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Irish traveller gang accused of €13million ivory trafficking plot

Irish defendants in an international crime ring accused of trafficking rhino horns and elephant tusks worth €13million began their trial in France on Monday.

The nine accused are a mix of Vietnamese, British and Chinese defendants, as well as members of a group from the Traveller community dubbed the ‘Rathkeale Rovers’.

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They are charged with trading millions of euros worth of ivory and tusks set to be sold on the Vietnamese market.

Investigations began in September 2015 after French police performed a random motorway traffic inspection in Vienne, south-eastern France, and found €32,800 in cash and several elephant tusks.

Members of the Rathkeale gang claimed they were antique dealers but were soon discovered after it emerged they had been the targets of a previous investigation, Operation Oakleaf, in 2010 which led to the arrests of 31 people for crimes including the theft of rhino horns. One large horn seized during the 2015 investigation weighed a huge 15kg, which would have earned €13million in the Asian market at the time, according to environmental group Robin des Bois.

The Robin des Bois Association, who brought about the civil action against the nine, called them ‘international elephant and rhino gravediggers’.

Two of the nine accused are not in custody. The remaining seven, including the Limerick-based Irish defendants, could face up to ten years in prison with heavy fines of up to €750,000.

Only three of the nine, aged 29 to 58, appeared on Monday morning before Rennes criminal court in Brittany. The others are represented by their lawyers.

The group is charged with the ‘unauthorised possession or transport in an organised group, of an animal of an non-domesticated species or its products’, and is also being accused of ‘participating in a criminal organisation’.

Police believe the ivory and rhino horns were being turned into powder and flakes on French soil, then sent on to Vietnam and China where they are commonly used in traditional medicines.

In China, ground rhino horns can be prescribed for lowering fever or treating gout and inflammation.

‘Before smuggling, its bargaining and swindles, there is poaching with its cruelties,’ Robin des Boissaid of the trial.

‘Wildlife trafficking also contributed to the destruction and impoverishment of ecosystems, encourages speculation in elephant ivory and rhino horns and thus stimulates poaching.’

The environmental group has said that at the time of the alleged events, a kilogramme of ivory on the Asian market was worth €4,200, and a kilogramme of rhino horn was priced at €842.

Further seizures were made in a Paris warehouse in November 2016. The National Judicial Customs Service reported that following a raid on a bed and breakfast in Creil, near Paris, ‘two brothers of Irish and English origin were intercepted with a rhinocerus horn’. Officials added that neither of the two accused were in possession of the necessary documents for the horn which was weighed at 14.7kg. The seizure was said to have taken place near a Chinese restaurant whose manager was also implicated.

The trial continues.

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Kinahan cartel: 'Nobody is untouchable' - how the net is tightening around Ireland's $1billion drug gang

The latest episode of the Sky News Daily podcast looks at how recent developments suggest a suspected Irish crime empire might finally be about to crumble.

News reporter @TomGillespie1

Thursday 2 February 2023 15:28, UK

Christy Kinahan enjoyed a comfortable middle class upbringing, was spoiled and adored by his family, and educated at one of the best schools in Ireland.

He entered adulthood as a man with options, and he chose a life of a crime.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he was a relatively minor Dublin criminal who was in and out prison for a series of drug offences and fraud.

Some prisoners use their time behind bars to turn their life around and Kinahan appeared to be doing the same.

The career criminal enrolled on college courses and by the time he completed his last sentence in 2001 he was fluent in both Dutch and Spanish.

He was now in his early 40s and would use those skills to carve out a highly successful career as a businessman - but perhaps not in the way the authorities would have hoped.

Since the turn of the century, the Irishman is suspected of building a sprawling international drug cartel that is now ranked alongside the Italian mafia and estimated to have assets worth more than $1bn (around £800m).

The "Dapper Don", as he became known, allegedly groomed his sons Daniel and Christy Jr to become fellow leaders of the enterprise as its cocaine, heroin and gun trafficking operations stretched across South America, Europe and the Middle East.

In 2016, an assassination attempt on Daniel Kinahan, now in his mid-40s, sparked a bloody feud with Ireland's notorious Hutch family that left 18 people dead.

The majority of the murders took place in Dublin, and most were carried out by hitmen linked to the Kinahan cartel.

US puts up $5m reward

For the people of Ireland the name Kinahan is synonymous with drugs, gun smuggling and murder - but the family themselves have enjoyed an air of invincibility as investigators have failed to bring them in to face charges.

