CHRISTY & SON DANIEL FAT FREDDIE
CHRISTY ARRESTED PAUL RICE
NEWSPAPER COVER

CHAPTER 2 ~COKE TRADE CRASH IS BAD NEWS FOR IRISH GANGSTERS~

The collapse of the cocaine trade in ireland has been about spectacular as the property crash.
It has left drug gangs scrambling to carve up a smaller slice of a shrinking market- and call in even the smallest of debts.
When things are tight,the underworld enforcers come out to show their strength and squeeze every penny they can from struggling dealers.
And 2013 is going to be the year when all outstanding bills are called in as the big fish try to keep afloat in an increasingly diffcult market.

1. ~INFAMOUS~

Behind the decimation of the cocaine trade and the hungry battle for survival among ganglands most deadly is the same recession that has hit the rest of us.
Five years ago,the year that katy french died in irelands most infamous cocaine death,the drugs market in ireland was at its peak and worth an estimated 1$ Billion annually - with cocaine making up almost a quater of that.
But with the crash went the jobs of thousands of a young construction workers and the disposable incomes of bankers,Financiers and socialites that everyone thought would last forever.
Almost overnight,the party ended and the insatiable demand for cocaine dried up.
In 2012,the value of drugs seized by gardai had fallen to 28$ million.
It is estimated by law enforcement agencies the world over that just one tenth of contraband is seized,which means that the drug industry was worth just $280 million that year - an industry wipeout of almost 75 per cent since its peak.
It's a fall that is even more dramatic than the property price collapse and it has continued to plummet in value on an annual basis since.

2. ~SURVIVAL~

Undoubtedly there is still money to be made and there always will be,but tensions are running high as drug lords vie for survival.
And while workers are leaving these shores,the greedy drug lords are moving back so they can soak up as much as they can of the depleting market.Over christmas "Fat Freddie Thompson" was back on a mission from spain for "Dapper Don Christy Kinahan".
He made the flying visit to put the strong arm on dealers who owe kinahan up to $3 million in unpaid debts - money the kinahan mob most likely desperately need sto pay off its own debts to foreign drug gangs.
Sharks in the guise of israeli and turkish drugs gangs are circling and the time is running out for them to pay up.
Thompson was being monitored by gardai surveillance but it is understood he used his time in ireland to visit a number of dealers in dublin and send a message to limerick that the "Dapper Don" was calling in all debts.

3. ~BLOODY~

Thompson feels safer in ireland than he has in years.
Last september his mob carried out two murders in the space of a bloody 24 hours,wiping out the remaining threat from a rival rattigan mob.
Twenty-six year old gerald eglington,Rattigans enforcer was shot dead in portarlington,Co. Loais.
Then small time drug dealer declan o'reilly was murdered a few hours later as a show of force from freddies mob.
The murders came as notorious mob boss "Paul Rice" returned home to dublin after splitting with his spanish-based partner in crime,Gerard "Hatchet" Kavanagh".
Rice is back living in tallaght,south dublin,where he is now trying to muscle in on dublin's gangland scene.
He is already one of the top targets for the gardai national drugs unit (GNDU) and the criminal assets bureau (CAB) in 2013.

4. ~NOTORIOUS~

The 45-year old made his name as a gangland enforcer,but has recently attempted to surround himself with notorious INLA members for protection as he uses his muscle to call in debts.
Rice was jailed in 1995 for 10 years for a series of violent armed robberies,but after his release he got involved with serious players in the drugs trade,including exiled baron kavanagh,who was based in benalmadena,according to sunday world sources.
They worked closely with the christy kinahan mob to organise shipments back to dublin and the pair made millions from their spanish base during the boom.
Kavanagh has also relocated back to dublin.
He attented a crime summit in marbella last august,where several big players decided to abandon their spanish boltholes as they canno longer make the same money they once did on the costa del sol.
Even the kinahan mob has been struggling to maintain an empire once worth $500 million,which has been collapsing since a major raid in 2010.
Subsequently,christy kinahan was jailed in belgium for laundering money,which has left his son daniel trying to hold on to what he has of the family business in spain.

5. ~RUTHLESSLY~

The mob bosses are determined that the recession will not finish them and have come up with new ways to keep the money flowing.
For now they are going after old debts and ruthlessly pursuing them.
It is understood that limerick criminals owe in the region of $1 million to the crime lords,while they have a further $2 million to collect from smaller gangs in the captial.
Everyone who owes the kinahan and the kavanagh mob money has been informed that it is time to pay up.
Just where the money will come from is just anmother days work.
And what lies in store for those who cant pay is likely to add another bloodly chapter to the story of irelands underworld in 2013.