Ken Foy
The murderous Christy Kinahan cartel is heavily involved with two English criminals deeply associated with horse race fixing.
A special Herald investigation reveals that the notorious English duo, who live in mansions in the suburbs of London, regularly travel back and forth between Ireland and the UK where they host meetings with members of the Kinahan mob.
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It has long been suspected that the cartel have been heavily involved in race-fixing and it is understood that they has made hundreds of thousands of euro from it.
Fortune
The British pair are well-known to police and gardaí, and have made themselves and the Kinahans a fortune over the years.
The two men, who have been previously identified in England for their involvement in racing scams, are given accommodation by associates of the cartel when they are in Dublin.
The Kinahan mobs' links to horse race fixing have been well established.
5Daniel Kinahan
Godfather Christy Kinahan’s son Daniel was mentioned in the high-profile jockey Kieran Fallon’s race-fixing trial in November 2007, but was never charged.
Former champion jockey Fallon, from Co Tipperary, a professional gambler and four others were cleared of race-fixing after the case against them collapsed at the Old Bailey. Daniel Kinahan was named, but not accused of any involvement in the suspected conspiracy during the trial.60p low
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Before the trial collapsed, the court was shown photos of Daniel Kinahan talking with Yorkshire businessman Miles Rodgers – the man who police said ran the conspiracy.
Undercover
Evidence was also heard from an undercover police officer who followed Rodgers, a group of other men and Daniel Kinahan, who all got into Rodgers’ Mercedes in the early hours of May 27, 2004, after meeting at a Newmarket hotel.
The court heard that Kinahan and another man had booked into the hotel using false names and paying cash.
Eight days earlier, Fallon won on a horse called Russian Rhythm, which had allegedly cost the gambling syndicate £160,000 after they backed it to lose.
It was alleged that the four wanted to “confront” Fallon because he had cost them so much after allegedly agreeing to stop the horse from winning.
Birmingham connection
Separately, it can also be disclosed that the Kinahan mob are closely associated with a Birmingham gang who are suspected of being one of the biggest drugs-trafficking organisations in the UK.
The Birmingham criminals are believed to work hand in hand with the Kinahan organisation, and they operate a number of front companies in England which are primarily linked with transport and logistics.
“These companies are involved in the import of all types of narcotics which are then distributed throughout Ireland and the UK,” a source said.
“The Birmingham mob linked to the Kinahan cartel are long-term targets of the British Organised Crime Agency.
5This chilling photo shows two gangland accomplices running from the Regency Hotel in the aftermath of the attack
“A number of operations have been mounted in the last five years which has resulted in the seizure of millions of euro worth of goods.
“But the main men have not been caught and have been spotted in Dublin with Kinahan gang members on an increasingly regular basis in the past year. They have also been spotted with them in Birmingham.”
History
In 2007, the Kinahan cartel’s members were virtually unknown outside senior law enforcement circles.
All that was to change three years later when Daniel, his brother Christopher Jnr, their father Christy and more than a dozen other suspects were arrested as part of the international police investigation known as Operation Shovel.
The cartel’s international profile has increased further after last month’s tit-for-tat murders of their associate David Byrne in Dublin’s Regency Hotel, and the revenge attack on Eddie Hutch Snr.
Daniel Kinahan was one of the mourners at David Byrne’s funeral in the south inner city two weeks ago, alongside criminal Freddie Thompson, a long-time associate of the Kinahans.
The orgy of violence that began with the slaying of Eddie’s nephew Gary Hutch in Spain last September.
Online Editors