KILLER AMBITION | 

‘Cardboard gangster’ hitman tried to become Ireland’s rural drugs boss

Conor Dolan is serving life for gunning down his friend Niall Fitzgerald

Today at 12:19

Callous killer Conor Dolan who is facing life for murdering his pal in a gangland hit tried to establish himself as a player in rural Irish towns by trading on his friendship with Dublin gang boss Karl Breen.

Dolan (33) pleaded guilty earlier this month to murdering his friend Niall Fitzgerald (36), a key lieutenant in Brian Rattigan’s gang, after he lured him to his death and shot him six times in a quiet country lane close to the Dublin-Wicklow border in 2016.

While the motive for the murder has never been revealed it is suspected Dolan was recruited to carry out the hit on behalf of other criminals feuding with Fitzgerald, who had been released from prison four months before the killing.

Dolan had been trying to establish himself as a gangland player in the run-up to the killing but was considered by some to be a ‘cardboard gangster.’

He operated in Cavan and Athlone and committed armed robberies as he tried to establish himself as a drug dealer.

He was also involved in armed robberies while in Cavan and was caught after failing to get rid of evidence which gardaí found in his flat.

He was jailed for two years after being involved in two separate armed robberies after a roll of used €10 notes linked him to one of the incidents.

When he was arrested in relation to the robberies and evidence conclusively linked him to them, he claimed to be suffering from amnesia.​

He pleaded guilty to a robbery at Ladbrokes, Main Street, Cavan Town on January 27, 2015 during which he put shopworker Susan Pidgin in fear before making off with €275.

As the shop assistant made to comply with the request Dolan pulled a knife on her before making off with €150 from the till.​

Dolan was identified on CCTV and the person behind the counter also said she knew the defendant.

A search warrant for Dolan’s home was attained but that same date a further robbery was carried out at Ladbrokes by Dolan.

​ The following day a search of Dolan’s property was carried out and a roll of €10 notes were recovered with serial numbers matching those taken from Ladbrokes.

A small kitchen knife was also recovered and Dolan subsequently arrested.

Dolan was an associate of ‘Champagne Killer’ Karl Breen who ran the ‘Infamous D22’ drugs mob which terrorised people in west Dublin.

Following Breen’s release from prison in 2014, after serving seven years for stabbing his pal Martin McLaughlin (21), the pair posed for photos with champagne flutes.

Breen died of a drug overdose the following February.

Locals in Athlone say Dolan asked Breen to act as godfather to one of his kids to boost his gangland credentials.

They say he tried to establish himself as a drug dealer in Athlone trading off his links with Breen and also tried to act as a debt collector and extortioner.

The Sunday World revealed last week that Dolan gave a 22-minute YouTube interview from a contraband phone in his prison cell last year while awaiting trial for the murder.

He boasted how he was getting drugs smuggled into him every week and insinuated he was dealing drugs in prison and bizarrely boasted how he would beat the murder charge.