Michael Crinnion

Dean Crinnion

Robert Crinnion

Gerard Delaney

Scene of Gerard Delany's brutal killing

Michael Crinnion's funeral

Michael Crinnion's body is removed from crime scene

Gardai hope the jailing of a man for eight years WILL end one of Cork’s most violent family feuds.

Dean Crinnion (20), Blackwater Grove, Togher, was jailed for stabbing Gerard Delaney (51) 13 times inside and outside the Manhattan pub on Friar’s Walk, Ballyphehane, Cork on December 27, 2011.   

The fatal stabbing came just one month after Dean’s brother Robert Crinnion (28) was jailed for a slash-hook attack on Mr Delaney’s brother, Finbar, a well-known crime figure in the city who was convicted in October 2005 of drugs possession.

Robert was close pals with a number of Ger Delaney’s nephews and they regularly stayed in each other homes as teens.

However, it is believed that the feud was sparked after Robert Crinnion got involved in a drunken row with one of Delaney’s cousins over a girl in 2010.

This row led to the slash hook attack on Finbar Delaney. 

Ironically, neither Dean Crinnion nor Ger Delaney had any involvement in the feud until the fatal stabbing.  

Dean had not been involved in crime before the killing but has links that read like a who’s who of gangland figures in Cork who, unlike their counterparts in Dublin and Limerick, rarely draw media attention. 

Dean’s father, Michael, was shot dead outside The Clannad pub on Barrack Street in April 1995. 

The killing was believed to be the first gangland gun murder in Cork. 

Michael Crinnion had been an enforcer in the O’Flynn crime gang and was considered the “hardest” member of the gang. 

He was no stranger to violence and had once brought a man who owed a debt to the gang to a field behind Cork Airport and dropped concrete blocks onto his legs. 

He was lured out of the Clannad pub by a phone call and blasted five times in the street. Gardai identified a number of suspects but his murder was never solved. 

His funeral was a tense affair and his brother-in-law Donal O’Flynn was involved in a vicious attack on an RTE camera crew for which he received a two-year sentence. 

Donal O’Flynn had also been charged with trying to intimidate newspaper vendors in the city because he was furious with the coverage of the killing. 

He was found dead in a Cork city flat in 2000. 

Another brother, Seanie O’Flynn, was a major player in the drugs world and was arrested in Holland in 1998 after being caught trying to buy 25,000 ecstasy tablets. He was out of prison two years later and moved to Spain where he continued to operate in the drug trade. He is now back in Cork.

Their convicted drug-dealer brother Kieran O’Flynn became a father figure to Dean Crinnion after the 1995 murder. He was running the gang’s drugs operation in Cork but was shot dead at the door of his home in Thorndale Estate in Cork in 2001. 

Once again, the killing remained unsolved.  

It is believed Seanie O’Flynn (65) had fallen out with Kieran before his death and did not bother turning up for his funeral.

O’Flynn has current connections with a number of crime figures in Cork. 

Gardai have been quietly tackling those involved in organised crime in the Munster capital.  In recent weeks Gardai and CAB were involved in a raid on a business figure based in Midleton, in east Co. Cork. 

The man has previously been a target of Revenue and local sources say he is linked to prostitution rackets in the south. 

He has links to another man who is involved in the pub trade and has connections with Seanie O’Flynn and Finbar Delaney. The man involved in the pub trade is believed to be  also involved in laundering money. 

Separately, gardai are hoping the feud between some members of the Delaney and Crinnion families will come to an end. 

An apology on behalf of Dean Crinnion, who was convicted of the manslaughter of Gerard Delaney, was read out in court this week.

He said: “I would like to apologise to the Delaney family for the pain and hurt I have caused. Every morning it is the first thing in my head and the same last thing at night.

“I don’t know if they accept my apology. They have every right not to do so. I know I have to pay for what I did.

“Nothing like this will ever happen again. My life is in ruins since this happened. I would wish for peace between our families.”

Mr Delaney’s widow, Mary, broke down in court this week and said “no words to describe the pain and anger” her family had felt since his death.

Dean’s mother Collette spoke to the Sunday World days after Dean killed Mr Delaney. 

She said: “I’m very sorry for Ger Delaney’s wife, I know what she’s going through – and his children too. I went through it myself when my husband was killed.

“I don’t want trouble – I just want peace in my life. I can’t even go outside the door any more.”

Cops to investigate 'sex for rent'

Gardai have launched an investigation after the Sunday World passed them on a letter from a traveller woman who claimed she is being forced to have sex for “rent” on a halting site.

The woman – who lives on a site in Dublin – also makes the sensational claim that her four children are being sent away with “strange men” who, she fears, are abusing them.

She claims that she approached a local priest for help and threatens to kill herself if something is not done about it.

The letter reads: “I went to the priest and told him and he told me that I have to leave in order to keep my kids safe from what is going on and I told him I had to have sex with two brothers (names removed) when I could not pay the rent and the priest gave me e200 to pay them the rent.”

The woman also claims that a traveller gang is taking her children each weekend and she believes they are being used as sex slaves.

She writes, ominously: “They (the gang) want to send my children away for weekends with strange men who pay for everything and one of the women told me not to let my kids go as the men abuse the children.”

In her letter, the woman then threatens to take her own life if something is not done to improve her situation.

The letter in question was handed into Coolock Garda Station by the Sunday World last week. However, a senior source told the Sunday World that claims may be the product of a “disturbed mind”. 

Gardai are continuing to investigate the matter.

Wayne Dundon

Page 1

Roy collins murder scene

Roy Collins

Stephen Collins

Nathan Killeen

Jimmy Collins

Kieran Keane

Brian Fitzgerald

Shane Geoghegan

Mark Heffernan

They waited 1,833 days for justice, but the Sunday World unmasked Wayne Dundon as Roy Collins’ killer within 72 hours.

We have been in the face of the mob known as ‘Murder Inc’  for years and followed their rise from the beginnings to the bitter end.

This week, when devastated Steve Collins gave his victim impact statement, following the conviction of Wayne Dundon and Nathan Killeen for murder, he told a packed court that he had counted every day since his son Roy died in his arms on April 9, 2009.

While the wheels of justice move slowly, the Sunday World was straight out of the blocks in the days after the murder and bravely named Dundon as the man who ordered the death of Roy on our front page.

We revealed how evil Wayne had directed the murder of the father of two from his prison cell, having waged a bloody vendetta against the Collins’ family for having him jailed for threats to kill.

For years, the Sunday World went where no other media would – into the cold heart of Murder Inc.

We followed the ruthless gang from the year they arrived in Limerick in 2000 and for the next decade turned the city into one of fear and death.

During his brutal war, Wayne Dundon is believed to be responsible for at least 11 murders, including those of Shane Geoghegan, Brian Fitzgerald, Kieran Keane, Sean Poland, Richard ‘Happy’ Kelly, Noel Campion, Mark Moloney and Michael Campbell McNamara.

Over the decade, the gardai had successes against the mob and put a dozen members away for murder. 

Dessie Dundon and Anthony ‘Noddy’ McCarthy were taken off the scene after they killed Kieran Keane in January 2003.

Wayne was jailed for 10 years in 2004 for threatening to kill Steve Collins’ son, while his brother John was jailed for threatening to kill Keane’s nephew, Owen Treacy, who had turned supergrass.

The seriousness of the situation in Limerick was highlighted by the fact that the majority of the country’s garda overtime was being pumped into the region, with teams of detectives and heavily-armed units from Dublin deployed to the city for months on end to put the mob out of business.

It was following the murder of Roy Collins in 2009 that the gardai decided it was time to finally crush Murder Inc once and for all. And with it came a stroke of luck in the guise of nightclub owner Mark Heffernan, who literally drove into Limerick’s Roxboro Road Garda Station looking for help after Ger Dundon and Gareth Collins demanded €80,000 from him.

