This is the moment cartel bosses Daniel Kinahan and Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh met for a gang summit - following the Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne.
Our exclusive never-before-seen pictures show Kinahan and Kavanagh, who was this week jailed for 21 years - in a rare public sighting together - 24 hours after their associate was brutally murdered at a boxing weigh-in in February 2016.
The photos will come as yet another hammer-blow to Kinahan and his ongoing bid to whitewash his past by embroiling himself in sport.
READ MORE: Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh's UK gang 'supplied' car for Hutch ally James 'Mago' Gately murder bid
Kinahan has consistently tried to distance himself from gangland crime, instead trying to portray himself as a key figure in boxing.
But here he is - with his key lieutenant Kavanagh at a time the Kinahan cartel was in crisis-mode, and just two days before the gang brutally executed innocent taxi man Eddie Hutch - in retaliation for Byrne’s murder.
Sources say the ruthless cartel, which at the time was ran by Kinahan and his number-two-in-command Bomber, met in the days following Byrne’s death and planned the killing of the brother of criminal Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch.
Our photos depict a moment rarely seen - in that a clearly shaken Kavanagh and Kinahan were seen together - close to the home of fellow gangster Liam Byrne, the brother of slain David, in Crumlin’s Raleigh Square on February 6.
And sources say that during the time the photo was taken, both Kavanagh and Kinahan were observed running near a car park - after Liam Byrne was pulled over nearby by passing gardai.
Ruthless associate ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson, who was later jailed for one of the gangland murders in the feud, was also photographed tailing the two men - acting as their bodyguard.
This was a time when the wounded cartel was on high alert - with high-ranking members meeting for a summit to plan their next move.
And it was in these crucial days that the mob, which both gardai and now the UK’s National Crime Agency have publicly stated was run by Kinahan and Kavanagh - agreed upon a bloody campaign of revenge that saw 16 more men killed.
The true significance of the photos can now come to light after Kavanagh (54) was finally jailed for 21 years for his role in a massive conspiracy to import E36M worth of cartel drugs.
The NCA this week publicly stated that Kavanagh was the Kinahan cartel’s “main man” in the UK, backing up comments made by gardai in Dublin’s High Court in 2018 - that the mobster was “at the top of the tree” of the gang.
Gardai also believe Kavanagh was instrumental in the Kinahan cartel’s activities during the height of its feud with the Hutch gang, which saw 18 people killed in total.
Slain David Byrne's murder kicked off the cartel’s murderous revenge campaign.
The feud ultimately saw more weapons being shipped into Ireland than before - something which led gardai to discover a cache of firearms in a facility in Greenogue, Rathcoole in 2017.
It was that firearms discovery that nailed the cartel’s moneyman Declan Brady - but also caught the attention of the NCA in the UK, who then began building their investigation into Kavanagh.
The true depth of Kavanagh’s involvement in the Kinahan cartel has only now been unravelled - with The Star also revealing this week how investigators believe he flooded Ireland and the UK with drugs worth more than €700 million - in a 10-year crime spree.
Our exclusive photos also depict one of the last times the two senior cartel men were seen together - with Bomber going back to the UK, and Kinahan fleeing to Dubai.
Since that time the cartel has suffered heavy losses, with more than 50 of their associates now locked up - serving almost 600 years in prison between them.
Kinahan has never been more isolated, with many off his key gang members now put away - including Kavanagh and Thompson - who is doing life in prison for his role in the gangland murder of Daithi Douglas in July 2016.
Declan Brady (55), who was known as ‘Mr Nobody’ because he kept such a low profile, is also in jail - serving 11 and a half years for firearms and money laundering offences.
Meanwhile Liam Byrne (40) – named in the High Court as being the head of a crime gang that bears his name and itself is part of the Kinahan cartel – fled Ireland and now lives in the United Kingdom.
Byrne left Ireland after the Garda Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) seized millions of euro worth of his assets.
Now the garda’s attention is focused fully on Kinahan himself, who despite living in the United Arab Emirates, where there is no extradition treaty with Ireland, is not safe from justice.
