recent spate of violence by Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, primarily directed against local police, may seem like an unwelcome blast from an unhappy past. Indeed, since the 1998 Good Friday accords, which ended decades of bombings, assassinations and rioting pitting the mostly Catholic Irish Republican Army (IRA) against pro-British “Loyalist” paramilitaries, peace has generally reigned in Northern Ireland.

But sporadic clashes have occurred, mostly around the disputed routes of parades organized by each community in commemoration of highly divisive events. One such earlier this month, organized by Sinn Fein, the political wing of the demobilized IRA, was disrupted as it moved through a predominantly Protestant neighborhood. Police responded to bricks and other missiles with rubber bullets and water cannons. In the end, some 26 police were injured.

Even with such outbreaks, police and intelligence services generally agree that the main protagonists in the four decades-long “Troubles” – the so-called Loyalist militia groups and the main body of the Provisional IRA itself — have stayed mainly on the sidelines. Most believe the IRA – the “provos” in local parlance – have now committed permanently to the political process, as evidenced by their sustained engagement, prominent place in the provincial government and consistently good showings at the polls. The hardline Loyalist groups took longer to quell, but they, too, have, in the main, acceded to the peace accords.

The Real IRA and other splinter groups rejected the Good Friday accords, however, and soon afterward Real IRA carried out the single most lethal bombing in the province’s history at Omagh in 1998. To date, the group has not changed its determination to keep violence as an option. While large-scale attacks against targets in England appear to be a thing of the past, dissident factions like the Real IRA continue to plan and sporadically attempt lethal operations against targets in Northern Ireland and further afield. Given their continued activity, it is worth a deeper look at the Real IRA, its roots and its recent history.

Michael ‘Mickey’ McKevitt was in charge of the IRA’s armoury before he and his common-law wife, Bernadette Sands-McKevitt (sister of hunger striker Bobby Sands), created the Real IRA. A year after its emergence and four months after the Good Friday Agreement, the Real IRA conducted the August 1998 Omagh bombing, in which 29 people died when the group detonated a 500lb (225kg) explosive device during an annual street fair. Such was the opprobrium that followed, including public censure by other dissident organizations including the IRA and Sinn Fein, that the Real IRA declared a ceasefire that lasted around 18 months, before resuming terrorist operations in early 2000.

McKevitt was arrested in July 2001 – when the group’s operational tempo was at its peak – and subsequently sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment. The arrests of key members, such as director of operations Liam Campbell, and penetration of the organization by informants significantly weakened the Real IRA. Its last major bombing campaign on English soil was in 2001, when attacks were either undertaken or attempted at the BBC TV Centre in London in March; a sorting office in London first in April and then in May; in Ealing, London in August; and in Birmingham city Centre in November, resulting in injury to nine people in total. From Portlaoise prison, McKevitt and other imprisoned members in 2002 called for the group to stand down; the order was apparently disobeyed.The Real IRA is an offshoot of the Provisional IRA (IRA) formed in 1997 by hardline elements opposed to negotiations being pursued by the IRA and Sinn Fein, its political arm. It sought to derail the peace process and bring about the end of British sovereignty over Northern Ireland through force.

The Real IRA continues to operate in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, where its establishment of a base for criminal activity in the capital Dublin has worsened inter-gang clashes in the city’s criminal underworld and brought about a substantial rise in the number of pipe bombs discovered there over recent years. While it remains intent on targeting England, MI5 (internal security service)’s downgrading of the threat from dissident republican organizations from ‘substantial’ to ‘moderate’ in October 2012 underlined that, though an attack by the Real IRA and other groups is possible, it is not assessed to be likely.

The Real IRA is now thought to be comprised of fewer than 100 people, with its political department – the 32 County Sovereignty Movement based in Londonderry – adding further numbers, though members publicly disavow links to the group. It is unclear how a merger between the Real IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and other smaller armed collectives into a ‘unified structure’ called the IRA Army Council or ‘New IRA’ in July 2012 has affected the Real IRA in an organizational sense, though despite talk of a ‘single leadership’ group’s composition is likely to be unchanged. This ostensible formation of a ‘new IRA’ has brought few of the benefits that the Real IRA envisioned when it signed up for this union however, with splits reportedly having become particularly pronounced within the Dublin faction and bouts of discord seemingly set to characterize the organization’s future course.

