{"id":213132,"date":"2025-12-27T06:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T06:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/213132\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T06:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T06:47:13","slug":"why-irelands-gangland-gun-murders-have-stopped-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/213132\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ireland\u2019s gangland gun murders have stopped \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were no gangland gun murders<\/a> in the Republic<\/a> in 2025, marking \u2013 for the first time in at least three decades \u2013 no such murders in a year. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s so unusual for a full year to pass without a single gang-related gun murder, not even Garda<\/a> Headquarters could say for certain when it last happened. <\/p>\n

Most garda\u00ed who spoke to The Irish Times, including those with almost 40 years\u2019 service, believe it\u2019s 30 to 40 years ago since it happened.<\/p>\n

It is a big turnaround on the violence of the previous 10 years. <\/p>\n

A decade ago the Kinahan cartel and Hutch gang had just begun their feud. By the end of 2018, 18 people had been murdered. Looking back to the Celtic Tiger era, there were more than 20 gangland gun murders in some years. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m not surprised,\u201d Det Chief Supt S\u00e9amus Boland says of how the killings have plummeted in recent years. <\/p>\n

Boland leads the Garda\u2019s Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau . He says the Kinahan-Hutch feud attack at the Regency Hotel on Dublin\u2019s northside in February 2016, \u201cchanged everything\u201d for the Garda. <\/p>\n

Kinahan cartel associate David Byrne (33), the brother of Liam Byrne, who ran the cartel\u2019s Irish operation at the time, was murdered in the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe motive for that attack was for multiple murders,\u201d says Boland of the Hutch gang intending to murder Kinahan cartel leader Daniel Kinahan and all of the senior cartel figures accompanying him on the day. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny guards who arrived at that scene were at risk of death as well. That wasn\u2019t the type of gang that was going to surrender to armed garda\u00ed arriving. In 36 years on the job, it\u2019s the most outrageous act of violence I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boland says the attack increased the resolve of the Garda and secured more resources for them. <\/p>\n

The subsequent clampdown, he says, was even more relentless than that which followed the 1996 murders of Det Garda Jerry McCabe and crime journalist Veronica Guerin by the Provisional IRA and John Gilligan drugs gang respectively.<\/p>\n

Boland says an unprecedented number of killers for hire and the \u201cdecision makers\u201d who ordered the hits have been jailed in the policing operation into the Kinahan-Hutch feud. <\/p>\n

It had a deterrent effect too. Drug dealers with the capacity and motivation to murder witnessed how even the once mighty Kinahan cartel\u2019s Irish operation was dismantled in the post-Regency Garda clampdown. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Money-laundering network used by Kinahans and Kremlin bought bank after US sanctionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

They do not want to become the target of the that same Garda attention and have made the strategic decision not to become involved in gun feuds, Boland believes. Gun homicides plummeted as a result.<\/p>\n

He concedes that, during the early years of his policing career, he believed many gangland gun murders arose from \u201chot headedness … people going out and shooting others without much planning\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut of course there was months of planning that went into some of these murders,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had criminal gangs using technical equipment to carry out surveillance on their target, even doing dry runs for their getaways. They had developed … they had learned their trade up through the 1990s and into the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the reality now is that some of the most dangerous criminals of the current generation in Ireland are now locked up in prison,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd these are the people who would have continued to commit serious violent crimes. When they were removed from society, that\u2019s a significant threat removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boland describes as \u201ccrucial\u201d the capture of \u201ckill teams\u201d \u2013 groups of men caught as they were about to murder a rival \u2013 during the Kinahan-Hutch feud. <\/p>\n

In one case, a team of armed criminals linked to the Kinahan cartel were arrested just as they were about to try to kill Patsy Hutch. <\/p>\n

\"PatsyPatsy Hutch, brother of brother of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch. Photograph, Collins <\/p>\n

Hutch is the brother of Gerry \u201cThe Monk\u201d Hutch, who was named by the Special Criminal Court as the leader of the Hutch gang, and father of Gary Hutch, who was murdered by the Kinahan cartel in Spain in 2015.<\/p>\n

The three-man \u201ckill team\u201d was switching cars in an underground car park, about 250m from Patsy Hutch\u2019s house on Champion\u2019s Avenue in Dublin\u2019s north inner city, when garda\u00ed moved on them in March 2018. <\/p>\n

Another armed team of five men were caught in Marino on Dublin\u2019s northside on their way to attack Hutch associate Gary Hanley in November 2017. All would-be attackers received lengthy prison terms.<\/p>\n

Others who murdered at the behest of the Kinahan cartel, or were involved in failed murder attempts, were jailed for periods of up to life. This included the one-time leader of the Kinahan\u2019s Irish operation, Freddie Thompson, who is now serving life for the feud murder of David Douglas in Dublin in July 2016.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Patsy Hutch: Did the man under 24-hour Garda protection plan the Regency attack?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Boland says during the investigation of these murder conspiracies, the surveillance of the criminals was so involved that at times their conversations were bugged. Teams of garda\u00ed were able to covertly track the murder teams on the days they intended to strike. <\/p>\n

