A GANG boss exposed in last week's Sunday World wanted to be sent to jail because so many people want to whack him.
We revealed that 23-year-old Declan Tynan is the head of a ruthless mob of 35 criminals based in St Vincent Street in Dublin 8.
However because the thug was due in court for selling drugs to an undercover cop, we had to blur his face.
He has now pleaded guilty to the possession of heroin with the intent of sale and supply and asked the judge to send him to jail because his life is under threat. He is not due to be sentenced until May, but will spend the next few months behind bars.
Tynan and his crew have been involved in two bitter disputes with rival criminals.
There have been dozens of violent incidents linked to a row with Paul Geraghty, the new partner of Brian Rattigan's former partner Natasha McEnroe.
The gangs have been fighting with each other for several years due to a petty dispute that has escalated out of control. Geraghty narrowly avoided an assasination bid two years ago after shots were fired at his car on Charlemount Street. Detectives believe that associates of Tynan were involved.
Ambushed
Tynan's men have also been blamed for setting up criminal Declan O'Reilly to be murdered last September and pals of O'Reilly have sworn revenge.
Tynan's family home was recently targeted in a fake pipe bomb incident that gardai believe is directly linked to the murder of O'Reilly. Tynan is said to be under extreme pressure and feels that he will be safer in jail. However, it is likely that he will have to go into protective custody.
His gang is one of six new outfits operating in Dublin 8. Around 200 young men are involved in the mobs, which have now taken over from the 'Fat' Freddie Thompson and Brian Rattigan gangs. Tynan had been one of the main targets of an elite new anti-gangland unit operating out of Kevin Street Garda Station.
Evidence was heard this week of how Tynan was nabbed by gardai in an under-cover sting atthe Vincent Street flats in March 2011.
Gardai had intelligence that Tynan was selling drugs out of the flat and had a phone number used by the mob to do deals.
An undercover garda rang the number and said he had €500 and wanted to buy drugs.Tynan's pal Karl Fish answered the phone and said he would "sort out" the officer.
Gormless
The officers went to the flats complex and heard a whistle from an upstairs corridor. Tynan gave them a bag of heroin, but bizarrely forgot to take any money from them.
As the undercover cops left, he said: "Ring me any time, that's the best gear around". Both he and Fish were later arrested and charged, and pleaded guilty this week.
Tynan's solicitor tried to paint him as a gormless idiot, saying he was "an amateur and something of a fool". However gardai say he is far from a fool and is not to be underestimated.
He has 21 previous convictions including one for robbing a headshop just yards from his own home. The court heard he was "near to death's door" six months ago after overdosing on cocaine. He agreed to undergo regular drugs tests in prison between now and May.
