Gangland hit squad disguised as police and woman stormed boxing weigh-in and opened fire
It was one of the most audacious assassination attempts ever carried out and had a major ripple effect throughout organised crime in Europe. A hit squad, including three men disguised as armed police officers in full tactical gear and another dressed as a woman, stormed a boxing weigh-in at a Dublin hotel in a bid to assassinate Daniel Kinahan - boss of the feared Irish crime group.The elusive boss managed to escape assassination attempt, but one of his most trusted lieutenants, David Byrne, was pumped full of AK47 rounds as he lay stricken on the floor. He was murdered and another of the Kinahan's trusted lieutenants, Sean McGovern, was seriously injured.It later emerged that one of the most daring gun attacks in Europe's organised crime history was a revenge hit carried out by the Hutch gang - one time associates of the Kinahans turned enemies. Repeated retaliatory attacks followed, resulting in 18 murders, in what the former head of the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau described as the "most lethal criminal feud in the history of the state".The Kinahan crime syndicate has been one of the major players in the global supply of drugs for decades. Their control has seen them forge connections all around the world, including on Merseyside, with sources telling the ECHO the Irish cartel had connections with the Coggins brothers' Huyton Firm.Murdered man David Byrne's brother, Liam, also forged connections via EncroChat with Merseyside associates as part of a plot to lead the National Crime Agency (NCA) to a fake arms cache to weaken the sentence of the the Kinahan's boss in the UK, Thomas "Bomber" Kavanagh.As part of a weekly series looking back at Europe's criminal history and its links to Merseyside, the ECHO has looked back at the gun attack at Dublin's Regency Hotel which sparked a war.The Kinahan cartel was founded by Christy Kinahan Snr, who flooded the lucrative Dublin market with cocaine during the 1990s. Highly intelligent, he studied business and European languages while in prison and following his release moved to the continent and cultivated an extensive list of contacts.The gang became a global player in the drug game, spearheaded later down the line by his sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr. Daniel took a more leading role and surrounded himself with violent foot soldiers prepared to carry out extreme acts of violence. He did so while running a boxing promotion company called MGM and later MTK Global, which signed fighters including Tyson Fury and Liverpool's Darren Till. There is no suggestion any of the fighters had involvement in any form of crime.One of Daniel's closest associates was Gary Hutch, whose uncle was Gerry "The Monk" Hutch, the alleged head of another Dublin crime family. He has always denied any involvement in crime. Gary Hutch and Daniel's relationship soured and in 2014 Gary plotted to shoot his former friend outside his Spanish home.Two gunmen waited for Daniel, but they shot innocent Liverpool boxer Jamie Moore instead. The incident was the fuel on the fire and in September 2015 Gary Hutch was murdered by a hitman, allegedly sent by Daniel Kinahan. On New Year's Eve, gunmen were sent to murder Gerry Hutch, but he evaded them.On February 5, 2016 the stage was set for the Regency Hotel attack. Reports detailed how the Hutch gang went after Daniel Kinahan after knowing some of his signed boxers would be in attendance ahead of the "Clash of the Clans" fight. Daniel escaped from the hotel ballroom when gunmen burst in and opened fire.But David Byrne was not so lucky, taking a wrong turn towards the hotel reception as the fake police officers entered the building. He was shot six times and died at the scene. The assassins fled the scene in a Ford transit van which was later found burnt out.An Irish police spokesperson later said: "One was a man disguised as a woman and wearing an auburn wig, and the other was stocky and wearing a beige cap."A reporter at DublinLive, who was present at the weigh-in to interview some of the boxing stars, later wrote: "I can still recall the chilling screams of women and children as gunshots rang out...It's remarkable that no innocent bystander perished that day at the Regency, and the sound of those gunshots remains unlike anything I've experienced since."The attack resulted in a devastating tit-for-tat bloodbath as the Kinahans exacted brutal revenge. Eighteen men in total were murdered as part of the feud; a majority of which from the Hutch faction. Two relatives of Gary Hutch were murdered, seemingly just because of the family they belonged to. The Kinahans even enlisted guns for hire from Europe to carry out hits.Gary Hutch's brother Patrick stood trial in 2018 accused of being the man dressed as a woman during the hit, but the case collapsed. Family patriarch Gerry Hutch was extradited from Spain three years later and charged with Byrne's murder. But following a high-profile trial in 2023, he was found not guilty. He even ran for political office the following year. Two men have been convicted and sentenced for involvement in the shooting for acting as getaway drivers.The Kinahan violence resulted in a significant law enforcement response against the gang. The family fled Spain to Dubai to avoid extradition, where they remain to this day. But recent law enforcement activity has put significant dents in the hierarchy and capabilities of the gang."Bomber" Kavanagh will spend years in prison, while Liam Byrne and a number of other associates received sentences linked to the extraction of data from EncroChat phones in the wake of the arms cache plot. Perhaps more damaging for the Kinahans is Ireland has recently agreed an extraction treaty with the United Arab Emirates. An associate of the family has been extradited back to face charges including murder and conspiracy to murder.The US Department of State, in partnership with the Irish Garda, NCA and Drug Enforcement Agency offered $5m for information which led to the arrests of the Kinahan upper echelons. There are various probes ongoing by the likes of Interpol and the FBI. Many believe the walls are beginning to close in on the Kinahan family and they may be forced to flee Dubai.The Regency shooting marked a turning point in Irish and European organised crime disputes. The callousness and dangerousness of the public attack, coupled with the campaign of retribution, shone a spotlight on a world that many preferred stayed in the shadows.The Irish Director of Public Prosecutions said following the acquittal of Gerry Hutch that there would be no further charges levelled against anyone named in the police report. That decision effectively ended the probe into the Regency shooting - unless new evidence comes to light.A judge of the non-jury Special Criminal Court said the attack "sparked mayhem on the streets of Dublin" and resulted in a "series of callous murders". Police were blamed for not putting away any of the men who pulled the trigger inside the hotel. But last week senior officers said there had been no failure on the behalf of law enforcement.Speaking to the media, Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland said the Regency Hotel shooting was "the worst organised crime-related attack in the history of the state". He added: "It’s also the greatest failure by the people who planned it and carried it out, because it did not achieve anything except increased the numbers of people who were eventually killed."The important thing to emphasise is the number of innocent people who were eventually killed, because it almost became killing for the sake of killing."Ensure our latest news and what's on headlines always appear at the top of your Google search by making us a preferred source. Click here to activate or add us as a preferred source in your Google search settings.
