Cocaine Wars (39 page)

Despite his involvement in crime, Donal Doyle said that his son was a good father. ‘He was always very protective of his family and he was a brilliant father to his kids. Patrick was a very thoughtful person; I think that was part of his problem – people were able to zone in on him. He was no saint; he could be as hard as nails, but, at the same time, he had a very soft side to him.'

Mr Doyle believes that his son's involvement in drugs has been exaggerated even though he has previous convictions for drugs offences and masterminded the smuggling of tens of millions of euro worth of drugs from Spain into Ireland.

‘Patrick was made out to be a major drug importer, but his only conviction for drugs was when he was caught with five wraps of speed when he was seventeen. The fact is the Spanish police had no intelligence files on Paddy; they knew nothing about him being a drug importer. He is also made out to be a hit man and an enforcer, but it is all supposition. The Gardaí might believe this but they never arrested him for it.'

Doyle says that he learned about his son's death from the television and says the Gardaí never informed him. There are protocols to go through before Gardaí are able to inform relations about the deaths of Irish nationals abroad, but Doyle is nonetheless unhappy at how his family was treated. ‘I was speaking to Patrick an hour before he was killed and we just talked about his son, just normal family talk. We got all our news from the television, but we were never officially informed by the Gardaí. We thought until we get a knock on the door we don't know for sure. The reports said there were three people in the jeep after all. We stayed up all night waiting for someone to get in touch with us. The next morning I phoned up the Department of Foreign Affairs and told them I had been informed by the media that my son was killed in Spain. I said I was a taxpayer, my wife is a taxpayer, we have no criminal convictions and we are entitled to courtesy. Eventually, later that day, after another phone call to the Department of Foreign Affairs, we finally got a call from Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station.'

During this interview, which gave a fascinating insight into how the families of criminals are affected by their crimes, Donal Doyle concluded by talking about the support he had received from the community where he lives in the north inner city.

‘The odd person would avoid you, mightn't catch your eye, but on the whole, I can't say enough about the support we have received. People know what we have been through and what we've tried to do over the years. They aren't going to judge us over what has been written about Patrick in a few articles. You have to take what consolation you can. We made our peace with Patrick and he gave us beautiful grandchildren.'

B
Y THE BEGINNING OF
2010, the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud had settled down. It appeared that the worst of it was over, but as former Justice Minister Michael McDowell found out to his cost with his ‘the sting of the dying wasp' comment, predictions can often come back to haunt you. There are several reasons why the tension has subsided, but the most important factor has arguably been the introduction of amended legislation to the Criminal Justice Bill in July 2009. Under the new laws people suspected of being members of criminal gangs can be arrested and tried in the non-jury Special Criminal Court. In this court a Chief Superintendent's belief that the suspect is a member of a gang is enough to see the person convicted. This sent shockwaves through gangs around the country, which led to senior members fleeing abroad to places like the Netherlands and Spain. The Thompson and Rattigan gang members were no different – the main figures are almost permanently out of the country. At the end of 2010, a handful of people have been charged under the new legislation but no cases have yet gone to trial. Gardaí in Crumlin immediately saw the potential in the new laws and have opened up files on Freddie Thompson and Graham Whelan with a view to charging them with directing a criminal organisation and bringing them before the non-jury court.

The very threat of arrest on sight has proven to be enough to keep criminals on their toes and on the run. This development has obviously been warmly welcomed on the streets of Crumlin and Drimnagh. Ironically, Rattigan gang members have also ended up in Puerto Banus alongside the Thompson hoods, and the two factions regularly bump into each other. At the beginning of 2010 the gangs lived side by side in Spain in relative harmony. Perhaps they didn't see the point of feuding in the sun and realised that the death and destruction was pointless and that sixteen young lives had been lost in vain. Whatever the reason, it looked like the criminals had permanently ceased hostilities and were instead concentrating on making large sums of money by organising drugs shipments to Ireland. Things didn't turn out the way they had planned though. Although the majority of product is still sourced from Spain, things have changed since Paddy Doyle's murder. The negative publicity that the Spanish authorities received in the aftermath of Doyle's murder led to a severe crackdown on foreign drug barons, with local police and Europol redoubling their efforts to end their cushy lifestyles. This has worked and drug seizures in Ireland in 2009 were significantly up, with large seizures occurring on an almost weekly basis. The Spanish police received international plaudits for taking on the drug barons but they were only getting started.

