LEO KOS KINAHAN
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Leo Varadkar has revealed ireland contacted the united arab emirates to warn them about mob boss Daniel Kinahan’s dodgy past.
The Taoiseach told the Dail he was “taken aback” after the gangster helped broker a $200million megafight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in the Middle East next year. He made the comments as Labour leader Alan Kelly called on the Government to intervene in the controversy.
The High Court previously named Kinahan as a top figure in an organised crime gang.
CARTEL chief Daniel Kinahan’s dreams of becoming a boxing kingpin were on the ropes last night after the Taoiseach revealed Ireland has contacted authorities in his Middle East bolthole.
Leo Varadkar confirmed the Department of Foreign Affairs has written to the United Arab Emirates about the man named in Irish courts as a major player in organised crime.
Mr Varadkar was speaking in the Dail after Kinahan was called out as a mob boss by Labour chief Alan Kelly.
The heat was turned up on the exiled crime figure – who fled to Dubai when the Kinahan-hutch feud erupted – after it was revealed he had helped to broker a $200million superfight between heavyweight champs Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Fury credited Kinahan with doing the mega deal that would cement his decade-long dream of becoming one of the top names in world boxing.
However, the Dubliner’s plan to reinvent himself and shed his reputation as the head of a crime organisation trafficking drugs and weapons was unravelling last night.
Politicians on all sides have lined up to slam his link to the sport including Mr Kelly, Fine Gael’s Neale Richmond and Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin.
Fianna Fail’s Jim O’callaghan tweeted Fury and Joshua directly, telling them they “should know that the Kinahan organisation carries out execution-style murders and trafficks drugs and firearms on an international scale. The lives of their victims should matter more than a large boxing payout”.
The man who is tipped to be the new Justice Minister said he would change the law to make the evidence of a chief superintendent that someone is involved in gangland activity admissible in court.
Deputy O’callaghan also called on broadcasters to boycott the bout if Kinahan is involved.
The gang boss, 42, from Dublin’s south inner city, has been repeatedly named in Irish courts in connection with organised crime:
■ In 2018, a High Court ruling stated he controlled the Kinahan gang which is involved in drugs and weapons smuggling on a global scale
■ A month earlier, a Spanish police officer told a court in Marbella that Kinahan had ordered the murder of gang rival Gary Hutch on the Costa Del Sol in 2015, the killing that sparked a feud that would leave 18 dead
■ The Criminal Assets Bureau told the High Court the Kinahan organised crime group was engaged in a feud with the Hutch mob with Daniel Kinahan, Liam Byrne and Freddy Thompson on one side and former Dublin criminal Gerry Hutch on the other, and
■ Last month the Kinahan cartel was named in the Special Criminal Court as the organisation behind a foiled hit on Gerry Hutch’s older brother Patsy. Det Supt Dave Gallagher said he was satisfied the Kinahan mob was involved in serious offences, including murderous feuds and drug and firearms trafficking. Now he has also been
Jim O’callaghan exposed in the Dail as Mr Kelly called for the Taoiseach to intervene after MTK fighter Fury broke the news a €176million bout with fellow world champion Joshua had been pushed “over the line” by Kinahan.
The Labour leader told TDS people in the boxing and TV industries needed to be informed about the mob chief ’s bid to “whitewash” his name.
Mr Kelly said the country “owes it to the victims of the cartel” to let the international sporting community know the history of one of Ireland’s most notorious criminals.
Without directly naming Kinahan, he referred to an individual who was “involved in organised crime on a global scale and according to CAB, has been in control and management of the Kinahan operations for some time”.
Mr Kelly added: “He’s now rebranding himself in the Middle East as a boxing promoter and one of the most famous individuals involved in that has described him as ‘a smart, able and honest man’.”
The Taoiseach revealed he has been in touch with UAE authorities to warn them about the promoter’s past. He told Mr Kelly: “I was rather taken aback to see Tyson Fury in his video the other day just dropping in that name that you mentioned as if this was not somebody who has quite a chequered history in this State and elsewhere.
“And while I can’t comment on any particular Garda investigation, I can certainly assure you there has been contact between the Department of Foreign
JIM O’CALLAGHAN TWEET TO FURY AND AJ
Affairs and the authorities in the United Arab Emirates about that matter.”
Yesterday, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren revealed Kinahan played a central role in securing the heavyweight deal for two fights in 2021.
He said talks for the bout were handled by Kinahan who was an “advisor” to Fury.
The statement from Warren’s Queensberry Promotions added Kinahan’s existing relationship with Matchroom Boxing boss
Eddie Hearn – who is Joshua’s promoter – was the key factor. It read: “We can confirm negotiations have taken place between Eddie Hearn and Tyson’s adviser Daniel Kinahan.
“Both Queensberry and Top Rank, as Tyson’s exclusive promoters, and MTK Global, his management team, agreed that this would be the best way forward due to the existing relationship between Eddie and Daniel.
“As with all previous statements, Queensberry, Top Rank and MTK are committed to working with all parties to get this
fight over the line. At this point, we can confirm no contracts have been signed between any of the concerned parties, nor have any specifics been agreed regarding venues, dates and numerous other key terms.”
Kinahan is understood to be furious at the spotlight now being trained on his adopted home in Dubai and his new role as a sports advisor to the royal family in Bahrain.
Sources believe he has been carefully reconstructing his dream to become a boxing power broker since he escaped with his life from the Regency hotel attack in 2016. David Byrne was murdered at the Dublin weigh-in held by Kinahan’s former company MGM which has since been rebranded as MTK – Fury’s management firm.
The shootout destroyed Kinahan’s rising reputation in the sport for several years, a grudge he still holds against the Hutch mob, according to sources.
He stepped away from MTK but in recent months a PR war has been waged to win back his place at boxing’s top table.
The campaign included a rap song and a Youtube video that claimed the Regency attack was a conspiracy between the Government, Garda and media to kill him when he was “24 hours from becoming legitimate”.
He next landed a prestigious role advising the Prince of Bahrain in bringing lucrative pay-per-view fights to the Middle East.
Insiders suspect the clash between Fury and Joshua could be staged there with Arab states willing to put up a mega purse.