DESPERATE mob boss Daniel Kinahan rang Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch’s brother Eddie just six days before the taxi driver was murdered.
The Irish Sun today reveals for the first time how Spanish cops established that Kinahan, 45, was terrified of being whacked by the veteran criminal’s associates.
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At the same time, Spanish investigators had also received intelligence that Gerry Hutch had a “lot of support from older criminals” and had “sourced weapons from Spain”.
Officers had identified one ageing criminal with a violent background who could support The Monk, but later established he was “too ill” to get involved in the feud.
And investigators from the Netherlands also expressed concern to Gardai that Hutch had access to weapons from the gang’s associates in Amsterdam.
Kinahan— who has a $5million bounty on his head from the US government — made the telephone call to Eddie as part of his efforts to arrange a meeting with Hutch.
Investigators have established that during the call, Kinahan demanded Hutch, 60, attend a meeting with the cartel. He also called to Eddie’s home to make the plea.
‘Dapper Don’ Christy Kinahan’s son — classified by Spanish cops as the head of ‘La Organization’ — sought the meeting just weeks after he dispatched cartel assassins Eamon Cumberton and Christopher Slator to Lanzarote to murder The Monk at Christmas 2015.
The pair failed in their mission after Hutch bolted when he spotted the pair entering the pub.
And when Hutch refused to attend any meeting with the mob boss, Kinahan was left furious.
Following the call, intelligence was also passed on claiming The Monk’s belief was that the feud “could not be sorted” and had “gone too far”.
PLOT TO KILL
Unknown to the cartel chief at the time, the Hutch faction were plotting to kill him at the Regency.
Just three days after Kinahan’s call to Eddie, the intentions of the Hutch faction became crystal clear when a heavily armed hit team stormed into the Regency.
After the six-man team struck on February 5, 2016 and shot dead cartel lieutenant David Byrne, the cartel took revenge just three days later by murdering Eddie at his north inner city Dublin home.
One senior investigator told The Irish Sun: “There was a lot of tension between both groups in the days leading up to the Regency.
“The fact that Daniel was still requesting a meeting after he had ordered Gary Hutch’s murder, received €200,000 from the Hutches in compensation for the attempt on Daniel’s life in 2014 and tried to have Gerry Hutch killed shows just how arrogant he was.
“There was no way Gerry Hutch was going to meet with Daniel Kinahan because they all knew he couldn’t be trusted.
“He had a massive ego but he was clearly terrified of Gerry Hutch because he knew he would be a very dangerous enemy.
“Eddie Hutch wasn’t involved in the feud but he was a soft touch and he knew he still had contact with Gerry.
“When David Byrne was murdered, the cartel immediately blamed Gerry Hutch and made it personal by killing Eddie.”
It was the second time Spanish investigators received intelligence on the cartel’s interactions with the Hutches before the Regency attack.
PREVENTING WAR
Following the murder of The Monk’s nephew Gary at his apartment in southern Spain on September 25, 2015, a meeting was held at Madrid Airport.
The aim of the gathering was to broker a peace deal and to prevent all-out war.
On that occasion, the Hutch side was represented by The Monk, Gary’s father Patsy and another close associate.
Representing the Kinahan faction were Christy Kinahan, his youngest son Christopher Jnr and John ‘The Colonel’ Cunningham.
Before the meeting, the Hutch side’s pre-condition was that the murder of Gary was not to be discussed.
They also vowed not to attend the Madrid Airport summit if Daniel Kinahan was present.
HEATED EXCHANGE
Once the meeting had ended, investigators concluded that there had been “heated exchanges” with “no conclusion”.
And in the days that passed, intelligence was received that Daniel Kinahan had made his first approach to Eddie.
Gardai believe that Kinahan approached Eddie because he was close to his brother and wasn’t seen as any type of threat because he wasn’t involved in organised crime.
Other cartel figures who approached The Monk’s brother about a possible meeting were cousins and cartel footsoldiers Gary and Barry Finnegan.
Following Eddie’s murder on February 8, 2016, one of the main suspects identified under ‘Operation Raglan’ was a cartel assassin.
The killer was also linked to the murder of John Paul Joyce in 2010, an attempt to kill John Gilligan in 2013 and the murder of Noel ‘King Size’ Duggan in March 2016.
SUPPORT PLEA
Spanish investigators also established from the secret wiretaps that the suspect — who has been arrested twice by Gardai over the killing — once sought the support of The Monk when he was threatened by slain crime boss Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne.
On that occasion in 2009, Gary Hutch asked Daniel if the gunman could relocate to Spain because he was being threatened by Dunne.
In a recorded phone call, Hutch boasted how he had once put “Dunne in his place”.
And when the man who would go on to become a chief suspect in his uncle’s murder just seven years later expressed concern for his safety, Hutch replied: “There’s no way they will try anything as they would know what they are getting into.”
The pair would remain close over the years until Gary Hutch made the fateful move of planning a hit on Daniel Kinahan in 2014.
And when The Monk’s nephew was murdered in September 2015, the gunman offered his services to the Kinahan cartel.
Although he has been quizzed about the murder of Eddie under ‘Operation Raglan’, he has not faced any charges.
One senior prison source told The Irish Sun: “The prisoners often talk
about the feud and they have all been taking a keen interest in
Gerry Hutch’s trial.
“Everyone knows this particular Kinahan associate had his life saved
by Gary Hutch and then turned on Hutch’s family for money.”
The Irish Sun also previously revealed how Gary Hutch’s childhood friend, Gary Finnegan, was also named in the High Court as a ‘person of interest’ in the investigation.
TIMELINE OF TERROR
MAY 2014: Graffiti at the funeral of Daniel Kinahan’s mother Jean Boylan brands Gary Hutch “a rat”.
AUG 2014: Daniel Kinahan targeted by a hitman outside his apartment in Marbella.
MARCH 2015: Hutch family pay €200,000 compensation to Daniel Kinahan for the attempt on his life.
AUG 2015: Gerry Hutch meets with Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr to allow a deal for Gary Hutch to return to Spain.
SEP 2015: Gary Hutch returns to Spain but is shot dead by a cartel assassin outside his apartment.
NOV 2015: Gunman targets Kinahan hoods Liam Byrne and Liam Roe outside Dublin’s Red Cow Hotel. But the hit is botched when his weapon jams.
DEC 2015: Attempt to kill The Monk in Lanzarote on New Year’s Eve.
JAN 2016: Hutch associate Darren Kearns shot dead outside a pub in north Dublin.
FEB 5, 2016: Kinahan cartel associate David Byrne shot dead at the Regency Hotel by a six-man hit team.
FEB 8, 2016: The Monk’s brother Eddie Hutch murdered at his home in north inner city Dublin.
FEB 16, 2016: Last public appearance of Gerry Hutch at his brother’s funeral. The Monk later leaves Ireland and spends time in the UK, Holland and Spain.
FROM 2016 TO 2018: Fourteen more people lose their lives as the bloody Kinahan and Hutch feud rages on.
AUG 12, 2021: Gerry Hutch detained in Spain after a European Arrest Warrant issued for his arrest.
DEC 2022: Gerry Hutch goes on trial for the murder of David Byrne.
MONDAY: Not guilty verdict is delivered at the Special Criminal Court.
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