The gardai asked him to make an official statement and told him he could finally restore peace to Limerick if he would help them – in return they offered him protection. Heffernan agreed.

Then, a list of Limerick’s 30 most-serious and active criminals was drawn up by gardai and ‘Operation Redwing’ was launched. 

With Heffernan’s co-operation, they managed to sweep up seven key members of the gang – father and son Jimmy and Gareth Collins who were key enforcers, Christopher McCarthy, Patrick Pickford, Ger Dundon and Christopher and Anthony McCormack.

Once behind bars, the Collins and Dundon factions began to disintegrate – but when Wayne Dundon was released from prison in April 2010 he was as thuggish and brazen as ever.

The Sunday World was there as he celebrated his release and flew out to sunny Mexico with his wife Anne Casey. 

In his first ever interview, Dundon spoke to us from his luxury room in Dreams Riviera hotel in Cancun and stuck his two fingers up to the people of Ireland by saying: “I’m no angel. There is more proof that aliens exist than there is for some of the things I’m meant to have done.”

He tried to make out he was a victim of garda harassment and said: “F*** the guards. Why can’t you just leave me be, leave me alone and let me get on with my life.”

We later reported how Ger Dundon sent Nathan Killeen to attack Gareth Collins but that the recently-convicted criminal came off the worst for wear. 

The tensions within the prison spilled out into Ballinacurra Weston and Nathan’s sister, Ciara Killeen, led a mob of three who attacked Gareth’s mother’s car.

Later, Wayne Dundon arrived and threatened to kill the Collins brothers, Jimmy Jnr and Gareth. To make matters worse, April dumped jailed lover Ger Dundon and things went from bad to worse.

Within a year, we caught up with Wayne Dundon again – and this time branded him ‘The Slobfather’ as we photographed him as he celebrated the birth of his first son. At that point, Dundon had been living in hiding and living in fear on a halting site just outside Limerick, as his old empire crumbled around him.

In the meantime, gardai were working behind the scene with some of Dundons' former allies, including members of the Collins family. 

April Collins, a key witness who would give evidence against the mob during murder trials at the Special Criminal Court, needed to be kept alive at all costs.

Unfortunately, by 2012, with the trials pending, garda management were accused of playing Russian roulette with the lives of witnesses who had already helped them tackle organised crime.

Former state witness Mark Heffernan and the family of Owen Treacy complained that  due to cutbacks their protection would be axed.

At that point, Steve Collins, father of Roy, was also receiving around-the-clock security, as was April Collins and other members  of her family.

The Sunday World gave Heffernan a voice as we told his story ‘Thrown to the Mob’.

In 2012, we named April Collins as the gangster’s moll behind the fall of the mob and told how she had become the garda’s unlikely secret weapon in the fight against murder inc.

Collins gave evidence which helped jail assassin Barry Doyle for life for the murder of innocent rugby player Geoghegan and later in the trial of John Dundon. 

We reported how April’s split from Ger Dundon had added fuel to tensions in prison between the Collins and Dundon ranks. 

We also revealed how, incredibly, she had taken up with the Cratloe rapist Thomas O’Neill as she waited to give evidence against her former masters.

The Dundon women were never behind the scenes as they waged war for their men on the other side. 

And last year jaws dropped when Ciara Lynch and Linda Byrne O’Riordan walked into our office in the middle of John Dundons' murder trial and attempted to trick us into discrediting April Collins.

Lynch, the partner of Dessie Dundon, and Byrne O’Riordan, a close friend of John hoped that their ‘interview’ would be printed and influence or even collapse the trial – but we refused to publish until the judges at the Special Criminal Court had reached their own verdict.

All the time gardai, under Chief Superintendent Dave Sheehan, have slaved away over paperwork and documents for trials and have worked tirelessly to keep their key witnesses alive.  This week’s verdict is a credit to those officers who restored safety to a city.

Lixnaw death

Susan Dunne

Patrick Dunne

Tom and Catherine Nevin

Knocknashee where Siobhan Kearney was killed

Brian Kearney

Siobhan Kearney

Home where Celine Cawley was killed

Eamonn Lillis

Celine Cawley

Knocklyon house where Anne Maria Sacco was killed

Anne Maria Sacco

Dalkey 'House of Horror'

Cynthia Owen

It is the cottage that locals in Lixnaw, Co Kerry want demolished after five deaths were linked to the property.

A local priest has claimed there is ‘mi-adh’, or bad luck, associated with the house after Susan Dunne died there violently last year. 

Her 18-year-old autistic son, Patrick, has been charged with her murder. One man who lived there was stabbed in Wales, another died in a road accident, while there have been three tragic deaths in the house – all involving different families.

However, the Sunday world can reveal that violent deaths have not put off potential purchasers from snapping up homes where notorious crimes have occurred.

The houses where Ann White, Siobhan Kearney, Celine Cawley and Tom Nevin were all murdered have all sold quickly when put up for sale.

The infamous ‘House of Horrors’ in Dalkey, Co Dublin – where Cynthia Owen was repeatedly abused by up to a dozen men – was also sold.

Last month, the home where a chip shop owner was brutally shot to death in one of the country’s most-infamous unsolved murders was put up for sale.

Franco Sacco (29) was blasted to death with his own hunting rifle at close range as he slept in his home in Knocklyon, south Dublin in 1997.

When gardai found his bloody body, it had been wrapped “in mummy fashion” in eight sheets, five bedspreads, two towels and an electric blanket. 

Such had been the force of the shot that bone fragments and blood were found spattered on the bedroom wall above the corpse.

Six months before his death, Italian-born Franco and his young pregnant bride, Anna Maria – who was also his first cousin – had moved into the house, 3 Coolamber Park, in the quiet suburban area.

Anna Maria was eventually charged with her husband’s murder but was cleared of all charges following two separate high-profile trials.

The four-bedroom home they briefly shared together has just been placed on the market at a price of €400,000.

The house is being sold by private treaty and is described by the estate agents as a: “Four Bedroom family home with off street parking, great location, needs some updating, 400k ono.”

The long, drawn-out trial over Franco Sacco’s killing was one that shocked Ireland. 

At the time of Franco’s death, Anna Maria was pregnant with her daughter Francesca – named after her father. 

Her best female friend – a girl of just 15 – admitted pulling the trigger.

The teenager was very close to Anna Maria and often stayed over at the couple’s home.

A few hours after the killing, the girl ran into nearby Rathfarnham Garda Station and blurted out: “I shot Franco.” 

Gardai rushed to the Sacco home to find Franco dead in his bed.

One month later, the teen was charged with his killing and convicted of murder in June 1998.

She was sentenced to seven years but was released one year later, because of her young age. 

The young girl – who cannot be named – told the court how she and Anna Maria had plotted to kill Franco for months.

The court heard that Anna Maria had told her teenage friend that Franco was abusive.

Justice Carney told the jury that the case depended on the reliability of the 15-year-old’s evidence. But Anna Maria walked free from court in 1998 without a conviction.

After two weeks of evidence, a hung jury failed to reach a verdict on the case.

A retrial was ordered and, in February, 1999, Anna Maria faced the courts once again.

The jury rejected the prosecution’s evidence which alleged that Anna Maria had a hand in her husband’s death and cleared her of all charges.

A source told the Sunday World that Anna Maria is now remarried.

The home on Coolamber Park is just the latest so-called ‘House of Horror’ to go on the market in recent years. In 2010, wife killer Brian Kearney put his posh five-bed house in Carnroe, Knocknashee, Goatstown, Co Dublin up for sale from his cell in Wheatfield Prison at an asking price of €735,000.

He had initially tried to flog it when was found guilty of murder in March 2008, but no-one came up with the €1.4 million asking price.

Like Kearney, ‘Black Widow’ Catherine Nevin also sold the property where her partner came to a bloody end and pocketed the cash – despite being responsible for the murder.