Current attack patterns are likely to persist, with the Real IRA successfully undertaking a handful of assassinations each year, but more substantial operations in Northern Ireland involving the use of heavier explosive devices are likely to be almost uniformly thwarted. The organization has suffered from the death, departure or arrest of seasoned commanders, which have reduced its overall levels of operational tradecraft and sophistication, and new recruits appear driven as much by financial considerations arising from the Real IRA’s movement into criminal activity as firmly-held ideological motivations.

John Nugent is an analyst at Control Risks, the global political, integrity and security risk consultancy.

Sean one year ago you said this on C.A.F. thread.


The gang members in Dublin have as many vendettas hanging over them from any which way you can think of than it really can be said power to match the IRA. And that is what they are now referring to themselves as once again. These gangs don't really get on and are more looking to resist to consolidate their own power than to challenge the authority of the IRA.


What do you have to say now the I.R.A. has falling down like a deck of cards, infighting, and most if not all I.R.A. members in Dublin put out of the I.R.A. over the last year or so.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/l...s-29978905.html

Republican Brendan Conway abused in the street for being 'a tout' and forced into hiding, court hears
The convicted robber from North Belfast is seeking an injunction to stop Sunday World publishing stories about him.

04 FEBRUARY 2014

Freedom of expression rights must give way to protecting the life of a convicted robber accused by a newspaper of involvement in murder and informing on dissident republican leaders, the High Court heard today.

Counsel for Brendan Conway argued that he should be granted an injunction to stop a Sunday World campaign which has put him under real and immediate threat.

The 39-year-old north Belfast man claims to have been vilified and harassed in a series of sensationalist and false articles. Allegations detailed in court include:

:: That he is a Real IRA boss linked to the murder of Kevin Kearney in the city last October.

:: That he supplied bugged cars to other dissident republicans in his role as a police informant.

:: That he had drug dealers targeted to clear debts.

Conway emphatically denies all of the claims made about him in the newspaper and contends that they have put his life in danger.

Police have issued two threat warnings about a planned gun attack on him since the first of four articles was published last October.

Mr Conway has also been assaulted, abused in the street for being "a tout" and forced into hiding, the court heard.

As well as claiming harassment, his action claims the newspaper is guilty of malicious falsehood and misuse of private information.

Libel proceedings have also been issued.

The Sunday World is defending the proceedings, arguing that Conway should be denied an injunction because of his alleged association with dissident republicans.

With backing from the BBC, UTV and Belfast Telegraph, lawyers for the newspaper have also claimed that imposing a ban on reporting his alleged activities would have a chilling effect on attempts to expose an underworld of drugs and murder.

It was set out during the hearing that Conway has a conviction for robbery related to taking £230,000 from an under-threat Ulster Bank employee.

But closing the case today his senior counsel, Brian Fee QC, insisted that the threats against him were due to the articles.

The court's options are limited by the plaintiff's Article 2 Right to Life under the European Convention on Human Rights being in play, he contended.

Mr Fee said: "If that means there's some adverse impact on freedom of expression rights then unfortunately that's a price that has to be paid."

According to the barrister any press entitlements are also outweighed by the need to shield informers.

"If the story is true - which we say it absolutely is not - that this man is an informant, then there's a serious public interest in that being protected," he said.

Setting out the measures he claimed should be taken, Mr Fee added: "In this case what we are asking for is that the allegations that the plaintiff is a murderer of Mr Kearney, that he has had Mr Kearney and other drug dealers targeted in order to avoid debts, and that he's a dissident republican informant betraying the leadership by selling bugged cars should not be repeated pending a full trial of this case."

Mr Justice Gillen reserved his decision on the injunction application. ends

The cause is the cause abe, as long as six counties lie under British tyranny there will never be peace and there will always be an IRA willing to fight the cause and they are far braver than all of the gangsters this forum idolises because they fight for freedom rather than the pretty green $ tainted by hate.

