The mob nicknamed The Family are set to become Ireland’s biggest drugs gang due to the international crackdown on the Kinahan cartel, gardai fear.
A source told the Irish Mirror last night: “They are already very big and will only get bigger.” The gang was behind last Friday’s hit on criminal Gary Carey in central Dublin that left him fighting for his life.
An Irish Mirror investigation has established that the mob, nicknamed The Family because they are led by two brothers, already control the drugs trade in huge swathes of the city and are expected to take even more turf in coming months. Sources say the gang – who sent a hit team to take out Carey at the Hilton Hotel in Kilmainham – are now second in importance here to the cartel controlled by 44-year-old Daniel Kinahan. However, gardai believe they may soon pass them in Ireland.
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Investigators believe the unprecedented international sanctions on the Kinahan grouping has left it exposed and The Family are set to exploit that weakness to become the country’s number one mob. Sources told the Irish Mirror that the Kinahan cartel views Ireland as such a small market that it is now concentrating on Britain and Europe.
They said the massive worldwide operation against the gang that saw bosses Daniel, Christy, 64, and Christopher, 41, have $5million bounties placed on their heads has weakened the Kinahan organised crime group. And they believe the fallout from the Kinahan-Hutch feud, that has left 18 men dead but more than 80 gangsters from both sides locked up, has also strengthened The Family’s hand.
One senior source told the Irish Mirror: “They are very big. They are one of the groups that have profited from the Kinahan-Hutch feud.” However, the source added that, unlike bling-loving mobster Daniel Kinahan who courts publicity, The Family shy away from the limelight and try to keep a low profile.
They said: “They are a tight family-based organised crime group that is hard to infiltrate. They don’t flash the cash in people’s faces and try to avoid killing people unless they have no choice. “They will use violence, of course, but really try to stay out of the papers and not attract too much heat.”
The source said that although they would likely take on the mantle of Ireland’s biggest gang they would never replace the Kinahan cartel on the world stage. They added: “They are weird, even with all their cash they don’t really pop up internationally at all.
“Obviously they have their [drug smuggling] routes into Ireland but you never hear of them mixing with the playboy set like other OCGs do. You’re more likely to see them in Dublin than Dubai.”
Sources say the gang, which is led by two brothers who already have convictions for drug dealing, are trading in cocaine, heroin and cannabis worth millions every month. The criminals have been active for almost two decades but it is only in recent years that they have become a major mob.
Sources claim they are in the frame for last Friday’s murder bid on 41-year-old Carey in Kilmainham.
The Ballyfermot-born convicted drug dealer was shot six times when he was targeted by a hit team in the underground car park of the Hilton Hotel at around 11.30am. He lost a huge amount of blood and is still in intensive care in hospital, with sources saying pals fear he may not survive.
It was the third time The Family has targeted Carey. Sources say Garda investigators reckon the gang turned over €17million in drug transactions in a three-month period in 2020.
Despite a number of setbacks they are thought to be raking in millions of euro a month.
Read next:
Criminals using 'bank jugging' to steal from unsuspecting victims
Man arrested in relation to petrol bomb attack on south Dublin pub
Gang that shot Gary Carey lured him home from Spain by claiming threat on his life was over
Kinahan associate facing prison over scrambler bike dangerous driving charge
Man arrested after cocaine and cash seized in Dublin garda raid
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