\"DetDet Chief Supt S\u00e9amus Boland: ‘We have to get the message out there that if you are going out to kill somebody, that\u2019s the scenario we will be presenting to the court.’ Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed waited until the criminals had armed themselves and were on the way to the intended killing before moving in and arresting the suspects. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn some of these cases, they had literally turned the corner towards [their target\u2019s] house and they\u2019d cocked the gun and were ready to jump out, and then we intervened. But they were never getting near their target in any way,\u201d Boland says.<\/p>\n

By waiting until a murder conspiracy was in its final seconds before the trigger was to be pulled, garda\u00ed knew they could maximise the sentence the would-be killers would receive in court. If the armed Garda teams moved in too quickly, the men arrested would simply face charges of possessing a gun. <\/p>\n

Getting caught red-handed, just before an intended murder \u2013 in getaway cars with cloned registration plates and wearing masks and gloves \u2013 meant a judge would later at trial fully understand what had been intended on the day and pass sentence accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never a true reflection of what was actually going to happen,\u201d he says of would-be killers simply being caught with a gun long before a planned killing. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get the message out there that if you are going out to kill somebody, that\u2019s the scenario we will be presenting to the court, that you weren\u2019t just in possession of a gun, you were going out you were going to pull that trigger. You were going to kill somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Boland, over the past decade, garda\u00ed had also aggressively pursued more minor players in murder conspiracies: the people who sourced the guns, getaway cars and burner phones used by \u201ckill teams\u201d, even those who bought the credit for the burner phones.<\/p>\n

Boland cites the example of Martin Aylmer of Casino Park, Dublin 3. He aided the Kinahan cartel kill teams who murdered father of four Noel Kirwan in Clondalkin in west Dublin in December 2016 and Michael Barr in the Sunset House Pub in Dublin 1 in April 2016. <\/p>\n

Aylmer also aided the would-be cartel kill team who tried to murder James \u201cMago\u201d Gately, who survived, despite being wounded five times in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"MartinMartin Aylmer at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin in 2018. Photograph: Collins Courts <\/p>\n

Aylmer was jailed for six years for his supporting role in the Barr murder. He received another eight years and four months for his role in the Gately attempted murder conspiracy and aiding the Kirwan murder. <\/p>\n

He bought the tracking devices used in the surveillance of Gately and, separately, Kirwan as the kill teams in the pay of the Kinahan cartel tried to determine how best to target the two men. Aylmer bought the mobile phones used by the kill team who shot dead Barr.<\/p>\n

Boland says the legislation used to prosecute Aylmer \u2013 the Criminal Justice Act 2007 \u2013 included the offences of directing organised crime, participating in a crime gang or enhancing a gang\u2019s capabilities. He says the legislation is the envy of other police forces and enables garda\u00ed to target even the lowest-level criminals who aid crime gangs, further degrading the capabilities of those gangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been hundreds of Martin Aylmers,\u201d Boland says of those who had assisted scores of gangland gun murders. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Martin Aylmers always previously got away because they were so far removed. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like him were never being prosecuted and then all of a sudden, we prosecute someone like him three times. And more than 10 years later, they will still be in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Fall of House of Kinahan? Dubai no longer criminal safe haven after Sean McGovern extraditionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Boland says the same approach was taken to financial crimes linked to drugs gangs, targeting how and where they store or invest their money and, crucially, how they move it around, including abroad. These prosecutions were aimed at catching a whole network of people who were supporting serious criminals but who would not have been caught previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see now that family members of big drug dealers are being prosecuted for money laundering,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

In some cases relatives, partners and friends of drug dealers have been caught using their bank accounts, or even money apps such as Revolut, moving money for them or even directly to them. <\/p>\n

In other actions, by the Criminal Assets Bureau, family members of drug dealers had been brought into the criminal justice net. <\/p>\n

Their assets were taken and they had been named and shamed in court with the curtain pulled back on the source of their lavish lifestyles.<\/p>\n

At the top of the Irish drugs trade, at home and abroad, are the three Kinahans: cartel founder Christy Kinahan and his sons Daniel and Christopher jnr who now run the group. They remain at large, based in Dubai, but are being investigated by the Garda and by US law enforcement. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Kinahans: Christy, Daniel and Christopher jnr. In 2022 US authorities offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to their arrest or conviction <\/p>\n

Boland says he is \u201cconfident\u201d they will be brought to justice.<\/p>\n

For the most part, he says, the vast majority of drug dealers in the Republic never accrue significant wealth. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor most of them, it\u2019s a hamster wheel. They\u2019re rich this week and they\u2019re broke next week,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd very often the minute there is law enforcement attention, they can become a liability for any criminal organisation they\u2019re linked to \u2013 your trust, your standing drops.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rare exceptions to the rule, he says, don\u2019t last long in Ireland because it has become such a hostile environment for them, especially over the past decade since the Regency \u201cchanged everything\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a very small number of them still living here who are making lots of money,\u201d says Boland. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can\u2019t live the big lifestyle \u2013 that big display of wealth \u2013 if you stay in Ireland. It\u2019s become too small for them with the police attention; they don\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were no gangland gun murders in the Republic in 2025, marking \u2013 for the first time in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,1346,70422,61,60,27006,43],"class_list":["post-213132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-garda-siochana","tag-gerry-hutch","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kinahan-cartel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}