For what it's worth the entire Italian and Irish populations of Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx support the cause just look at the Italian reaction to the death of Bobby Sands to realise the injustice of British occupation is no joke. Do you support British occupation abe . If you do your word is worthless as a bums. State it now abe. The sons of the Westies support the cause as does South Boston, North Philly and Connecticut. If people do not support the cause then they have no right to claim Irish heritage in my opinion. The Westies were staunch IRA so if you want to argue about Irish politics I'd like to see a Brit walk into a certain bar in Hell's Kitchen cos they'd end up kissing the floor like the FBI bum who was slapped down by a son of the westside so don't come down crawling down here on a Saturday night. Five Felonies has gone awfull quiet, you fancy a drink with me and JC I'll take your orders now and we can argue our differences over a drink or two any day of the week or night. We can even go in Spillane's if you like and meet the Westside boys that remain and we'll see how long it is before you do a flight

The cause is the cause abe, as long as six counties lie under British tyranny there will never be peace and there will always be an IRA willing to fight the cause ?

Yes the I.R.A. will always be about and that is 100 % fact.

I think when people go about taxing and running with people to make them self money then they are not Republican they are just pimps with no balls to get there own money.

A revolutionary tax must be voluntary to work and have the support of the people paying it for it to work right not blackmail.

I was once in hell's kitchen meatpacking district partying and
went to spirit nightclub new york.

DID NOT SEE ANY WESTIES GOT OUT AROUND 530 AM TO HOTEL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onTl65BYNZw

Hell's Kitchen is a tourist trap full of hipsters and stuttering pricks. The old west side is gone but what did you expect? For those that do remain in the area to roll out the red carpet for you

I was joking about Spillane's despite the name the place is practically a fag joint. He'd be rolling iin his grave if he saw the crowd it attracts

abe try McClean Avenue or Woodside and they blow up Midtown quite regularly too. Chances of you bumping into anyone are slim but I'll send you a sealed invitation to a clb you might like in Chelsea, handlebar taches and shades sound like your thing

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/northern-ireland/we-silence-rira-boss-as-pals-turn-on-thug

We silence RIRA boss as pals turn on thug.

There is no hiding place.

That’s our message to Real IRA boss Brendan Conway.

The rebel republican took us to the High Court in Belfast this week – and got the high jump from the judge, who threw out his bid to gag us.

Now he’s on the run from his former criminal cohorts.

The rebel republican has gone into hiding after last week’s landmark legal win that upheld the Freedom of the Press.

Conway’s plans to gag this newspaper have backfired spectacularly. The only thing he has achieved is throwing the spotlight upon himself even further and fuelling the belief among republican circles that he is a police informer.

For the Sunday World can reveal members of the dissident organisations have labelled Conway as ‘toxic’, and whatever was left of his dubious reputation now lies in shreds.

“Brendan Conway is finished, there isn’t a man who wants anything to do with him, he is toxic,” said one dissident source.

“Conway has gone to ground, nobody has seen him in over a week. Let’s hope he stays in the hole he has crawled into as he has no friends in the dissidents,” the source added.

Conway has been under serious pressure since the arrest of Colin Duffy and Alex McCrory.

In recent weeks they too have turned their backs on him, informing him they believe reports that he was responsible for supplying them with cars that were bugged by the PSNI.
Duffy and McCrory are currently awaiting trial alongside Harry Fitzsimmons on charges of IRA membership and plotting to kill members of the security forces. The bulk of the evidence gathered against them comes from secret recordings.

In the immediate aftermath of their arrest a panicked Conway visited Harry Fitzsimmons in Maghaberry prison to beg him to believe his claims that he was innocent.

He asked Fitzsimmons to speak to both McCrory and Duffy behind bars and convince them that he was not involved in the circumstances surrounding their arrest.

Conway was left to sweat for weeks before the message was delivered to him that both the alleged dissident bosses believed claims that he was involved.

Conway was out on his own and with no-one to turn to he looks set to disappear.

“The rank and file of the New RIRA do not like nor trust Conway, they don’t want anything to do with him,” said a source.

Sources say McCrory, Fitzsimmons and Duffy, who are hugely embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding their arrest, have sent word to members of the New Real IRA that they are to have no involvement with Conway as he is a state agent.

Conway has failed to turn up at the vehicle recovery business which he owns. He also refuses to go into north Belfast.

Previously, due to his paranoia, he refused to work full shifts and when he was forced to fill in for one of his drivers he tried to disguise himself.

He is also living in fear of being attacked by associates of murder victim Kevin Kearney, who have made it known they are out for revenge and have Conway in their sights.

The 39-year-old turned to the British judicial system to prevent us from labelling him as a police informer and highlighting his alleged involvement in the murder of North Belfast man Kevin Kearney.

