INLA boss Declan Duffy and Fred Thompson feud 100 gangland criminals in Dublin have been told by gardai that their lives are under serious threat
100 criminals in Dublin have been told by gardai that their lives are under serious threat.Garda Headquarters has advised officers to tell the criminals they are likely to be shot. It’s an extraordinary state of affairs linked to vicious feuding between gangs in the city. Indeed the 100 criminals reffered to here are only in one part of the city - the south inner city - and one feud in particular. The 100 does not take account of criminals warned about threats to their lives in other parts of the capital.
The threats mostly arise from the ongoing feud between INLA boss Declan Duffy and drugs trafficker Fat ‘Freddie’ Thompson. Detectives believe a consortium of criminals have raised €40,000 to have Thompson eliminated. Officers also suspect that a gun and motorbike are in storage for the hit.
In an incident yesterday afternoon, gardai were called to a popular bar in south central Dublin and told two masked men had been searching for Thompson. "They were seen acting suspiciously in a white vehicle, both were wearing balaclavas. Then one got out and went into the pub," said a source today. "He simply asked, 'where's Freddie?'," the source said. In the meantime, gardai have also thwarted two attempts to get an AK47 into the city for an assassination attempt on Freddie Thompson.
Gang members linked to both Thompson and Duffy have been told to take precautions because their lives are under threat. Most are living in the Crumlin/Drimnagh areas or Tallaght. "More than 100 different people have been advised that garda intelligence has deemed that they may be shot. They have been told that criminal elements are going to have them shot," said one senior officer today. Of the 100, most are linked in one way or another to the Duffy/Thompson feud.
Others are linked to the ongoing Crumlin/Drimnagh feud, which also involves Thompson. Ten people have already been murdered as part of that feud.
The Garda Special Branch and Organised Crime Unit, both based at Harcourt Square are on a state of high alert over the feuds. Intelligence has shown that €20,000 has already been raised for the attempt on Thompson's life, with a further €20,000 to be paid over if it is successful. Detectives are also investigating reports that an armed and masked man walked into a south city centre pub yesterday looking for Thompson. Thompson is already the subject of threat from a rival south city gang unlinked to the feud with Duffy. Thompson is said to have poured two pints of lager over the brother of the leader of the other gang in an incident in a Temple Bar nightclub earlier this month. On the other side in recent times, Duffy's home has been shot up two times. two weeks ago that an attempt was made to run him down two weeks ago. The driver of an Alfa Romeo car mounted the footpath in a bid to mow down Duffy close to his home in the south inner city. He only managed to save his life when he cowered in a doorway. Duffy is the leader of the INLA in the capital and also runs a security company. He has fallen foul of a number of criminal gangs in the capital, particularly the outfit run by drugs trafficking suspect 'Fat Freddie' Thompson. Detectives believe either Thompson's gang or a group of criminals based in the south inner city were behind a shooting at Duffy's mother's house more than two weeks ago.