THE DEVASTATED dad of murder victim lee Slattery has broken his silence to reveal how his family have been subjected to a sick campaign of intimidation by his son's killers.

Tragic Lee (24), was found buried in a shallow grave in Moyross, where he had been dumped in June 2010 after being shot in the head.

Dad-of-one Lee - who was not involved in organised crime - was lured to his death and executed bv members of a mob involved in the drugs trade in Moyross.

Gardai have arrested a total of eight people in connection with the savage murder, including feared gun criminal Kurt Ryan, The thugs include a number of hardened young criminals who form the core of new mob causing chaos on Limerick's northside.

Earlier this month, Limerick's Joint Policing Committee heard how a "new violent gang" had emerged in Moyross and was responsible for an outbreak of violence.

Speaking to the Sunday World this week, Lee's dad Ray, who refused to show his face because of fears for his safety,

revealed how:

* his family have been harassed and intimidated by his son's killers;

• he was approached by crime boss 'Fat' John McCarthy, who denied all knowledge of the murder and;

• Lee had been under threat after refusing to set up mobster Shane Mason to be killed.

Lee's lifeless body was found in wasteland near the Delmege Estate on June 1, 2010, after three days of searching by his family.

Ray said he knew his son had been killed the minute he was told he was missing.

"I knew he had been murdered. I filed a missing person's report with the gardai, but it was my family who actually found his body," Ray said. "I got word that he was last seen cycling down to Delmege on his bike.

"We went down there ourselves and spend three days going through that place. A couple of people told me to keep searching in the wasteland there, so we knew he was lying in a shallow grave.

"My brothers and my nephews and my family went through it. It was actually Lee's own brother and his two uncles who found him. It was devastating. Some people from my family wanted to do some- thing about it, but I didn't want that.

Debt

"You can imagine yourself with families how they feel when someone murders your son. But my family didn't live like that so we weren't going to go down that road. It just leads to more and more trouble and then someone else ends up killed."

Initial reports claimed that Lee had been murdered because he owed money for drugs to an associate of 'Fat' John McCarthy's.
However, Ray claims that this bedroom. I can't go into it all, but that was one of the things that was said in it."

Last year Mason (29), who is a senior member of the Keane-Collopy gang, was jailed for 17 years for shooting Danny Philips in the head.

Before he was jailed, Mason was involved in a violent feud with Moyross-based associates of 'Fat' John McCarthy.

McCarthy (41), controls the drugs trade in Moyross and Ballynanty and is currently serving a 14-year sentence for heroin trafficking.

Gardai believe he supplies heroin,cocaine and cannabis to a network of dealers - including the up-and-coming mob responsible for Lee's murder.However, Ray said he does not believe McCarthy sanctioned the hit on his son.

"Fat John came up to me and told me he did not have anything to do with Lee getting shot. To be honest, I believed him.

"The eight people that have been arrested know why and how Lee was killed. The Gardai have the right men. I believe they acted on their own."

Ray said that as soon as the Gardai started to investigate the crime, Lee's killers began to orchestrate a campaign of intimidation against the family.

Hanging

"They were hanging around our house.Five or six of them would be walking around the front of our house every day. I had to have words with a few of them.

"We all had to move out of the area, but they still kept up the intimidation if they met us in town. Recently, one of them followed a family member as they tried to something to eat.

"I knew them from when they were kids. I knew Kurt Ryan when he was growing up. He was alright as a young fella, but you could see he wanted to be a gangster. He wanted to be the big man.

"Two of my brothers died over Lee's death. One of them drank himself to death over it in England. He blamed himself.

"Lee left a little girl who talks about him every day and how he is in heaven."