Gun law

With an increase in killings and drug hauls, Dublin's organised criminals are showing an arrogance not seen since Veronica Guerin's murder, writes Conor Lally

On a dark and cold Thursday night last January, a Mercedes taxi sped across Dublin's north inner city. It careered through red lights at the North Circular Road, causing a six-car pile-up at the busy junction with Dorset Street. When the drivers of the vehicles got out to assess the damage, little did they know they had murder in their midst.

The driver of the taxi, Niall Mulvihill, lay slumped at the wheel, bleeding from fresh bullet wounds.

Mulvihill, a well-known Dublin gangster, had been shot minutes earlier at Spencer Dock Bridge, on the north side of the Liffey, while he sat in his car. A gunman had stepped from another vehicle, pumped three shots into Mulvihill's upper body and fled the scene.

The quick-thinking victim battled in vain to save himself. He sped across the north inner city, trying to get to the Mater Hospital, before passing out and smashing into traffic just hundreds of yards from his intended destination. He was taken from his car by an ambulance crew and brought to the Mater, where he died a short time later.

As gangland killings went, it was pretty spectacular.

Detectives immediately began a full-scale murder inquiry. The only problem was that any list of suspects was always going to be a long one.

As a former associate of slain gangland boss Martin Cahill ("The General"), the extent of Mulvihill's criminal activity was anything but limited. He was into fraud, drug dealing and receiving stolen goods. In 1983 he was arrested in Antwerp on suspicion of handling the stolen Beit paintings. About the time of his death, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) was chasing him for €1 million, money he insisted he didn't have.

In the aftermath of the murder of crime journalist Veronica Guerin, in June 1996, the State squared up to gangsters like Mulvihill. There would be a new approach to combating organised crime, the public was promised. Guerin's killers would be caught. And their likes would never be allowed to become so established again. The CAB was set up with that end in mind. If gardaí couldn't get convictions for murders and drug deals, they'd financially strangle the crime bosses. The gangs were to be reined in.

Guerin's murder was a wake-up call that wouldn't be forgotten. It was to herald a fresh dawn. A brave new world, safer and sounder.

But as a film of Guerin's life opened this week, it seems the tide of crime has returned. Ironically, John Gilligan, who is portrayed in the film as a kingpin of organised crime in Dublin, was back in court this week. Judgment was reserved on Thursday in his appeal against a 28-year prison sentence for drug dealing.

The Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, concedes organised crime has taken on an "added impetus" of late. That seems to be putting it mildly. Garda sergeants and inspectors believe organised criminals are displaying an arrogance not seen since Guerin's last days. And the figures don't contradict them.

There have been an estimated 32 homicides in the State so far this year, although only one third are suspected gangland hits. And drugs are flowing through the country in unprecedented quantities. The value of drugs seized in the first six months of the year, at over €67 million, is much greater than the €49 million seized in the whole of last year. This compares with €45 million seized in 2001 and €20 million in 2000. Cocaine use has increased dramatically, with seizures of the drug up 500 per cent to date in 2003 compared to the same period last year.

But away from the more traditional areas of drugs and gun attacks, new areas of crime, unheard of in Ireland in the mid-1990s, are now occupying the time of the Garda, which is stretched to breaking point and declining in numbers.

Highly addictive crack cocaine is now in circulation in Dublin and a number of crack houses have come to the attention of gardaí in the capital in recent months.

The city's detectives are also investigating new links between the Irish vice industry and international crime gangs involved in drugs and human trafficking. And white-collar criminals are occupying the CAB's time to a much greater extent than ever before.

Crime Incorporated is alive and well. And business is booming.

But how does the current Dublin scene compare to the one exposed by Veronica Guerin? And what conclusions can be drawn from the latest spate of killings in the capital?

One senior Garda source who spoke to The Irish Times this week said the most revealing aspect of this year's crime trends is not the murder rate, but the value of drugs seized.

