Gang boss Mr Flashy demanded his one-time close ally Scott Capper to pay off €8,000 of alleged debt - or he’d put a hit on him behind bars.
Capper, 29, is nearing the end of his jail stint in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison. Sources say that when Capper began doing his time in 2019, Finglas mobster Mr Flashy put a “serious squeeze” on for money he claimed was owed to him to be paid back.
Mr Flashy told gangland enforcer Capper to pay up or that he would issue a serious threat to him in prison. It is believed that Flashy made the move knowing that prison chiefs would have no option but to move Capper into protection for his sentence if he didn’t pay.
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Lags on protection are separated from the general prison population and only allowed to mix with a limited group who either have a debt or who have a serious threat on them. But Capper is understood to have coughed up the cash and organised it to be handed over so he could survive prison without looking over his shoulder.
A source said: “Capper is an extremely dangerous character and one of the associates Flashy built his own reputation off. But once Capper was going down, Flashy put the squeeze on him.
"That’s how ruthless these thugs are and it was over a couple of grand.
“But that’s how it works with these lads, best friends one minute, enemies the next.” Capper was one of Mr Flashy’s main men as the “Gucci Gang” rose to prominence in 2015 onwards as they became embroiled in numerous drug feuds across west Dublin.
Also a part of the gang was James “Whela” Whelan, who was later whacked by Flashy’s gang after the victim split from the mob to create a rival faction, which saw the Finglas feud kick off last year. Capper organised for a picture of him and Whelan to be placed at a memorial site for the slain thug from behind bars, despite the mob that he once stood with being responsible for the death.
Capper is due for release before the end of the year. He is on the D Wing of Mountjoy Prison where the beefed-up gangster spends his time at the gym. In the same wing is Kinahan foot soldier Mohammed Smew. Capper was arrested in May 2019 by gardai after he went on the run from investigators over two assaults in Dublin on innocent men on nights out in 2016.
Days before he was lifted, he stole a €50,000 cash box in Mullingar. He was later sentenced to 3.5 years for the assaults and 2.5 years for the theft of the money, none of which was ever recovered.
A court previously heard how Capper - who has over 50 convictions - was taking up to €500 worth of cocaine a day at the time of his arrest.
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