A top anti-mob cop has told how authorities in Spain view Daniel Kinahan as “even more dangerous” than his father.
The unnamed Policia Nacional Officer has been investigating the Irish mob for nearly two decades since their arrival in southern Spain in the mid-2000s. New documentary The Celtic Cartel – released on Amazon Prime from Wednesday – explores the rise of the Kinahan clan to the top of the global drug trade.
The show features interviews with senior law enforcement officers both here and in Spain who have taken on the Kinahans and put gang members behind bars.
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Wearing a balaclava to maintain his undercover profile, the Spanish officer tells the documentary: “We began to take the Kinahan family more seriously when murders started happening on the Costa del Sol.
"I remember the first one in 2008 – the murder of Paddy Doyle. From that moment our interest in them is no longer just about their drug dealing. When deaths start happening – it just doesn’t just stop with one.
"When there started to be more trouble between the gangs and more deaths is when Daniel Kinahan takes control of the organisation. I think he is more visceral and even more dangerous than his father.”
The investigator speaks about the murder of Gerard “Hatchet” Kavanagh in September 2014. He said: “Kavanagh was a drug debt enforcer who was in the business of collecting debt from people who didn’t pay.
“We had information he went to Ireland to collect a debt and it wasn’t paid. It was the first time someone had stood up to the Kinahan family and, shortly after, his murder happened.
"It may be related to that or that he wanted to set out on his own without the Kinahans.” The murder of Gary Hutch in 2015 led to the 2016 attack at the Regency Hotel and the subsequent slaughter on the streets of Dublin.
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James “Frizzy” Quinn was jailed for his part in the murder of his former pal Gary Hutch some years later, though cleared of being the hitman who carried it out.
Another Spanish investigator from the Guardia Civil who helped nail Quinn told the documentary: “One of the perpetrators was identified and we were able to obtain his genetic profile as part of an operation.
“We were able to match it and verify that it was same person – that he was the perpetrator. Based on our investigation we can conclude there was a direct connection between the party involved in the crime and Daniel Kinahan’s associates.
“In my opinion his associates were involved and he was probably aware of it.”
Irish Mirror deputy news editor Owen Conlon, who co-wrote the 2017 bestseller The Cartel, is among those who contribute to the documentary. Other contributions include a prisoner who spent time with Christy Kinahan in jail, a Dublin resident who was threatened by the Kinahan cartel, a mother who lost her son to drug addiction and a moving interview with the sister of Kinahan murder victim Michael Barr.
There will also be contributions from Det Chief Supt Seamus Boland from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and former Assistant Commissioners Michael O’Sullivan and Pat Leahy.
Former Archbishop Diarmuid Martin will also outline his views and local councillor Nial Ring speaks on the devastation experienced by the north inner city.
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