THE NEW garda anti-gang unit has been set up as a response to a serious increase in mob activity in Dublin's south inner city over the last six months.

Garda management knew there were dozens of serious criminals attached to gangs in the Kevin Street 'N district, but were stunned that such a small area could support SIX dangerous mobs with 200 members.
The zero-tolerance approach to the new generation of thugs comes after dozens of shocking incidents of organised crime in the last six months.

Much of the violence is linked to vicious feuds between the six mobs,who are fighting for the control of the drugs trade in the south-inner city.
The most serious of the 200 criminals is probably 27-year-old Greg Lynch, who has been on the garda radar for the last three years.

Lynch, who controls a network of 60 criminals from his stronghold in the Coombe, operates in secrecy and will only meet his fellow gangsters in public places for fear gardai are bugging his conversations.
He is a convicted heroin dealer who was mentored by Freddie Thompson and has links with drug barons Paul Rice and Gerard 'Hatchet' Kavanagh,

Arrested

His growth has not gone unnoticed by rivals in Dublin. Last December gardai arrested Jonathan Gill in St James's Street and believe they foiled an assassination bid on Lynch.

Gill is in custody in Northern Ireland and appeared in court last week with PSNI officers objecting to him being given bail, claiming the Malahide Road native was the boss of a criminal gang in north Dublin.
Not far behind him in the criminal pecking order is Basin Street gang boss Aaron Rattigan,

A cousin of faded mob boss Brian Rattigan, the 22-year-old is seen as being a key player in gangland and his gang of 20 members is especially violent. The Rattigan mob is involved in a vicious feud with two rival gangs in and he has been regularly targeted.

In October last year petrol bombs were thrown at his home in Hanover Street,while the home of one of his associates,Zacharv Purcell, was also targeted.

Intelligence led gardai to search a premises in a nearby flats complex. They arrested and charged a man with possession of explosives and the next day the Rattigan faction hit back and a shot was fired through a car door.

Nobody was injured, but gardai flooded Basin Street and carried out two dozen searches. They recovered several pipe bombs and guns and arrested four known young criminals.
Just days later six Real IRA members were spotted at the flats and were stopped and searched by gardai.

Then a relation of Aaron Rattigan was stopped at the flats and was found to be carrying a butcher's knife. He told gardai his life was under threat and that he was carrying the knife for his own protection.

A gang figure attached to the Basin Street gang, Owen Gaffney (23), has also been targeted by rival mobs. Last July he and Philip Finnegan were at Lower Basin Street when a passing car fired five shots at them. Neither of the pair were hurt and they refused to cooperate with gardai, as did several witnesses who saw what happened.

Bloody

Philip Finnegan has been targeted by rival mobsters on more than one occasion. In December two rival outfits ran into each other in McDonald's on Grafton Street and a bloody brawl broke out between half-a-dozen people.

Later that day a hatchet was thrown through the front window of the 21-year-old's home at Mary Aikenhead O'Zack Purcell Owen Gaffney House but no complaint was made.
Two other members of the gang are brothers Paul and Adam Graham. Paul (23), was recently jailed for five years after being caught with CS,OOO worth of heroin.

Adam (22), is facing a sentence after a joyriding incident on the South Circular Road where he ran over a garda bicycle in a stolen BMw.

Another criminal who is being regularly stopped and searched by gardai is Leroy Dumbrell (26). Dumbrell is part of the notorious crime family from Inchicore and is well known to gardai.

Last October he appeared in court charged with rioting in Mount joy jail in 2009. He was the leader of a group of inmates who attacked prison officers, leaving three in hospital.

Demand

Just before Christmas Dumbrell was arrested along with another man outside a house in Inchicore. Gardai believe Dumbrell was there to demand money for a drugs debt. He was arrested but released without charge.

Two of Dumbrell's brothers, Leonard and Tommy, are also regarded as being senior gang figures and are among the gardai's targets. Leonard is only 25 but has over 100 criminal convictions,while Tommy 'Scarface' Dumbrell has a fearsome reputation.
The gang of around 40 criminals based in St Teresa s Gardens include several former members of the Thompson gang. One of the main men is 25-year-old Paul Gray, who is Ritchie Thompson s brother-in-law and a former driver for Freddie.

The membership of this outfit includes half-a-dozen young men who are just 16 and 17 years old.

Sean Connolly is the leader of the Bluebell gang of 20 people, which is very active in serious crime.

Connolly was arrested last July after several shots were fired into the front window of a house in Bluebell. There was not enough evidence to charge him and the 34·year-old is extremely feared in the area.
He is regarded as being a serious player with links to the Real IRA and the old Brian Rattigan gang.

Fireworks -

He is currently before the Special Criminal Court charged with the murder of gangland don Eamon Kelly last December. It is business as usual for his gang despite his absence, with his younger brother Ronan taking charge.
Last September convicted drug dealer and killer Declan O'Reilly was shot dead on the South Circular Road as he returned from picking up fireworks with his young son.
Gangsters associated with Freddie Thompson were responsible for the assassination, in retaliation for O'Reilly stabbing Derek Glennon to death in Mount joy prison.

A member of the gang based in Vincent Street is suspected of luring O'Reilly to his death.

Pals of O'Reilly have since sought revenge against the 23-year-old and last month two hoax pipe bombs were placed outside his home in Dublin 8.Gardai believe that the life of this man is under imminent danger and he has been given security advice. He is regarded as being a ruthless criminal who was pals with O'Reilly) but had no problem about setting him up to be killed.
He is one of the prime targets of the new gang initiative as his gang is involved in a separate feud with a drugs gang in nearby Rathmines.

Another Vincent Street native being investigated is 21-year-old Adam Howe. Adarn, who has no serious convictions, is the brother of former Thompson gang members Dean and Morgan Howe.

Although the six new mobs are separate and distinct to the Freddie
Thompson and Brian Rattigan gangs,they still have associations with their criminal mentors and are happy to target relations of criminals involved in the original Crumlin-Drimnagh feud.
Wayne Menally was a senior enforcer for the Brian Rattigan gang before being jailed for 13 years for the attempted murder of a bouncer. Young criminals loyal to Thompson have consistently targeted relations of MeN ally.

Horrors -

His mother was attacked with a wheel brace in a Dublin 8 pub, while last September his innocent brother Stephen was stabbed in the arm.

Another young man who has witnessed the horrors of the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud at first hand is Kenneth Roche. The 21-year-old saw two of his older brothers murdered in the feud, but is involved in the Aaron Rattigan gang and was the best friend of Gerard Eglington, who was whacked by Thompson loyalists last year.

In the last three weeks gardai have seized several firearms, pipe bombs and petrol bombs from the six new mobs and hope that the new gang unit will severely limit their activities.