How Regency hit sparked the gang feud without end

WHEN Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch hatched the most audacious criminal escapade of his three decade-long career he should have devoted a little more time to pondering the consequences of his impending spectacular.

Gardaí and villains alike have always begrudgingly acknowledged the shrewd, enigmatic gangster’s skills as a criminal mastermind – the modus operandi of his armed heists involved total secrecy and military-style planning. Every stage of the robbery would be timed down to the second; nothing was ever left to chance.

Hutch ran a tight, loyal team of criminals he had grown up with in Dublin’s north innercity, who trusted each other with their lives and accepted his judgment as inviolable.

Hutch was just 24 in January 1987 when he was catapulted into the big league of the burgeoning Irish underworld after his crew robbed IR£1.3m from a security van in Marino Mart on Dublin’s north side.

In January 1995 the Monk’s gang again made waves when they robbed IR£2.8m in a daring heist from a cash holding facility in north county Dublin.

However, it will be the Regency Hotel attack that will be remembered as one of the most spectacular miscalculations in gangland history.

Three years and 18 murders later, including those of his brother, three nephews and two best pals, Gerry Hutch is running for his life with his former friends and associates in the Kinahan cartel offering a €1m bounty for his head.

The warfare shows no signs of abating and top gardaí admit they see no end in sight for this unbalanced feud.

The collapse of the case against his nephew Patrick Hutch for the alleged murder of drug dealer David Byrne will be greeted as something of a morale booster for the Hutch clan.

But Patrick’s is a pyrrhic victory when one considers the ferocious backlash unleashed by the Kinahans in the wake of Byrne’s killing. They have murdered up to 16 people, including two totally innocent men, while the Hutch side are blamed for two killings.

Garda intelligence sources say the Kinahans and their top associates, including David Byrne’s brother Liam, are as determined as ever to keep drawing blood.

Along with his uncle and his dad, Patrick Hutch is one of the top three targets; a dead man walking who is probably only still alive because he was remanded in custody in a safe and secure prison cell for the past two years.

However, sources close to the Monk say his only regret following the Regency attack is that he did not succeed in killing Daniel Kinahan and his most senior lieutenants.

But his supporters say the Monk is not prepared to go out without a fight.

Hutch’s motives for the attack are worth recalling: he wanted revenge for the murder of his nephew Gary Hutch; and to draw first blood after it became clear the notoriously perfidious Daniel Kinahan had decided to wipe him out along with his entire family.

A month earlier, on New Year’s Eve, Hutch narrowly escaped a murder bid in a Spanish pub when two Dublin hit men were dispatched to assassinate him.

Hutch knew it was now a case of kill or be killed: he needed to demonstrate a ferocity that would leave foes begging for peace.

The primary target was to be Daniel Kinahan, the ‘Dapper Don’ Christy’s son and heir, and at least four of his closest lieutenants.

Kinahan had organised the weigh-in for a WBO European Lightweight title fight between Jamie Kavanagh v Antonio Jao Bento, due to take place the following day.

Up to a dozen people were involved in the plot including the five-member hit team, three of whom wore full police combat fatigues and were armed with AK47s.

The extraordinary images captured by press photographers went around the world to become part of the iconog- raphy of organised crime.

It was also a source of huge embarrassment for the Irish State when it emerged the depleted and under-resourced Garda force had no presence at the hotel even though the event had been widely identi- fied as a possible flash point.

The violence that ensued has scarred communities, particularly in the neighbourhood Hutch grew up in. The sight of heavily-armed police backing up their uniformed colleagues and permanent security posts outside the homes of Hutch family members are the norm.

And while the collapse of the Hutch trial may represent a setback for gardaí, overall their counter-offensive against the gangs has been outstanding.

More than 50 attempted or planned assassinations have been foiled through intelligence work; the killings have fallen significantly.

Since the Regency incident the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) have seized drugs worth €150m, €8.4m in cash and 91 firearms. Dozens of gang members have been arrested and convicted of crimes ranging from drug trafficking, possession of firearms to money laundering and murder.

Hutch knew it was kill or be killed: he needed to demonstrate a ferocity that would leave his foes begging for peace

The Criminal Assets Bureau has also been busy seizing property and cash.

Patrick Hutch’s walking free will certainly up the ante con- siderably with the Kinahans and Byrnes more determined to spill more Hutch blood.

The harsh truth is there will be no peace until the likes of Christy Kinahan senior and his ruthless son Daniel and the senior figures in the Hutch clan are either locked up or dead.