CHRISTY’S APPETIT...
■ Mobster rates and slates restaurants across the globe
CHRISTY Kinahan could soon be eating prison food — but for now he has established himself as a top restaurant reviewer earning the title “the Gastro Gangster”.
The Dapper Don (67) has been laughing at law enforcement agencies and has rated and slated restaurants and bars from Dubai to South Africa despite a global manhunt for him.
There might be a $5M bounty on his head and he’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, but the founder of the Kinahan drugs cartel fancies himself as a “bon viveur” who has been travelling the world rating restaurants and hotels.
The online reviews show he has traversed the globe, posting reviews from Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Turkey, Egypt, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Hong Kong.
While the public’s image of him is that of a fugitive laying low and one the run from justice nothing could be further from the truth.
Life
Through his connections he has been able to live a life of extreme luxury while staying in some of the world’s most expensive hotels and dining in exclusive restaurants.
An investigation by the Sunday Times and Bellingcat, the Netherlands-based investigative group, has discovered that the “Dapper Don” certainly lives up to his name.
Using the alias Christopher Vincent, the painstaking research uncovered Kinahan’s reviews and pictures on Google Maps between 2019 and last year.
The material not only shines a light on the gangster’s preferences and movements but it also highlights the fact he and his sons Daniel and Christopher Jr are still living it large.
Amid much publicity, the US announced it was offering a collective reward of
$15million (€13.86m) for information leading to the arrest of the father and his two sons.
The revelations about Kinahan’s global gastronomic exploits also make a nonsense of the claims that he and his sons are about to be booted out of their hideout in Dubai.
The research shows that nothing could be further from the truth.
Up until last year Kinahan reviewed everything from expensive restaurants to fishing trips off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
And far from hiding in the shadows, he has been posting thousands of pictures of his travels and luxurious lifestyle.
Despite pressure from the Government and US law agencies, it appears that the Kinahan family are unfazed — believing their highlevel connections will secure their safety.
As well as being well established in Dubai, it is known they have worked with Mexican and South American cartels as well as jihadists in Asia and even intelligence services in Russia and Iran.
While the Kinahan gang were engaged in a murderous feud in Ireland that claimed at least 18 lives the Dapper Don was not only living the high life, he was recording it as well.
He became such a prolific Google reviewer that his profile earned more than 10,000 points allowing him to obtain a “level 7”