On 25 May 2010, hundreds of Spanish police launched a pre-dawn operation aimed at ending the activities of the Irish and British godfathers who were operating from Puerto Banus. By lunchtime thirty-four people in Spain, Ireland and the UK had been detained as part of the massive international operation. Ten Irish nationals were behind bars in Puerto Banus, including the ‘Daper Don', Christy Kinihan, his two sons and his right hand man, John ‘the Colonel' Cunningham. The arrests were the culmination of Operation Shovel, a two-year investigation that involved police forces across Europe. Christy Kinihan and his cohorts were thrown into Spanish jails while the investigations were completed, but it was clear that the Spanish police had done their homework and they raided dozens of businesses that they suspected were laundering the gangs' money. The Spanish investigators estimate that Kinihan had amassed over €150 million in property assets, all of which were frozen by the courts. Kinihan's sons and John Cunningham were given bail in the weeks and months after their arrest and Kinihan himself was finally released on bail in November 2010. He is nervously awaiting his trial date, his empire in tatters. But not everybody that the Spaniards wanted to quiz was lifted that morning. An arrest warrant had been obtained for one Frederick ‘Fat Freddie' Thompson, but Freddie had left Spain just two days before the raids, leading to speculation that he had been tipped off about the impending raids.

The Spanish crackdown was a massive blow to Freddie and his gang. The outstanding warrant means that he can never safely return to Spain. To make matters worse, an international arrest warrant was also issued, which means that he no longer has the option of returning to Dublin and running his drugs business from here. Since that day in May 2010, Thompson has lived the life of a nomad, moving between Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands but spending the majority of his time in Birmingham. He cannot spend too much time in any one place in case local police find him and take him away in handcuffs.

The importation of drugs from the Spanish Costas ended following the arrests under Operation Shovel. By May 2010, Gardaí estimated that as many as seventy Irish criminals were based in Spain full time. It is known that Freddie and six of his close associates called Spain home but most criminals have now abandoned Peurto Banus because there is little point in living there now that it is no longer safe to operate from. The Spanish arrests have resulted in a drugs drought in Ireland. But the recession has meant that demand for cocaine among the middle-classes has practically vanished, so even without the Spanish crackdown there would have been much less money to be made from drug dealing. Freddie Thompson is now broke and has taken to ordering his remaining henchmen in Dublin to call in old drug debts so that he can have access to cash. However, his reputation is not what it once was, and smaller dealers are reluctant to hand over any money to a gangster whose best days are clearly behind him. To date nobody has been murdered or seriously injured as a result of refusing to settle debts. It is unclear what the future holds for Freddie but it does not look bright.

Traditionally, the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud violence has been orchestrated by just a handful of individuals. Anthony Cannon's death and Wayne McNally's jail sentence were real turning points because two of the most feared and violent members of the Rattigan gang were out of action permanently. With them out of the picture, there wasn't really anybody prepared to step up to the plate and replace them in doing any violent dirty work. If victory can be claimed by either side, then there is no doubt that the Thompson faction has come out of the hostilities the healthier. But the victory is a hollow one after the devastating Spanish crackdown.

Both gangs still manage to smuggle drugs into the country, but the seizures have really hit them in the pocket, and their profit margins have diminished substantially. As a result, the drugs business at the moment is not as lucrative as it was a few years ago. Although Brian Rattigan's gang has effectively disintegrated, except for a handful of hard-core youngsters, it was remarkable that he maintained his power base for so long. Rattigan has now been in prison for nearly nine years but still managed to lead a mini-army from behind bars. It is a testament to his sheer force of character that he has brought so many people with him for such a long period of time. In December 2009, Brian Rattigan was finally convicted of the murder of Declan Gavin following a second trial. He was handed a mandatory life sentence, which means that it will be at least 2025 before he is likely to be released. It is inconceivable that, when he is eventually freed, Rattigan will be allowed to live for long. By the time he breathes air as a free man, his gang will have moved on. With Rattigan's senior people either dead or permanently out of the picture, the next generation will take over and seize control of his territory. They have little or no loyalty to Rattigan because they were so young when he was arrested. If he tries to reassert control or steps on their toes, he will be taken out, a bit like Thompson or Rattigan would take out John Gilligan when he is finally freed. That is just the way it works in the dog-eat-dog world of gangland. If you are out of sight, you are out of mind, and when you re-emerge, it does not always go down well.

With the various travails of Brian Rattigan and Freddie Thompson and their respective gangs, one might have expected the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud to simply reach a natural end after running its course. However, the next generation of feuding criminals has emerged to continue the violence. Approximately two dozen youngsters have aligned themselves with the Thompson and Rattigan gangs, with the numbers being split evenly between each faction. Some of these wannabe gangsters are only sixteen years old but the majority are in their late teens and early twenties. They are too young to know Brian Rattigan and probably are not even aware of the origins of the feud. There has been a total of twenty-two gang-related shooting incidents in 2010. Nobody was seriously injured but Gardaí say that the younger gang members are becoming more skilled with guns and that it is only a matter of time before the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud claims its seventeenth victim. It is a vicious circle and no end seems to be in sight.