His attempt failed.

Hey abe, like they say, it's good to be free Wonder why abe chose not to post this piece of news, as usual abe only prints pro-Brit propaganda, if he posted a more balanced viewpoint then I might actually read your posts without laughing at how biased they are

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/03/world/europe/northern-ireland-acquittal/

(CNN) -- A 47-year-old man from Northern Ireland was found not guilty Friday of murder in the 2009 killings of two British soldiers at an army base in Northern Ireland.
Brian Shivers had been accused of killing Patrick Azimkar, 21, and Mark Quinsey, 23, two English soldiers gunned down outside Massereene Barracks.
The off-duty and unarmed servicemen were ambushed with gunfire as they collected a pizza delivery at the front gate of the base, hours before they were due to leave for a tour of Afghanistan. They were the first members of the British security forces to be killed in Northern Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998.
The Real IRA, a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shivers had been convicted of the murders last year and ordered to serve at least 25 years in jail. The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal quashed that judgment this year after Shivers challenged the trial verdict. He was then ordered to face a retrial.
Prosecutors said Shivers' DNA was found on matchsticks and a mobile phone found in and around an abandoned getaway car.
The defense said the DNA did not prove he was involved in the shooting and could have been innocently associated with people who used the car.
Shivers' attorney has described him as an "unlikely terrorist" because he had cystic fibrosis and a doctor had told him he only had a few years to live.
The judge effectively sided with the defense, saying the evidence wasn't strong enough.
Another man, Colin Duffy, had been acquitted last year.
Shivers also was acquitted of attempting to kill four other soldiers and two pizza delivery men and torching a getaway car.

Really ? do i have to go back that long Sean ? i will stick to the reports on the gangs as they have been a lot more busy since last May 2013.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/thugs-supply-and-demands

WHAT THIS STORY IS CRAP FULL STOP, I THINK IF A CRIMINAL GETS HIT THEY WILL KILL EVERY REPUBLICAN IN NORTH DUBLIN AND WE WILL HAVE SOME POSTS ON THIS THREAD FOR WEEKS LOL.



Gangland's 'Mr Big' calls in drug debts from low-level dealers.

'Mr Big' is calling in his debts from drug dealers

Pascal Kelly fled abroad after falling out with 'Mr Big'

THE major criminal known as ‘Mr Big’ is demanding money from drug dealers due to massive cash-flow problems.

The 32-year-old criminal from north Dublin, who cannot be named as he is out on bail for a major crime, is suspected of organising the murder of dissident gang leader Alan Ryan in 2012.

Mr Big recently had a major falling out with his associate Paschal Kelly (48), after he demanded Kelly pay back €60,000 he owed him.

“They fell out big-time,” said one source. “Mr Big is determined to get his hands on the cash.”
Kelly, originally from Coolock in north Dublin, fled to Europe after being released on bail in Northern Ireland for money laundering and other charges late last year.

He was electronically tagged and told authorities he would be living at an address in the Republic – but he cut the tag off and fled abroad. Gardai have carried out searches for him at a girlfriend’s house in Balbriggan. Mr Big has also called to the woman’s home in an attempt to recover some of his money.

In a separate matter, pals of Alan Ryan recently covered a car outside the woman’s home in republican stickers.

Mr Big is unlikely to recover the €60,000 and is now so desperate for cash that he has told every dealer supplied by his gang that they have to pay what they owe before he deals to them again.

Normally, dealers receive drugs ‘on tick’ before paying up after they have sold them on.

“It shows he’s rattled. He’s no longer pals with Kelly and he’s desperate for money. He’s fallen out with one or two others as well. On top of that he has the threat hanging over his head from dissidents,” our source said.

In April last year, gardai from Bailieborough, Co. Cavan, uncovered a multi-million euro heroin and weapons haul at a derelict house outside Virginia. The drugs, with a potential street value of €3million, along with an Uzi submachine gun were believed to be linked to Mr Big’s gang.

Sources say Mr Big is seriously concerned about the threat to his life. He is staying in a home on the northside of the city which has bulletproof windows and other security measures installed.

He has changed the garda station where he signs on as part of his bail conditions a number of times due to concerns there would be attempts on his life. He does not leave the house regularly and has been warned by gardai about a credible threat to his life.

The falling out with Kelly further weakens his position and he may be safer in prison than back on the streets.