Tom Nevin was shot dead in the kitchen of his pub, Jack White’s Inn, while he was counting the St. Patrick’s weekend takings in 2006.

In January 1998, Catherine Nevin sold Jack Whites pub for €620,000. Two years later she was sentenced to life for hiring a hitman to carry out his murder.

Number 4 White Villas in Dalkey – later dubbed as the ‘Dalkey House of Horror’ –  is also happily occupied by a family for the last few years.

Brave Cynthia Owen has revealed how she was raped by her father and other members of a paedophile ring as a child in the house and later gave birth to a baby girl which was murdered immediately after birth.

In December 2012, convicted killer, Eamonn Lillis, received a cheque for €425,000, from the sale of the house he shared with his slain wife. In 2008 he bludgeoned his wife Celine Cawley to death in the family home on Rowan Hill in Howth.

Alan Sherry and Tom Finn

Alan Sherry and Tom Finn

Alan Sherry with shocked credit union customer

A credit union manager advised a customer to fraudulently claim to be permanently disabled so an insurance company would pay back a loan he was struggling to service.

Tom Finn, who managed Donore Credit Union, Dublin 8, until recently, was recorded telling the customer how to “screw” an insurance company into paying the loan. 

He was first approached by the Sunday World recently when he was still working at the branch and refused to comment, other than to say: “Let the garda look into the matter.” 

But when we contacted the credit union for comment again on Tuesday, an assistant manager told us Mr Finn was no longer the manager there, even though a new manager had yet to take over. 

Legal experts believe that by suggesting such actions, Finn may be deemed to have been conspiring to commit fraud and could face a garda probe. 

The customer, who asked not to be named, had gone in to meet Finn to ask if he could hold the interest on a €5,000 loan while he was temporarily out of work following a car accident. 

Mr Finn, who told the customer he was “up shit creek”, said he couldn’t put a stop on the interest and it would keep building up.  

However, he then went on to tell the customer, who was not permanently disabled from the accident, to get a doctor to say he was. That would mean the credit union’s insurance company would have to repay the loan. 

When the customer said he didn’t want to “screw the credit union”, brazen Finn replied: “It’s not screwing the credit union, it’s screwing the insurance company that we’re covered with. If a doctor signs something and the insurance pays out on it we’re not worried – we don’t care. 

“Just say you put in for permanent disability to us and we get the insurance, we’re not worried whether you work or not. It wipes out your loan.”

The customer told the Sunday World: “Every financial institution has been saying come and talk to us if you’re in trouble. I went and talked to him and the result I got was that I was advised how to commit financial fraud. He wasn’t just suggesting it, he kept pressuring me saying it was my only option.”

During the conversation Finn acknowledged the customer was not permanently disabled but still urged him to defraud the insurance company. 

“Permanent disability is if you are not fit for work of any sort. Your doctor has to say it is permanent for us to apply to the insurance. 

The customer then said he didn’t want to be out of work forever on permanent disability.

Finn replied: “You don’t have to be. As I said to you, there’s people who claimed permanent disability and after they got the insurance covered – or whatever covered – they were able to go back to work again. This isn’t my major concern.”

The customer then asked if claiming to be permanently disabled would prevent him from getting further credit union loans. 

Finn replied: “The only way it would affect you is that you don’t get a loan higher than the shares because it’s already been insured.”

Finn went on to say it was the only option available to him.

“You get a letter from the specialist and bring it in here and we’ll go through the application form for you. Try it. I’m not saying it will work.

The customer also asked: “Is that the best thing I can do, try and go down that avenue?”

Finn replied: “Yes, exactly. Until you hear you’re allowed to go back to work.”

The customer said he couldn’t believe the advice Finn had given. “If I went down that road I’d be done for fraud. I’m an honest guy and I don’t want to do that. I’m willing to pay that loan back.

“He was so blatant in saying it. I think he’s done it with other people. He’s stating this has happened before and they went back to work after six months.”

The conversation took place in December last year.  The customer said he did not make an official complaint to the board of the credit union as Finn was head of the board. 

When we approached Finn at the credit union he initially said  he didn’t remember the conversation. 

He later came out again and advised us to put the allegations in writing.

He then asked if we had contacted the gardai about the matter, before we pointed that we also had a recording of the conversation. He replied: “If it’s recorded and it’s in writing, let the police investigate it.”

He refused to comment further on the matter.

When we contacted the credit union during the week over the matter an assistant manager said Finn was no longer manager.  

“We don’t have a manager at the moment. I’m the assistant manager and, like what Tom said, I wouldn’t be commenting on that neither.”

Solicitors hired by Mr Finn informed the Sunday World that while he is no longer manager in the credit union he is still employed by them. 

“Our Client remains in the employment of Donore Credit Union. He is no longer manager due to personal reasons and thus entirely unrelated to these matters.”

Tom Finn talks to Sunday World reporter Alan Sherry

THE Irish League of Credit Unions is looking into comments made by a credit union manager who urged a customer to commit fraud to get out of paying back a loan.

Tom Finn, who was the manager of Donore Credit Union in Dublin 8, was recorded telling a customer that if he fraudulently claimed to be permanently disabled he wouldn’t have to repay the loan, as the branch was insured. 

When the customer said he didn’t want to screw the credit union, Mr Finn said: “It’s not screwing the credit union. It’s screwing the insurance company we’re insured with.”

He also told the customer that he knew he wasn’t permanently disabled but he knew of other people who claimed to be so they could get their loans paid before going back to work months later. 

The insurance company referred to by Mr Finn is ECCU – a wholly owned subsidiary of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ICLU). 

The ILCU, which also speaks on behalf of ECCU, this week sought a copy of the recording and is now looking into the matter. 

A spokesperson for the ILCU said the recording has been handed over to the legal department. 

However, the spokesperson said they were not commenting on the matter. 

Mr Finn has yet to offer any explanation of his comments other than to say let the gardai investigate the matter. 

His solicitor said Finn remains in employment of Donore Credit Union but “is no longer manager due to personal reasons and thus entirely unrelated to these matters”.

Legal experts believe that by saying what he did he may be deemed to have been conspiring to commit fraud.

Carl Byrne was threatened by a drugs gang

A hard-working family man turned into a real-life Walter White when he was forced to manufacture drugs for an organised crime gang.

In a scene straight out of the hit TV series Breaking Bad, Carl Byrne became so desperate for funds that he set up a cannabis growhouse in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath. 

The father of five had been running a garage and struggling to make ends meet when his family was placed under serious threat.

An organised criminal mob demanded he pay back the cost of drugs they had supplied to Byrne’s friend, after those drugs were intercepted by gardai.

The 37-year-old’s family home in Rathangan, Co Kildare, was petrol-bombed in a terrifying ordeal that left Byrne fearing for his children’s lives. 

Dressed in a black suit and white shirt, and wearing bookish spectacles, the desperate dad looked more like a civil servant than a drug grower when his case came before Naas Circuit Court last week. 

But the mechanic had hired an industrial premises and turned it into a growhouse, to cultivate cannabis and the opium poppy, the court also heard.

Two people were willing to help him in his sad scheme – Byrne’s neighbour Kevin Doyle (59) and 25-year-old Stephen O’Brien, a man so wired by hash that he had a cannabis-induced psychotic disorder.

The unlikely trio then tried to move into the drugs underworld, but somebody tipped off gardai. 

A surveillance operation was carried out on Byrne’s home in Temple Mills, Rathangan in Co Kildare.

COPYCAT: Walter White and his sidekick Jessie in the TV series Breaking Bad

And on August 11, 2011, when Kevin Doyle and Stephen O’Brien were seen leaving Byrne’s house carrying packed hold-all bags, national drugs unit detectives swooped.

The bags were found to contain cannabis with a street value of almost €34,000.

Stephen O’Brien was given a four-year jail term at his trial in March – a sentence reduced the court heard, because of mitigating circumstances.

