Major gangland figure Christopher 'Git' Zambra gunned down in South Dublin.
MAJOR gangland figure Christopher Zambra was brutally gunned down in Drimnagh, south Dublin this afternoon.
Zambra, a former Irish youth international soccer star and talented musician, was shot to death in the Southside suburb shorty after 3pm.
Sources say he was hit at least six times in a hail of bullets and that a jeep was seen speeding away from the scene moments after 'Git' Zambra was gunned down.
Zambra died instantly on Cooley Road, which is the road where jailed killer Brian Rattigan is from. It is understood a gun was found at the scene of the latest gangland murder.
He was a significant player in gangland and was associated with 'Fat' Freddie Thompson and his gang. He was regarded as a major drug dealer who is under suspicion for ordering up to eight gangland murders.
He was also a notorious ladies man and was found in bed three years ago with the partner of a notorious criminal who is serving a life sentence for murder
However it is known he had a jealous streak and is thought to have ordered two murders because he wanted to have relationships with the partners of the men he killed.
He was also a key associate of the gang who organised the murder of Real IRA terror chief Alan Ryan and last year he sensationally walked free from court after spending three years in jail on remand.
He had been cleared of the murder of drug trafficker John ‘Champagne’ Carroll following a retrial in the Central Criminal Court but is the prime suspect in ordering the slaying.
He walked free after a jury rejected the evidence of supergrass witness Joey ‘The Lips’ O’Brien.
It was the second time Zambra had gone on trial for the murder of Carroll, who was shot dead in Grumpy Jacks pub in the Coombe on February 18, 2009.
In July 2011, Peter Kenny from Rialto in Dublin was found guilty of Carroll’s murder but the jury failed to reach a verdict on Zambra and a retrial was ordered.
During the original trial, two other accused - Damien Johnston from Crumlin and Bernard Hempenstall from The Coombe - were found not guilty.
On the night he was shot dead, John Carroll had with him a tick list of drug debtors and creditors who owed him €243,000.
The 33-year-old father was shot dead by a heavily disguised gunman who arrived at Grumpy Jack's pub, chased him and shot him several times.
The original trial had heard how strict garda guidelines may not have been adhered to when 'supergrass' Joey O'Brien was interviewed by detectives.
The eight women and four men of the jury acquitted Mr Zambra today, after four-and-a-half hours of deliberations.
A woman stood up and shouted abuse at them as they delivered their majority verdict of ‘not guilty’.
“May God forgive you,” she said.
Mr Zambra hugged his family and members of his legal team before walking free following the two-month trial at the Central Criminal Court.
He had known that his life was under threat because of the Carroll murder, which he is regarded as organising, and the fact he had an affair with the girlfriend of the jailed killer.
