GARDAÍ BELIEVE THAT Eoin Boylan was shot dead as part a feud operating in north Dublin which has now claimed five lives.

The 22-year-old was shot at least six times at his home in Clonshaugh Avenue in Coolock, north Dublin at around 5.15pm on Sunday evening and pronounced dead later at nearby Beaumont Hospital. 

He was actively involved in drug crime and was well-known to gardaí in the area. 

Gardaí are working on a definite line of inquiry and believe Boylan was murdered as a result of a falling out with members of the criminal gang headed up by Sean Little, who was himself gunned down earlier this year. 

Boylan had recently been handed a Garda Information Message (GIM), an official letter stating that his life was in real danger.

Feud

The death of Sean Little, who was shot at Walshestown near the M1 in Dublin in May, allowed Boylan exploit a pocket of drug dealing turf left available due to his murder.

This exploitation, as well as a number of social media posts about Little’s death, were among the factors that led to Sunday night’s shooting being carried out, sources familiar with the investigation have told TheJournal.ie.

Another man was also shot dead in May in the days after Little’s killing. 

In the wake of Sunday’s attack, five people are now believed to have been murdered as part of this ongoing feud. The other two killed were Hamid Sanambar and Zach Parker.

Gardaí are now investigating if the Coolock murder was linked to previous fatal gun attacks.

Significant garda operations will now be put in place to quell a feud that local officers believed had died down in recent months.

In addition to the dispute between local criminal factions, gardaí have also received intelligence that Boylan’s drug dealers owed a significant amount of money to a cocaine supplier in the capital. This is another avenue of investigation for officers.

There have been growing tensions among several rival gangs operating in the Coolock and Ballymun areas in recent years. 

Little’s gang, who are the prime suspects in this murder, have long been associated with a young Finglas-based criminal known as Mr Flashy. A number of significant drug seizures by gardaí in the area in recent months has increased tensions within criminal circles.

In recent months, officers believe that Mr Flashy’s gang have taken control of many areas once deemed the territory of the Kinahan cartel. Flashy himself has close links to the cartel and uses many of the same suppliers the gang has used in the last five years.

Large swathes of Finglas, Ballymun, Coolock as well as areas in both sides of Dublin’s inner city have been taken over by the gang in the last year.

Various convictions in the last 18 months have seen the Kinahan cartel lose its grip on the drugs trade in the capital as a number of new gangs carve up the territory.

The murder conviction of key gangland figure Fat Freddie Thompson is just one of a number of many successes gardaí have had in dismantling the criminal empire created by Daniel Kinahan. 

Additional armed patrols and covert surveillance of the feuding gangs has been put in place in recent months. 

These extra resources have seen a significant amount of pressure put on Flashy and his gang. Well-informed sources have told TheJournal.ie that a small yet significant number of close associates of Mr Flashy have gone to ground in the face of this additional garda attention. These are young men who would usually act as distributors of drugs across the north Dublin and north inner city areas. 

It is understood that gardaí have been monitoring the activities of this new breed of young gangster with the use of a major new CCTV system, operated by the force. 

No arrests have yet been made in the Boylan murder investigation. Gardaí have appealed for information.

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