Or at least they did until recently, before the world's greatest superpower set its sights on the cartel with the aim of delivering a knockout blow.

In April, the US government put up a $5m (£3.8m) reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Kinahan or his two sons.

The US Treasury also said the Irish mob has "joined the ranks of the Camorra", an Italian mafia organisation, as they imposed sanctions on the cartel in much the same way they have Russian oligarchs over the war in Ukraine.

'Things are collapsing'

The move came after an operation involving Irish police and the UK's National Crime Agency, and is one of a number of developments that suggests the net is finally tightening around the Kinahan empire.

"Things are collapsing very quickly actually," says Nicola Tallant, an investigative reporter at Sunday World who is a leading expert on the cartel.

"Nobody is untouchable, and when you see Ireland, the UK and the United States coming together, there's an inevitability to what happens next.

"They are being sanctioned and their finances are going to be strangled. Ultimately their finances will be disrupted to such an extent that they will be dismantled."

Links to professional boxing and Dubai

One of the reasons the Kinahans have never appeared in an Irish court in relation to the cartel is because they allegedly orchestrate its activities from Dubai, where a glittering skyline hides a dark underbelly of expat criminals operating freely outside the law.

Ireland and Dubai have no extradition treaty and so any attempts to drag the Kinahans back to their homeland have failed.

Daniel Kinahan, who is suspected of taking on the cartel's day-to-day management in recent years, has even been able to pursue a legitimate career in professional boxing - with his former company MTK Global having managed big name fighters including world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Daniel Kinahan denies organised crime links

The company folded days after the US sanctions were imposed and several people in the world of boxing, including Fury, have now distanced themselves from the suspected cartel boss.

Daniel Kinahan has long denied having any involvement in organised crime and told talkSport last year: "I can't be any clearer on the fundamental slur - I am not a part of a criminal gang or any conspiracy.

"I have no convictions. None. Not just in Ireland but anywhere in the world."

Two days after MTK Global ceased operations, Dubai imposed its own round of sanctions on the Dapper Don and his two sons.

Read more: Who is Daniel Kinahan? The suspected Irish crime boss wanted by US authorities

Criminals are 'only loyal to money'

Ms Tallant believes the Kinahans are now planning to leave Dubai and will possibly flee to Oman.

However, she believes it is the $5m reward, and not the sanctions, which will most likely lead to the arrest of the Kinahans.

"What I have discovered from working within the criminal underworld for so long is that a criminal is only loyal to money.

"Somebody is going to get that money and that will be the cartel's downfall."

The mob was dealt a huge blow in March when Thomas "Bomber" Kavanagh , described as the "top man" for the cartel's operation in the UK, was jailed for 21 years for importing cocaine and cannabis worth more than £30m.

If Kinahan and his two sons are next to face a judge, it will be welcome news for many of the ordinary people in Dublin who believe the men are largely responsible for the drugs that have flowed into communities and the gangland assassinations on the streets.

Fear on Dublin's streets

Nial Ring, the former lord mayor of Dublin, claims: "In the past 20 years, the Kinahan cartel has been responsible for almost 100% of the devastation that's been caused by drugs in the north inner city.

"Not only have we had the drugs, we've also had the horror of an international drug cartel, basically fighting out a territorial war.

"My own mother, who's now 87, stopped going to mass. She was afraid to go out. And a lot of people were like that. Children were becoming desensitised to it."

Gareth Hutch, the nephew of Gerry "The Monk" Hutch , who is accused of masterminding the assassination attempt on Daniel Kinahan in 2016, told Mr Ring months later that he feared gangsters from the rival cartel were going to have him killed.

Mr Ring was arranging for him to be moved to a more secure flat when the 36-year-old was gunned down outside his Dublin apartment block the next day.

The former mayor said that although people still fear the Kinahan mob, there is "huge optimism" in Dublin now that "the cartel is finished".

'The net is closing in'

Sheelagh Brady, an Irish former police officer of 14 years, also believes it is only a matter of months before at least one of the Kinahans is arrested.

Ms Brady, who now runs a security consultancy specialising in organised crime, said: "I think the net is closing in.

"However, they did not get to where they are by not being innovative and agile. I don't think groups get to this stage and then give up without a fight.

"The net is tightening.

"But if there is any little gap in that net, these are the very people that could exit it."

Listen to the Sky News Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts,  Google Podcasts,  Spotify,  Spreaker

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• Daily Podcast

Murder, drugs and hotel AK-47 rampages: The real-life Irish gang war that inspired Netflix show

T he Irish crime series Kin has been impressing viewers with its gritty portrayal of Dublin's underworld yet the true story of Ireland's drug cartels is even more chilling .

