Exclusive: The gang boss – who has been implicated in up to 16 murders – was arrested by specialist gardai in the capital this morning
(Image: NurPhoto, NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Gardai have arrested the criminal mastermind known as Mr Big as part of a major gangland crackdown.
Dublin Live has learned that the criminal – whose gang has been implicated in up to 16 murders and is regarded as one of the biggest and most dangerous mob bosses in the country – was arrested in Dublin earlier today.
He is being questioned in a Dublin Garda Station this evening under anti-gangland legislation. Gardai have the power to hold him for up to seven days.
We have established that the Dubliner, who is in his 40s, was arrested as part of the same probe that saw a glamorous businesswoman and another man detained on Wednesday.
All three are being questioned over an investigation into the activities of an organised crime group in the north east. The suspect arrested today is also being investigated for the April 2020 murder of psyhco killer Robbie Lawlor, but sources said he was not detained over that offence on Thursday,
Although the Lawlor killing happened in north Belfast’s Etna Drive, investigators believe it was organised and ordered in Dublin by Mr Big.
Investigators believe Mr Big sanctioned the murder of Lawlor, 34, because he feared the Dubliner was planning to kill him as part of the Drogheda feud.
Lawlor, who was a suspect in the horror murder of teenager Keane Mulready-Woods in the Co Louth town in January 2020 as part of that feud – and Mr Big was linked to the opposing side.
He feared Lawlor was planning to kill him – and decided to strike first. Officers also believe the crime Godfather had it in for Lawlor since he murdered his close associate Kenneth Finn, 36, in north Dublin in February 2018.
Two men have already been charged with the murder of Lawlor after a PSNI investigation north of the border, but last year officers teamed up with gardaí to mount a joint operation that saw the series of searches in the Republic.
A house connected to Mr Big was one of 12 properties searched in that operation – in which gardai seized phones and other electronic equipment.
Sources say last year’s operation was linked to the Encrochat affair – when French police broke the encrypted phone service, used by criminals all over the world.
Ironically, the two other people arrested on Wednesday as part of the probe into the north east crime group had links to Lawlor – but Mr Big was his sworn enemy.
Mr Big, who is heavily involved in drugs, tiger kidnapping and other serious crime, has long been a major target of gardai. But officers have never been able to land a knockout punch against the Dubliner.
His gang is in the frame for a string of murders, including dissident republican brothers Alan and Vincent Ryan as well as Lawlor. He has formed a close alliance with the drugs cartel run by mobster Daniel Kinahan, 47. Gardai also believe Mr Big is setting up his own cocaine smuggling network by sourcing cocaine directly from South America.
Sources say gardai who have been monitoring Mr Big believe he is one of the most intelligent and ruthless gangsters in Irish criminal history. Mr Big also became involved in a Kinahan drugs scheme in Australia. He sent his key bagman to the country to help launder funds for the cartel.
The gang was smuggling cocaine into Australia in thousands of birthday cards. The scam saw the gang packing small amounts of high-grade cocaine behind oversized age badges on birthday cards. They then sprayed the card with Deep Heat pain relief spray to kill the scent of the cocaine from sensitive customs machines and sniffer dogs.
More than a dozen cards were then sent at one same time to vacant houses being renovated in Australia by Irish workers – who had been recruited by the gang. The scam was finally smashed in 2018 and several people arrested – but not before it had earned the cartel at least €1 million. Sources say Mr Big’s bagman helped launder the money and get it back to Ireland. Mr Big also sent the same man to South America to source his own cocaine for sale in Dublin.
We have contacted the Garda press Office for comment over Thursday’s arrest.
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