end game | 

Garda chief vows ‘substantially degraded’ Kinahan crime cartel will be destroyed

Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly has said he is “confident that people at the top of that group will see justice”

Neil Fetherstonhaugh

Today at 08:35

A senior garda has vowed that the “substantially degraded” Kinahan crime cartel will be subjected to continued investigation until it is completely destroyed.

Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly, head of organised and serious crime, said the Dublin crime gang is no longer the dominant force it once was, after the leaders “brought a huge amount of this attention on themselves”.

He said recent investigations had resulted in a seismic change in the level of co-operation between various agencies in other countries and Ireland.

Assistant Commissioner Kelly was referring to successive operations and investigations by Irish, British and Spanish authorities and the massive €15m bounty put on the heads of the three cartel leaders by American agencies in April 2022.

This has been greatly boosted by the expansion of garda liaison officers to Colombia and Dubai while Asia is next on the cards.

“It’s definitely strengthened our international partnerships, we have relationships that we never had before,” he told the Irish Examiner. “We can now pick up the phone to them anytime day or night. A decade ago that would nearly be unthinkable.”

He added that while there are “still elements” of the cartel structure in Ireland, as there is in Dubai, and that it would be naive to think “they’re out of business”, he is “confident that people at the top of that group will see justice”.

Referring to the a large number of Kinahan gangsters in jail due to be released in the coming years, he doubted that they would return to the cartel and restart the murderous Kinahan-Hutch feud.

He pointed out that assassinations require significant logistics and a “huge amount of money” to fund them.

Meanwhile, gardaí have made it “difficult” for the Kinahan leaders to fund or organise any such hit teams again.

In April of this year, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris revealed how gardai had made “significant advances” in their efforts to smash the Kinahans

Speaking at the 45th annual conference for the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors in Galway, the Garda Commissioner said: “The whole purpose of this is to bring the leaders of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group to justice.

“Significant advances have been made, particularly in Europe but also then with our US federal law enforcement partners.

“And so there is action in this and it keeps on moving forward.

“Every month I’m updated on progress between ourselves and our partners.

“We’re still working very closely together and it’s a very good example between many nations directed towards what is a transnational crime group.

“Work carries on – we always knew this would be a difficult target but much diminished from what it was a year ago.”

Exactly a year before saw the staging of a game-changing press conference in Dublin City Hall where senior members of the gardai as well as American government representatives announced a series of sanctions against the international crime gang.

At the conference it was revealed how United States government had imposed sanctions on seven key members of the Kinahan organised crime group following a major international policing operation.

Christopher Snr and his two sons, Daniel and Christopher Jnr, were all placed on an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list, a list of the US Treasury Department.

US Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin told the media briefing in Dublin’s City Hall that there was a $5 million reward for key information leading to the Kinahan gang being dismantled.

She said the crime gang are accused of a wide range of heinous crimes around that world and that countering transnational criminal gangs is an “urgent priority” for US President Joe Biden and the US government.

Speaking at the conference, Garda Commissioner Harris said the Kinahan crime gang were responsible for “so much destruction and death” both here and abroad.

He said that while their leadership is based in countries with no extradition treaties with Ireland, he warned them they can “run but can’t hide from justice forever”.

At the time the garda chief added that they would be running out of money, friends, and influence.

The Commissioner also said that sports personalities and businesses should consider their involvement with the Kinahan gang.

Mr Harris told the briefing that people who deal with those sanctioned are involving themselves with a criminal network.

He said they should look at their own businesses and relationships with their fans and consider if this is something they want to be involved with.

“In terms of some individuals, prominent sporting individuals who are in some way connected with this grouping, I would say look at your sport, your fans, and think of your own reputation because this is a very serious announcement today after a large amount of work.”

The press conference followed a lengthy investigation led by gardai and involving US officials, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), and the EU’s law enforcement agency.

The sanctions imposed by OFAC means that all property, or interests in property, linked to the named associates and three companies within the US must be reported and blocked.

This includes a ban on US companies doing business with the designated members, their finances in American banks being frozen, and not being able to fly with US airlines. People based in the US are also banned from acting on behalf of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.

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