The Netflix show - dubbed "brilliant" by viewers on Reddit - centers around the Kinsellas, a fictional Dublin family deeply involved in the cocaine trade. Creator Peter McKenna has clarified that the series isn't directly based on the notorious real-life gang war that saw 18 lives claimed between 2015 and 2018.

However, the drama bears resemblances to the bloody feud between the Hutch and Kinahan gangs.

US agency that captured El Chapo playing huge role in worldwide hunt for Irish Kinahan cartel bosses

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch looks unrecognizable as he enjoys freedom after acquittal

Here's a brief look at the origins of the violent dispute that shook Ireland's criminal landscape.

Originally, the Kinahan cartel, led by the infamous Christy 'Dapper Don' Kinahan, maintained a close relationship with the Hutch mob, overseen by Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch. Spanish authorities said Gerry's nephew, Gary Hutch, was once considered the "right-hand man" to Daniel Kinahan, Christy's son, reports the Daily Star .

However, tensions escalated during the funeral of Daniel's mother, Jean Boylan, when graffiti emerged labeling Gary as a "rat". This accusation stemmed from a botched €10million haul of ketamine and cannabis intercepted in Cheshire in February 2014.

In retaliation, Gary orchestrated an unsuccessful hit on his long-time ally Daniel outside his residence in Estepona, Spain, soon after his mother's memorial service. Both Daniel and the unintended victim, boxer Jamie Moore, survived the attack.

The Hutch clan paid Daniel a hefty €200,000 as compensation in a peace agreement brokered by mob leaders Gerry and Christy.

Gary Hutch's murder

Despite the deal, Gary was shot dead in Spain in August 2015, sparking a vicious feud between two criminal factions.

This led to 18 murders on the streets of Dublin and further afield. Former Garda Assistant Commissioner John O'Driscoll said: "Well, obviously we were very much aware of the fact that Gary had been murdered. The extent to which any particular organized crime group would engage in a tit-for-tat sort of situation is just impossible to establish.

"And obviously we monitored the activity, the criminal activity. The difficulty I suppose we had from the Garda Siochana perspective was that, you know, you had a murder in Spain.

"But it would have been very difficult to foresee that the criminality involved and particularly the threat to life aspect was going to extend to the level that it eventually did."

Regency Hotel murder

The assassination of Gary Hutch may have ignited the gangland conflict, but the most infamous incident occurred within the walls of the Regency Hotel in February 2016. Daniel Kinahan was at the Dublin hotel for a boxing weigh-in when chaos erupted.

Four men, including two disguised as police officers, burst into the venue where children were present, wielding AK-47s. Kinahan and his father managed to evade harm, but their associate, David Byrne, was fatally shot amidst the panic.

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch found not guilty of murder of David Byrne

US lawyer suing Irish gangster Daniel Kinahan reveals mobster's assets in Dubai were seized

Just three days after a significant event, Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch's brother, Eddie, was tragically killed at his Dublin residence in what is believed to be a retaliatory attack.

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The conflict claimed the lives of 18 individuals at different times, with a shocking 10 fatalities occurring in 2016 alone. Among these, three were tragically killed due to mistaken identity, and four members of the Hutch family were also victims of the violence.

Subsequent Events

In 2021, Gerry found himself apprehended on charges related to the Regency Hotel homicide, which necessitated his return to Irish soil for the first time since his sibling's demise.

However, the reputed gang leader was eventually released from custody following an acquittal and subsequently made his way back to Lanzarote.

On the other hand, Daniel Kinahan , linked to a criminal empire worth $1 billion, is reportedly residing in a luxurious apartment on Palm Jumeirah, Dubai's man-made island. He is a wanted man in relation ro Eddie Hutch's murder.

In 2022, the US government offered a reward of $5million for information that would lead to the arrest or conviction of the three leaders of the Kinahan cartel. American authorities have expressed their desire to see the gang's leaders held accountable for crimes associated with trafficking "deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe".

Watch Kin on Apple TV in the US.

For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here .

What to do about Irish Travellers

"this is not just an issue for the settled community. travellers also must play their part.".

It is now nearly a month since the horrific fire at a Traveller’s halting site on a back road on the South Side of Dublin city which killed 10 people, five of them children.

The fire in Carrickmines started in one of two portacabins on the small site where there were also about half a dozen caravans. Those who died were members of two related families who were all sleeping in one of the cabins; one family was visiting.