His mental state made him “extremely vulnerable”.

While Byrne’s neighbour, Kevin Doyle, got five years, with two suspended.

However, Byrne – the brains behind the operation – wasn’t at home at the time of the sting. Technically, there was no evidence against him – and he could have got away with it if he had walked away at that point.

But despite the fact that he now knew gardai had been watching his home, he kept growing drugs.

And a week after the first set of arrests, he made another major error of judgement. 

On August 18, 2011, Byrne travelled to his grow house – set up in a premises in a business park in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath. 

When gardai approached him, he immediately admitted his role.

Inside the building detectives found 430 plants at various stages of maturity, which were identified as cannabis.

The plants had a street value of €172,000.

Carl Byrne was paying €1,600 a month to lease the premises in Kilbeggan.

“Mr Byrne was forced to grow the drugs,” Detective Garda Neil Cameron, of the National Drugs Unit, told the court. “He does come across as a good parent,” he added.

The desperate dad has 12 previous convictions the court heard. He had begun serving a five-year sentence on December 3, 2013 for cultivating the opium poppy – which could have yielded a harvest of heroin.

His other convictions were for road traffic offences and unlawful possession of drugs.

Concerning the cannabis growhouse charge which he faced last week, the court heard how Byrne was trying to discharge a pal’s drugs debt.

The gang personally held him responsible for discharging the cost of drugs seized by gardai because they’d been in the possession of Byrne’s friend at the time.

“He was concerned about the danger to his family,” Byrne’s barrister told the court. “His home was petrol bombed and he’d been burned out. He has a genuine fear of extremely dangerous drugs gang.”

The judge imposed a seven-year sentence, with three suspended, despite the mandatory recommendation of ten years for similar drugs offences.

“You are a very well educated man, who fully and knowingly got involved at the business end of drugs supply,” the judge said.

“You were drawn in by dark forces … but you’re a family man and well capable of rehabilitation,” the judge added.

Gangland thug Lee McDonnell pictured boozing in Mountjoy

Lee McDonnell and his prison pals pose for the camera

THESE are the shocking photographs which show how prisoners were able to enjoy a boozy hooch party in a high-security prison.

Gangland thug Lee McDonnell is now under protection in Mountjoy jail after he was snapped making a handgun sign as he drank homemade alcohol from a bottle during a party in his prison cell.

McDonnell (22) – who goes by the nickname Mac-10 – is regarded as one of the most violent and dangerous inmates in Ireland’s prison system.

He posted the series of snaps to a Facebook page but yesterday prison chiefs hit back in a series of raids at Mountjoy Prison. Fourteen prisoners had their cells searched and were transferred to other jails or different parts of the Mountjoy. Two smartphones and a mobile phone were found during the sweep, as well as a quantity of drugs, including heroin.

Prison management were furious at the antics of the small group of prisoners and ordered a total crackdown. 

Sources say that fellow lags are blaming McDonnell for the crackdown and he is now in an isolation cell over fears he will be attacked.

He is currently serving sentences for a range of crimes, including his role in a horrific machete attack that almost severed the victim’s hand.

Last week, he was also sentenced to five years in prison in Naas Circuit Court after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary. But just days later, McDonnell looks like he hasn’t a care in the world as he strips naked after a night’s drinking and poses for photographs taken on a contraband mobile phone.

In one x-rated image, three naked prisoners mimic a famous scene from ‘Silence of the Lambs’ where serial killer ‘Buffalo Bill’ dances in front of the mirror with his penis tucked between his legs. The caged criminals – who are mostly from Ballyfermot, west Dublin – can also be seen posing in the toilets, cells and in the yard of the Dublin jail in more than two dozen images.

Also included are photos of inmates snorting a white powder and video featuring McDonnell killing a captured pigeon.

The photographs show how the self-styled ‘Ballyer crew’ continue to live the high life behind bars – they can be seen smoking what appear to be cannabis joints, as well as boozing it up in the jail.

A prison insider said ‘Mac-10’ is regarded as an erratic and dangerous inmate by staff.

“At one point he was being moved from prison to prison every couple of months by staff to try and keep him from causing trouble. He would be associated with Derek ‘Dee Dee’ O’Driscoll’s gang and would be very feared,” he said.

McDonnell is currently serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence with 18 months suspended for a horrific machete attack that almost severed victim Luke O’Toole’s (25), hand. 

He also acted as an enforcer for the gang which is believed to have been responsible for the killing of Melanie McCarthy-McNamara. McDonnell was in custody when she was killed and played no part in her death.

In February, he was jailed for nine years with two suspended for beating the man over the head with an imitation firearm until he handed over keys to his car. 

Along with an accomplice, McDonnell  used the vehicle to commit a service station robbery three hours later.

In one post on Facebook last week, McDonnell, from Lough Conn Road, Ballyfermot, posted a section from a book of evidence on the site and threatened an associate who he claims “ratted” on him. 

He writes: “Go read dat in the book and every body read dat and see for you self.

“Told dem (the gardai) he got it (a phone) off me… the book never lie so der you go and your still out der and were in here.”

As well as McDonnell, a number of people convicted of serious and violent crimes also pose in the photographs.

They include Patrick McCann (20) from Decies Road in Ballyfermot, who last year admitted trying to murder his lifelong pal, Luke Wilson, in a park on the orders of a major crime boss.

Wilson (19) – a nephew of hitmen Eric ‘Lucky’ Wilson and Keith Wilson – was shot three times but escaped when McCann’s gun jammed.

McCann was jailed for 20 years for the attempted murder and 10 years for possession of a weapon – to run concurrently.

The judge suspended the final three years of the sentence.

Two brothers from Clondalkin – who cannot be named as they are facing charges – can also be seen in the images.

The pair are facing charges after they were accused of ramming another man’s car and chasing him along the road.

The shocking photographs will come as a blow to prison staff who have successfully managed to dramatically reduce the number of phones in circulation in

Mountjoy in recent years. Last year 238 mobile phones were seized at the prison.

A source said the prison is not awash with contraband and that mobile phones are now so scarce that they sell for more than €1,000 in Mountjoy Prison. 

“Huge strides have been made in stopping phones getting into the prison. The situation is totally different than it was four years ago and it is a big priority for the Prison Service,” said the source.

Martin Foley rescued a pensioner from a burning house

The house on Cashel Avenue, Crumlin, which is suspected of being deliberately attacked

Dad-to-be Martin ‘the Viper’ Foley has been hailed a hero after saving the life of a man who was trapped inside a house that had been deliberately set on fire.

The 63-year-old has been praised for showing no fear in entering the house on Cashel Avenue in Crumlin, Dublin, last Sunday night despite a massive fire blazing inside. 

He pulled a man who was trapped inside to safety and then threw several gas canisters, which were in danger of exploding, out the window.

The pensioner, who had been in the house when it was set on fire by a petrol bomb, was treated for shock and smoke inhalation by paramedics at the scene and will make a full recovery.

However, the fire caused considerable damage to three adjoining houses leaving them unfit for living in.

Gardai are investigating the incident but believe that two local men, who have been attempting to extort money from innocent residents, may have been responsible for the arson attack, which is being treated as attempted murder.

A source in the Fire Brigade said: “Martin Foley is a hero, no question. He didn’t hesitate to enter the burning building and help the elderly resident out. Not only that but by getting rid of the gas canisters he avoided a potentially lethal explosion breaking out.

“When he saved the man he waited around and spoke to us about what he had seen and the layout of the house and was very cooperative and helpful.”

The Sunday World recently revealed that despite not being too far away from collecting his state pension and being hit by an incredible 18 bullets in four murder bids, Foley impregnated his wife.

Foley turns 64 in November and his 38 year-old beau Sonia Doyle is understood to be over four months pregnant.

The colourful criminal has been joking with pals that his body will be donated to medical science when he finally kicks the bucket because he has confounded doctors’ expectations for so many years.

