Dundons’ second cousin who threatened woman with a samurai sword mourned with balloons & flowers
The Moyross kingpin, who is considered a key player in the McCarthy-Dundon drugs gang, was among the mourners at the 45-year-old mobster’s funeral.
McCarthy and his brother Eds McCarthy, who had aligned himself with Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh in the UK, are considered major players in the criminal underworld.
Nolan, a second cousin of the infamous Dundon brothers, who had moved to Waterford, died “unexpectedly” according to a notice on Rip.ie.
This week, there were dozens of expressions of sympathy posted online for his grieving family.
A video of the funeral also showed extravagant floral tributes at the graveyard with a dozens of balloons being released near the family home.
His coffin was drawn by a dray horse and his remains were laid to rest at Mount St Oliver Cemetery.
‘Fat’ John McCarthy (centre) at Nolan’s funeral service
Like McCarthy, Nolan had also served time for possession of heroin for sale and supply, as well as for making threats to kill.
In 2010, he was seen on viral video as he chased gangland hard-man Nathan Killeen during a confrontation in the Southill are of Limerick.
That same year, he was jailed for threatening to kill a woman in 2006 after turning up at her house with a samurai sword, saying: “I’ll kill you and I’ll kill your son.”
Threatened
The woman claimed that Nolan threatened to kill another son “Michael Campbell Mc style in a field.”
This was a reference the unsolved murder of Michael Campbell McNamara in 2003, for which Nolan’s brother Andrew was jailed for four years for luring the victim to his death.
Andrew died in 2021 in the UK, taking with him the secret of who had ordered the savage murder of Mr McNamara.
He had admitted to making a phone call to Campbell McNamara but that he had been given no choice by individuals who had been pressurising him to do so.
The 23-year-old was found with his hands and feet bound in Barry’s Field, Rathbane, Limerick on October 20, 2003.
He had been stabbed 10 times and shot twice, once in the back of the head and once in the buttocks.
At the 2007 sentence hearing, it was heard Andrew Nolan had phoned McNamara on the night before his death to offer him a shotgun for €700.
Although McNamara was ‘very cautious’ about his movements, he knew and trusted Nolan.
Identify
Nolan admitted calling McNamara twice on the night of the murder but insisted that certain men, who had been ‘on at him for a month’ to make the calls, forced him to do it.
He said two of these men were standing beside him when he rang McNamara. Nolan refused to identify them to gardaí, however, as he feared for his children’ safety.
At the time, Nolan had 27 previous convictions and gardaí described him as a man of ‘violent disposition’.
The trial judge accepted that the accused did not murder the victim but said he had lured him to his death.
The funeral of Limerick heroin dealer David Nolan
He imposed a four-year jail sentence on Nolan, who gave a ‘thumbs up’ salute as he was being led away by prison officers.
Shortly after his release from prison Andrew Nolan had his own narrow escape from death when a tree branch impaled his skull in an horrific car crash in which two other gangsters died.
The trio were travelling in a stolen BMW in which an imitation firearm and balaclavas were found near Rathkeale, Co. Limerick.
It is suspected they were on their way to rob a wealthy trader from the town when the car went out of control in icy conditions after spotting a Garda patrol car.
After his recovery, Nolan continued his criminal career, ending up in prison again the UK in April 2015 after police launched an operation against a gang who had been targeting a cigarette delivery firm.
He was one of three men who used stolen cars to carry out robberies. Nolan got a four-year stretch in March 2016 after pleading guilty.
The Nolan brothers’ father, also called David, was jailed for two years in 2018 after he was caught in possession of a handgun.
Their mother Bridget and sister Shauna were also caught with drugs during a Garda surveillance operation in 2013.
Officers moved in as the pair picked up a bag with €10,000 worth of prescription tablets and later pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court in 2017, where they were given the Probation Act.
News in 90 Seconds – September 22nd