The death has taken place of James Byrne Snr, a Dublin criminal whose sons, Liam and David, were involved in the Kinahan cartel’s Irish operation.
Liam Byrne (43) is currently in prison in Britain awaiting trial on a series of firearms and related charges.
David Byrne was 34 when he was shot dead in February 2016 at the Regency Hotel in north Dublin, which led to a major escalation in the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
Mr Byrne (77) had suffered from serious health issues in recent years and died in hospital in his native Dublin on Saturday. From Raleigh Square in Crumlin, he was a convicted criminal who also went by Jemmy and was nicknamed “Jaws” in the underworld and in the media.
Mr Byrne Snr was once an associate of Martin Cahill, the former gang leader known as The General. He had a history of fraud and counterfeiting.
His last known paid employment was in 1974, some 50 years ago. However, despite his lack of legitimate income, he owned his own home, mortgage-free, on Raleigh Square in with his wife Sadie.
He paid the Revenue Commissioners €208,400 in 2004 after Revenue and the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) issued the couple with a tax assessment of €378,612. Some of the money paid was funded by €22,000 in cash seized at his home in 2001.
Mr Byrne Snr sold one of his properties to his daughter, Maria, for €100,000 two years later. The Cab claims he sold another property, in 2015, for €80,000, though he claims he gifted it to Maria “for love and affection”.
In November 2002, he also agreed to repay €43,353 in unemployment assistance he was not entitled to. He has offered no explanation for where his money came from and claimed a Rolex Oyster watch, valued at €35,200, that the Cab seized from him was a gift from a family member but refused to say who.
His son Liam is due to go on trial at London’s Old Bailey this month, alongside former senior Kinahan cartel member, Thomas Kavanagh.
The charges against the two involve separate firearms conspiracies in Britain.
Liam Byrne is accused of conspiring with a 36-year-old Liverpool man, Daniel McLoughlin, and others to possess firearms and ammunition between April and May 2020. He is also accused of conspiring to possess firearms and ammunition between January 2020, and June 2021. He has been in prison, on remand, in Britain after he was extradited by the Spanish authorities following his arrest in Mallorca last year.