This appalling tragedy shocked the country and has forced people here to think again about how Travellers exist in Irish society. There was a great deal of angry comment in the media in the aftermath of the blaze, with calls for immediate action by the government to do more to help Travellers and to carry out safety checks at all traveler sites in the country.

Concerns raised over safety of traveller accommodation in wake of Carrickmines https://t.co/lgoArXm3Si pic.twitter.com/PMA2l0vYvM — Newstalk 106-108fm (@NewstalkFM) November 2, 2015

The funerals that followed were heartbreaking, and in the days that followed there was a great deal of anguish and soul searching among the general public as the country tried to come to terms with the tragedy.

The outpouring of sympathy for those who died and those who had survived was genuine. But the difficulty Travellers in general face in Irish society -- and the difficulty the rest of Irish society has with the Travellers -- quickly made itself felt.

Two days after the blaze two people from the site were refused service in a pub not far from the site, although the bar staff may not have known who they were turning away. One of the funerals later took place in Wexford and pubs there shut for the day. This was not out of sympathy, but because of fears that large numbers of Travellers would be present.

Much more serious was the fact that efforts by the local County Council to provide emergency accommodation for those who had lived on the site, which was closed immediately after the fire, ran into problems.

The council initially tried to place the 15 survivors of the fire -- all part of the extended family -- in a field about half a mile away, property which is owned by the council. There was enough room for traveler trailers and cabins on this field, but no hard surface or services, so the council sent staff and diggers to start work to prepare the site.

Read more: New York Times highlights Ireland’s prejudice against the Traveller community

But there was a problem. Access to this field is at the end of a narrow road of houses and no one had asked the people who lived there if they were happy with the plan. In fact they were so unhappy that they blocked entry to the site with their cars, and a stand-off followed. The residents said that, apart from the lack of any meaningful consultation, their road was too narrow to handle the traffic that would follow if a halting site was opened at the end of their street.

They certainly had a point, although they were immediately vilified in the media where outraged commentators and left wing politicians accused them of everything from gross insensitivity to outright prejudice and even racism . Caught up in the emotional tidal wave that had followed the terrible fire, idealistic young journalists and liberal commentators demonized the residents. But in contrast to this, on social media and newspaper websites there was huge support for the residents from ordinary people.

In solidarity with @itmtrav #Carrickmines never again. #C11NeverAgain . Travellers Rights are Human Rights. pic.twitter.com/uZE24zCdEE — Anti Racism Network (@ARNirl) October 28, 2015

Lengthy meetings between the council and the residents took place in the following days. The council insisted that the field would only be an emergency site, for a maximum of six months, until they found somewhere more suitable. But the residents claimed that this promise was not legally binding and pointed out that the site where the fire had happened had also started as a temporary, emergency site but had been in use for around 10 years.

The stalemate continued and within a few days the council abandoned its plan and decided that instead it would create an emergency site for Travellers on a car park it had behind a council yard about a mile away. This solution led to further outrage from commentators who said that the council should have used its legal powers to force an emergency site on to the original field. They continued to demonize the residents there.

Work is now underway on the new location and the controversy has died down somewhat, but of course the basic problem of how to deal with the Travellers remains. And it is not likely to be solved anytime soon because it is a far more complex issue than those making outraged comments after the fire are willing to admit.

The fact is that the traveler lifestyle poses real problems for the settled community, and no amount of politically correct anger can negate that.

The sympathy felt by everyone here for the members of the two unfortunate traveler families who perished in the blaze and for the extended family around them was clearly genuine. But it is a fact that many people in the settled community would be far from comfortable if a traveler halting site were opened at the end of the road where they live. And as they see it, they have good reason for feeling that way.

Long gone are the days when the Travellers were travelling tinsmiths -- hence the original name of tinkers -- and casual farm laborers who traveled around the country and did seasonal work for farmers at busy times of the year. In those days they were genuine Travellers and there was a certain romance to their nomadic lifestyle as they moved around the country in their colorful barrel-shaped wagons and camped on the roadside where they fed their horses on "the long acre” (the grass verge on the roadside).

Over the last 50 years or more, as Ireland became a modern industrial society and farming became mechanized, the skills the Travellers had were no longer relevant. They clung to the nomadic lifestyle as long as they could, but these days most of them no longer travel, with over 80 percent of them now living in houses.

