Detectives have been investigating a dispute that the duo had been involved in with junior members of the notorious Hennessy organised crime gang.
Joseph ‘Joey’ Morgan (42) suffered only a minor injury to his arm when multiple shots were fired at him and a close associate in Corduff, west Dublin, on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 26.
Detectives have been investigating a dispute that the duo had been involved in with junior members of the notorious Hennessy organised crime gang.
Three people including a mother and son as well as a teenager remain in custody after they were arrested by Blanchardstown gardaí in the course of the searches of two houses – one in Corduff and the other in the Sheephill area of Dublin 15.
The suspected shooter in the case – a man aged in his early 20s was taken into custody along with his mother aged in her 50s who is being quizzed about withholding information.
A teenager who is suspected of being involved in street level drug dealing on behalf of the Hennessy organised crime gang was also arrested.
Sources say that it was a dispute that he got into with associates of Morgan that led to the brazen daylight gun attack outside a Chinese takeaway.
Joey Morgan
News in 90 Seconds – September 5th 2025
Excellent quality CCTV has been obtained including of the masked gunman who gardai believe was acting on behalf of the teenage dealer who had earlier been threatened with knives by Morgan’s associates.
“Mr Morgan is very lucky to be alive and his close associate was very lucky not to be shot at all in this incident,” a source told the Sunday World.
“The wider significance of this shooting shows that the Hennessy organised crime gang are losing power in the area due to the fact that many of its main players are locked up and obviously Jason Hennessy Sr was murdered in the Christmas Eve gun attack.
“Even just a year it would have been unheard of for associates of Mr Morgan to try and put it up to a member of the organisation – albeit a junior member – about street level drug dealing on their own turf in Corduff, in their own background.
“But this is what happened here and the reaction was typically violent and it is a miracle really that no one was seriously injured or worse.
“The wider point though is that a gang who have been terrorising that locality for many years are in a much weaker position now and if gardai secure charges in relation to tis shooting, it will further weaken them.
“All the indications are that it is only going to get much worse – with many of the main players facing potentially very lengthy jail sentences for extremely serious crimes,” the source explained.
Gardaí continue to appeal for information in relation to the gun attack but have always been following a definite line of enquiry.
There has been an increase in armed patrols in the locality since the gun attack and Morgan has been keeping a very low profile ever since he was discharged from hospital just hours after being shot.
Morgan from Corduff Green is a notorious burglar who has around 80 previous criminal convictions some dating from when he was a teenager.
Morgan’s younger brother David Morgan (35) has survived a number of gun attacks including being shot in the face with a revolver in a daylight attack while he was drinking vodka and orange with a pal in Corduff Park in Blanchardstown in March, 2011.
David Morgan lost the sight in one of his eyes in that attack and he also escaped uninjured when a shotgun was fired into a house party he was at in April, 2012.