Foley and Sonia Doyle got married last November after a ten-year relationship. The intimate ceremony in Puerto Rico in the Canary Islands was only attended by a handful of people.

The pair of lovebirds have wasted no time in having a family. Foley already has two daughters who are in their late 20s from his first marriage to his deceased wife Pauline who passed away in January 2003.

Foley has told friends he cannot wait for the early morning feeds and dirty nappies and says he has a new perspective on the value of life because he has stared death in the face on so many occasions.  The new arrival is some much-needed good news for Foley who was handed a bill for €916,960 by the Criminal Assets Bureau last month.

Two years ago the CAB launched an investigation into the criminal because of the actions of his notorious debt collection business. 

Sonia Doyle is a director of ‘Viper Debt Recovery and Repossession Services Limited’ which is highly successful despite the claims of the company books. 

Garda management were concerned that Foley was touring the country intimidating people into paying debts so CAB officials used the garda PULSE machine to track Foley’s business movements and used it to prove his company’s income was not declared correctly. 

The Viper pockets 20 per cent of every debt he collects and also charges several thousand euro to take a case on in the first place.

He has become so busy over the last few years that he now employs around eight people full time.

Last year the accounts for the debt collection company revealed that it made a profit of just €833. The previous year the company lost €7,518. The accounts detailed revenues of just €20,290 up until September 2012. 

However auditors said they could not independently verify these revenues because there was no cash book for the business. 

The €916,960 declaration is for under declaration of income tax. The County Sheriff has the power to seize valuables from Foley including his home. 

The Viper has 45 criminal convictions and is regarded by gardai as being involved in drug dealing and other serious criminal activities.

Michael Frazier's abandoned car after the first attempt on his life

Gardai averted a double assassination of a father and son during a bizarre chase across the city involving push bikes, squad cars and the garda helicopter.

The incident kicked off on Friday afternoon in Rathmines in Dublin when a row broke out between the duo and members of a Crumlin family over a woman.

It is understood that the father and son claim they were told they were going to be killed and fled on bicycles in terror, with two cars in hot pursuit. 

Both made 999 calls and told the emergency services they were being followed by men with a shotgun and a handgun – and believed they were about to be killed in broad daylight.

The garda helicopter was deployed as the chase headed across the city and out as far as Ballyfermot where the duo finally stopped.

It is understood in the early hours of yesterday morning a pipe bomb exploded and destroyed a car in the area. Officers believe that the incidents are connected but that the wrong car was targeted. An investigation was launched after a well known family in Crumlin were identified as having the firearms.

A spokesman said that Ballyfermot gardai were investigating the incident that occurred around 2pm which involved several teams of officers and the garda helicopter.

“Two males on pedal cycles alleged they were approached by a number of armed males and fled. They appear to have gone in different directions but both were pursued.  They rang 999 for help and the garda Helicopter was involved from the sky,” said the spokesman.

Detectives are hoping to get to the bottom of the incident but believe it was sparked by a row between two women.

Meanwhile, a former pal of ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson is this weekend being described as the luckiest man in Ireland after miraculously escaping a second murder attempt in less than six months.

Michael Frazier (pictured above) was lured to a meeting in the car park of a pub in Firhouse, Tallaght at 6.50pm on Friday night when a masked gunman walked up to his car and tried to open fire from less than two feet away.

He pressed the trigger of a handgun three times but the weapon jammed and the astonished Frazier put the car into gear and rushed to nearby Tallaght garda station to report the incident.

However, the 34 year-old would not say who had lured him to the meeting and would not offer any information to help the investigation.

A few minutes later several people in the Allenton estate in Tallaght dialled 999 to report that two men, who were wearing balaclavas, were attempting to hijack cars.

They had abandoned the car that was used in the botched hit and set it on fire. By the time the gardai arrived they were gone and it is still unclear if they hijacked an innocent motorist to flee the area.

A semi-automatic pistol was found in the partially burnt-out car and it is hoped that gardai may be able to retrieve forensic evidence from it.

Frazier has now gone to ground and, despite surviving two bothced attempts on his life, now knows that he can trust nobody because it is the second time this year that his own friends tried to set him up to be murdered. 

He was lured to a meeting in a church car park in Clondalkin on March 26 and a masked gunman then approached and fired three shots at him, hitting him in the back and legs. 

However, he was able to drive his Mini Cooper onto the kerb and managed to drive himself to Clondalkin garda station. At the scene it looked like he might not survive but he made a miraculous recovery and was out of hospital in just three days.

He was set up and ambushed by the ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson mob after being accused of having an affair with the wife of a major criminal.

After initially refusing to believe that the Thompson gang had been responsible Frazier realised that his own friends were behind the incident.

He put on a brave face in public and was even dancing on pub tables showing off his scars and boasting about how he was invincible. However he knew that his falling out with the mob was permanent and they would try to come back and finish the job. 

In June he was arrested in connection with a fatal hit and run. Frazier was detained for questioning about the death of Caroline Watkins who was killed while crossing the road at the Luas stop on Davitt Road in Inchicore. Frazier has denied involvement.

Lee McDonnell was moved to Portlaoise after posting party pictures from Mountjoy

Lee McDonnell and pals pose for the camera in Mountjoy

A dim-witted criminal who posted photos on Facebook from his jail cell enjoying an illegal booze-up has been sent to the country’s toughest jail.

The Sunday World can reveal that Lee McDonnell is also facing the possibility of an extra five years in prison after jail bosses raided his cell in Mountjoy and uncovered a smartphone after he posted the partying pictures.

The gangland thug has been sent to the notorious ‘A’ wing in Portlaoise prison that houses some of Ireland’s most-dangerous criminals, including Limerick killer brothers Wayne and John Dundon and Nathan Killeen. 

There are little or no privileges available on the wing and serving a sentence there is the epitome of serving ‘hard time’.

Jail bosses moved against him after we published photos of McDonnell and several cronies drinking jailhouse hooch and even callously killing a bird.

In a series of swoops last Saturday, 14 cells were raided and three phones and a quantity of heroin was found.

One of the phones was in the 22-year-old’s cell and he is now set to be charged with the illegal possession of the mobile and could be handed a five-year sentence if convicted.

Several other prisoners who were involved have been moved to different landings in Mountjoy but McDonnell was regarded as the ringleader and was shipped to Portlaoise as punishment. 

There were also fears for his safety because his fellow lags blamed him for the baffling decision to post the photos onto Facebook in the first place. 

McDonnell – who goes by the nickname Mac-10 – is regarded as one of the most-violent and dangerous inmates in Ireland’s prison system.

He is currently serving sentences for a range of crimes, including his role in a horrific machete attack that almost severed the victim’s hand.

Two weeks ago, he was also sentenced to five years in prison in Naas Circuit Court after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary. 

But just days later, McDonnell looks like he hasn’t a care in the world as he strips naked after a night’s drinking and poses for photographs taken on a contraband mobile phone.

In one x-rated image, three naked prisoners mimic a famous scene from ‘Silence of the Lambs’ where serial killer ‘Buffalo Bill’ dances in front of the mirror with his penis tucked between his legs.

The caged criminals – who are mostly from Ballyfermot, west Dublin – can also  be seen posing in the toilets, cells and in the yard of the Dublin jail in more than two dozen images.

Also included are photos of inmates snorting a white powder and video featuring McDonnell killing a pigeon. The photographs show the self-styled ‘Ballyer crew’ smoking what appear to be cannabis joints, as well as boozing it up in the jail.

McDonnell is currently serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence with 18 months suspended for a horrific machete attack that almost severed victim Luke O’Toole’s (25), hand. 

He also acted as an enforcer for the gang which is believed to have been responsible for the killing of Melanie McCarthy-McNamara. McDonnell was in custody when she was killed and played no part in her death.

