Gardaí vow to ‘dismantle’ Kinahan crime cartel
Key players in the Kinahan crime cartel will be brought before the courts in the near future, Dublin’s top garda has said.
Assistant commissioner for the Dublin Metropolitan Region, Pat Leahy, said An Garda Síochána would “dismantle” the cartel, saying that no other result was “conceivable”.
He was speaking after gardaí secured their first conviction in relation to the estimated 14 murders linked to the so-called Kinahan-Hutch feud — all but two of them at the hands of the cartel.
Eamonn Cumberton, aged 30, from Mountjoy St in Dublin’s north inner city, had pleaded not guilty at the Special Criminal Court to the murder of Michael Barr in the Sunset House pub, in the north inner city, on April 25, 2016.
He was convicted after DNA from a Freddie Kruger mask and a baseball cap worn by one of three gunmen identified him.
Mr Leahy said it was not just footsoldiers of the Kinahan cartel who were being prosecuted.
“We talked about dismantling this organisation and we will dismantle this organisation — there is no other outcome conceivable in relation to this,” he said.
“Some of the people we are looking at will be before the courts in the near future and are not mere footsoldiers — they are key players in this organisation.”
Mr Leahy said the feud was not over.
“We have to keep focused,” he said. “We have to keep the resources in place and we will pursue it to the nth degree.”
He said families and communities, particularly in the north inner city, have suffered and he urged young men at risk of getting sucked in to turn their backs on it.
“Please do not get involved, even on the periphery of this feud,” said Mr Leahy.
“The minute you get involved you become a liability to these people and at some stage they will start looking at these liabilities and visit even more unhappiness on communities and families.”
Irish Examiner
