Garda alert after car of gangster's wife smashed up.
BY KEN FOY – 14 JULY 2014 12:00 AM
ARMED garda patrols have been increased in a south-Dublin suburb after a 4x4 vehicle owned by a major gangster's wife was smashed up by rival mobsters in an escalation of a two-year feud.
The innocent woman was in her Drimnagh home with her children during the attack on the vehicle, which occurred in the early hours of the morning.
Her husband has fled to Spain because of the campaign of terror against him from the Paul Rice mob, who are trying to recoup a debt of well over €1m that he owes to the Christy Kinahan international drugs cartel.
A senior source told the Herald: "Attacking this woman's car is being seen as a major escalation - that is why armed patrols have been increased on the street in which she lives.
"Her husband is one of the few people around to give two fingers to the Christy Kinahan mob and refuse to pay up when they demand cash."
Paul Rice had been enlisted by Ireland's richest international drugs syndicate to try to recoup hundreds of thousands of euro owed to them, which has brought him into direct conflict with the woman's drugs trafficker husband.
Associates of Rice are the chief suspects for the recent attack.
Meanwhile, the Herald has learned that the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is in the final stages of a major investigation that is likely to see the 41-year-old Drimnagh gangster's home being seized as well as high-end cars that he has used to launder his drugs cash.
In February 2012, CAB worked with the Garda National Drugs Unit in a major investigation and seven people were arrested during a series of 30 searches of houses and business premises across Dublin.
Plans to target the gang intensified after detectives discovered that the mob was responsible for a bomb attack on the home of the parents of former pop star and TV presenter Brian Ormond in Clondalkin, west Dublin, at Halloween, 2011.
Officers believe the house was singled out because one of Brian's brothers is a detective in the Garda National Drugs Unit.
Nobody was injured in the blast but the front of the house was damaged by a barrage of nails when the bomb exploded.
intimidation
The investigation into the Drimnagh criminal involved assistance from the Dutch authorities, with gardai establishing that his gang's first major shipment arrived here on June 11, 2009, when 45kg of cannabis - worth €270,000 - was seized.
The gang, led by his arch enemy Paul Rice, has been involved in a campaign of intimidation across the south-side of the city.
In June of last year, there were a number of tit-for-tat incidents between the gangs including homes being attacked. Rice was jailed for 10 years in 1995 for a bank robbery.
