Posted by Sunday 28 July 2019
Kinahan cartel using funeral home to clean crime cash
CAB officers believe a city centre funeral home is being used by the Kinahan cartel to launder its cash.
“The cartel has used many different types of businesses, including pubs and car dealerships, to launder their dirty money, but a funeral home is unusual,” a senior source told the Herald.
“Gardai have been aware of this funeral home for a number of months, and it is now being monitored very closely indeed.”
The operation is a ploy straight out of the hit American TV crime series The Wire, in which a criminal gang uses a funeral parlouras a front to hold meetings on how they plan to conduct business.
Exiled
Gardai stressed that there is no suggestion that anyone who uses the services of the funeral home knows that it is a possible “front” for Ireland’s most notorious crime gang.
The name and location of the business cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
However, gardai believe that it is being operated by a 34-year-old inner city criminal who is considered to be both a close associate of exiled cartel chief Daniel Kinahan and a “high ranking” member of the murderous mob.
Undercover officers watched as the criminal held a secret meeting with Daniel Kinahan in a city centre cafe in December 2015, just as the capital’s brutal gang war was starting to kick-off.
“This individual is regularly seen at the funeral home, often wearing dark clothing, but not the type of clothing you normally associate with a funeral parlour,” the senior source added.
“Gardai are keeping a very close eye on the situation.”
Officers have also been trying to find out if the funeral home has been used for crime meetings.
In The Wire, the Barksdale Organisation’s second in command Stringer Bell holds regular crime summits at their funeral parlour.
However, it is understood that the Kinahan gang have kept their distance from the business and have not used its services.
The funeral home
revelations come after the Herald revealed in May that the cartel had set up a new headquarters for its gang meetings – a south Dublin barber’s shop.
Many of the so-called ‘new generation’ of younger cartel criminals have been meeting in the shop.
Major cartel figure Liam Roe has also been spotted there.
Jewel
“Previously, meeting of this type would have happened at Liam Byrne’s house in Raleigh Square, but after the huge CAB investigation, they are now taking place in the barber’s shop,” said the source.
“The shop is effectively
being used as an office for the cartel.”
Earlier this month, the CAB took control of the Raleigh Square house after its major investigation into his crime gang.
The Crumlin property has been described as Byrne’s “crown jewel”, and had been refurbished and renovated at a cost of €740,000.
In its 2018 annual report, the CAB said that €1.4m of assets were seized from the gang under Section 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
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Exiled godfather Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan launches desperate bid to stop sons being booted from Dubai bolthole
We can reveal he contacted a leading barrister in the UK earlier this month because of the new United Arab Emirates law that requires overseas residents to undergo police verification
EXILED godfather Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan has launched a desperate bid to stop his sons from being booted out of their Dubai bolthole.
The evil mob boss has now passed control of his €1billion global crime empire to his eldest son Daniel.
And we can reveal he contacted a leading barrister in the UK earlier this month because of the new United Arab Emirates law that requires overseas residents to undergo police verification.
As part of the crackdown on foreign crime gangs operating in the region, individuals will also have to obtain a ‘Certificate of Good Conduct’ before they can get a work visa in the country.
The London-based legal eagles were then instructed to recruit a human rights law firm in Ireland to act for the Kinahans if UAE authorities decided to deport them because of their involvement in drug dealing, arms smuggling and money laundering worldwide.
But the kingpin’s attempts to cover his gang’s illegal activities look doomed after law firms here refused to accept him as a client.
And Kinahan Sr — who’s been involved in the Irish drugs trade since 1985 — suffered another setback when he was blanked by a number of law firms in the North.
A source said: “Nobody in Ireland or in the North would touch the Kinahans with a barge pole because they all know how toxic and dangerous they are.
“Christy is desperate to remain in the UAE because he knows if his gang goes to Europe again the Gardai will have a greater chance of bringing gangland charges against them.
“There is intelligence to suggest that he has now contacted a number of law firms to act on his behalf in the event of authorities in the UAE moving against him, his sons and their associates.
“It’s quite ironic for the Kinahans requesting law firms to protect their human rights when they have been denying the basic right of life to people, including completely innocent families, for decades.”
As part of our latest exclusive on Ireland’s most dangerous criminal gang, we also reveal a new image of the elusive gangster enjoying life in the sun.
Our snap shows the drugs lord — wearing his favourite Panama hat — at a lavish party, just a year after foot soldier David Byrne was shot dead at the Regency Hotel by a Hutch hit team.
Kinahan Sr, who’s rarely seen in public at his Dubai hideaway, posted at the bash with female associates.
We can also reveal the drug lord’s eldest son has also voiced concern to associates about his dad’s ability to continue his involvement in organised crime.
Another source added: “It looks as if Daniel is becoming increasingly frustrated with his father and thinks he’s too old to deal with the day to day running of their crime empire and also their ongoing feud with the Hutch Organised Crime Group.
“Daniel is the de facto boss and thinks his father is old school — and was also frustrated with some of his phone conversations on the Pretty Good Privacy programme being intercepted.
“Christy has built up an extensive business network in Dubai but he also spends time travelling to Holland with his young family.
“There have been very few images of him over the years but he made the mistake of posing for this image in his Panama hat.
“He’s trying to portray himself as a legitimate businessman and someone who is normal despite the devastation and mayhem his gang have caused in Ireland over many, many years.”
During their time in Dubai, Daniel and brother Christopher Jr also embarked on an overseas charm offensive in the hopes of drumming up some business for themselves.
We obtained an image of the pair displaying their softer side in a rare family portrait.
The pic — which includes a caption describing them as boxing promoters — was sent to dozens of companies in Spain’s Costa del Sol as part of their bid to secure funding for white collar events.
In a bid to create a respectable image for their visa application, the brothers will outline how they once raised €58,000 for the Aspandem special needs charity in Marbella, Spain.
We contacted the charity for comment on the donation but they were not available.
Gardai have also travelled to the UAE to brief their counterparts on the mob’s reign of terror across Ireland and Europe.
Among those who could benefit from any legal representation secured by the ‘Dapper Don’ is senior cartel associate lieutenant Sean McGovern and his partner Anita Freeman.
McGovern — who was blasted when his best pal David Byrne was whacked at the Regency — won’t return home over fears he will be charged under gangland legislation.
He has also been left furious after the Criminal Assets Bureau seized his home in Kildare Road, Crumlin, last week after the High Court ruled it was bought through the “proceeds of crime”.
As part of our latest revelations on the cartel, we also publish a mug shot of hitman for hire Imre Arakas.
Gardai believe Arakas may have traveled to meet the Kinahan leadership in Dubai before he was recruited to kill Hutch associate James ‘Mago’ Gately.
But his plan was foiled when he was arrested by gardai who were tracking his every move as soon as he landed in Dublin in April, 2017.
Who Watches the Watchers? 