"These huge seizures, and they are happening all the time now, are much bigger than before. The criminals are much better at hiding their money now. They will buy a few hundred grand worth of cars and leave them in some back street garage owned by somebody they know. When they want a few quid, they just sell a few cars. It is very hard to detect that kind of thing," the source says.

"The level of the money they have to invest in drugs is reflected in the increased value of the seizures. There is now a much larger user population. There is no end to the amount of 15- to 30-year-olds who want cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis. The user scene has exploded in recent years.

"And the issue has spread way beyond Dublin, it's nationwide. That was not the case in 1996. That factor means these gangs not only have to have a sound importation system to get the drugs into the country, they then need to distribute it when it gets here. And they are successful at doing that".

The main distribution route into Ireland is from Spain. Shipments mostly come through Irish ports, on trucks driven by people in the pay of Irish gangs. Money is often taken out of the State in a plastic bag, or hidden in the spare wheel of a truck or car. It is then exchanged for drugs, usually at service stations on motorways in the Netherlands and Spain. The merchandise is then driven back to Ireland.

Gardaí say there are least six highly organised Irish criminals based in Spain and Amsterdam who are controlling the flow of drugs into the State. They were all engaged in criminal activity when living in Ireland and have extensive networks of like-minded associates here.

Another new factor in the organised crime scene is that many of those engaged in drug dealing now run legitimate businesses and have no criminal record.

"In cases like that, a guy can be operating for two or three years, maybe more, before being caught," says one source. Another says it would be wrong to look at murder trends this year and simply conclude the upsurge is because of heightened activity within the world of organised crime. "The people involved might be criminals and might operate in gangs but most of the murders are being carried out over personal disagreements."

While that may be the case, drugs have been identified as a possible motive in a number of this year's murders.

Following Niall Mulvihill's murder on January 23rd last, Dubliner Raymond Sallinger was gunned down as he sat drinking in a south inner-city pub. He was involved in the drugs trade and his murder has been linked to a seizure of cocaine just before his death. On March 23rd Charles Merriman was found dead on St Margaret's Road, Ballymun. He had been shot in the head. He worked as a band manager and bouncer and, while not a known drug dealer, his death was linked to a drugs turf war.

There then followed the murder of Declan Griffin in a pub in Inchicore on April 5th. He was a Garda informant and he may have been killed to silence him. On April 19th, Michael Scott was shot at his home in Ballymun as part of a feud. That dispute was linked to the murder of William O'Regan during a gun attack in Finglas on June 10th. And the seemingly accidental shooting dead of Victor Murphy, also from Finglas, this week, may be linked to the same feud.

On June 14th, Ronald Draper was shot dead at a pub where he worked on Eden Quay. That is believed to have been a revenge attack from an earlier feud in the city between west Dublin criminals and the INLA. David McGuinness, who was shot dead at his home in Tallaght last Tuesday, was a pub bouncer too and is also said to have had links to dissident republicans.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, points to the establishment of the Witness Security Programme as a means of securing more convictions against those involved in organised crime. Both he and the out-going Garda Commissioner, Pat Byrne, insist there are no quick fixes, but that tackling organised crime remains top of the policing agenda. Figures released by the Minister's office point out that the homicide rate in Ireland between 1998 and 2000 was 1.37 per 100,000 population, lower than the 1.7 EU average.

However, in 2000 there were 46 homicides in the State. That figure jumped to 58 in both 2001 and 2002. A more up-to-date comparison, which is not yet available, might put us on the wrong side of the EU average.

What is clear is that current crime-fighting measures, as in Guerin's day, are falling further and further behind the methods being employed by organised crime.

While the CAB has been very successful it has not proven to be the cure-all body some predicted. Its remit involves tackling the proceeds of crime only. Before its multi-disciplinary approach kicks in, crime has already been committed. What may be needed is an agency made up of gardaí and the customs service, employing the same approach as the CAB, but exclusively focusing its efforts on choking the supply of drugs coming into the country.

"What has been forgotten here," says one source, "is that we are an island nation. It means if efforts were concentrated on the ports, by an agency whose sole purpose would be to detect drugs entering the country, we might start making a bit more progress."