The suspected triggerman for the murder of Gary “The Canary” Carey was also suspected of being involved in a shocking mob attack on two gardai earlier this year, we can reveal.
The thug, aged in 30s, continues to be grilled in garda custody by detectives after his arrest from Mountjoy Prison on Tuesday over the killing last year. The gangster is alleged to have played a “central role” in footage taken of an attack on gardai in February in Ballyfermot, southwest Dublin.
On that occasion, following a funeral, a garda was hit with a bottle in the face as dozens of missiles were fired at him and his colleague. The two officers had been assisting an elderly woman who was almost knocked over by a youth on a scrambler bike when they were targeted with a hail of missiles.
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Investigators later reviewed footage of the attack and established that the suspect played a key role, throwing items and lunging at the officers as well as goading teenagers to do the same. Some weeks later, he was returned to jail on other matters.
The mobster - who was once the centre of a high profile manhunt - has over 100 convictions and is a suspect in a number of attacks and shootings. Gardai believe that he was the lone shooter of Carey and was working for Dee Dee O’Driscoll’s mob who targeted the victim in a drugs row.
Carey was blasted up to six times in an underground car park at the Hilton hotel in Kilmainham, Dublin 8 on June 24 last year before losing his life six weeks later. The suspect’s arrest was the fifth since Monday as part of the probe and he is being questioned on suspicion of murder.
A source said: “This man is extremely volatile and reckless. He’s well-known to gardai, he hates them. It is believed he was the lone shooter of Carey but there was others who assisted him and the gang.”
On Monday, two men in their 20s were arrested. They continue to be questioned over providing logistical support.
A female associate of slain gangster Gary Carey has been arrested on suspicion of leaking his exact location to the gang that murdered him, while another woman also continues to be held.
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