THIS is the moment veteran criminal James ‘Jaws’ Byrne arrived for a gangland summit after a Kinahan cartel hit.
Our exclusive CCTV image shows Byrne, 77, at a bar in the south inner city of Dublin after the botched murder of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch’s brother John, 65, at his home in Drumalee Park, north Dublin, on September 2, 2016.
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Byrne — who died last week after a short illness — visited the bar for a meeting with hitman Michael Carroll, 45.
Gardai believe Carroll — recruited over a €60,000 drug debt — was summoned to the bar by Byrne for a debrief on his failure to kill the father of nine, unbeknownst to the pub owner and other patrons.
A man who was in the bar that night spoke to us about Byrne’s interaction with Carroll.
They told us: “Carroll had been in and out of the bar a few times that night. On one of the occasions when he returned, it looked as if he was ordered to go out the back where Jaws was sitting.
“Everyone knows Jaws and when he was out the back he was holding court.
“Carroll spent around 15 minutes talking to Byrne and he was clearly agitated before leaving the bar again.
“People in the bar only realised what was going on when rumours emerged about Carroll’s involvement in the attempted murder of Johnny Hutch.”
During the attempted hit in broad daylight, Carroll was armed with a Walther PP pistol and a Miroku revolver and fired six shots into a back garden as Hutch and his daughter Amy cowered for cover.
Gardai concluded that Carroll — now serving a 20-year sentence — became “indebted to the Kinahan Crime Group in 2016 and was consequently used to do their bidding in lieu of monies owed”.
And when Carroll botched the hit on The Monk’s older brother, he was recruited once again to try and kill innocent Hutch relative Eddie Staunton, 32, on Mother’s Day on March 26, 2017.
Following the failed murder bid, the gunman made his way home to the School Street flats complex before cycling to the bar for the meeting.
Later Carroll returned to the bar and also met with senior cartel figure Liam Brannigan, 44.
Another CCTV image shows him meeting with Brannigan — who served time for an attempted hit on a Hutch associate — inside the pub.
Other images show a distressed Carroll outside the pub, with his head in his hands realising he botched the job.
Jaws wasn’t just a harmless old criminal — he was up to his neck in organised crime and was surrounded by it.”
Source
Two other senior cartel figures also met with Byrne — whose son David was killed at the Regency Hotel in February 2016 — that night.
Gardai were made aware of the gangland summit after tracking Carroll’s movements on CCTV cameras from the shooting at Drumalee Park.
After establishing he had entered the bar, they later seized the CCTV footage and discovered his encounters with the senior cartel figures.
Jaws — a lifelong friend of godfather Christy ‘Dapper Don Kinahan — was later approached by Gardai about his appearance in the bar.
Investigators asked him to make a statement but he refused to cooperate.
As the probe continued, there wasn’t enough evidence to bring charges against Byrne over the plot to murder The Monk’s brother.
‘DESPERATE FOR REVENGE’
Detectives believe Byrne’s visit to the pub established his involvement in the cartel’s ongoing onslaught against the Hutch family and their associates.
One source said: “Byrne’s meeting with Carroll clearly shows that he was involved in identifying targets.
“Jaws wasn’t just a harmless old criminal — he was up to his neck in organised crime and was surrounded by it.
“Jaws would have known John Hutch from the old days but this didn’t stop him supporting the killings of innocent people.”
“John Hutch didn’t have anything to do with the feud and had already lost his son and his brother. The only reason he had been targeted was because of his surname.
“Byrne was desperate for revenge because of the murder of his son and clearly wanted to take a hands-on approach in identifying targets.”
LINKS TO NORTH INNER CITY
Following Byrne’s burial alongside his son on Friday, we also reveal details of his links to the north inner city over the years.
Although he was from the Crumlin area of the capital, Byrne was considered as an associate of ‘The Monk’ before the feud.
The pair had regularly been spotted by Gardai in bars in the north inner city.
And Byrne was also a close friend of Noel Kirwan, who was murdered by the cartel just a few days before Christmas in 2016.
Although Byrne’s speciality was cheque fraud and dodgy passports, he was still heavily linked to organised crime.
During the Crumlin and Drimnagh feud between Fat Freddie Thompson and Brian Rattigan, Byrne was classified under ‘Operation Anvil’ as one of 52 “known gang associates” of the Thompson mob.
At the same time, Gardai in Crumlin and Kevin Street had also identified Jaws Byrne as an associate of some of Ireland’s most notorious crime figures.
These included Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley, 71, hitman Eric ‘Lucky’ Wilson, 40, and evil killer Wayne Dundon, 46.
Jaws Byrne’s other associates in the Kinahan cartel included Sean McGovern, 41, who’s wanted over the murder of Noel Kirwan and Dean Howe, also 41, who was also arrested by Gardai on the same day John Hutch was targeted.
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