Founded | 1990s |
---|---|
Founded by | Christopher Vincent Kinahan, Sr. [1] |
Founding location | Dublin, Ireland |
Years active | 1990s–present |
Territory | Ireland, United Kingdom, Spain, United Arab Emirates |
Criminal activities | Drug trafficking, money laundering, murder, arms trafficking, extortion, blackmailing [2] |
Allies |
|
Rivals |
The Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG), also known as the Kinahan Cartel, is a major Irish transnational organised crime syndicate alleged to be the most powerful in Ireland and one of the largest organised crime groups in the world. [30] [31] [32] It is also established in the UK, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. [33] It was founded by Christy Kinahan in the 1990s. His eldest son Daniel manages the day-to-day operations of the family's criminal group. [34] Estimated reports have credited them with wealth of up to €1 billion. [35] [36]
The Kinahan Cartel has had an ongoing feud with the Hutch Gang since 2015, which had resulted in 18 deaths by August 2021. [37] [38] [39] [40]
The Kinahan Organised Crime Group was founded by Christy Kinahan in the late 1990s and early 2000s while Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" period of rapid economic growth was occurring. [32] [41] A native Dubliner, Kinahan's first convictions date back to the late 1970s and involved house breaking, car theft, burglary, handling stolen goods and forgery. [42] [43] The group reportedly began as a street gang of inner-city drug dealers in Dublin, but soon grew on a global scale to become the current multi-million dollar criminal network that it is today. [44] Christy Kinahan served as the direct leader of the organisation up until the position was passed on to his son Daniel Kinahan. [45] Since then, Irish courts have concluded that the group is a murderous organisation involved in the international trafficking of drugs and firearms. [46] [47]
On 12 April 2022, the United States Department of State announced the offering of rewards of up to US$5 million under the Narcotics Rewards Program for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Kinahan family members. The reward is offered jointly with the Garda Síochána, National Crime Agency, and Drug Enforcement Administration. [48] [49] [50] The seven key members were named as: Daniel Kinahan; Christopher Kinahan; Christopher Kinahan Jnr; veteran Dublin-born criminal Bernard Clancy; Daniel Kinahan’s “advisor and closest confidant" Sean McGovern; former KOCG enforcer now Marbella-based money launderer "Johnny Cash" Morrissey; and Ian Dixon who was arrested over the 2015 Costa del Sol murder of Gary Hutch but never charged. [51]
Despite the sanctions being imposed on the group, it was reported in August 2022 that Spanish-based associates of the Kinahan cartel were continuing to operate multi-million-euro drug shipments. [52] "Johnny Cash" Morrissey and his wife Nicola were arrested in Marbella, Spain on Monday 13 September 2022. [51]
In February 2023, a raid on a business in the Long Mile Road area of Dublin led to the seizure of equipment, the arrest of eight people and 40 kg of cocaine. [53] [54] Over 2,000 containers of nitric oxide were seized, as well as €78,000 in cash, a hydraulic drugs press, communications devices, mixing agent and a money counter. [53] [54] Two of those arrested were later released. [53] [54]
In 2023 Edin Gačanin, who is involved in organized crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina was sanctioned by the US who cited "close links" to Daniel Kinahan after broken encrypted chats show how the Kinahan cartel was involved in €350m coke plot. The US named Daniel Kinahan, his father Christy Kinahan Snr and Christy Kinahan Jnr as the three key players of the Kinahan gang. [55]
The Kinahan crime family is primarily involved in the drug trade. [56]
Gerard Hutch is an Irish criminal. He was the prime suspect for two of the biggest armed robberies in Irish history. Known for leading a "disciplined, ascetic lifestyle" since leaving prison in 1985, he was nicknamed "The Monk" by investigative journalist Veronica Guerin. Hutch is also the leader of the organised crime group the Hutch Gang, and was charged but acquitted of the murder of David Byrne.
The Irish Mob is a usually crime family–based ethnic collective of organized crime syndicates composed of primarily ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and have been in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish-American street gangs – famously first depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1927 book, The Gangs of New York – the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, especially in the Northeast and the urban industrial Midwest, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.