Of the remainder, around half live in caravans and trailers that are permanently parked on sites at the edges of cities and towns, so even the term "halting site" is no longer accurate since they no longer travel around the country. According to official figures, there are around 30,000 Travellers in the country.

Their way of earning a living has changed. These days traveler men work in small groups and collect scrap metal, lay tarmac driveways, replace slates on roofs, remove unwanted furniture or rubbish and do other odd jobs for which they like to be paid in cash. They have vans and small trucks, and frequently there is a build up of scrap, old tires, car parts, discarded furniture, building materials and other stuff at or near their sites. This can be challenging for those who live in houses nearby.

Their tradition is to work for themselves in this way, a legacy from earlier times. But recent figures show that 84 percent of Travellers are claiming unemployment welfare.

The figures also show that 55 percent of traveler children leave school before they are 15, even though most live on settled sites. Marriage among Travellers happens at an earlier age and is usually within the extended family or the wider traveler community.

These and other factors mean that Travellers remain isolated from the rest of Irish society, and in most cases this is their choice. Outside visitors to traveler sites are usually not welcome and are often met with aggressive suspicion.

The fact is that Travellers like to be separate from the rest of society, a stance that is encouraged by traveler men in particular.

Traveller society is a patriarchy is which the man marries early, is self-employed, works for cash doing odd jobs, deals in scrap and other items, takes his children out of school early so they don’t absorb settled ways, lives on a site surrounded by his extended family, and dislikes many of the things that the settled community strives for like a nice house and a steady job.

All of this means that Travellers tend to see the rest of Irish society as alien. It means that they do not have a bond with or loyalty to the rest of society, and that means some of them see society as something to be exploited. This lack of identity with the settled community also means that scams, petty crime and creating a lot of rubbish left for others to clean up is acceptable behavior.

There are more serious problems as well. Marauding gangs of Travellers have been involved in obscenely vicious attacks on old people in isolated rural areas, although thugs from the settled community have been involved as well. In recent years younger Travellers have become involved in the drugs trade.

There are regular outbreaks of violence caused by traveler family feuds and the aftermath of bare knuckle boxing contests. These can be terrifying for people from the settled community who witness them and sometimes involve the use of weapons like slash hooks, machetes, clubs and so on.

Although no official figures for the number of Travellers in prison here are provided, various reports have put it at between five and 10 percent of the prison population, even though Travellers make up around half of one percent of the population in general.

It is important to say that the majority of Travellers do live settled, law abiding lives. But it important also to face up to the fact that a number are involved in crime, from petty to serious, and this frequently impacts the settled community.

That affects the attitude of the settled community. But probably more important in general is the way Travellers are disengaged from the rest of society. That separateness often means they have a laissez faire attitude to all kinds of rules and regulations, from paying taxes to the disposal of rubbish, rules that the rest of society is forced to follow. That also causes deep resentment.

Traveler support groups here have been calling for some time for Travellers to be recognized as a separate ethnic group in Ireland. Irish governments have been slow to accept this even though both the UN Committee for Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Council of Europe have called on the Irish state to do so. This probably will happen in the near future although there appears to be little support for it among the population at large which fears that this will increase traveler separation and lack of integration.

Travellers in general have poorer health and live shorter lives than the rest of the population. Conditions on some of the halting sites are appalling with no running water, toilet facilities or electricity. Several hundred traveler families live in this way.

Successive governments have tried to address this in various ways but frequently local opposition is a problem, especially in providing serviced permanent sites or housing. Local councils across the country are supposed to play their part, and the Traveler Accommodation Act 1998 was enacted to get around councilors bowing to local pressure and refusing to fulfill their statutory obligation to provide for traveler accommodation.

But progress is still painfully slow and many councils simply have not drawn down the money provided by central government for traveler accommodation. Why? Because they fear a backlash from voters.

The recent fire tragedy has brought all this into focus again. A great deal has been said in the wake of the fire. But it remains to be seen how much will actually be done and how much attitudes will change.

The solution is likely to be gradual and it will involve movement from both sides. This is not just an issue for the settled community. Travellers also must play their part.

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Irish traveller gang being hunted by Dutch police after scamming hundreds of families

The gang have been ripping off pensioners for carrying out household renovations

• 12:02, 10 APR 2018
• Updated 10:04, 11 APR 2018

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Dutch police have began a hunt to track down an Irish traveller gang allegedly involved in a series of building scams.

It is believed that hundreds of families across the Netherlands have been ripped off by Irish conmen.

Authorities in Holland have said that the gang have been charging families, including pensioners, greedy rates for refurbishments.

