http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/hun...ues-234910.htmlHunt for killers in unsolved Cork gangland killings continues
Monday, June 24, 2013
WHILE six gangland killings in Cork remain unsolved, gardaí are continuing to pursue the perpetrators and, in one case have lodged a file with the DPP, are “consolidating” another, and hoping for a breakthrough in a third.
By Sean O’Riordan
There have been 42 homicides in the city and county in the past five years and gardaí have had a lot of success in locking up the killers.
However, since the first acknowledged gangland killing took place in Cork in Apr 1995, the murders of drug dealers have proved far more difficult to crack.
Senior Garda sources say the investigation into the murder of Michael Crinnion “still remains open”. Privately, they acknowledge that unless somebody talks 18 years on it’s highly unlikely there will be a conviction in that case.
Crinnion, an enforcer for the O’Flynn crime family, was gunned down by a professional hitman outside the Clannad Bar in the city’s Barrack St.
Some former gardaí who worked on the case have told the Irish Examiner they firmly believe the hitman was brought in from Dublin by a rival drug gang to take out Crinnion, who was regarded as the “hardest” member of the O’Flynn gang.
Others, however, are of the opinion that the family was getting too big for its boots and was sent a warning by a drugs overlord.
“The case remains open because there is no statute of limitations in a murder inquiry,” said a Garda source.
The next gangland killing was that of Crinnion’s brother-in-law, Kieran O’Flynn, on Jun 7, 2001.
The 38-year-old was shot three times by a masked gunman when he went to open the door of his home at Thorndale, off Dublin Hill.
For a number of years it was suspected that he had crossed a rival drug gang, but more recently the Real IRA claimed responsibility for his murder, a claim now “being treated as a distinct possibility”, according to senior Garda sources.
More that 80 people were arrested as part of the O’Flynn murder investigation — but to date nobody has been charged with his murder.
However, Garda sources said there had “been a recent and thorough review of that investigation”.
That was no doubt prompted by the Real IRA claim. It was made in Jan 2010 after the dissidents also claimed responsibility for the murder of Gerard “Topper” Staunton.
A lone gunman blasted the convicted drug dealer in the chest with a sawn-off shotgun outside his Wilton home and in front of his partner and her two children.
Gardaí also believe the Real IRA was probably involved in this hit.
The dissident republicans had in the weeks before distributed leaflets in pubs in the city warning that it would take action against drugs dealers if they didn’t desist.
Gardaí don’t believe the Real IRA are killing dealers for the good of the community. Some think they’re murdering dealers who won’t pay protection money, and others that they are removing them so they can take over their distribution network.
Last week senior gardaí acknowledged that the organisation probably was behind the punishment shooting of a man in the Dublin Hill/Ballyvolane area which the Real IRA claimed was because of his “unrepublican behaviour”. The victim was treated in hospital and hasn’t made a complaint to the gardaí.
The Real IRA also claimed responsibility for the shooting at Knocknaheeny in 2006 of Paul Jones, 36. He was paralysed as a result.
Meanwhile, the Garda probe into the murder of Gerard Staunton could present them with their first big chance to solve a drug-related gangland killing in the city.
“We are awaiting a decision from the DPP after sending his office a file on the case. We have identified a number of suspects,” said a source.
Elsewhere, a file has been sent to the DPP in respect of the murder of Eric Cummins, 31, who was shot dead in Ballincollig in Aug 2005. However, the DPP decided the evidence presented was unlikely to lead to a successful prosecution.
Gardaí believe the hitman had been waiting for Cummins for quite some time before he struck, shooting him four times as his partner, child and a friend looked on.
“A number of people were arrested in this case and certain suspects were identified,” said a Garda source.
And in a separate case, Gardaí said they are “consolidating the investigation file” on the murder of Darren Falsey, 36.
His killing bore similarities to the murder of Kieran O’Flynn, as he was also shot in the hallway of his home. It’s presumed he was killed as he answered a call at the front door of his rented home in Carrigaline.
The Real IRA haven’t claimed responsibility for his killing.
“A number of suspects have been arrested as part of this investigation. The case is still very much under investigation. We are consolidating our file, but we have not yet given it to the DPP,” said a Garda source.
Meanwhile, gardaí may not be far away from proving who killed convicted drug dealer David “Boogie” Brett in May, 2007.
The 33-year-old was lured to a secluded spot near the village of Ballydesmond in north-west Cork where he was shot dead. Earlier this year gardaí recovered a firearm, which forensic experts confirmed was the weapon used to kill him.
Gardaí remain tight-lipped about where they discovered the weapon.
They also know that a silver-coloured car transported the killer to and from the murder scene.
“We are satisfied that a number of people were involved in handling, bringing to the scene and taking away of the firearm. We know there are people out there who know about this but have not yet contacted us,” said a garda.
“This remains a very active case and we are appealing for those people to come forward. It might be six years on, but we remain confident that we will eventually track down the killer,” said a source.
