http://www.sundayworld.com/news/crimedesk/gangland-on-brink-after-botched-hit-on-kinahan-crewGangland on brink after botched hit on Kinahan crew.
IRELAND’s underworld is on the brink of war after a brazen attempted hit on associates of the Kinahan drug cartel in the car park of a Dublin hotel.
Gardaí suspect that associates of murdered criminal Gary Hutch may have been behind the attack – under the noses of senior Kinahan enforcers as they watched a boxing event at the Red Cow Hotel on Dublin’s M50 interchange.
“This is a clear message to the Kinahans: ‘There will be blood’,” a source said.
Perma-tanned gangster Liam Roe miraculously escaped with his life after the would-be assassin’s gun jammed.
Roe, a first cousin of ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson and key associate of the Kinahan drug cartel, was taking a cigarette break outside the hotel, where he was attending a boxing fundraiser, when the incident occurred on Friday night.
It is understood that the handgun jammed and Roe ran for cover before up to 50 associates of the Kinahan mob fled the venue in high-powered jeeps and cars.
Daniel Kinahan, son of mafia boss Christy Kinahan Snr, was led out the back of the venue and driven to safety in a silver Mercedes G Wagon, which the Sunday World has previously photographed being driven by associate David Byrne.
David Byrne in Mercedes G-Wagon
Last night we were watching the son and heir of the Kinahan millions outside the exclusive Westbury Hotel in central Dublin where he was relaxing with cohorts.
Gardaí do not believe that Roe was a specific target, but that there is a shoot-to-kill policy on any senior gang members since the assassination of Hutch in an apartment complex in Spain last September.
It is understood that after the gun jammed, the would-be hitman fled in the passenger seat of a waiting Volvo car. The car was later found abandoned and burnt out in the Ballyfermot area of Dublin. No complaint was made to Gardaí, but CCTV was later viewed at the scene.
The extended Kinahan mob descended on Dublin for last night’s National Stadium boxing event, which was sponsored by the Matthew Macklin MGM gym in Marbella, which has close connections with the gang.
Fears had been raised that members of the mob could be targeted by ex-associates of Hutch.
Gardaí suspect he was killed on the orders of the Kinahan mob after he was accused of leaking information about a drug shipment into Manchester, which resulted in the jailing of up to 18 members of a major drug gang.
‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson and Liam Byrne were said to be key to convincing Hutch he had safe passage back to Spain and would be welcomed back into the mob after months in the wilderness as a suspected rat.
Gary Hutch
Roe (35), is a senior member of the Kinahan circle and prides himself on his year-round tan, muscular build and love of flash watches and clothes.
He is a cousin of Thompson and the Byrne brothers, David and Liam, from Raleigh Square in Dublin, who are senior lieutenants in the drug gang.
Last year, an undercover Sunday World team photographed Rowe as he flexed his impressive muscles outside a restaurant at the City West Hotel complex.
He had attended a weigh-in prior to the 3 Arena bout between Matthew Macklin and Jorge Sebastien Heiland.
Before Macklin’s losing performance, Roe attended a private dinner along with Christy Kinahan Jnr, David Byrne and other mobsters in the Cartel’s inner circle.
Over the past two years, the Kinahan mob have become increasingly confident on the streets of Dublin, where they flash their wealth in a two-fingered salute to the Gardaí and the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Earlier this year, the Sunday World was watching as Liam Byrne was seen driving a Range Rover Autobiography, a motor worth up to €150,000, around the streets of Dublin. At the same time, his brother David was spotted in the €170,000 AMG G63 Wagon.
Roe is known for his love of the trappings of wealth. Three years ago he attempted to get Gardaí to return two Rolex watches worth almost €50,000, which they seized in a search for firearms. He failed in his police property application after a Judge ruled that he had given false evidence to a court.
During the case, it emerged that Roe was awarded £300,000 in a personal injuries case relating to a car crash in 1999 and said that he had used that money to buy watches.
Detectives from the Garda’s elite Organised Crime Unit told the court they had seized the watches during a search of a home in Crumlin, on January 8, 2011.
Last night’s event at the National Stadium, called ‘Second Coming’, was Jamie Kavanagh’s first professional fight in Dublin. Kavanagh is the son of murdered drug dealer Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh, gunned down last year in Marbella, and a nephew of murdered enforcer Paul Kavanagh, who was killed last March.
Both murders have been blamed on the Kinahan mob after a row over missing money.
The incident at the Red Cow happened shortly after 9.30pm on Friday night and the burnt-out Volvo was discovered near Glenaulin Park in Chapelizod at 10.45pm. The event at the venue went ahead.
