Murdered gangster targeted before

A gangster murdered minutes after collecting his children from school had survived at least two attempts on his life.

John Wilson is the 13th victim of gang-related killings this year after being shot dead at his Dublin home as he fled from a gunman.

Gardaí believe the killer tailed him from the Ballyfermot school where he had earlier picked up his children.

The shooting – the third gangland gun attack in a week and the fourth this month – was initially suspected of being linked to a feud with the Real IRA.

Alan Ryan, a leading figure in the terror group in the city and known for leading an extortion racket targeting drugs gangs, was murdered earlier this month.

Gardaí said the shooting took place at about 3pm on Cloverhill Road in the Cherry Orchard area.

Wilson, aged 35 and from a notorious criminal family, had convictions for drugs and possession of a sawn-off shotgun.

His two brothers are killers – Eric ’Lucky’ Wilson is serving life in jail in Spain for murder and Keith is in jail in Ireland, for a separate murder.

Wilson himself was a suspect in a shooting at the Players Lounge pub in Fairview, north Dublin, which left three innocent men with serious injuries.

Bar owner John Stokes, the father of Celtic footballer Anthony Stokes, is awaiting trial for extortion. Ryan had also been charged.

The atmosphere in the Cherry Orchard area was tense for several hours after the killing with up to 100 people near the house, some on horses, as forensic examinations took place.

Aengus O Snodaigh, Sinn Fein TD in the area, condemned the killing.

“Nobody deserves to be shot down in that way in the middle of the day with their kids coming home from school,” he said.

In April last year Wilson was shot in one of his legs, and gardai believe that previously a gunman called off a hit when Wilson’s wife opened the door of their home.

Thirteen men have been killed in gang-related murders this year, including two criminals in unrelated shootings in front of their children this week.

Declan O’Reilly was shot on South Circular Road in Dublin on Monday night – 12 hours earlier Gerard Eglington was murdered in his home in Portarlington, Co Laois.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter spoke out earlier this week about the upsurge in gangland killings which he said “have the full and determined attention of the gardai”.

Mr O Snodaigh said: “There has been a big upsurge in the fact that there’s been three people shot dead this week but there have been wider tensions in the area and in other areas of Dublin between feuding gangs.

“My understanding is some attacks have been thwarted by Garda surveillance. The pity is that gardai were not able to prevent this attack and the hope is that they will have the resources to prevent other individuals being attacked.”

It is suspected 32-year-old O’Reilly was murdered in retaliation for stabbing a fellow inmate in Mountjoy Prison to death in September 2007, while 27-year-old Eglington became the latest victim of the bloody Crumlin/Drimnagh feud, which has claimed more than a dozen lives over the last 10 years.