GARDAÍ BELIEVE the gang that killed notorious gangland figure Eamon Dunne in a gun attack in a crowded Dublin pub sent an accomplice to the pub to confirm exactly where Dunne was sitting.
Garda sources described the killing as one of the most professional they have seen in recent years. Two armed and masked men entered the Faussagh House in Cabra, north Dublin, by the front door at 10pm on Friday.
Dunne was sitting at a table to the left of the door in a large group, including some of his gang members. His 17-year-old daughter is also believed to have been in the pub.
One of the gunmen walked over to Dunne, pushing people out of the way. He began shooting at Dunne from behind, discharging at least six shots from a 9mm automatic pistol. The killing was captured on CCTV inside the pub.
Dunne did not see the gunman approaching. As the first shots were discharged into his back he turned around into the gunfire and fell down dead. A postmortem confirmed he was shot six times in the back, head and face.
The second gunman, who was armed with a revolver, stood just inside the pub door with his gun at the ready to shoot anybody who tried to lunge at the gunman.
The attack was over in seconds and the gunmen ran out the front door. A third masked man stayed outside the pub to make sure nobody entered to try to stop the attack. All three men ran to a waiting vehicle and were driven away at speed by a getaway driver.
Garda sources said the killer knew where Dunne would be sitting in the pub. “They must have had somebody in there telling them exactly where he was sitting. The gunman walked straight for him and didn’t even need to get a look at his face to make sure it was the right person,” said one source.
Dunne was in a group of up to 50 people celebrating a 40th birthday. Very few witnesses to the killing have contacted gardaí.
Dunne (34), Dunsoughly Drive, Finglas, was the leader of Dublin’s main drugs gang. He assumed control of the Finglas-based gang when its then leader Martin “Marlo” Hyland was shot dead by the gang in December 2006.
Under Dunne’s leadership the gang had been linked to 14 murders. Dunne had been warned by gardaí his life was in danger. He often wore a bullet-proof vest.
Garda sources said Friday’s murder could have been a revenge attack for any of the killings Dunne was linked to. However, gardaí believe Dunne, a convicted drug dealer, was most likely killed by his own associates.
Like Hyland, Dunne had attracted sustained Garda and media attention, which put pressure on his associates.
Gardaí said Dunne would not normally have been in the Faussagh House, and that somebody who knew his movements on Friday had most likely supplied specific information to the killers.
Dunne was regarded as an intelligent criminal. He had made complaints to the Press Ombudsman and the Garda Ombudsman relating to alleged leaks by gardaí to the media about his activities.
He alleged in the High Court last year that gardaí were behind an orchestrated publicity campaign against him ahead of his trial for a botched armed robbery.
Some Garda sources said Dunne had recently developed a cocaine habit and as a result was regarded as a liability by other senior figures in his gang.
He had also become involved in extortion with former republicans. Gardaí have not ruled out the possibility that some of these associates were involved in the murder.
A middle-aged criminal from a middle-class Dublin suburb and a gangland figure from Ballymun ran Dunne’s gang with him. They are also suspects in the case.
Gardaí and an ambulance were at the scene of Friday’s shooting within minutes, but Dunne was dead when they arrived.
The killers used a silver car – a Ford Mondeo or Volkswagen Passat or similar model. Gardaí have urged anybody who saw the car near the Faussagh House between 8pm and 10pm to contact them.
Dunne’s gang has a history of internal disputes leading to killings, such as that of Hyland.
Finglas man Graham McNally (34) was a close friend of Dunne’s but was shot dead by his own gang in January 2009.
Two weeks earlier, Dunne’s gang killed Michael “Roly” Cronin (35) and James Moloney (26) in Summerhill, Dublin. They then killed the man they hired to carry out the double-murder over fears he would turn Garda informer.