EXCLUSIVE | 

Hardman to bard man – Kinahan cartel boss Ross Browning writes poems about upbringing

“Little boy under the hood, he is misunderstood, if only he could be understood and come out for under his hood to show all of his good”

Yesterday at 16:13

Cartel boss and CAB target Ross Browning is hoping to reinvent himself as a poet after penning a number of ditties about his life on the wrong side of the tracks.

The fitness fanatic has set up a social media site to show off his skills climbing walls and shadow boxing, while gracing fans with his writings.

In one entitled ‘Therealrossbrowning’ he writes: “Little boy under the hood, he is misunderstood, if only he could be understood and come out for under his hood to show all of his good.”

In another he muses: “They say I’m the no 1. Yes, I’m somebody’s son, my mother’s no 1. Her only son. Just grew up numb on the streets full of guns, tonnes and runs like many young sons all mother’s no 1s.”

Browning, who once hoped to enter Ireland’s Fittest Family on RTE, has made videos of himself in various exercise poses and has been encouraged by family members in his mission of “writing my own story — join me for a journey within”.

Gardai last month seized Browning’s properties at Garristown in Co. Dublin, where he lived in a large house with outbuildings and a renovated coach house where his mother Julie Conway and her partner, ex-Garda Dave O’Brien, had been living.

The CAB won their case against Browning after it was found he had attempted to hide the proceeds of crime through a network of relatives and friends and through his fitness businesses.

An indoor showjumping arena was discovered at the vast property complete with spectator seating.

The High Court heard Browning lived in the large main home on the site with his wife Sinead Mulhall and their children.

The couple, the CAB told the High Court, were guests at Daniel Kinahan’s plush Burj Al Arab wedding in 2017, which was attended by members of the European Super Cartel and boxing giants including Tyson Fury, who would later admit working with Kinahan.

Browning has long tried to atone for his links to organised crime and once attempted to break free from the Cartel.

However, as their main man in Ireland and the lieutenant who introduced a network of hitmen and assassins to Kinahan during his murderous feud with the Hutch Organised Crime Group, he failed to convince gardai that he had gone straight.

Browning has remained a registered business owner despite his very public spat with the CAB and losing his vast properties to the Bureau.

He registered the business name ‘Conscious Dublin’ in December 2021 despite being named as the most senior member of the Kinahan organisation in Ireland.

He previously ran a gym and a lifestyle network called Club Living I, which he ran from premises on the northside of the city.

Through it he was a proponent of vegan, healthy living and spiritual wellbeing.

All the while he controlled a murderous Kinahan cell in the Finglas area where the Gucci Gang reigned and where hitman-for-hire Trevor Byrne worked as a manager and mentor.

He also introduced the Kinahan organisation to kickboxer-turned-assassin Eamon Cumberton, who was convicted of murdering Michael Barr after he burst into a crowded pub he wearing a Freddy Krueger mask.

Browning was also believed to be central to the organisation of the international hitman Imre Arakas, who was flown into Ireland in a bid to kill Hutch associate James ‘Mago’ Gately.

Gardai are still investigating Browning’s role in a number of Cartel operations over the past seven years and he is closely monitored at all times.

However, he has still managed to maintain a social media presence, where he attempts to communicate his message through photos, videos and now poetry.