Revealed: How gardai turned tide against Kinahan cartel that went on murder spree after Regency attack
The Hutch gang’s murderous attack on the Regency Airport Hotel shook Ireland to its core – and changed how the country policed gangland crime forever.It led to huge resources being pumped into the Gardai – a force that had been starved of personnel and cash for years.It led to increased cooperation with police forces all over the world as gardai worked with international partners more than ever.It led to more use of anti-gangland laws – including the deployment of bugs and trackers to monitor live murder plots.And although none of the main players in the Hutch gang’s onslaught that saw David Byrne shot dead were ever brought to justice, the consequences of that day had a devastating effect on its bitter enemies: the Kinahan cartel.The cartel, headed from the relative safety of Dubai by boss Daniel Kinahan, 48, went on a murderous rampage after the Byrne killing – and for a few weeks it looked as if they had the upper hand. There was a palpable fear in some Dublin communities as Kinahan gunmen appeared to prowl, looking for targets.Within days it had murdered Eddie Hutch, 58, a brother of 'The Monk' in central Dublin. In the following five months, cartel hitmen murdered another six people – and it appeared to everyone that they were running amok.It also appeared that gardai were powerless to stop them. But, in the background, things were already changing for gardai.Within days of the attack, the force was given an extra €5 million cash. That money was a Godsend. The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, the force’s main anti-gangland unit – was given a large chunk of it.Days after the killing, the DOCB, headed by then Detective Chief Superintendent Michael O’Sullivan, went on a recruiting drive – scouring the city for the most able officers in plain clothes and uniform units.Money was also provided for a dedicated Armed Support Unit for Dublin. Up until the Regency, regional support units from around Ireland sent personnel to the capital.The presence of a permanent ASU in Dublin gave gardai the ability to saturate hotspots in the city with armed checkpoints – something senior gardai used to stymie Kinahan hit teams.There was also no shortage of vital overtime, especially for front line policing and detectives working on the feud - as well as those investigating the increased numbers of murders related to it.Sources told us at the time that having squads like the ASU and Emergency Response Unit on the streets was only a sticking plaster measure – they themselves would not defeat the Kinahan cartel, worth at least €1 billion and buying the loyalty of people all over inner city Dublin as they waged their bloody war against the Hutch gang.They said the cartel would only be defeated by rigorous detective work – that could take years, if not longer.But, in hindsight, gardai mounted their first strike back within weeks.On March 9, the ERU backed up the Criminal Assets Bureau in a series of raids targeting Liam Byrne, a brother of David, and his gang, regarded as a key component of the cartel.Almost 30 vehicles were impounded and several houses, including one that was home to Liam Byrne, and another owned by sidekick Sean McGovern were taken control of by CAB, who also seized a large amount of cash and valuables.The CAB case lasted several years, but by late 2019 both houses had been forfeited to CAB – and the one where Byrne was living that was owned by a relative was later sold with another property he had in the west of the city for more than €500,000.The CAB operation caused both McGovern and Byrne to flee Ireland – something that significantly weakened the cartel here.Then, in November 2016, then-Detective Inspector, now acting Deputy Commissioner, Paul Cleary walked into the toilets of a Dublin hotel and arrested Freddie Thompson for murder. The Dubliner, now 45, was wanted over the July 2016 murder in central Dublin of Daithi Douglas, 54. Thompson was a key member of the cartel and the arrest and charge were a major breakthrough.Thompson was convicted by the Special Criminal Court in August 2018 and jailed for life. Judge Hunt described the meticulous Garda investigation as second to none. The probe also saw Lee Canavan, 37, caged for life for murder.And there was even bigger success for gardai a matter of months after Thompson’s arrest and charge.In January 2017, the beefed-up DOCB carried out a surveillance operation on a business premises at the Greenogue