The criminals are intimidating people into paying up, if they have any issue with the price.

A spokesman for police in Amsterdam said: "We have a lot of problems with Irish travelling crime gangs.

"They are making good offers for maintenance and building work but when the work is completed the price has multiplied to an extortionate amount.

"We have quite a lot of that all over Europe and they use the tactic of intimidation."

He added: "Amsterdam will not be a safe location for criminals from Ireland."

Shoddy trade deals isn't the only form of criminal activity by Irish people being monitored by Dutch police.

Cops in the Netherlands are probing the use of fake passports by Irish citizens.

An investigator told the Irish Sun: "The issue of crime gangs, including those from Ireland travelling on fake passports, is a concern for us because it undermines our system.

"We are also talking about fraudulently obtained passports and if we have intelligence Irish criminals are travelling through Holland with these documents we will act on it."

• Netherlands
• Gangland violence
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Jury urged to leave Traveller prejudice behind in Kerry graveyard murder trial

Six men accused of the murder of 43-year-old thomas dooley in rath cemetery in tralee.

Thomas Dooley: The Central Criminal Court, sitting in Cork, was told he was subjected to 'a savage and violent attack' which claimed his life at Rath Cemetery, Tralee on October 5th 2022.

Prejudice towards the Travelling community is “the elephant in the room” in Irish society but jurors should leave such bias behind when trying the case of six men accused of the murder of a man at a funeral in Kerry, a counsel has urged.

Dean Kelly SC, prosecution counsel, told the jury of 13 men and two women trying the six men accused of the murder of Thomas Dooley (43) in Rath Cemetery in Tralee on October 5th 2022 that neither sympathy nor prejudice should play any part in their deliberations on the case.

The accused are Patrick Dooley (39) of Arbutus Grove, Killarney, Daniel Dooley (42) of An Carraigin, Connolly Park, Tralee, Thomas Dooley Snr (43), Thomas Dooley Jnr (21) and Michael Dooley (29) of Carrigrohane Road, Cork and a teenager who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Stressing that what he was saying was not evidence, Mr Kelly opened the prosecution case before the jury and Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork and gave an outline of the evidence which he said the State plans to call over the coming weeks.

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He explained that the deceased and the accused, who all deny the charge of murder, were members of an extended Traveller family and one of the accused, Patrick Dooley, was the brother of the man he is accused of murdering, being some eight to nine years his junior.

Three of his fellow accused, Thomas Dooley Snr, Daniel Dooley and Michael Dooley from the Carrigrohane Road in Cork, are brothers to each other and they were all cousins of the deceased while Thomas Dooley Snr was also a brother-in-law of the deceased.

Thomas Dooley Jnr, the only one of the accused to face a charge of causing serious harm to the deceased’s widow, Siobhán Dooley (née McDonagh), is a son of fellow accused Thomas Dooley Snr and also related to the deceased, Mr Kelly told the jury.

He told the jury that they would hear evidence that the deceased Thomas Dooley and his wife, Siobhán, and their four youngest children, all aged 15 or under, went to Tralee on the day in question to attend the funeral of their friend, Bridget O’Brien.

He said that they were late for the funeral and did not attend the church part of the ceremony but pulled up at Kelleher’s Garage at Rathass and crossed the road to enter the cemetery at Rath where Ms O’Brien’s burial was due to take place.

“Within a matter of moments, Thomas Dooley was set upon and attacked by a group of men armed with bladed weapons – he received a number of wounds which led to his death as well as a number of other wounds in this savage and violent attack.”

Mr Kelly said the jury would hear the most significant injuries Mr Dooley suffered included a stab wound that penetrated over six centimetres into his back and caused spinal shock.

He said they would also hear that Mr Dooley suffered another stab wound that penetrated 10 centimetres into his thigh which severed his femoral artery leading to significant blood loss as well as a significant chop injury to his right arm extending for some 25 centimetres.

Mr Kelly said the prosecution was basing its case against all six accused on the doctrine of joint enterprise and common design where if a group of people embark on a criminal act, each individual is guilty of the offence if they act as a group even if another may perform the act.

“It is not the prosecution case that I can say whose hand was on the blade when it was driven into Thomas Dooley’s back, whose hand was on the blade that inflicted the chop wound or whose hand was on the blade that was driven into Thomas Dooley’s thigh.

“We don’t say we can identify that hand. We say we can identify the men acting as a single murderous gang. They carried out their role side by side, cheek by jowl – we say they came together to act in a group and there was a clear criminal purpose forged earlier.

