Gardaí have arrested 13 suspected crime bosses in last year, report says

A second report on the operation of emergency anti-terrorism legislation — Offences Against the State Act 1998 — showed that 39 arrests were conducted in the last 12 months.

A total of 13 suspected crime bosses have been arrested on suspicion of directing a criminal organisation within the last 12 months — a significant jump on previous years.

The arrests are under special ‘gangland’ legislation, introduced in 2009, aimed at combating the threat posed by organised crime gangs. It created offences of directing a criminal organisation, participating in or contributing to that group or committing an offence for a crime gang.

Under Section 8 of the Criminal Justice Act 2009, any prosecution for these offences is automatically sent to the non-jury Special Criminal Court, unless otherwise directed by the DPP.

The act has been used extensively to target various members and associates of the Kinahan crime cartel, including senior lieutenants, various ‘hit teams’ as well as individuals paid to carry out specific crimes, such as the purchase of mobile phones, for gang assassination attempts.

An annual report is produced on the operation of the legislation and the case for its continuance — and the provisions were passed in the Oireachtas last week.

The report shows that 112 arrests were made under the act between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024. This compares to 110 in the same period the previous year and 112 in the year ending May 2022.

A breakdown for the last year for the three specific offences shows:

• 13 arrests under Section 71A (directing the activities of a criminal organisation), compared to two in the year ending May 2023 and eight the year before that;
• 92 arrests under Section 72 (participating in or contributing to activities of the organisation), compared to 90 the previous year and 86 the year before that;
• 7 arrests under Section 73 (committing an offence for the organisation), compared to 18 in each of the previous two years. 

The report said that a total of 30 charges were laid before the courts in the last 12 months in relation to the three offences, which is eight more than the previous year. Of the 30 charges, 10 were brought before the Special Criminal Court, six more than the previous year.

A breakdown shows that 18 charges were in relation to Section 71A, which was 15 more than the previous year. There were 11 charges for participation, three fewer than the previous year, and one charge for Section 73, four fewer than the previous year.

Of the nine convictions secured in the last year, three were in the Special Criminal Court, including that of Sligo gang boss Barry Young last July. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for directing a criminal organisation, with Judge Tony Hunt describing him as a “scourge” of his local community for years.

Last May, Michael Crotty, from Cashel in Tipperary, was sentenced to two years for buying a €20 mobile top-up for Sean McGovern, one of the senior leaders of the Kinahan crime cartel who is currently based in Dubai and wanted here.

The phone was used to co-ordinate the murder of an innocent man Noel Kirwan in December 2016. He was targeted by the cartel because they mistakenly believed he was linked to the rival Hutch gang.

A second report on the operation of emergency anti-terrorism legislation — Offences Against the State Act 1998 — showed that 39 arrests were conducted in the last 12 months.

These were in relation to five separate offences including 11 arrests for membership of an unlawful organisation, 10 arrests for withholding information and three arrests in relation to explosive or firearms offences.