Gangland witnesses to be offered protection

INDIVIDUALS linked to organised crime gangs are likely to be targeted and offered protection to turn State’s witness as a new garda task force was announced yesterday following the 18th gangland- related killing this year.

Fifty gardaí have been assigned to the new organised crime task force announced by Commissioner Noel Conroy in the wake of the murder of a 27-year-old man in north Dublin on Tuesday night.

Noel Roche was shot three times in the head as he sat in the passenger seat of a black Mondeo car outside the Yacht Pub on the Clontarf Road. The shots were fired from a car or motorbike that pulled up on the city-bound bus lane.

Seven people, including Roche’s brother John, have died violently as a result of the deadly cocaine-fuelled feud between two south Dublin gangs. The feud began with the 2001 fatal stabbing of Declan Gavin.

The two men killed in Firhouse in south Dublin on Sunday night are believed to have been murdered in revenge for the killing of John Roche, who was shot dead in March.

Fr Martin Cosgrove, who will be involved in burying all three men, said his thoughts were with the families. “No mother sends out her son to kill or be killed,” he said.

Chief Supt Peter Maguire, who is leading the latest murder investigation, said: “We know that there are a number of people out there in the community, who are in possession of critical information that is indispensable to the success of this investigation, who have not come forward, maybe for a variety of reasons.

“Maybe because they are not sure that they can speak to the Garda Síochána in confidence. Maybe they are not aware of the procedures and processes that are available to the Garda Síochána for dealing with this type of witness and this type of information.”

Chief Supt Maguire said the conflict between the Drimnagh-based gangs should be resolved by the gardaí and the institutions of the State, and guaranteed that anyone with information about last night or other gangland killings would be protected.

A major focus of the investigation is to find the driver of the Mondeo, who fled as his passenger was shot dead. The man, a 32-year-old from south Dublin, may have been injured and gardaí are looking for him, including for his own protection.

Chief Supt Noel White will head the task force, members of which are to be attached to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and whose “sole duties will be to target groups involved in organised crime.”

The force will liaise with the Criminal Assets Bureau, Garda National Drug Unit, Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and Special Detective Unit. They will work closely with Operation Anvil, the multi-million operation targeting armed gangs.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has promised today’s Estimates will include extra money and resources for the gardaí. He said the objective of the new unit was to prevent any further bloodshed, if possible, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Fine Gael’s justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe, who said the minister was “helpless in the face of Chicago-style” gangsterism, called for the fast-tracking of proposed legislation outlawing gang membership - a view echoed by Labour’s Joe Costello.