Kinahan cartel mobster Liam Byrne is trying to sportswash his own image by hanging out with Premier League stars.
Footage has emerged of Byrne in the company of a well-known Premier League football manager in recent days - as he tries to follow in boss Daniel Kinahan’s footsteps by cleaning up his image through sport. The footage, which emerged at the weekend, shows Byrne and the manager speaking to a football supporter on a video call.
The pair offer the fan a chance to see his favourite side play - and Byrne is thanked for his alleged contribution. Yesterday, the Premier League star’s management team and a press office connected to his club were contacted - but no reply was received at time of going to press.
And sources say Liverpool fan Byrne has been spending more and more time with football figures - and attends matches on a regular basis despite the heat on the rest of the Kinahan cartel. Byrne - who fled Ireland when the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) took away his €2m criminal empire - seems not to have a care in the world as he rubs shoulders with prominent sporting figures.
His brazen actions mirror almost exactly what mob boss Kinahan has been doing for years as he attempted to wash his image through the sport of boxing. Kinahan, who co-founded boxing firm MTK Global, regularly appeared alongside the likes of two-time heavyweight boxing world champion Tyson Fury and proudly boasted about his abilities in managing boxers and arranging fights.
But the strategy soon wore out for Kinahan, who was sanctioned by the US government and authorities in the UAE earlier this year, effectively ending his career on the world boxing stage. And now Byrne, who was named by gardai in the High Court as the leader of his own organised crime group, is trying to do the same, spending time with people such as this Premier League manager.
It is believed the gangster is attempting to clean up his own image and cement himself as a person with influence in the UK. Earlier this year a picture showed Byrne smiling for a photo at the Champions League Final in Paris.
Byrne put on the brave face in spite of the fact that just two months prior his own brother-in-law, Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, was jailed for 21 years for his role in a plan to import €36m in drugs into the UK. But Byrne, whose sister Joanne is married to Kavanagh, smiled for the camera as he posed beside son Lee and his two younger children at one of the world’s biggest matches - all while his empire fell to pieces.
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