Dissidents suspected of killing Dublin trader
IRISH police investigating the murder of a Dublin street trader are probing whether his involvement in the counterfeit cigarette market led to his death.
Clive Staunton (50) was gunned down on Thursday night after leaving his stall outside the Aviva Stadium, where Northern Ireland were playing the Republic in a football match.
He was shot twice in the head in a Co Kildare housing estate around 9.15pm, becoming the 19th victim of the Hutch-Kinahan feud.
Mr Staunton was originally from the Greek Street flats in Dublin’s north inner city but had been staying in the Leixlip area.
The deceased had family links to crime boss Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch.
Irish detectives are trying to untangle a web involving Mr Staunton, who is a relative of murder victims Gareth Hutch, Gary Hutch and Derek Coakley Hutch, all nephews of Gerry Hutch.
Gardai do not believe Mr Staunton had any involvement in the ongoing gangland feud, and suspect he was targeted because of his relation to the Hutch family.
According to sources in Dublin, one line of enquiry is whether he was involved in a “serious dispute” with dissident republicans because of a row over the distribution of black market cigarettes in the Irish capital.
Gardai believe the “completely professional” assassination was carried out by gunmen linked to the Kinahan cartel.
“The suspects in this case are the Kinahan cartel who may have got involved as a cloak of convenience,” a source said.
Mr Staunton was killed with two bullets to the head as he lay in the middle of the road outside his home. His killer first fired three shots through the driver’s window as the victim parked his van.
Mr Staunton had been selling merchandise outside the Aviva Stadium. He did not attend the match and reportedly left the vicinity of the Aviva at half-time.
Gardai have appealed for anybody with information to come forward.