A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or lord of drugs is a type of crime boss in charge of a drug trafficking network, organization, or enterprise.
The Crumlin-Drimnagh feud is a feud between rival criminal gangs in south inner city Dublin, Ireland. The feud began in 2000 when a drugs seizure led to a split in a gang of young criminals in their late teens and early twenties, most of whom had grown up together and went to the same school. The resulting violence has led to 16 murders and scores of beatings, stabbings, shootings and pipe bomb attacks.
Christopher Vincent Kinahan, Sr. is an Irish drug trafficker with convictions for ecstasy and heroin smuggling. He is the alleged leader of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, which he runs with his two sons.
The Irish criminal David Byrne was shot dead on 5 February 2016 at the Regency Hotel in Whitehall, Dublin.
The shooting of Eddie Hutch Snr occurred on 8 February 2016. Eddie was the brother of Gerry Hutch, the leader of the Hutch gang, which was in a feud with the Kinahan gang, led by Christy Kinahan. The feud of the two criminal gangs, called the 2015–16 Irish gangland feud, in the Republic of Ireland resulted in the deaths of ten people.
The Hutch–Kinahan feud is a major ongoing feud between two criminal organisations in Ireland that has resulted in the deaths of eighteen people, the majority of which have been perpetrated by the Kinahan family. The Hutch gang, led by Gerry Hutch, and the Kinahan Family, led by Daniel Kinahan, are the main participants.
David "Daithí" Douglas, an Irish zookeeper turned criminal, was shot dead on 1 July 2016. He had convictions dating from the 1980s as well as more recent ones and had survived a shooting the previous November. His murder is part of the Hutch–Kinahan feud. In August 2018 'Fat' Freddy Thompson was found guilty of the murder by the Special Criminal Court.
Frederick "Fat Freddie" Thompson is an Irish criminal connected to the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud who was also convicted of the murder of David Douglas.
MTK Global was a boxing and mixed martial arts management and event promotions company founded by Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan and former professional boxer Matthew 'Mack the Knife' Macklin. Originally established in 2012 as Macklin's Gym Marbella (MGM), the undertaking has attracted controversy due to its links to the Kinahan cartel and related allegations of money laundering, and MTK Global announced its closure in April 2022.
Daniel Joseph Kinahan is an Irish boxing promoter and suspected crime boss. He has been named by the High Court of Ireland as a senior figure in organised crime on a global scale. The Criminal Assets Bureau has stated he "controlled and managed" the operations of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, a criminal organisation which smuggles drugs and firearms into Ireland, the UK, and mainland Europe, and "has associations that facilitate international criminal activity in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America".
Gerard "Hatchet" Kavanagh was an Irish criminal who was a former boxer and senior member of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group run by Christy Kinahan. He would demand payment of drug debts with menaces. He was originally from Drimnagh. He was also father of Jamie Kavanagh.
David Byrne was an Irish criminal associated with the Kinahan Organised Crime Group run by Christy Kinahan. His parents were James and Sadie Byrne. He was from Raleigh Square in Crumlin.
Thomas "Bomber" Kavanagh is an Irish criminal and a senior member of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group founded by Christy Kinahan.
Liam Byrne is an Irish criminal and member of the Byrne Organised Crime Group and the Kinahan Organised Crime Group founded by Christy Kinahan.
Declan Brady, also known as Mr Nobody, is an Irish criminal with convictions for possession of firearms and money laundering. He is a senior figure in the Kinahan Organised Crime Group founded by Christy Kinahan.
Naoufal Fassih, also known as Buik, is a Dutch criminal of Moroccan origins. He has been at the centre of a longrunning feud between two Dutch crime gangs.
Graham "the wig" Whelan is an Irish criminal who is part of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.
The Lyons Crime Family is a British crime firm in Glasgow, Scotland involved in various organised crime activities, including drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion and violence. Since 2001, the Lyons family has been embroiled in a longstanding and deadly feud with another Glasgow-based crime family, the Daniel Crime Family.