“I want you to know this, this was not a fight. If you hear it was a fight it cannot be called a fight. This was not a row. This was not an escalation. It was nothing of the sort. Thomas Dooley was attacked by a group, attacked with a focused ferocity.”

Mr Kelly said the State would also present evidence that would show that Thomas Dooley “did not offer the slightest insult or provocation, open his mouth or raise his hand in any way in connection with his murder” that day in Rath Cemetery.

Mr Kelly said that while the jury might feel sympathy for Ms Dooley and her seven children it was possible they might also feel sympathy for the accused before them particularly given the youth of some of them. But sympathy should play no part in their deliberations.

“The Dooley family are a large Traveller family and the elephant in the room is the prejudice faced by the Traveller community in this country . . . if you think that prejudice might be edging you towards a guilty verdict, that’s a verdict the DPP has no interest in.”

The case continues.

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Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times

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Real-life story behind family fans think inspired brutal gangland drama labelled 'greatest Irish TV show'

Fans have spotted some eerie parallels between the series and the real-life events which have rocked ireland over the last decade.

Olivia Burke

For some strange reason, a lot of us like to soothe ourselves with a gritty crime drama before we go to sleep - but if you were aware of the real stories which inspired them, chances are you'd be up all night.

After roaring success on the BBC , the series - which has been dubbed the 'greatest Irish TV show' ever made - has recently dropped on Netflix , so prepare for people to continue talking about it until the cows come home.

Kin focuses on a fictional Dublin crime family embroiled in a gangland war against an international cartel that massively outgun them.

Although writer Peter McKenna has denied that Kin is based on the real-life Hutch-Kinahan feud which has plagued Ireland for the last decade, there are some eerie parallels between them both that fans have picked up on.

The reality might not be as glamorous as what happens on the show , but it's certainly gorier - as the dispute between the two major criminal organisations left 18 people dead in the space of three years.

Friends to foes

The two main players in this real-life battle are Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, who is the leader of the Hutch gang, and Daniel Kinahan, who heads up the Kinahan Family and was reportedly friends with Tyson Fury .

It all kicked off between the two sides back in September 2015, when Gerry's nephew, Gary, was shot dead by the rival gang in Spain.

The victim reportedly once held a senior role in the Kinahan organised crime group and was described as Daniel's 'right-hand man' from 2008 by Spanish police - until he was accused of being a 'rat' in February 2014.

After a €10 million cartel shipment of ketamine and cannabis was seized by UK cops in Cheshire, he was shunned as a snake and decided to seek revenge by arranging for a hitman to murder Daniel outside his Estepona home.

But it didn't go to plan as the target survived - and it ultimately spelled the end of any kind of mutual respect or association that the Hutchs and Kinahans had with each other, even though there were attempts to fix things.

The Hutchs gave their rivals €200,000 as compensation and in a bid to protect Gary, but it did little to remedy the situation and the 34-year-old was shot dead at his apartment block in Marbella on 25 September, 2015.

James Quinn, 35, was later jailed for 22 years after being found guilty of participating in the killing.

The Regency Hotel

Just two weeks after the murder of Gary, Christy Kinahan - Daniel's dad - allegedly put a €10,000 bounty on the head of his younger brother, Derek, while he was serving a prison sentence, but he survived the attack.

Following this, an associate of the Hutch's, Darren Kearns, was shot dead in front of his horrified wife after leaving a Dublin restaurant - but this was just the start of the blood that would be spilled.

Throughout 2016, Ireland was gripped by gangland violence as the feud became increasingly brutal.

On 5 February of that year, Daniel - who was a boxing promoter - was attending the Regency Hotel in Dublin for a weigh-in ahead of a clash for the European Lightweight title, when armed attackers burst in wielding AK-47s.

Two wore masks, army style-helmets and flak jackets, while the other pair had disguised themselves by dressing as police officers as they ambushed the event - seemingly intent on killing Daniel.

But he managed to escape with his dad Christy, however, their associate David Byrne was shot dead in front of the crowd of spectators, while two others were also injured.

Patrick Hutch, Gary's brother, was initially charged with murder and possession of firearms, but the trial collapsed in 2019 following the suicide of a lead investigator. All charges against Patrick were dropped. Gerry was also arrested in connection with the shooting in 2021, although he was later acquitted.

Gerry's brother and Gary's uncle, Eddie, was murdered at his Dublin home just three days after the events at the Regency on 8 February, 2016. The investigation into his death remains ongoing.

