Kinahan cartel associates hell-bent on revenge after Irish pub shooting in Spain
Associates of the Kinahan cartel are hell-bent on revenge after two senior members of their gang were shot dead in an Irish pub on the Costa del Sol, insiders fear.
Underworld sources have told The Irish Mirror that they fear the deadly Lyons gang will now seek bloody revenge for the shock slaying of Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr at a pub in Fuengirola near Malaga on Saturday night.
The Lyons gang – one of Scotland's most deadly crime outfits – has been left reeling following the double murder as the pair watched the Champions League final at Monaghan's pub on Saturday night.
Irish underworld sources say leaders of the gang are closely associated with mob boss Daniel Kinahan – and they will not let the killings go unanswered.
"There will be hell to pay over this. The Lyons lads will not let this go," one source said.
"They will be baying for blood and it is more likely to happen in Spain than anywhere else. That is the fear."
We revealed yesterday that Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan were key members of the gang that worked with Kinahan, 47, on the massive cocaine shipment that was seized by the Army Ranger Wing off the south coast almost two years ago.
Underworld sources told us the gang the men worked for teamed up with the Kinahan cartel to organise the huge, 2.5 tonnes shipment of cocaine - worth up to €450 million on the streets - seized by the ARW on the MV Matthew off the Wexford coast in September 2023.
Eight men have pleaded guilty over the MV Matthew plot - and are due to be sentenced at the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin later this week.
Sources say gardai are satisfied the killing of the two Scottish criminals outside a bar in Fuengirola was not connected to the MV Matthew haul - or the Kinahan cartel itself.
Instead, they are believed to have been targeted as part of an ongoing feud between Scottish gangs.
Now there are real fears that the simmering Scottish feud will erupt into more violence in Scotland.
The pair were shot dead after watching the Champions League final at Monaghan's Pub in Fuengirola.
A masked gunman jumped out of a vehicle at 11.30pm, fired several rounds at the entrance of the bar, striking one of the men in the chest and the other in the chest and abdomen.
The gunman then fled in the same vehicle which was driven by an accomplice - leaving tourists and expats in the bar terrified.
The shootings are linked to Scotland's ongoing gangland war which has seen attacks on homes and properties linked to Glasgow's Daniel crime clan.
Harrowing images from the scene show a man lying lifeless on his back in shorts and a T-shirt, next to a chalkboard on a terrace outside the Irish bar.
In other images, police and paramedics can be seen surrounding the body of one of the victims, thought to be the same man, after he was covered under a blanket as shocked locals and holidaymakers looked on.
Monaghan was previously cleared of the murder of notorious Glasgow hood Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll, who was shot dead in a gangland assassination in the Asda Robroyston carpark in 2010.
He was tried for the killing, but was acquitted in May 2012. He was also cleared of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of the two guns used in the shooting and torching the getaway car.
In August 2017, Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr were both cleared of being involved in a brutal street attack on three men outside the Campsie bar in Bishopbriggs. The brutal ambush left one of the victim's ears hanging off.
However, the case collapsed after prosecutors withdrew the charges against them following two days of evidence.
Monaghan had also survived a previous murder attempt.
In 2017, he was shot by a gunman disguised as a pram-pushing dad outside St George's Primary School in Glasgow.
Eddie Lyons Jnr was a key figure in his family's crime clan with his brother Steven Lyons now living in Dubai - where he is said to be close to Daniel Kinahan, who is holed up there with his father Christy, 67, and brother Christopher, 44.
The shock Costa Del Sol killings come amidst a violent gang war that has been raging in Scotland since March.
The feud first erupted following a fallout between rival gangsters after a €600k stash of cocaine was reportedly swiped from under the nose of Dubai-based Mr Big, Ross McGill.
The drugs were reportedly taken by caged Edinburgh kingpin Mark Richardson's foot soldiers sparking a series of violent attacks on homes and businesses.
McGill has waged war on Richardson and his associates, including the Daniel crime clan in Glasgow. Mr Big's enforcers, a faceless and frightening group going by the name of Tamo Junto (TMJ), have carried out a series of fire bombings and other vicious attacks on homes, businesses and cars associated with Richardson and the Daniel clan.
Last week, it emerged that McGill had agreed to end hostilities after being leaned on by cartel bosses in Dubai.
However gangland enforcers Tamo Junto (TMJ) quickly quashed any talk of peace as they vowed to continue to carry out the turf war.
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His knowledge and responsibility for the operation was 'at the bottom of the pile', and the least of all those aboard the MV Matthew, Mr O'Higgins said. The MV Matthew being escorted into Cork Harbour in September, 2023, after the suspected drugs were found on board in what turned out to be Ireland's largest ever cocaine seizure. File picture: PA Saied Hassani, 40, has a wife and six-year-old daughter in Iran, the Special Criminal Court heard. He has worked at sea almost consistently since graduating from maritime college, which he started in 2005. He has been away so much for work that he missed all of his daughter's birthdays. He has two sisters who need medical care — one is in a wheelchair and one has cancer — and he has worked to provide for his wider family since his father died. 'There is nothing in his records to suggest he has done anything like this before,' his barrister Mark Lynam SC said. He even thanked the criminals in Dubai 'for this opportunity' when he got the job, thinking it would help his family, Mr Lynam said. He had the lowest responsibility for the operation of all the officers on board, Mr Lynam said. Although he was found with €20,000 cash when the MV Matthew was seized, this was given to him by the captain before he was airlifted off the boat, he said. He had succumbed to the temptation not out of greed or for better lifestyle — but to support family, some of whom are sick, Mr Lynam said. Detective Sergeant Keith Halley, who led the historic drug bust, said that the operation was directed from Dubai but also had Iranian involvement. A transnational organised crime group with "immense capabilities, unlimited resources and a global reach," directed the MV Matthew drug smuggling operation from a cell in Dubai before it was stormed off the Cork coast. A cell structure within the organised crime group which manned the operation was evident, so if one cell was compromised, the overall damage would be limited, Det Supt Halley told the Special Criminal Court at the men's sentencing hearing on Tuesday. The MV Matthew, owned by a Dubai-based company, repeatedly tried to evade the Irish navy before it was boarded by Ireland's elite army ranger wing via helicopter in rough seas in September 2023 off the Cork coast. Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, and Vitaliy Vlasoi, both 32; Iranians Soheil Jelveh, 51, and Saeid Hassani, 39; Filipino Harold Estoesta, 31, and Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, 49, all pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on board the MV Mathew between 24 and 26 September 2023. Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa, aged 62, with an address at Rudenka, Repina Str in Berdyansk, and Jamie Harbron, aged 31, of South Avenue, Billingham in the UK, pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply between 21 and 25 September 2023. Justice Melanie Grealy has set sentencing for all eight men on July 4.