In February, he was jailed for nine years with two suspended for beating the man over the head with an imitation firearm until he handed over keys to his car.

Along with an accomplice, McDonnell used the vehicle to commit a service station robbery three hours later.

Donal MacIntyre chases Daniel Kinahan

Daniel Kinahan refuses to talk to our reporter

Donal MacIntyre outside Kinahan's home

Donal MacIntyre outside the boxing gym

Boxer Matthew Macklin’s gangster pal ran like a rat into motorway traffic when the Sunday World visited the MGM Gym in Puerto Banus this week.

It was business as usual at the gym and in the upstairs bar, Slainte Banus, a favourite of Macklin and co after sweaty training sessions.

But neither Macklin nor Daniel Kinahan, outside whose home trainer Jamie Moore was shot recently, were in the mood to talk when we caught up with them on the Spanish Costa.Macklin was not available and Kinahan took off in a sprint when I tried to ask questions at the gym.

The shooting of Moore has caused the cancellation of Macklin’s Dublin bout later this month along with a sold-out boxing charity extravaganza which was due to be held in Puerto Banus.

Moore was shot at five times outside Kinahan’s home by a mysterious shooter armed with a handgun, who hit the boxing trainer twice in the legs. But when I approached Daniel, he had nothing to say about the incident.

In fact, the moment he spotted our cameras he ran fleeing my questions like man escaping a hitman, not a reporter. 

Wearing shorts in the midday sun, he ran and then sprinted across two roads before racing down a motorway to avoid talking about the shooting. 

Associates tried to intimidate the Sunday World team from the public footpath and shouted abuse after the gangster had fled.

At Kinahan’s mansion, the CCTV cameras were ever-present but there was no sign of a shooting or signs of blood at the scene.

The private estate has its own full-time 24-hour security unit patrolling the exclusive enclave.

Moore, who beat Macklin himself as a professional in 2006, was preparing him for a World Championship eliminator fight against Jorge Sebastian Heiland due to take place at the National Stadium in Dublin on August 30. This week, Macklin cancelled the fight, saying he had to be “100 per cent right for the fight” and that the shooting meant that his training had been disrupted. 

Moore and Macklin, both innocent parties in the shooting drama, appear perplexed by the attempted hit. Insiders have claimed that the Kinahan gang rallied a party line that it was a case of mistaken identity. A number of  gardai have suggested Gary Hutch was the intended hit but there is little explanation why or by whom. 

Moore was under armed guard at the Costa del Sol hospital earlier in the week but was moved from there to an undisclosed location in Marbella to recuperate.

Michael Frazier chats with 'Fat' Freddie's brother-in-law Karl Dempsey

'Fat' Freddie Thompson is a former pal of Michael Frazier

Gardai fear that the infamous Crumlin/Drimnagh feud will be re-ignited following the second failed murder attempt on former ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson crony Michael Frazier.

The Sunday World understands there are serious fears that Frazier has contacted associates of ‘Fat’ Freddie’s arch-enemy Brian Rattigan after the Thompson mob again failed in a hit attempt.

The 34-year-old was summoned to a meeting in a pub car park in Firhouse last Friday when a masked gunman appeared and attempted to fire three shots from a semi-automatic pistol.

However, the dim-witted shooter had forgotten to put a bullet in the chamber, allowing Frazier to make his escape to nearby Tallaght garda station and report the botched hit.

It can be revealed that the murder attempt was caught on CCTV camera and gardai are using the footage to get to the bottom of the incident after Frazier refused to co-operate with the probe.

It was the second time since March that Frazier has cheated death and he knows he is a dead man walking after being accused of bedding the partner of a senior Thompson gangster.

However, in a bid to retaliate and protect himself against any further attacks, Frazier is understood to have begun associating with people who were traditionally aligned to the Rattigan gang.

Frazier actually started out in the early 2000s as being sympathetic to the Rattigan mob but moved into the Thompson camp and suffered several attacks as a result. 

It has been learned that a senior Thompson criminal has left messages from his jail cell that Frazier is to be murdered at all costs – and Frazier has had no option but to gravitate towards his former enemies. 

The Rattigan gang has effectively been defeated, with most of the younger generation moving away from the feud that claimed 16 lives. 

However, there are still a small band of loyalists led by Rattigan’s cousin, Aaron Rattigan.

Gardai fear that if the increasingly desperate Frazier teams up with them then there is the potential for carnage to break out and the feud to kick-off again.

One source said: “Frazier knows this threat is not going to go away and the only option he has is to team up with the other side in the hopes of bolstering himself. This is potentially very serious”.

Frazier has been described as being cat-like in gangland circles because he seemingly has so many lives. His own friends turned on him on March 26 when he turned up to a pre-arranged meeting in a church car park in Clondalkin.

A masked gunman then approached from the shadows and fired three shots at him, hitting him in the back and legs. 

However, he was able to manouevre his Mini Cooper on to the kerb and managed to drive himself to Clondalkin garda station (pictured above).

It was initially thought he might not survive the attack – but he made a miraculous recovery and was out of hospital in just three days.

He was set up and ambushed by the ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson mob after being accused of having an affair with the wife of a major criminal.

After initially refusing to believe that the Thompson gang had been responsible, Frazier realised that his own friends were behind the incident.

He put on a brave face in public and was even dancing on pub tables showing off his scars and boasting about how he was invincible. 

However, he knew that his falling out with the mob was permanent and they would try to come back and finish the job – and they tried to do just that last Friday. 

Michael Frazier had been a good friend of Freddie Thompson since they were kids. When Freddie returned to Ireland from Spain in December 2012 Frazier acted as his driver and bodyguard. 

Although he is well-known to gardai he has very little in the way of criminal convictions. 

He was heavily involved in the early stages of the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud and was frequently targeted by the Rattigan gang. 

In January 2004, he was officially warned by gardai that his life was in danger because of his involvement in the feud. However, he refused to acknowledge the threat and said he was surprised that anybody would want to hurt him.

A few days after the warning three shots were fired into his family home at Knocknarea Avenue, Drimnagh, south Dublin. One of the shooters shouted ‘Tell Mickey he’s gonna get it’. 

Frazier was arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of John Roche in Kilmainham in March 2005. Roche was a key member of the Rattigan gang but nobody has ever been charged with the killing. Frazier distanced himself from the feud and moved into the second-hand car business with ‘Fat’ Freddie’s brother-in-law Karl Dempsey.

He is registered as a director of AMF Towing and Recovery, which is registered at an address in Drimnagh.

Despite his attempts to reinvent himself as a businessman, the Rattigan gang continued to target him and his innocent mother Madeleine was threatened on several occasions.

One of the worst incidents of the infamous feud took place in June 2008 when the Frazier family home was targeted with a hand grenade.

Anne Marie Pezzillo

A woman who admitted to killing a man to the Sunday World has said she is fleeing the capital in fear of her life after being shot at in a suspected revenge attack.

Anne Marie Pezzillo (31), was one of two women arrested after Ian Quinn’s body was found in a house on Annaly Grove, Ongar, west Dublin, in May.

Dad-of-one Quinn (32) – who had been in and out of jail for drug-related crimes – died of asphyxiation after also suffering serious head wounds.

In an interview with the Sunday World, Pezzillo sensationally admitted killing Quinn and placing a plastic bag over his head, but claimed she was in fear of her life at the time.

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Christina Gallagher

Christina Gallagher's mansion in Malahide

Christina Gallagher's mansion in Malahide

Christina Gallagher's mansion in Malahide

Christina Gallagher's mansion in Malahide

Christina Gallagher's mansion in Malahide

Christina Gallagher's mansion in Malahide

Christina Gallagher's mansion in Malahide

It’s worth millions and is one of the most fabulous homes on the market – but who is going to get the money?

Fake visionary Christina Gallagher’s luxury home for the past eight years is on the market for €2.7 million, €800,000 LESS than what she paid for the stately pile in 2006.

