Gerard Hutch outside the High Court in 1999. File photograph
Kelly was 15 years Hutch’s senior and mentored him after spotting his talents and the influence he had over the other boys he had been engaged in crime with. Unlike some of his associates, Hutch steered clear of the heroin epidemic sweeping the streets where he lived and, instead, focused on lucrative armed robberies. While he initially joined the Kelly crew, carrying out bank raids with machine guns, by the time he was aged 20 in 1983 he had his own crew of armed robbers around him.
While gardaí believe he remained involved in the drugs trade as an investor during his so-called retirement years, he was a hands-off criminal Hutch invested some of his money – even before the Celtic Tiger began – in an apartment complex in the north inner city neighbourhood where he grew up. That scheme also involved other criminals known for armed robberies and drug deals. One of the properties was bought from Jim Mansfield snr, and gardaí later uncovered evidence that Hutch had invested in a number of Mansfield’s hotels.
While gardaí believe he remained involved in the drugs trade as an investor during his so-called retirement years, he was a hands-off criminal. He appeared to have climbed above the day-to-day hustle of Dublin’s organised crime scene just as cocaine wars were about to break out on the streets of Dublin, unleashing an unprecedented level of gangland feuding.
Can you send on proof of this alligation
No man in Ireland should ever be convicted by liars and felons at the behest of the State. Let this be a lesson. The State is there to serve, not to control you. Remember, if the State uses facial recognition, everyone is a suspect, you then have to prove your innocence.
I can already see Brendan Gleeson playing the bauld Gerry in 'The Monk' the movie in time. Wonder if today's events would signal the natural end of such a flick or if the Kinahans may yet end the action in a more unequivocally final way?
Take a long look at the Monk folks because after this he is goooone.