That became evident in recent days when his mafia pal Raffaele Imperiale,
who is number two on Italy’s most wanted list, was extradited from Dubai back to Italy - where he was wanted to serve an eight-year sentence for drug trafficking.
Nicknamed ‘Lelluccio’, Imperiale attended Kinahan’s wedding at the plush Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai in 2017 - according to the DEA.
He is believed to be one of the leaders of a so-called ‘super cartel’ in Europe, of which Kinahan is a member.
His extradition to Italy after six months is a reminder to Kinahan that criminals living in the bolthole are not free from justice in Europe - and it may signal future trouble for him.
Meanwhile while Kavanagh has been jailed for 21 years, there is more trouble on the horizon for him, as officers have seized many of his assets - including his E1M “heavily fortified” mansion in Tamworth.
In the coming months a UK court will set a timetable for the assets case,
but in that time Kavanagh will be presented with a benefit figure based on what is called ‘realisable assets.’
Kavanagh will then be given a period of time to settle the order by paying up - or he may be hauled before a judge and given further jail time.
Meanwhile the NCA has declined to confirm if it is investigating mobster Daniel Kinahan - who was Bomber’s boss.
It comes after Kieran Vaughan QC, who was defending Kavanagh in his high profile court case this week, said “there are others not before the court who are above” his client.
In response to a query from this paper as to whether it is going after Kinahan, the NCA, which formally named the ‘Kinahan cartel’ this week said:
“The indictment speaks for itself in terms of who was involved in this conspiracy. As for wider investigations, the NCA don’t routinely confirm or deny the existence of investigations, or the names of those who may or may not be under investigation.
“The conviction of Thomas Kavanagh and his associates represents a significant disruption to the Organised Crime Group’s activities in the UK and beyond.”
On Monday Kavanagh’s co-conspirators Daniel Canning was jailed for 19.5 years, and Gary Vickery got a 20-year sentence.
Kavanagh was the “figurehead” of an operation which brought €36million worth of cannabis and cocaine into the UK, police said.
Following lengthy delays in the case and eventual guilty pleas, Ipswich Crown Court heard that the narcotics were for the UK and Irish drug markets.
Kavanagh, Canning and Vickery all admitted conspiring to import class A and B drugs, and money laundering, while Canning also admitted possessing a firearm and ammunition.
Vickery, Canning and Byrne were all arrested by the NCA in October 2017
following the seizure of 15 kilos of cocaine and more than 220 kilos of cannabis, found inside a six-tonne industrial tarmac removal machine at Dover.
The drugs had been hidden inside the machine, which had a tracking device fitted and was due to be delivered to an industrial unit in Wolverhampton.
This led NCA officers to raid two industrial units linked to the gang, one in Wolverhampton and one in Wednesbury.
In the Wednesbury address investigators found the shell of an industrial transformer, which still had traces of cocaine inside, as well as a black holdall containing a handgun and ammunition.
Investigators also found boxes full of tracking devices, identical to the one found on the machine seized at Dover.
Officers raided Vickery’s rented property in Boundary Lane, Solihull, where they recovered five 25 kilo barrels of boric acid powder – often used as a cocaine cutting agent – a cash counting machine, £43,000 sterling and €200,000 cash.
Small amounts of cash and further phones and encrypted communications devices were found at Canning’s home in Dickens Heath.
Information on those devices showed Kavanagh was heading up the criminal enterprise, with messages between the group referring to him as “the Gaffer”.
He was also in contact with criminal contacts in Europe to orchestrate shipments.
Kavanagh was then arrested at Birmingham Airport as he returned to the UK on 12 January 2019.
Video footage of his dramatic arrest was released by the NCA following his conviction this week.
Investigators also established through communications between the men that they had been involved in at least four more drug importations prior to the Dover seizure in October 2017, bringing the estimated street value of cocaine importations by the group up to £23.4 million.
Cannabis importations over the same period are estimated to have been worth around £6.4 million - and combined, it totals around €36m.
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