Gangland murder may add fuel to feud
Armed garda checkpoints and patrols are being stepped up in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area of south-west Dublin and the south inner city following the murder of John Roche.
Roche, aged 25, from Clonmacnoise Road in Crumlin, was shot dead in Kilmainham in the south inner city at 12.20am.
He was a senior member of the Rattigan crime gang, which has been involved in a bloody feud with another gang in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area. Both gangs are heavily involved in the drugs trade.
The rival gang has vowed revenge for the murder of Declan Gavin in Crumlin in 2001. Gardaí believe the feud, which has been simmering for the last two years, has re-ignited following the recent release of a senior member of the rival Gavin gang.
“We said that if there is one murder in this feud, there will be another three,” said one garda source.
“There will be retaliation without a shadow of a doubt. It will be rat-a-tat-tat for the summer.”
Local gardaí, backed by the Special Detective Unit, had already set up armed patrols and checkpoints before yesterday’s murder.
“They are all wearing bullet-proof jackets, sleeping in different houses every night,” said one garda.
Roche was suspected of being one of two hitmen who murdered a drug dealer in a pub in Dublin’s south inner city last year. Paul Warren, 23, was shot dead in Gray’s of Newmarket Street on February 25, 2004, by two masked men.
A file on Roche had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in connection with the murder.
Roche, a married man, is thought to have been lured to Kilmainham yesterday morning.
Two men opened fire on him as he walked along Bow Lane West. One shot hit Roche, while another missed and hit a ground floor window of a house. Roche ran for his life but was pursued by two assailants.
“He was shot once, then ran a short distance and was shot again. He was shot three to four times,” said a garda source.
Gardaí believe a handgun was used.
One eyewitness told gardaí the victim shouted: “Help me, help me.”
Superintendent Eddie Quirke, who is leading the investigation, said gardaí found the man slumped outside Murray’s pub. He said they were investigating whether there was a link to incidents in Drimnagh last week.
These include the seizure of cocaine, guns and ammunition last Friday and the arrest and charging of two men.
Earlier in the week, a senior member of the Rattigan gang escaped with his life after being fired on in front of his wife and children. Supt Quirke stressed they were still at an early stage of their investigations.
“We’re optimistic we’ll be able to solve it.” He said initial information suggested the two assailants fled in a black car, possibly a BMW.
“We would appeal to anyone who saw any black car in the area to contact us at Kilmainham on 6669749.”
Chief Supt PJ Browne described as “reprehensible” the indiscriminate shooting, in which innocent people could have been caught up.
It is the first gangland murder of this year, reflecting a continuing fall in such murders since 2003.
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