Murder victims
MICHAEL CRINNION
* Somebody set up the O’Flynn crime gang enforcer when he went to answer a phone call outside a pub in Cork City.
For there, on the evening of Apr 8, 1995, a gunman was waiting for him. The 35-year-old died in a hail of bullets fired by the lone hitman, who was armed with a .38 revolver.
The murder was professionally carried out, as the gunman disappeared into thin air and has never been identified. Ballistics tests showed the weapon had not been used in a previous shooting in this country and it was probably imported for the job.
There may have been a botched attempt to kill Crinnion two months earlier. Then shots were fired into the Steeple Bar on Shandon St, where he was known to drink with his associates.
At the time, the O’Flynn family were in control of most of the city’s drugs trade. Crinnion was involved in a number of punishment beatings of members of opposing gangs and even errant members of his own gang.
KIERAN O’FLYNN
* Victim of the second gangland murder in Cork, O’Flynn was Michael Crinnion’s brother-in-law and was killed on Jun 7, 2001.
It’s believed the gunman knocked on the front door of O’Flynn’s house only to be told by his 8-year-old daughter he wasn’t at home.
At about 11pm, he returned to the house at Thorndale, off Dublin Hill.
This time the 38-year-old was at home and, when he went to answer the door, he was shot by the balaclava-clad hitman. He fired twice through the glass panel of the door and then stepped into the hallway, where he shot O’Flynn a third time in the throat.
O’Flynn’s partner and three young children were in the house at the time.
O’Flynn had been arrested by gardaí and customs officers after a high-speed boat chase in Cork Harbour in Dec 1992. He was intercepted as he tried to bring about 50kg of cannabis resin ashore at Hop Island. He was convicted for the offence.
ERIC CUMMINS
* The killing of the 31-year-old was probably the most shocking gangland hit of all.
The plasterer was shot in the driveway of his partner’s house in the Oldcourt area of Ballincollig on Aug 13, 2005 — while holding his 18-month-old son.
Earlier, the lone gunman left a parked car, strolled across a green area where several local children were playing, retrieved the handgun from bushes, and jogged calmly towards his victim. He shot Cummins at close range four times. Cummins’s partner also witnessed the brutal slaying.
The gunman made his escape in a dark-coloured Honda car driven by an accomplice. Gardaí later found the vehicle burnt out, making it impossible to find valuable forensic evidence.
Cummins had a conviction for a drugs offence in Portlaoise and was known to gardaí.
Nobody has been convicted of the killing.
DAVID BRETT
* He had a history of dabbling in drugs before the fateful day he was shot dead on a country road near Ballydesmond.
The 33-year-old, originally from Greenmount in Cork City, had moved to North Cork prior to his murder on May 21, 2007.
His first brush with the law resulted in him getting four years jail in 1995 after he was convicted at Waterford Circuit Court of possession with intent to supply.
Six years later, he escaped with a suspended sentence for driving another man to collect €50,000 worth of ecstasy hidden at Ballymartle, Kinsale.
One theory behind his murder was that he owed a significant amount of money to a Cork-based drugs gang and they decided to make an example of him.
Brett’s older brother, John, was once one of the region’s biggest ecstasy dealers. In Nov 1999 he was caught by gardaí in a Glanmire warehouse with €500,000 worth of ecstasy tablets stashed in truck tyres. For that, he received an 11-year jail sentence.
GERARD STAUNTON
* A week after the 41-year-old was murdered outside his rented house in Wilton, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the killing.
Gerard ‘Topper’ Staunton, 41, originally from Kilkieran Close in Hollyhill, was shot by a lone gunman as he was getting into his car outside the Wilton house at 7.50pm on Jan 20, 2010. The convicted drug-dealer was blasted in the chest at close range with a double-barreled sawn-off shotgun.
The murder was witnessed by his partner and her two children.
The gunman fled in a red 92 C-registered Toyota Liteace van with distinctive bull-bars. It sped off along Sarsfield Rd and was found burned out in a field four miles away at Castlewhite, near Waterfall, at about 8.30pm.
The dissident republicans issued a statement through the 32 County Sovereignty Movement claiming responsibility. The Real IRA later threatened to kill more dealers.
DARREN FALSEY
* The 36-year-old had been suspected of being a major drugs player in Cork, but was never convicted of dealing.
He was shot dead at his house at Ashbourne Court in Carrigaline on Aug 3, 2011.
Falsey, who was a fanatical Munster and Tottenham Hotspur fan, had been shopping in Cork City with his partner, Lorraine Conroy, the morning he died. She dropped the unemployed father of two back to their home at 2pm and left.
At 2.45pm, she returned to the house with her son Dylan, 8, to discover Falsey lying in a pool of blood in the front hallway. He had been shot in the head and upper body.
Gardaí recovered shell casings from the scene, which showed he was shot with a 9mm handgun. Later, gardaí discovered €30,000 in cash at a premises rented by Falsey in the Riverstick area. They then located a handgun in woods near Watergrasshill. Ballistics tests confirmed it was used to kill Falsey.
