Fear criminal’s funeral will be ‘flashpoint’ for violence

Gardaí are bracing themselves for fresh gangland violence with the burial of slain criminal Gerard Kavanagh.

Officers are waiting to hear if the once-feared drug dealer will be laid to rest in Spain or back home in Dublin.

Kavanagh was gunned down in an Irish bar near Marbella in broad daylight on Saturday.

The 44-year-old had been living in Spain for a long time with his wife and grown-up children.

He was a senior member of a major drug trafficking gang, headed by fellow Dubliner Christy Kinahan, also based in Spain.

Gardaí are investigating whether associates of an Irish gang figure were behind the murder. This man, from Drimnagh, south west Dublin, sold huge quantities of drugs for Kinahan’s gang and laundered enormous sums of money for him.

Tensions escalated in recent years after Kavanagh, and other senior Kinahan gang members, sought cash from the criminal. This involved travelling to his house on Carrow Rd in Drimnagh and threatening his girlfriend.

Shots have also been fired into the house and cars damaged. Neighbours have told of seeing men in balaclavas outside the house, which is protected around the clock.

The criminal is understood to have laundered money for Kinahan in car dealerships across west Dublin. It is thought he was unable to sell enough of the cars when Kinahan wanted his money.

“He had a load of money tied up in cars, but he couldn’t realise the money quickly enough,” said one source.

A Tallaght-based gangster, who carried out threats on the criminal with Kavanagh, was seen by gardaí scouring pubs in Crumlin and Drimnagh on Saturday night looking for the man’s girlfriend.

Gardaí are waiting to hear where the funeral will be held. Kavanagh’s mother lives in Drimnagh.

“There could be repercussions if they decide to bury him here, not Spain. It could be a flashpoint,” said one garda.

Senior officers said Kavanagh, and Kinahan’s gang, were also “wheeling and dealing” in Spain with Russians gangs and that these outfits could have carried out the murder.

Detectives in the Crumlin district and the Dublin South division are described by colleagues to be struggling to investigate serious crime, including a large number of murders.

“We look for overtime, but we are told to work the regular [normal shifts],” said a source.

“There’s only so much work you can give to a certain number of detectives.”

Bad bank

The businessman suspected by gardaí of ordering the gangland murder of criminal Andy Connors is attempting to buy properties back from Nama, the State’s ‘bad bank’.

Detectives believe he hired republican terror group, the INLA, to carry out the murder of Connors, at his bungalow near Saggart, west Dublin, on August 20 last.

Gardaí said the businessman owed Connors €50,000 from a €250,000 land deal, amongst other disputes.

The INLA is now thought to be minding the businessman, who is well-known, in case associates of Connors seek retaliation.