Brian Rattigan's family has paid a high price for his involvement in criminality. His brother Joey was murdered to send out a message to him. His sister Sharon was shot in the leg while she was unsuccessfully trying to stop her partner, Shay O'Byrne, being shot dead. Brian's older brother, Ritchie, is a virtual prisoner in his own home because there is a contract out on his life, even though he has no involvement in the feud. Again, he is seen as an easy target. Through the face of unthinkable tragedy and adversity, Dinah Rattigan has been there trying to hold her family together. It must be very difficult for her. Brian's relationship with Natasha McEnroe also appears to be on the ropes. In March 2010, the twenty-six-year-old was arrested by Gardaí at her apartment in Adamstown after they discovered the names and addresses of the jury members in Brian Rattigan's trial for the murder of Declan Gavin. Other confidential Garda files were also discovered, but McEnroe was released without charge after spending two days in custody. She escaped charge because of an archaic law that allows those accused of murder to see the personal details of the jury of their peers. Sources say that Natasha no longer speaks to the Rattigans family and that their relationship has effectively ended.

The events of August 2001, when Brian stabbed Declan Gavin to death, continue to have consequences today for so many people. Indeed, many of those who attended Joey Rattigan's eighteenth birthday party celebrations have fallen victim to what some might call a ‘curse'. John Roche, who first saw Declan Gavin outside Abrakebabra and then went back to the party and told the others, was murdered as part of the feud. Joey Rattigan was also murdered, as were Darren Geoghegan and Paddy Doyle, who arrived at the restaurant just minutes after Declan Gavin was stabbed. Shay O'Byrne, who was at the party with Sharon Rattigan, was also shot dead. Shane Maloney, who drove his Nissan Micra to the scene of the murder, was handed a lengthy sentence for drug possession. Karl Kavanagh was jailed for possession of a firearm, Brian Rattigan for drugs possession, shooting at Gardaí, and, of course, the murder itself. Andrew Murray, who was present outside Abrakebabra when the murder happened, was jailed for two years for contempt of court after refusing to give evidence during Rattigan's second murder trial. The events of the night of Joey Rattigan's eighteenth birthday party have had consequences for many people in the ten years since it took place, and the lives of dozens of people have been ruined because of what happened that night.

Freddie Thompson has come through the worst of the feud physically unscathed, which is remarkable considering the central role that he played. When Thompson was stopped and searched by a senior Garda in 2008, and told that his life was in danger, he responded that the police had been telling him that he was going to be shot since he was fourteen years old. Although Freddie is nominally in charge of his gang and remains the public face of the feud, he is not really taken seriously by his fellow gangsters. The real brains behind his operation float in the background, and shun publicity or anything that brings them to the attention of the Gardaí and media. There are probably five of these individuals, and most cannot be named for legal reasons. These men are content for Freddie to bask in the media limelight, which he is only too happy to do, and the thought of their names being published horrifies them. The future for Freddie Thompson looks grim, though he has defied the odds for so long by staying alive that Gardaí would not be in the least bit surprised if he lives to a ripe old age. The ‘G' District has always been seen as one of the toughest areas to police in the county, but the dedication and skill of the brave Gardaí who work there does not go unnoticed by Garda management. Many of the senior officers who have policed Crumlin and Drimnagh have gone on to be promoted. Many of them must take a lot of credit for the fact that, during the feud, the murder count was not far greater. Detective Inspector Brian Sutton, who was well respected by both feuding gangs because of his tireless efforts at brokering peace, was promoted to Superintendent in June 2009. After a short stint in uniform in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, he was promoted to Detective Superintendent and was transferred back to Crumlin in July 2010. He is now in charge of policing in the Dublin Metropolitan South division. Another one of the most influential officers involved in keeping a lid on hostilities is Detective Sergeant John Walsh. Walsh has a knowledge of the feud that is second to none, and this was recognised in February 2009, when he was promoted to Inspector. He was based in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, until July 2010 when he returned to the Dublin Metropolitan South division as Detective Inspector in charge of Tallaght Garda Station. He maintains an active involvement in policing the feud. Detective Garda Ronan Lafferty, who worked out of Sundrive Road Garda Station, has been promoted to Detective Sergeant. He is now a senior investigator in the Organised Crime Unit.

The hard work of the Gardaí in the ‘A' District of Kevin Street and Kilmainham has also not gone unnoticed. Detective Inspector Gabriel O'Gara was often awoken in the early hours of the morning to be told that the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud had spilled over into his patch, leaving him with another murder investigation on his hands. O'Gara was promoted to Superintendent in February 2008. After a short stretch in Kilrush, Co. Clare, he was transferred back to Dublin, where he is now the Detective Superintendent in charge of investigating serious crime in the Dublin Metropolitan South Central division. He mainly works in Pearse Street Garda Station.