Gardai call for radical overhaul to tackle vicious gangland thugs
Jim Cusack reports on the escalating gangland feuds that have gripped Dublin and Limerick and seen murder and arms seizure rates rocket
Sunday April 20 2008
Gardai believe that new management structures have to be put in place in Limerick to contend with the violence in the city which is set to escalate yet again as pressure mounts in at least seven different feuds in the city.
In the past 10 days gardai in Limerick averted a homicidal attack on mourners at one of the gangland funerals, along the lines of the loyalist, Michael Stone's attack on the funeral of the three IRA members in Belfast 20 years ago. Intelligence led gardai to be able to prevent the attack on members of the McCarthy, Dundon and Kelly families attending the funeral of James Cronin, the 20-year-old gang member who was murdered in the city two weeks ago.
The attack was being mounted by a member of the rival Keane-Collopy gang, who was intent on opening fire on the mourners at Mount Saint Oliver Cemetery on April 11. Although the attack was directed at members of the Dundons, McCarthys and Kellys, gardai believe that it was, in fact, members of the Dundons and McCarthys who killed Cronin who was one of their own gang members.
The gang leaders, believing that if Cronin was arrested and questioned he might implicate them, decided on his murder. Gardai found his body in a shallow grave by accident two days later while searching for guns.
A major concern for gardai in Limerick now is that the gang has splintered over the murder of James Cronin and are intent on another blood feud. Two leading members of the Dundon faction fled the city after the discovery of Cronin's body and are believed to have gone to England, not to escape arrest but apparently fearing they would become targets in a new feud over Cronin's murder. They are still being sought for questioning by gardai.
It is one of at least seven active feuds in the city, local people say. Aside from the decade-old Keane-Collopy and the Ryan-McCarthy-Dundon-Kelly feud there are others within these gangs and between new younger gangs in the city. The origins of the other feuds all involve former gang associates who have fallen out and become deadly enemies.
Despite the deployment of the garda's Emergency Response Unit and additional police in the city, the violence is showing no sign of letting up.
Last Tuesday, in Nicholas Street at 3pm, a man was stabbed after he was attacked in his car by two men. They rammed his red Volkswagen from behind with a silver SUV. They then attacked him but he was able to drive away with only minor injuries. Local sources said it was directly related to a current feud in the Moyross area where the victim lived and that the intention was to murder him.
As well as the feuding there is widespread intimidation and threats of murder in the city against ordinary citizens.
On Wednesday afternoon, residents in streets around Blackthorn Drive in Moyross were said to have scattered in terror when an SUV carrying four or five men with their hoodies tied up around their faces drove into the area followed by two others on a motorcycle. The gang, associated with the Ryan family, did nothing other than gesture at locals before driving away. However, onlookers said that there was a real fear among residents at the incident. "It happens every day here, in broad daylight," one resident said. "One of the fellas in the car has just been released from jail. He's crazy. He's full of hatred you wouldn't believe."
After the arrest of one of the local gang members in the northern end of Moyross, fellow gang members have apparently blamed local people for "ratting" on him. They are carrying on a campaign to intimidate and drive people from their homes.
The regeneration agency set up last year as part of a government-directed initiative to tackle criminal and social problems in Limerick is being inundated with calls from local people wanting to move from the gang-blighted parts of Moyross. Members of the Regeneration Agency met residents last week to show them plans for redeveloped housing in the area. It is estimated that almost half the 1,100 houses in Moyross are substandard and should be demolished. Over half the 1,000 houses in Southill are derelict and are to be demolished.
As well as having the highest per capita levels of homicide of any city in Europe, Limerick also has uniquely high levels of social housing. Areas like Moyross and Southill have five-times the national unemployment level.
Gardai said last week that the stop-gap methods of sending detectives and members of the ERU from Dublin to Limerick during periods of heightened violence, then withdrawing them when things quieten down, only to send them back again, is not working.
A number said that in strategic terms a mistake had been made in placing the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Southern Garda Division in Cork and the post should be located in Limerick because of its problems.
The lack of detention places for young offenders is also identified by gardai as a major cause of drift into crime and drugs by young people in poor areas of Limerick. With laws like the Children's' Act effectively preventing the imprisonment of young offenders and only some 140 places available in the county, gangs are recruiting younger and younger members to transport drugs and weapons around the city. A 14-year-old is currently in custody awaiting trial after being arrested in possession of a gun.
Senior garda sources said there are tried and tested methods of tackling crime in areas like Moyross and Southill and breaking up gangs but these are not being fully utilised in Limerick.
The most successful policing model in modern terms is the "zero tolerance" model used in New York. The strategy was known there as "one broken window" following the observation that where there were broken windows and rubbish in streets there was crime. During the programme's operation in New York, the number of murders plummeted from 2,262 to 629.
The parts of Limerick where gang crime and intimidation are worst are characterised, if anything, by the amount of broken windows, boarded up houses, rubbish strewn streets and gardens of empty houses. Two weeks ago, Limerick City Council revealed that only half of 735 people prosecuted for littering paid fines. Of the 373 who did not pay only 43 were convicted.
Last year the government appointed former Dublin City manager John Fitzgerald to report on how to tackle the problems relating to crime and social neglect in the city. His recommendations were very much in line with the " zero tolerance" idea.
