29 on death list in brutal gangland war

IERLAND - In the most violent gangland feud in Irish criminal history they are Dublin’s dead men walking.

As one international crime gang headed up by a Dublin drug smuggler seeks to annihilate its rival in the Irish capital, at least 29 men have been told they are on death lists. Fifteen people have already died, with many more injured and dozens of families have been driven from their homes by fear and intimidation during two years of gang warfare between master criminals Christy Kinahan and Gerry “The Monk” Hutch. There is seemingly no end in sight to their fight over the Dublin drug trade, which has intensified and become ever more personal. The Guardian has learned that the joint policing committee in Dublin, which brings together elected representatives including city councillors and senior police officers, received information at the start of the year that detectives have informed 29 men they risk being assassinated. Despite appeals from politicians, community leaders and church figures for an end to the bloodletting, the Kinahan cartel appears determined to wipe out the entire Hutch gang and anyone it perceives as loyal to it. The shooting war has resulted in areas such as Sheriff Street in central Dublin, not far from the city’s main O’Connell Street thoroughfare, being put under 24/7 police surveillance. Armed detectives are parked in cars outside the homes of Hutch associates. Similar patrols have been deployed on a round-the-clock basis in areas seen as Kinahan gang strongholds, such as Crumlin and Ballyfermot, south of the river Liffey. (The Guardian) Sheriff Street in central Dublin has been put under 24/7 police surveillance after the shooting war between rival gangs.(Photo: EPA)