But the boss of the controversial House of Prayer on Achill Island, Co Mayo, who claims to receive regular messages from Jesus and the Virgin Mary, was careful not to put her own name on the magnificent pile in plush Malahide, Co Dublin, when she moved in eight years ago.

She had been telling her gullible supporters that she had no interest in material possessions and would happily live in a tent.

So the fabulous home on the private Abington estate – worth €4 million at the property peak in 2008 and where neighbours included pop stars Ronan Keating and Nicky Byrne – was put in the name of her American fundraiser, John Rooney.

A Sunday World investigation later revealed that Rooney was an ex-convict who took part in a $15 million fraud. He was sentenced to 18 months by a Texas court in 1988 after pleading guilty to an inter-state scam.

Christina Gallagher nevertheless surprised supporters by ordering them to write massive cheques to a “John Rooney” – and to her own spiritual director Fr Gerard McGinnity – rather than the House of Prayer. This money was then used to fund her secret home. 

The Sunday World published copies of one cheque to Rooney for €50,000 and another to McGinnity for €40,000 by one couple, Betty and Michael Morrissey. 

John Rooney’s name remained on the Land Registry from April 2006 until this year, even though the 70-year-old had a massive fall out with Gallagher three years ago when they went their separate ways.

We can reveal today that Gallagher has now registered the property in the name of her new right hand man, Jim Lynn, of Redford Park, Greystones, Co Wicklow, who is the “full owner” of the mansion.

It will be a big surprise to people who know Lynn, a dedicated but secretive supporter of Gallagher since she opened the House of Prayer in 1993. Until now he has always remained firmly in the background.

“He couldn’t possibly afford a house like that. He used to work for a frozen food company and was then unemployed for a long time,” said one former House of Prayer follower.

Another said: “Even though he was on benefits he seemed to have a new car every year. I used to wonder how he managed it. He was not a professional person.”

Mike Garde, who runs anti-cult organisation Dialogue Ireland, was also surprised.

“He is always trying to disrupt our website using a variety of identities but we know his IP number. He never uses his real name so I was not expecting him to turn up on the land register.”

For Jim Lynn’s name to appear on the official register would have required John Rooney to sign sale or transfer papers.

“I don’t know how that would happen as John Rooney has not talked to Christina Gallagher in years,” said one insider.

When the Sunday World first uncovered the Malahide mansion in January 2008 Gallagher at first denied even living there.

She then got Fr McGinnity to claim on RTE’s Joe Duffy show that she was only staying with friends. But she later confessed on her own website that the home was bought as a refuge and she did live there.

When we discovered another mansion in her name in the UK, which had its own lake and indoor swimming pool, she claimed she needed that because we had exposed her Malahide home.

The Sunday World also uncovered a string of other amazing properties she had bought,  despite not having a job.

And last year we revealed how she had moved out of Malahide, despite spending hundreds of thousands of euro doing it up, and into another stunning property near City West built by the late Jim Mansfield.

As you can see from our photos, she had her Malahide gardens extensively landscaped with some individual features costing €20,000 each.

The property is on the market for €2.7 million. But anyone hoping to see it has to provide proof of identity and access to funds.

Meanwhile, Gallagher’s website contains ever more apocalyptic messages about the end of the world.

“It didn’t stop her moving homes though,” said one former insider.

Collette Crinnion

Collette Crinnion and Alan Sherry

Dean Crinnion

Robert Crinnion

A pipe bomb was brought to Togher Garda Station

Collette Crinnion's home was petrol bombed

Locals in Cork fear it is only a matter of time before a bloody feud claims another life.

Tensions have been high in the city in recent weeks following the sentencing of Dean Crinnion for stabbing Gerard Delaney to death during a feud-linked incident in 2011. 

Since his sentencing, there has been a petrol bomb attack on his mother Collette’s home and a pipe bomb thrown into a garden in Ballyphehane. 

The Sunday World visited Cork this week as part of an investigation into the feud which has been at the root of numerous incidents, including several vicious assaults. 

Many people were reluctant to talk about the ongoing violence in case they were targeted.  

Collette Crinnion said she did not want any part in the feud and did not wish to talk for fear of reprisal attacks. The scorch marks from the attack on her home were still visible on the door this week. 

While Collette did not want to talk, other locals in the area said she was in fear of her life. 

One source said: “Collette is asthmatic and diabetic. Her sons are in jail and she is living in that house on her own and is afraid she will be targeted again.

“She said she thinks she will be killed. She got an awful fright on the night of the attack. It was lucky the damage from the petrol attack wasn’t worse, but she said she can’t sleep because of the worry.”

The feud has got so bad that anyone who is associated or friendly with the rival families are being targeted. 

“People who would have been friends of Dean but had nothing to do with the feud are getting abuse on the streets. Women are being targeted as well,” said one source.

“There have been a few incidents where people would be walking on the street and a car would pull up and people would chase after them. These people don’t want anything to do with the feud.”

Sources said there have also been incidents where people have been photographed talking to those involved in the feud and the pictures have been placed online as part of intimidation. 

In one such incident a man was shaking hands with a member of the Delaney family and his picture was taken and put on Facebook. 

“Just because they’re talking to someone involved they’re being painted as being involved in the feud. These people don’t want anything to do with it but people are trying to drag them in.”

Sources say gardai called to Collette’s home after the pipe bomb was discovered in Ballyphehane. There is no suggestion she was involved in the pipe bomb attack but officers called to speak to her as it was suspected it was a revenge attack for the petrol bomb attack on her home. 

The device was thrown into the garden of an innocent man but it is suspected it was intended as a warning to associates of the Delaneys. 

Gardai have also tried to speak to those involved in the feud in an attempt to get them to step back from the violence – but it appears the pleas have fallen on deaf ears. 

“There have been attempts to quell this but it doesn’t seem to have worked so far. Patrols have been stepped up and there is a heavy garda presence in the flare-up areas,” added our source.

Other locals said the feud had been allowed to get too far out of hand. 

They said the origin of the feud was a fight between two kids which led to a number of other incidents. 

In one incident, Collette’s daughter was punched in the face in a bar in the city. It was claimed in court that convicted drug dealer Finbarr Delaney – a brother of Ger Delaney – punched her, but he was never charged in relation to the offence. 

Delaney was injured in a machete attack hours later and Robert Crinnion is serving a 10-year sentence for that attack. 

In another incident, Collette’s sister Kathleen had her jaw broken by another man linked to the Delaneys in an attack with a baseball bat – but once again no one was charged over that incident. 

A source said: “You had these things happening but nobody was charged. If people think they will get away with it they’ll continue to carry out these attacks. 

“You’ve had pipe bombs and petrol bombs in the past couple of weeks and it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed again.”

The source added that there are many members of both families who have absolutely nothing to do with the feud and some members of the same family don’t speak because they don’t want to get dragged in. 

However, others are reluctant to let it go. One man spat at members of the Crinnion family during Dean’s recent court appearance and called some of the women c***s. 

“There are only a certain amount of people keeping this going but they need to see sense pretty quickly to stop this getting out of control.”

Meanwhile, a shooting incident in the Mahon area during the week was not linked to the feud.

A man fired at least two shots from a shotgun at a parked car in the driveway of a house in St Michael’s Lawn at 1.50am on Wednesday.

No one was injured during the incident but two innocent men were standing near the car when the shots were discharged. 

Gardai are satisfied the incident was completely unrelated to the southside feud.

One line inquiry is the attack was carried out by a drug dealing Traveller gang with links to a major criminal in the north east of the country.

'The Fish' is expected to have a team of cronies at the Electric Picnic

Electric Picnic will be held this weekend

The Dublin dealer has been linked to the discovery of a firearm

A criminal who is expected to flood the Electric Picnic music festival with drugs this weekend was linked to the discovery of a firearm last week.

