More than £100,000 sterling in bank accounts allegedly held by two jailed members of the Felloni family has been frozen by the High Courts in Belfast and London, a court heard yesterday.
Mr Shane Murphy, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the accounts which allegedly belonging to Tony and Regina Felloni contained just over £115,000 sterling.
Mr Murphy submitted to Judge Kieran O'Connor at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he could take the existence of these accounts into consideration when deciding whether to confiscate another £134,000 in cash and a house from the Fellonis. The court has previously been told the house at Mellowes Road, Finglas, Dublin, was bought for £46,500 in December 1995.
Tony Felloni (53), of Lower Dominick Street, Dublin is serving 20 years in prison for four heroin-dealing offences. His daughter Regina is serving six years and nine months and his son Luigi six years for similar offences.
They are all opposing a move by the State to have the £134,000 and the house confiscated under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994. These assets have already been frozen by Mr Justice Carney in the High Court.
It is alleged the assets were the proceeds of illegal drug-dealing by the three Fellonis. This is the first such application to be opposed since the 1994 Act came into operation. The case was adjourned to November 24th. At an earlier hearing, Judge O'Connor was told Tony Felloni was originally known as Anthony Carroll but changed his name by deed poll in 1959.
Details of the cash and property, allegedly belonging to the three Fellonis as a result of drugdealing, were outlined in an affidavit by Det Sgt John O'Driscoll of the Dublin North Central Drugs Unit.
Mr Murphy said the DPP was granted an order of restraint by Mr Justice Carney on April 5th, 1996, in respect of "specific realisable property in possession or under control of the three respondents". This order froze all their known accounts and assets in the State.
In his affidavit, Det Sgt O'Driscoll said Tony Felloni opened an Irish Permanent account at its St Stephen's Green branch in 1984. The year-end balance for 1992 was £153,703.99 and almost all of this was withdrawn in July 1993.
Evidence was also given of further bank accounts in the names of Regina and Luigi Felloni. One account was opened in Regina's name in 1977 and its current balance was £66,995. There were six transactions up to 1993 but from November 1993 to March 27th, 1996, the account was "extremely active".
Det Sgt O'Driscoll said he believed Regina Felloni used this account to work in conjunction with Tony Felloni "to secure funds which they had received as a result of their participation in drugs-trafficking offences".