Nicky wasn’t put off by Liam
Just two days later, the Kinahans moved against Douglas, from Cabra in north Dublin.
One of their hitmen approached him the following Sunday night and shot Douglas — who was caged for five years in 2009 after he and three others were caught with €500,000 of cocaine by an elite Garda unit in 2006 — as he walked his dog.
Mr Douglas, who was also jailed in 1983 for attempting to murder a garda, was rushed to the Mater Hospital in Dublin city centre after he was shot several times in the upper body.
Despite his wounds, he somehow made a full recovery and was discharged from hospital around a month later — but was still a marked man.
He was lying low, however, and the Kinahans soon turned their attention to Mr Kearns.
The 35-year- old was cornered in the car park of Cumiskey’s Pub on Dublin’s Navan Road after a Chinese meal with his wife on New Year’s Eve 2015.
A Kinahan hitman, suspected of at least two other murders, pumped six shots into him — killing him instantly.
Drugs
No- one has ever been charged with the murder of Mr Kearns, who had been released from prison the previous February after serving a jail term for drugs offences.
But the Kinahans were not satisfied with his death — and went after Douglas again. This time Freddie Thompson, now a key ally of Kinahan, took control of the murder plot — and made sure there was no mistake.
He led a four- strong team that was involved in the attack on Douglas as he stood outside his wife’s shop on Bridgefoot Street, south central Dublin on July 1, 2016.
The 55-year-old was shot de ad shortly after 4pm, as he ate a curry in his partner’s shoe shop, Shoestown.
He had been shot six times to the head, neck and throat. A semi-automatic pistol with its serial number removed was found next to his head.
Gardai do not believe either Mr Douglas or Mr Kearns were involved in the botched hit on Daniel Kinahan.
Gardai from Kevin Street Station in the city centre mounted a massive investigation into the Douglas killing — and Thompson quickly fled Ireland.
BLOODY SAGA: (top to bottom) Gary Hutch whose 2015 murder sparked the Kinahan- Hutch feud, Darren Kearns who was killed by cartel and Chief Supt Paul Cleary who arrested Thompson in 2016
But, on November 1 of 2016, detectives became aware he was planning to return home for a two-hour meeting at the City North Hotel, just off the M1 and on the border of counties Dublin and Meath.
Hotel
Then Detective Inspector, now Chief Supt, Paul Cleary, led a team of armed officers to the hotel and mounted a surveillance operation there.
Chief Supt Cleary saw Thompson and followed him in to the toilet — where he promptly arrested him.
Thompson, of Loreto Road in central Dublin, has been in custody ever since.
The three-judge Special Criminal Court — which sits without a jury — convicted him of the murder in August 2018.
WESTLIFE singer Nicky Byrne has said Liam Gallagher once told the band to f*** off — but the star said he’s still a fan of the Oasis frontman.
The Dubliner said Gallagher was the rudest celebrity he had ever met.
Speaking to Rebecca and Brendan on 98FM’s Big Breakfast, he said: “Well, Liam Gallagher told us to ‘f**k off’ when we were starting off.
“I’m still a fan, but he did do it”.
Nicky had previously told how they met Gallagher back in 1998 and tried to talk to him by telling him they were Louis Walsh’s new boyband.
“We had flown into London and the label said to us, ‘ There’s a brand new Tommy Hilfiger store opening.’
“And when we arrived... Oasis were there...so we thought we had to go over and say hello. Me and one of the boys walked over and tipped them on the shoulder.
“Liam turned around and we said: ‘we’re Louis Walsh’s new band,’ and he just went, “F*** off’.”