The man, who heads up an armed robbery and drugs gang, has become one of the main players in Finglas, north Dublin, in recent years, following the jailing and deaths of other key players. 

The criminal, known as ‘The Fish’, has been trying to keep a low profile following a garda crackdown on his criminal activities over the past two years. 

His crew were responsible for a massive wave of armed robberies in the capital and surrounding counties in 2011 and 2012. 

The gang boss had also been responsible for a series of threats against innocent people in the Finglas area, but the intimidation died down after 
his activities were detailed in the Sunday World.

“He went around to a number of people in the area and said there would be no more intimidation from him or his associates after there was increased pressure on him,” said a source.

“Things died down for a while but he’s becoming increasingly active again. He threatened a woman in the area recently and she left for a few days but came back.”

While his armed robbery activities have decreased significantly, he is also heavily involved in drug dealing in the area. 

In the past, he has used a derelict home in his area as a cannabis grow house. Gardai found more than 100 plants with a value of around €40,000 along with a handgun and shotgun when they raided it three years ago. 

Sources say he remains active in the drug world and is planning to flood the Electric Picnic festival with drugs this weekend. 

The popular music festival is taking place in Stradbally, Co Laois, and has already sold out. 

Sources say The Fish is going to get young cronies to push his drugs at the three-day event and may even attend himself. 

“He goes to festivals with his friends. If he does go he wouldn’t be carrying anything himself, but he’ll have people selling stuff there for him,” said the source. 

The criminal was also recently linked to the discovery of a firearm in the garden of an innocent neighbour’s home. 

“He’s careful not to store things on his own property but he hides things around the neighbourhood in other people’s gardens. He’s used derelict houses in the past,” said our source. 

The gangster is an associate of Alan ‘Fatpuss’ Bradley, who is serving a seven-year sentence for his role in a plot to rob a cash-in-transit van alongside slain mob boss Eamon ‘the Don’ Dunne.

Sources say The Fish is conscious about being watched and goes to some lengths to avoid drawing attention to his activities. 

“He wears wigs when he’s going out and sometimes hides in the back of a van so he can’t be seen going around,” said the source.

“A garda CCTV camera on Cardiffsbridge Road, Finglas, has twice been shot at by mates of his. The camera would have been able to monitor his activity going in and out of the area. It’s back working now.”

The criminal has managed to become a major player while avoiding serious bloodshed. “He’s slipped in without using what you would call extreme violence.”

He also avoids overt displays of wealth. “He doesn’t go around flashing the cash obviously. He keeps horses and has car, quad bikes and scramblers, but a lot of them are being kept in Waterford at a property that isn’t in his name.”

He was forced to hand over almost €50,000 to the Criminal Assets Bureau , which gardai believe was the proceeds of crime. 

The cash was seized after gardai stopped Fishy and two criminal associates in a car in Portlaoise .

During the court hearing, Det Chief Supt John O’Mahony of CAB said he was aware that he was involved in a range of criminal activities. However, most of his convictions are for driving offences. 

Emergency services at the scene of Alan Ryan's murder

A gangster’s moll arrested in connection with the murder of RIRA boss Alan Ryan has gone into hiding.

And according to the woman’s pals, she has told gardai: “The IRA are going to chop me up into pieces.”

The moll, from Kilbarrack on Dublin’s northside, is the partner of a senior member of the ‘Mr Big’ drugs gang and was formally quizzed about the murder by detectives on Tuesday.

The woman – who has issues relating to addiction – had been arrested after she was taken into custody on a minor shoplifting charge on Tuesday.

After she was released on Wednesday, she was instantly arrested by detectives from Finglas Garda Station investigating the double murder of Glen Murphy (20) and Mark Noonan (23).

Her boyfriend is suspected of involvement in both the double murder and the killing of dissident boss Ryan. A source has told the Sunday World that the woman, who is in her 30s, is terrified of returning home because of fears she could be targeted by dissidents.

A pal said: “She told gardai during interviews that she believed the IRA were going to chop her up into little pieces because of her being quizzed by the cops. She is afraid to go home.”

Gardai do not believe the Dublin woman was directly involved in the murder, but are investigating if she has information relating to the deaths.

The arrested woman and her boyfriend have recently been spending the majority of their time in the north of the country. However, she travelled back to Dublin to see her family and friends and was arrested on a minor shoplifting charge.

Her boyfriend is a senior member of the drugs gang controlled by the new ‘Mr Big’ of Irish crime but does not have any serious criminal convictions.

He is suspected of driving the getaway car used during the murder of Glen Murphy and Mark Noonan in 2010.
niall.donald@sundayworld.com

Martin Maughan was jailed for three years for welfare fraud

Gardai have arrested a man who fraudulently claimed €450,000 worth of social welfare payments using seven different identities.

The Sunday World can reveal that a 39-year-old man from Dublin city has been charged with a string of offences following a joint Garda and social welfare probe.

He was arrested after state-of-the-art facial recognition software alerted social welfare staff to the fact that he had already claimed job seekers allowance using a different name. 

Welfare’s special investigation unit launched a probe into the man and observed him over several months going into various offices and claiming the jobseeker’s allowance using seven separate identities.

They also sent through CCTV cameras and gathered evidence of previous fraudulent claims he had made.

Three of the names he used were people from the same family, while the others were from individuals who he did not know but whose identities he assumed.

It has been calculated that his alleged fraud cost the taxpayer close to half a million euro and when he was arrested and taken to Tallaght Garda station, he immediately admitted the offence.

He appeared before Dublin District Court, will be sent forward to the Circuit Court for trial and is facing a jail sentence if convicted. 

When gardai carried out an investigation into his background, they determined he had been refused entry to Thailand in 2010 and that several pages of his passport were missing.

He has no criminal convictions and had not come to Garda attention prior to this investigation.

The facial recognition system was introduced last year in a bid to clamp down on welfare fraud which is costing hundreds of millions of euro a year.

Anyone claiming welfare has to stand in front of a camera and their image is recorded and printed onto the newly introduced public services card. 

Every time a person goes in to claim payments, another picture is taken and cross referenced with the card to make sure the person is who they say they are.

There has been a massive clampdown on social welfare fraud in recent years with a special fraud tip-off line receiving nearly 25,000 calls last year from members of the public.

Last year, 674 cases were taken against individuals fraudulently making claims and more than one million payments were reviewed by the department.

An estimated €632m was clawed back in benefits payments following these various investigations.

The courts are also taking a tough stance on welfare fraud and people are now being jailed for offences. 

Earlier this year, the Sunday World highlighted the case of 33-year-old Martin Maughan, who was jailed for three years for a series of welfare swindles. He was pulling in so much money from dodgy claims that he was enjoying a €100,000-a-year lifestyle. 

mick.mccaffrey@sundayworld.com

A former garda at the centre of an investigation for leaking information to dissident republicans has been charged with assault following a pub brawl, the Sunday World can reveal.

The garda resigned from the force when the PSNI contacted Gardai to say the officer had been caught by an MI5 phone monitor providing information to a well-known terrorist.

The ex-cop is accused of giving information about two dissident republicans who had been arrested and held at a Garda station near the border.

It is not believed that the officer had access to details about what the pair said while they were in custody but was able to give the names and addresses of the arrested men as well as how long they had been in custody.

The fact there is an allegation that there was a tipping off of dissident republicans about the arrests, regardless of the quality of information provided, caused considerable disquiet among senior gardai.

The garda was approached and is understood to have resigned from the force when the allegations were made. The officer was also investigated after an ugly pub row and has been charged with assault along with a female companion.

The suspect had under ten years’ service and had frequently come to the  associating with certain  people outside of work.

One of these associates was arrested in relation to the Omagh bomb in 1998 in which 29 people were murdered.

The former cop has also been linked to a Continuity IRA member who has served sentences for bomb making.

Justice minister Frances Fitzgerald has ordered a report into the incident.