Allies of dead gang boss get 26 years over €2m drugs plot
Friday November 20 2009
TWO former close associates of murdered crime gang boss, Martin 'Marlo' Hyland were yesterday jailed for a combined 26 years for drug trafficking.
Hyland was the head of a notorious drugs network until he was shot dead in Finglas in west Dublin.
In the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, William Hynes and John Mangan were sentenced to jail for 12 and 14 years respectively for "overseeing the safe transfer and distribution onwards" of a major cannabis haul.
Judge Patrick McCartan noted that the two men were "deeply committed and involved in the drugs trade".
Mangan was on bail for a previous drugs offence at the time and will begin the term when his current sentence ends.
He is currently serving 14 years, imposed in May 2008, for possession of cannabis resin worth €341,787 for sale or supply in Drumcondra and for possessing a firearm on a different occasion at the Cornet Pub in Santry, Co Dublin. He had claimed the weapon was for his own protection.
Hynes was previously jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2000 after he admitted possessing 210kg of cannabis, with a street value of IR£2m, with intent to supply on April 5 1998.
The €2m cannabis haul at the centre of yesterday's case was found by gardai in 14 boxes, split between a Ford Transit van and an Opel Astra car in Browns Barn public house car park at City West. The two men were arrested nearby.
Cannabis
Hynes (43) of Park Close, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath; and Mangan (41) of Whitestown Green, Blanchardstown, Dublin, were last month found guilty of conspiring with others to possess cannabis resin for sale or supply on July 31 2006.
Detective Garda John McMonagle said that Mangan had 26 previous convictions for offences. These included possession of firearms in suspicious circumstances and drug possession, as well as public order and road traffic offences.
He said Hynes had eight previous convictions including previous drugs offences.
Det Gda McMonagle said gardai did not have a record of either man ever being meaningfully employed.
He said that he had been surprised by a mention during the case of the deceased Martin 'Marlo' Hyland by Mangan.
Mangan told his defence counsel that he had driven an Opel Astra to Brown's Barn as a favour for "Mr Martin Hyland".
Hyland was murdered in a gangland hit in December 2006.
Judge McCartan made an order forfeiting to the State the Opel Astra and a Citroen C5 used by the defendants.
A co-accused, Darren Hamilton (24), was given a nine-year sentence with 18 months suspended by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on July 31 2009 for his part in the drugs plot.
Hamilton, of Kippure Park, Finglas, had pleaded guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply at Browns Barn on July 31 2006.
Judge Delahunt noted that Hamilton was not the mastermind in this crime, but said he was an essential cog in the wheel.
The judge also acknowledged that he might have been in fear of the people involved with him in the crime.
- Fiona Ferguson
Irish Independent