Things quickly began to spiral after this and a lot of innocent people got caught in the crossfire due to mistaken identity.

The Kinahan gang are alleged to have then targeted Vincent Ryan, also shooting him dead, before taking aim at one of Gerry's friend's, Noel 'Kingsize' Duggan and killing him outside of his home in March of that year.

A man named Martin O'Rourke was then gunned down on 14 April in a case of mistaken identity, before Michael Barr was murdered just weeks later as he was suspected of being involved in the Hutch's plot to ambush the Regency.

Gareth Hutch, who was regarded as a minor figure in the underworld, was then fatally shot on 24 May.

The death of David Douglas outside of a shop in Dublin then came on 1 July, before Dublin City Council worker Trevor O'Neill was also killed in Magaluf on 17 August in front of his family in another case of mistaken identity.

In December 2016, Gerry's close pal Noel 'Duck Egg' Kirwan was also murdered outside of his home in Dublin due to his suspected ties to the Hutch family.

Amid these ten tragic murders, it seems that the Hutch-Kinahan feud had turned tit for tat, with no end in sight.

Gerry's other nephew, Derek Coakley-Hutch, was then shot on 20 January, 2018, before his friend and well known criminal Jason Molyneux was also gunned down ten days later after attending Derek's funeral.

A distant relation of the Hutch family and street trader Clive Staunton was also killed on 15 November, 2018, which police also believe to be in connection with the feud.

A month later, Eric Fowler was shot in the head and killed at his home on 22 December after cops warned him there was a credible threat to his life.

As you can see, there's plenty for someone with an eye for a story to work with when it comes to the Hutch-Kinahan feud.

McKenna might not have used it as inspiration, but all these events are certainly something which could certainly be turned into a Netflix series.

As we mentioned earlier, Gerry Hutch was arrested in 2021 in connection with the Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne, but was found not guilty and freed in 2022, before he returned to Lanzarote.

Daniel Kinahan, on the other hand, is said to be living in a luxury pad in Dubai - but he remains a wanted man over the murder of Eddie Hutch.

The US government offered a $5m (£3.9m) reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of key figures of the Kinahan organised crime group in 2022, in relation to the smuggling of 'deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe'.

Topics:  True Crime , Crime , Ireland , BBC , TV and Film

Olivia is a journalist at LADbible Group with more than five years of experience and has worked for a number of top publishers, including News UK. She also enjoys writing food reviews (as well as the eating part). She is a stereotypical reality TV addict, but still finds time for a serious documentary.

@ livburke_

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Putin repeats that Russia will consider sending weapons to adversaries of West

He did not say what countries or entities he was referring to, and he stressed that moscow is not doing it currently..

President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia will consider sending weapons to adversaries of the West, repeating a warning made days earlier.

He did not specify where such arms might be sent, saying only that they might be “states or even other legal entities that face certain pressure, including military (pressure), from those countries that send weapons to Ukraine and urge it to use it against us, against the Russian territory”.

He also stressed that Moscow is not doing it currently.

“If they supply (weapons) to the combat zone and call for using these weapons against our territory, why don’t we have the right to do the same?” Mr Putin said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“But I’m not ready to say that we will be doing it tomorrow, either.”

Earlier, Mr Putin said that the Russian economy is growing despite heavy international sanctions and the country has expanded economic ties with countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as he sought to court investors at the forum.

The event has been used by Russia for decades as a showcase for touting the country’s development, though Western officials and investors have steered clear of the session since sanctions cut off much of Russia’s trade with Western Europe, the US and their allies.

Addressing the presidents of Bolivia and Zimbabwe and business leaders, Mr Putin said Russia “remains one of the key participants in world trade”, despite the fact that the country is under sweeping sanctions for sending troops into Ukraine.

The main driver of Russia’s economic growth is the fighting in Ukraine — now as important to the Kremlin economically as it is politically.

Russians are finding a few imported staples, and most global brands have disappeared — or been reincarnated as Russian equivalents.

But not much else has changed economically for most people, with massive state spending for military equipment and hefty payments to volunteer soldiers giving a strong boost to the economy.

Mr Putin has heavily controlled his media appearances since sending his forces into Ukraine but he took questions on Wednesday from international journalists, including some from Western countries he has criticised, on the sidelines of the forum.

At that meeting, Mr Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to Nato allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory.

He also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty.

Last year, journalists from countries that Russia regards as unfriendly — including the US, the UK and the European Union — were not invited to the forum.

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