estate in Rathcoole, south Co Dublin. A few minutes later they and ERU officers burst in – and uncovered the cartel's war arsenal.It was a devastating blow to the gang that had been planning to use the weapons – nine revolvers, four pistols, a submachine gun and an assault rifle - around the time of the first anniversary of the attack. Former DOCB Detective Inspector Noel Browne, who ran the operation, told us last year he believed they were planning to kill several targets connected to the Hutch gang at the same time.Declan Brady, now 59 of The Park, Wolstan Abbey, Celbridge, Co Kildare, was arrested in the operation, along with two others. Brady was nicknamed 'Mr Nobody' because he had such a low profile – but played a pivotal role in the Irish Kinahan operation. He was later caged for 10 years. He was then hit for another seven years in 2021 for money-laundering for the Kinahans. And in 2024 he was jailed for a further nine years after he admitted facilitating the Kinahan gang's murder of Noel Kirwan, 62, in Clondalkin, west Dublin in December 2016.While local Garda units in several parts of Dublin were kept busy investigating the steadily increasing number of feud-related murders – 18 by early 2018 – other members of the force were out trying to prevent killings.In 2020, then-Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll told us officers from DOCB and the ERU had intervened to foil 75 hits since the Regency, most connected to the feud.In April 2017, DOCB raided a house in Blanchardstown, west Dublin and arrested Estonian hitman Imre Arakas, who had flown in to Dublin the previous day. He was planning to kill Hutch ally James 'Mago' Gately. Arakas, 66, was later jailed for six years after admitting conspiracy to murder.In March 2018, armed detectives confronted a three-man Kinahan hit team as it was just 250 metres from the Dublin home of Patsy Hutch, the Monk’s brother.Garda intelligence was on top of the plan and officers mounted the ambush as the gang prepared to carry out the hit.The team - Gary Thompson, 40, with an address at Plunkett Green in Finglas, Dublin 11, his brother Glen Thompson, 31, of Plunkett Drive, also in Finglas, and Robert Browne, 41, of Phibsboro Road, Dublin 7 – received sentences totalling 36 and a half years between them, over the plot. Four other men were also convicted in relation to the conspiracy.And in November 2017, gardai foiled a hit in north Dublin on another Hutch associate, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Gardai had bugged the van the gang was using and heard them talking about the planned hit.Among those jailed was Liam Brannigan, now 43, of Bride Street, Dublin 8. He got eight years in 2020, but the sentence was backdated to November 2017, when he went into custody, He is now a free man. That and the Patsy Hutch plot were among the first times that Garda surveillance tapes were played in court.Gardai have now seen more than 80 Kinahan criminals jailed – including 10 for murder. They have also seized millions of euro in cash and drugs – as well as dozens of weapons.Gardai also delivered hammer blows to the cartel in conjunction with foreign police forces. In September 2016, they worked with the Guardia Civil to arrest Dubliner James Quinn over the September 2015 murder by the cartel of Gary Hutch, 34, on the Costa Del Sol. Quinn, 43, was later convicted and caged for 22 years.They also collaborated with UK police in the case against Thomas 'Bomber 'Kavanagh, 57, who has now been hit with a 28-year sentence for organised crime activities. His brother-in-law Liam Byrne, 45, was jailed for five years over the same investigation, but is now free.The international cooperation reached a crescendo in April 2022 when the US Treasury sanctioned seven Kinahan men.They also put a $5 million bounty each on Daniel, 48, Christy, 68, and Christopher, 44.That put the cartel under massive pressure.Gardai had been lobbying Dubai authorities about the Kinahans for years - and that paid off in May 2025, when they kicked Sean McGovern, 39, out of the desert state.He was sent back to Ireland, where he is currently facing trial for murder and other serious offences.And gardai hope the Kinahan men – currently the subject of files with the Director of Public Prosecutions – will soon be on the same plane back to Dublin.If that happens, it will be the end of the cartel – something that seemed impossible when its gunmen were terrorising Dublin after the Regency attack.Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
