The trial of Gerry “The Monk” Hutch yesterday heard him claim that rivals the Kinahans were obsessed with power.
The non-jury Special Criminal Court was being played a bugged conversation between the 59-year-old and former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall. Hutch can be heard telling state witness Dowdall: “It’s power as well, not just the money. It’s the bleeding power as well.”
And in another section of the chat he says he hopes Sinn Fein get elected, adding: “I can’t wait for this election. I hope the Shinners take over and set up their own hit squad.” Hutch, who denies the February 2016 murder of Kinahan ally David Byrne at the Regency Airport Hotel in north Dublin, told Dowdall the Kinahan cartel wanted to be so big the Colombian drug outfits would seek them out.
