GARDAÍ IN DUBLIN have stepped up their fight against the so-called Gucci Gang, carrying out a series of raids in the north of the city and its suburbs as part of an intensifying crackdown on the notorious drugs gang.
A significant amount of resources have been allocated in tackling the gang as officers believe it has the power to become the city’s next big drug organisation.
The garda helicopter as well as multiple members of the Armed Support Unit were deployed over the bank holiday weekend in a planned crackdown.
In recent months, officers believe that the gang, led by a man in his early 20s known as Mr Flashy, 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.
Now Flashy and his mob, with the blessing of the cartel’s top bosses, are operating in the areas once controlled by the Kinahans. The Kinahan gang’s power is at its lowest ebb for a decade. Now it is relying on the Gucci Gang to pay it a tax to operate in areas it once controlled.
While the gardaí only found a small quantity of drugs and arrested a man for obstructing a garda search at the weekend, the raids are part of the latest tactic to disrupt the supply of drugs onto the streets.
The Gucci Gang, which got its name due to the lavish lifestyles of its members, has been on the garda radar for the last two years since the man known as Mr Flashy took hold of a large portion of the drug trade in the Finglas area. Now a feud between this group and gangsters based in west Dublin has gardaí seriously concerned.
Sources have told this publication that the gang has the potential to be “the next big drug gang” in the country.
As a result of these fears, additional armed patrols as well as covert surveillance against the two feuding drug gangs has been operational for a number of months. However, in recent weeks officers have stepped up their fight against the gang and a large number of additional resources have been given to Dublin Metropolitan Region North.
These extra resources, combined with help from national drug units, 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 men who would usually act as distributors of drugs across the north Dublin and north inner city areas.
A number of homes belonging to innocent family members of alleged gang members were shot at in Finglas and Blanchardstown as the feud between Mr Flashy’s gang and another criminal enterprise continues.
There have been a significant number of attempts to kill gang members based in north and west Dublin in recent weeks.
In April of this year, a gun attack was carried out at a house in an estate in Corduff, west Dublin. There were no injuries, however the incident happened less than two hours after a similar attack on a house belonging to a relative of Mr Flashy.
Family members of the gangs’ main players have all been informed that their safety cannot be guaranteed and they may end up being targeted instead of the main players.
In recent weeks, there have been petrol bomb attacks on homes as well as shooting incidents at the houses of those linked to the dealers.
Last week, Gardaí said they had stopped 64 planned hits by organised crime gangs since the Regency Hotel shooting in 2016.
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