Earlier this month it was confirmed Kelly’s home would be sold after the High Court ruled it was bought with the proceeds of crime.

He must also forfeit a 4x4 vehicle, €11,000 from the sale of another car, and around €3,000 in cash seized from the house at Ballyjamesduff in Co. Cavan. The house is estimated to be wroth between €250,000 and €275,000.

Kelly is unemployed and the only tax returns he made were for work as a window cleaner. He also held a taxi licence and claimed to have sold cars and scrap.

The court heard that using a lifestyle analysis there was a deficiency of €537,000 between what Kelly claimed to be earning and what he actually owned and spent.

He is suspected of major involvement in organised crime, including tiger kidnappings, and has 42 previous convictions, including one for which he received a 10-year sentence for robbing a travel agents.

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/crime-desk/republican-chief-denies-threat-claims

IRV boss McDonagh says Belfast mob didn't force group to disband.

James McDonagh has denied that he was forced to disband his IRV group
THE leader of a breakaway republican group which split earlier this month claims they were not forced to stand down and has denied claims he was involved in drugs.

James McDonagh set up Irish Republican Voice (IRV) in June last year after a falling out between him and former associates in the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.

The group split in February after less than a year in existence.

Republican sources claim IRV were given 24 hours to stand down by Northern-based terror group Óglaigh na hÉireann and did so within a matter of hours.

OnH had forced another group, Irish Volunteers, to stand down in Belfast two days before that.

However, in a statement released to the Sunday World, McDonagh denied IRV were forced to stand down.

“No other Republican Organisation told IRV what to do. We stood down Irish Republican Voice on February 5. We did it for Irish Republican unity.

“I hope this Statement will put end to the lies been said about IRV and about myself. Anyone that was in IRV did there best for the Irish people.”

McDonagh, a former pal of murdered terror boss Alan Ryan, and a number of other associates have joined up with Republican Sinn Fein, who are in direct dispute with OnH.

He said that he left 32 CSM last year because there was a “lot of infighting” that he and others weren’t happy with.

He said republicans began to spread rumours he was a drug user after he left 32CSM.

“Days and weeks following my resignation lies were been said that I was taking drugs in a nightclub in Dublin. I have never in my life taken any drugs or anything like that.”

This I agree with.

abe it has been you calling me out on the IRA and I have responded. Your petty gang squabbles are meaningless abe you are just referencing Ireland's version of the Crips and the Bloods.

What made me laugh was FF calling me out one minute stating that being a member of the IRA would make me no better than a gangbanger and in the next breadth stating that because members of my family have been slain I should pick up arms and carry on the cause which due to recent events sadly looks like it might be re-ignited

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/First-M...-IRA-deal-.html

If Pete Robinson resigns this could be a serious setback for the peace process and though he is a hypocrite and a fraud re-igniting the troubles may just be what this guy wants and he has no right.

Now people on here reference petty gangsters and Irish punks but the IRA let us not forget took on one of the world's best armed armies as well as the RUC and the cowardly Loyalist paramilitaries who hid behind the bullies of their 'comrades' and terrorised the Republican community who never gave up the fight.

No matter how much we seem to compromise it never seems to be enough. If it is a return to war so be it those that actually know what they are talking about know what they are talking about it would be the biggest mistake of their lives.

Gangs have been busy doing what? Killing each other for drug money? Er, newsflash buddy, that shit happens in every city in America and around the world.

As for 'British' the biggest joke is the muslims run British prisons and even have patrols on their streets

Meanwhile the Irish run organized crime in Britain with the Bradish brothers and the Adams family recently again hitting the news. Oh, and in Manchester the Joyce family have the muslims working for them unlike the lame ass Brits whose criminals are pussies apart from the foreign gangs and the Irish who run their underworld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExNpL0CwqeA

Look at the butt kissing curry monkeys, but they run the Brits ragged and scare them to bits

You Brits are a joke, the Irish mob runs London and Manchester and your gangsters kiss ass to muslims not a brave bone in your body you punks are a joke.

'Muslim Patrols' run London's streets but not in the Irish neighborhoods. Look at the woosified Brits getting run by a bunch of curry monkeys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SukEnAQ_ebE

Kill every Republican in North Dublin my ass

abe give me some of what you're smoking "me old mucker" cos that Brit shit must be pretty good for you to come out with such shite.