GODFATHER OF HEROIN DUNNE DEAD AGED 72
Flash thug who paved way for today’s narcos passes away in hospital
THE drug lord responsible for flooding Ireland with heroin has died.
Flash Larry Dunne, 72, passed away in Dublin’s St James’s Hospital on Monday.
He was the first to get the country hooked on smack when it became widely available in the early 80s.
The underworld his empire helped to carve out paved the way for today’s narcos.
As he was being led away to begin a 10-year sentence for drug trafficking in 1985, he infamously warned: “If you think we were bad, wait until you see what’s coming after us.”
IRELAND’S original evil drug lord Larry Dunne has died aged 72.
The gangster, who introduced heroin to the country in the 1980s, passed away in St James’s Hospital, Dublin, on Monday. It is understood he was rushed there by ambulance that evening from his home in Rathfarnham.
Dunne had been suffering from a longterm illness but according to reports he was also bleeding from suspected knife wounds. Gardai are not seeking anyone else in connection with his death.
In 1985, as was being led away to begin a 10-year sentence for drug trafficking, the scumbag infamously warned: “If you think we were bad, wait until you see what’s coming after us.” He only be remembered for a legacy of devastation and hell inflicted on generations of young people.
Dunne’s evil enterprise lay waste to whole communities in his native Dublin from Sheriff Street in the inner city to Ballymun on the northside and the southside flats around Dolphin’s Barn where he was raised.
The underworld his empire helped to carve out paved the way for the drug gangs who still ply the same evil trade today.
And the lifestyle of casual, ruthless violence and flash living he set remains the template for arrogant young criminals today. In 1982, while awaiting trial for trafficking heroin, cocaine and hash, he splurged €100,000 on a luxury home in Sandyford in the foothills of the Dublin mountains.
It enjoyed panoramic views over the city that was in the grip of his heroin plague.
In the days before the Criminal Assets Bureau he simply transferred the money – the equivalent of €1.3million today – from his bank account to pay for the palatial property
Dunne was born into a large south inner city Dublin family of 14. He grew up in Dolphin’s Barn, in corporawill tion houses built on Rutland Avenue in the mid-1940s to rehouse families from slums in the Liberties.
His father Christy “Bronco” Dunne Snr had served time for manslaughter and his mother Ellen hailed from a staunchly republican background.
He fell easily into petty crime and was sent like many of his brothers to the Daingean Reformatory in Co Offaly.
His time there would harden a hatred of authority and a ready willingness to inflict violence. On release he would graduate quickly to organised crime.
As the State cracked down on the armed robberies that were the calling card of the Provisional IRA, Larry Dunne became the first to spot an opening in the fledgling trade in heroin from the Middle East that was catching fire in the
If you think we’re bad wait until you see what is coming
KARRY DUNNE SPEAKING IN 1985
UK and mainland Europe. The head of CAB, Det Chief Supt Pat Clavin, would recall of the 1980s: “When I joined the police we were told there were two crime families in Ireland.
“One was called the Cahills and the other was called the Dunnes. The Cahills were involved in burglaries and robberies and the Dunnes were credited with bringing heroin into Ireland.”
It was a lucrative business.
And Larry Dunne became the prototype for the flash drugs’ godfather that the CAB would be set up to target over a decade later.
After emerging from the squalor of 1970s urban decay he became hooked on the good life. He dressed expensively and tastefully, with a penchant for Italian designer suits by the likes of Giorgio
Armani, Pierre Cardin sweaters, Lacoste shirts and soft leather shoes. Dunne wore a solitaire diamond ring and a gold Rolex.
He also quickly learned that violence and intimidation were essential tools of this new drug trade. Among the anecdotes detectives heard were tales of rival dealers made to dig their own graves.
Industrial schools and jails gave Dunne a special hatred for prison officers. One had a lucky escape when he jumped into his car to find two razor sharp blades had been embedded in the seat – they were meant to cut off his testicles.
Another who kept valuable dogs received a call to his local pub one evening from Larry and was told to get home straight away. He arrived to find the kennels destroyed by fire and his 15 beloved dogs dead in the blaze. But as heroin reaped its savage whirlwind on inner city communities and whipped up a tsunami of crime by addicts, the State slowly woke to the threat.
Resources were diverted from fighting the IRA and the armed robbers to take down the Dunnes.
In June 1983 Larry Dunne was brought before the courts to face drug trafficking charges.
After a morning of damning evidence, the on-bail thug decided things were not going his way.
A call was made from a pub where he was having his lunch and Dunne was driven away to a life on the run. A jury took 20 minutes to convict him in his absence. The fugitive took off across the country, spent a spell in a hippy commune and then became one of the first Irish drug lords to flee to Spain’s Costa del Crime – a path that would be followed some years later by his present day successors.
He was eventually recaptured, extradited and taken away to serve 10 years of a 14-year jail term.
He would tell a friend some years ago, “If I didn’t do it [sell heroin] somebody else would. I don’t force them to buy it”.
He would never admit to his role in creating the monster that he predicted would follow in his footsteps.