King Scum was evil... we took everything so he died broke and defeated
» Ex cop recalls op to take down cartel boss » Capital flooded by Felloni in 1980s & 90s
THE former top garda who put Tony “King Scum” Felloni behind bars today declares: “He was an evil man.”
And, in an exclusive interview with the Irish Sunday Mirror, John O’driscoll also says that Felloni, 81, was broke when he died of a heart attack in Dublin last week.
The man who brought down Felloni’s Dublin heroin empire in the 1990s continued: “We took everything off him.”
Mr O’driscoll retired as a Garda Assistant Commissioner in 2022 after leading the unprecedented international crackdown on the Kinahan drugs cartel.
He was in charge of Operation Pizza, a Store Street Drugs Unit probe into Felloni and his associates that saw the criminal hit with a massive 20-year jail term in 1996 for dealing heroin in central Dublin.
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Felloni was widely regarded as one of the most evil drug criminals in the history of the State and ruined countless lives by his dealing of heroin in the 1980s and 1990s in the capital.
Mr O’driscoll revealed that three of the Garda’s most senior officers were central to the takedown on Felloni, who died in the city’s Mater Hospital on Monday.
Mr O’driscoll said: “I was the sergeant and my troops included Seamie Boland who is now head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau; Angela Willis, who is Assistant Commissioner in charge of Dublin and Paul Cleary, who is an Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Eastern Region.
“The three of them would have been very much involved in that case.”
All three were rank and file, plain clothes gardai in the Store Street Unit and were tasked with taking on drug dealers in the area.
Their careers have prospered since their days on Mr O’driscoll’s team after they secured the conviction and sentencing of Felloni.
That 20-year jail-term was among the biggest ever handed down to a drug dealer at the time, and Mr O’driscoll said that was a reflection of how serious his crimes were.
And he said that his local squad and the national drugs unit, including future Commissioner Noirin O’sullivan and Assistant Commissioner Michael O’sullivan were both on Felloni, and other members of the family.
Mr O’driscoll told us: “It was a conviction that was very well received by the community who had long complained about his activities over many years in the heroin trade.
“He received a 20-year sentence having been caught numerous times by both the national drug unit as it was at the time, that would have been Noirin O’sullivan, Michael O’sullivan and [others].
“So they had a number of charges and then he became the focus of attention of the unit I was in charge of in Store Street.
“And of course, it wasn’t just Tony. We had an operation called Operation Pizza, so we put the whole family out of business.
“A number of the family were involved in heroin selling, including, in particular, Luigi and Regina. All three were convicted around that time, putting an end to that dynasty, putting them out of business.” And when asked if he thought Felloni was a bad man, Mr O’driscoll replied: “Yes. He was an evil man, partly based on the fact not only his drug selling, but the impact he had on some of his family members, who potentially would have taken a different route had they not been guided by their father down that route. He had a record of viciousness in terms of his relationship with his wife. He had no sympathy for drug users or had not much care for his own family.
“He had a particular reputation for being ruthless in the drug trade and having no sympathy for those who had succumbed to the habit.
“He had a reputation of being heartless in terms of even dealing with those who sold drugs.
“He had little sympathy for anybody who would be unable to afford a deal of heroin or whatever it might be.
A number of the Felloni family were involved in heroin selling
“It would be hard to find much positive to say about him. It was evidenced by the number of funerals of victims of drug users were so frequent at the time, and reflected in the fact that there was a generation of kids, many of whom were raised by grandparents rather than the parents, because of the extent of heroinrelated deaths.
“He wasn’t the only seller of heroin in the 1980s, but he was a significant player, which was reflected in the sentence.”
Mr O’driscoll also said the Store Street team’s collaboration with the local community to take on Felloni, who was hated in the area, set a template for future investigations. He continued: “Certainly that was the approach of the drug unit in Store Street at the time.
“We developed a reputation for success in terms of producing the goods in arrests and convictions.
“But it was more successful, in the manner in which went around business. We were a community focused unit that at all times, listened to and reacted to the what the community were experiencing as a consequence of the heroin epidemic at the time.”
Felloni, who is believed to have amassed more than €1million in assets through heroin dealing between 1988 and 1996, spent 14 years in Portlaoise Prison for drug dealing.
He was released in late 2011. He was stripped of €500,000 in assets by the Criminal Assets Bureau in May 2010 after officers emerged victorious from a 14-year-battle to seize his ill-gotten-gains.
The money included cash stashed in accounts throughout Ireland and England as well as money from the sale of a house. And Mr O’driscoll said Felloni was finished with crime when he came out of jail and he died broke. He added: “We took everything off him basically. He had become institutionalised.
“He had spent so much of his life in prison, because at that stage of his life to receive a 20-year sentence, it was it was unlikely that his criminal career would resurrect again. I think he was defeated at that stage.”
He had a reputation for being ruthless & having no sympathy