Threat: Gerard 'Hatchet' Kavanagh
Drug dealer Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh has built a charmed life for himself on the Costa del Crime – but now a mixture of financial and personal woes are threatening his champagne lifestyle.
Kavanagh, originally from working-class Drimnagh in west Dublin, is one of the biggest Irish players in Spain and senior drug sources say his operation makes millions, supplying most of Tallaght and a large trench of the Drimnagh drug turf.
For almost a decade he has overseen a major operation from Benalmadena where his wife Tracey Brady lives like a society queen, his daughter is a darling of the show-jumping circuit and his son is idolised as a professional boxer.
But sources say that ‘Hatchet’ is now spending an increasing amount of time back in Ireland and his lifestyle has come under pressure as his funds continue to deplete.
Horse play: Kavanagh's wife Tracey
‘Hatchet’ beds down with his old buddy Paul Rice in his house at Mayberry Park in Tallaght – a home that was once owned by his wife Tracey. And sources say his frequent trips back to rainy Ireland are as much about trying to save his business as take a break from pressure of his relationships in Spain.
“Hatchet and Tracey have believed for a long time that people have been looking at them with envy. They like to show off their wealth, But it seems that all is not well and in recent years he has become increasingly concerned about debt collecting in Ireland,” a source said.
“Rice was initially based out in Benalmadena and when he moved back in 2012 it was initially thought they had had a falling out, but that is not the case. The fact is that Rice came back as a debt collector for Christy Kinahan and Kavanagh. Now Kavanagh is back himself to show his muscle. He is desperate for funds, like everyone else in the drugs business.”
Tracey and Hatchet were teenage sweethearts and in 1995, when she was in her early 20s, she was the full owner of their home at 24 Mayberry Park in Tallaght and they had their first child Jamie. He would go on to become the famed boxer Jamie Kavanagh, who has made his name fighting in the US but who has close links with Kinahan and
his cronies back in Spain.
Tracey paid for son Jamie to get top-level boxing coaching
In 1996, when he was just 25, Hatchet was jailed for four years for dealing heroin in the Crumlin area. His defence argued that he had only come before the court as he had developed a dependency on drugs and had to work as a courier to feed his habit. The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told he was involved in the chain of drug distribution headed by drug barons – who unfortunately were rarely seen in court.
Following his sentence Kavanagh linked up with Rice and together they rose to the top of the drug ladder here before packing up and heading for Spain. Tracey sold the house at Mayberry Park in 2005 and a year later it was bought by Rice.
In Benalmadena the Kavanaghs moved into a plush villa. They hosted parties for friends and relatives back home with no expense spared. Tracey indulged her love of cosmetic treatments and went under the knife a number of times. She also lavished her children with everything they needed to enhance their chances at turning their hobbies into careers.
Son Jamie got top-level coaching to improve his performance in the ring. He went on to fight under America’s most prestigious trainer Freddie Roach. Tracey’s teenage daughter followed her mum’s interest in horses and the pair threw themselves into the show-jumping circuit.
Horse play: Kavanagh's daughter
Tracey, who is a sister of Gerard ‘Bra’ Brady and an aunt of gang enforcer Greg Lynch, who survived an assassination attempt before Christmas, regularly returns home to Oliver Bond Flats in the inner city, where her extended family still live.
She recently started managing a beauty salon in Benalmadena and friends say it is the first time she has worked in years.
“Tracey loves coming back and flashing her expensive jewellery and her tan and lapping up the compliments, even though everyone knows she has botox and surgery all the time,” a friend said.
“She has absolutely no problem living the life on the proceeds of crime. She throws money at the children and then goes on about how great they are, but it doesn’t cross her mind the example she is setting them.”