FEUD FEARS

I investigated Kinahan and Hutch mobs for decades – people always ask same question about ‘The Monk’ verdict

The recent trial of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch saw him be

ing acquitted of his role in the Regency murder of David Byrne

• Published: 16:08, 16 Nov 2023
• Updated: 16:08, 16 Nov 2023

GARDAI are closer than ever to nailing the Kinahan Cartel – but now the challenge is to keep young people from falling into the crime trap, a former top cop says.

Pat Leahy retired from the Gardai in 2020 after 38 years on the force where he rose to Assistant Commissioner.

And after being involved in high-profile cases like the General in the 90s, as well as the Hutch-Kinahan feud, he said there’s someone lining up to take their place with the Kinahans are caught.

But he said since the DEA in America announced they were interested in capturing Christy Kinahan and his two sons, Daniel and Christopher Jnr, for their roles in drugs, the limelight is on them.

He said: “When the United States came out so openly in relation to this, they’re taking it on now. There was a time when this was just an Irish issue and a Garda issue, it’s not anymore.

“The Guards are just one element of this now, it’s an international approach to policing because crime is transnational. Policing has to be transnational.”

He added: “You cannot focus on the Kinahans, somebody will come in and take their place. They are already developing in Ireland, which takes me back to the philosophy of policing in Ireland should be community policing because you see all this developing around you.

“You get your tentacles into it from the very beginning, mothers will ask the guards to come in and intervene at an early stage to protect their children if they know they can trust the police.

“What we’re doing at the moment now, like most other police services, we’re waiting until they are firing shots at each other and it’s too late.”

The recent trial of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch saw him being acquitted of his role in the Regency murder of David Byrne.

And Pat said people were always asking if he was disappointed in the verdict.

He said: “I say no, of course I am not disappointed. I can’t afford to be disappointed, the police cannot afford to be disappointed.

“You collect the evidence, you present the evidence the very best you can, somebody else determines what happens after that and you have to accept it, that’s the system.”

And he told the Real Lives Untold podcast that as soon as the first death occurred in the feud – the murder of Gary Hutch in Spain – he knew something big was going to happen.