A major Dublin-based crime gang, which has replaced the Kinahan cartel as the largest domestic supplier of drugs, has been linked to an attempted gangland murder foiled by gardaí earlier this week.
The gang, known as The Family, was at the centre of another series of Garda searches in September when Ghost, an Australian-run encrypted messaging platform for organised crime gangs, was infiltrated by international law enforcement.
The Irish Times has learned that two men, aged in their 30s and 40s, arrested in the operation that foiled the attempted murder in Clondalkin on Tuesday night are linked to the gang.
A semi-automatic Glock pistol was seized and gardaí believe the gun was about to be used in a pre-planned gangland attack. The target was an associate of Cormac Berkeley (37), who was shot dead in Clondalkin two years ago. He was a well-known drug dealer who had been warned several times that his life was in danger.
Donald Trump is changing America in ways that will reverberate long after he is dead
The jawdropper; the quickest split; the good turn: Miriam Lord’s 2024 Political Awards
The mystery is not why we Irish have responded to Israel’s barbarism. It’s why others have not
Enoch Burke released from prison as judge doubles fine for showing up at school
A tactical team from the Emergency Response Unit moved in on a car on Rowlagh Avenue shortly after 8pm and found the firearm, 9mm ammunition and masks inside. The two men were arrested at the scene.
The operation then spawned a series of searches, including of the cells of gangland criminals in Portlaoise Prison.
Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis, An Garda Síochána’s head of organised and serious crime, said the successful intervention had taken “a lethal firearm and ammunition” out of circulation.
“An Garda Síochána believes the firearm was intended for use in the commission of murder,” she said. “I wish to acknowledge the members of An Garda Síochána involved in the operation for their professionalism in bringing this operation to a successful conclusion.”
As well as two prison cells, 18 addresses in Dublin were searched in an operation involving the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, the Garda National Crime and Security Intelligence Service and regular Garda units based in Dublin.
One of the cells searched was that of Charles McClean, a 35-year-old Dubliner serving several sentences for facilitating gun murders. One of the killings he helped organise was that of notorious drug dealer Mark ‘Guinea Pig’ Desmond. McClean called Desmond to a meeting in a park in Lucan in 2016, where the gangland figure was shot dead.
McClean was also sentenced to two consecutive terms totalling 16½ years for facilitating a criminal organisation as well as conspiring to murder gangland criminal Wayne Whelan. Whelan survived one murder attempt in September 2019 but was shot dead in another attack two months later.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
