Detectives face an uphill task
Gardaí are already trawling through dozens of unsolved gangland-type killings committed over the last number of years. There are already huge problems gathering enough evidence to convict these assassins, particularly as few people who may have vital information are prepared to testify against gangland figures in court.
If, as suspected, the INLA carried out the killing of Ronnie Draper, the chances of conviction will be made even more difficult, sources said.
Mr Draper, 25, was shot dead as he manned the door of Charlie P’s pub on Eden Quay in Dublin late on Saturday night. It is believed he may have been killed as a result of his involvement in the so-called Ballymount bloodbath more than three years ago when a hired gang faced down INLA members in a west Dublin warehouse. An INLA member died in the melee.
“Those involved in the organisation have the experience of carrying out clean kills and leaving no forensic traces behind,” said one source.
“They may now be just another criminal gang, but the experience of how to get away with a clean murder has been passed on from older members.”
Ten people have now been murdered in gangland-type killings this year, eight in the Dublin area and two in Limerick.
It is a rate that is worrying both detectives on the ground and senior gardaí. The number killed in less than six months has surpassed, sometimes doubled, the total number of murders in each of the previous five years. In Dublin, the murders are blamed on various groups, including some on gangs of trigger happy young dealers that have mushroomed throughout the city in recent years.
Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty has ordered a review of dozens of unsolved murders stretching back over five years.
In many cases, detectives know who ordered and even carried out the killings, but the difficulty is finding witnesses, particularly gang insiders, prepared to testify against them.
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