Daniel Kinahan’s desperate bid to whitewash his reputation
:: Boxing deal won’t help cartel boss to shake off bloody history
DANIEL Kinahan’s favourite movie of all time is ‘The Godfather’ – the classic saga of a fictional Italian mafia crime family set in New York in the 1940s and 1950s.
According to some who know him, Kinahan can recite whole chunks of the script based on Mario Puzo’s novel and has even taken to Twitter to expound on his artistic appreciation of the masterpiece.
It is said that life sometimes imitates art and as Kinahan attempts to reinvent himself as a boxing impresario from his desert bolthole, one begins to understand why he finds meaning in ‘The Godfather’ and its central character, Michael Corleone.
There are striking similarities between Kinahan and his celluloid antihero. Both the real and the imagined characters inherit the crime empires created by their fathers to become the ‘boss of bosses’. They then proceed to consolidate their power and influence through violent means.
The recurring theme of the ‘Godfather’ trilogy revolves around Michael Corleone’s ultimate aim of achieving respectability and transforming himself into a legitimate businessman.
The same holds true for Daniel Kinahan, the man who controls one of Europe’s biggest crime cartels which is responsible for up to 16 murders in the so-called Kinahan/Hutch feud.
From his safe haven in Dubai where he has ingratiated himself with the power class, Kinahan launched a multipronged offensive to consolidate his position as one of the most powerful figures in world boxing and attempt to erase his reputation as the murderous godfather of crime that he is.
His campaign to gain legitimacy included a barrage of fake news on social media and the hiring of a top UK legal firm to fire off threatening missives to the Irish media.
In a textbook example of cognitive dissonance, Kinahan claims he has been the victim of a concerted campaign of vilification by the media which has an “agenda of publishing offensive articles” about him which have caused him “distress and concern”.
He maintains this position even after gardaí named the Kinahan Organised Crime Group as being responsible for a string of murders and the importation of drugs and guns into Ireland.
Kinahan’s campaign to clean the slate received a boost of sorts in a bizarre YouTube “documentary” which gardaí say is the latest attempt to improve his image and cast doubt over his past for the benefit of the international boxing community.
‘The Regency Hotel Attack’ by Scarcity Studios, a Birmingham-based YouTube channel, promulgates the wild theory that the attempt on Kinahan’s life was the result of a conspiracy involving the Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch’s gang, gardaí and Fine Gael to scupper Sinn Féin’s chances in the 2016 General Election a few weeks later.
The ‘documentary’ was removed from the internet on Thursday following a complaint of a breach of copyright by Independent News and Media (INM).
Meanwhile, Kinahan’s penchant for self-delusion seems to have infected the elite of world boxing which has adopted a posture of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. The gang boss has been embraced as the
‘His problem is he didn’t get his brains from his father’
principal powerbroker behind a heavyweight championship fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in the oil-rich UAE.
The vast sums of cash that the new golden boy has promised to generate for a lot of people have effectively blinded them to his toxic side.
Last week there was disbelief in international law enforcement circles at the news that Kinahan had been appointed as a special adviser to KHK Sports, a company owned by Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad of Bahrain’s royal family.
There was less surprise two days ago when the boxing promotions company MTK, which had denied any connection to the cartel boss, announced that it has entered into partnership with Kinahan and KHK Sports.
Comments by Sandra Vaughan, who bought MTK from Kinahan, encapsulate the prevailing atmosphere of “constructive ambiguity” that hangs around the mob boss.
Vaughan, who previously threatened legal action if anyone linked her to Kinahan, recently took to a streaming channel dedicated to combat sports to extol his virtues and admonish the media for saying such awful things about him and not showing pride in his impressive achievements.
She declared: “Whether the Irish media like it or not, he is now one of the most powerful men in boxing and combat sport. They really need to suck it up. They write crazy stuff and it’s insane. They are going to have to acknowledge at some point that people like Bob Arum and the Prince of Bahrain...that it all happens because of Daniel Kinahan.
“At some point would you not be proud that someone from inner-city Dublin is sitting at a table with that level of the organisation?”
The sentiment was echoed by the US boxing promoter Arum who recently said of Ireland’s most dangerous crime boss: “He has been more than honourable with us, a man of his word, so our relationships are good. A lot of fighters rely on him for advice. We have great confidence in Kinahan.
He has great connections. Everybody trusts Kinahan. He is one of my favourite guys.”
In a comment to another newspaper, he refused to be drawn on Kinahan’s toxic side but made the following interesting remark: “I’m not naive. I was a federal prosecutor myself. I’m saying I can disregard all of that stuff. It doesn’t affect me. It hasn’t affected me. When it does, I’ll have to deal with it.”
Perhaps Arum is waiting until an international arrest warrant is issued for Kinahan to face charges in Ireland relating to being the leader of an organised crime gang.
Earlier this week the Irish Independent also revealed that Kinahan is suspected of driving one of the cars used by the killers of the Monk’s brother, Eddie Hutch, three days after the Regency attack.
The press release that accompanied the announcement of the KHK/ MTK global partnership must have sickened all the decent people involved in the boxing world. Many will ask what kind of signal does this send to children involved in the sport if it is corrupted at such a high level.
Kinahan was quoted as saying: “The only way for the sport to truly grow and be accessible to all is to make it a truly global sport and this partnership will ensure that boxing is accessible to all in the Middle East and open the region to international opportunities.”
According to a senior security source, Daniel Kinahan and his father, Christy, who is supposedly retired, are effectively prisoners in the Middle East because it is one of the few places that they cannot be extradited from.
“I’d wonder if the people he is dealing with in the UAE could even find Ireland on a map, which may change as international media begin to pick up on the story.
If he leaves [Dubai] he is extremely vulnerable from law enforcement agencies and other criminals including the Hutches who have scores to settle with him,” the source said.
“Kinahan’s quest for legitimacy has come too late and in his arrogance he believes his own propaganda. His problem is that he didn’t get his brains from his father and paraded around for years as the cock of the walk.”
Like his hero Michael Corleone, Daniel Kinahan has too much blood on his hands to ever come anywhere near legitimate.
He will either end up in prison or dying by an assassin’s bullet. To coin an old IRA phrase, his enemies have only to be lucky once. Daniel Kinahan needs to be lucky all the time.