Gangland criminal Gerard Claxton nabbed with €12,000 cash stuffed in a brown envelope
Gerard Claxton (48), with an address at Bramblefield Park, Clonee, appeared before Dublin Circuit Court this week where he pleaded guilty to possessing the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely a brown envelope containing €12,000 in cash at Huntstown Wood in Blanchardstown on February 24, 2023.
Judge Martin Nolan remanded Claxton, who has convictions for firearms and robbery offences, on continuing bail until May 30 for sentencing.
Gerard Claxton had €12k in cash
The operation targeting Claxton was led by officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. Garda intelligence has linked him to the drugs trade in west Dublin.
Gardaí believe Claxton is a senior figure in a west Dublin gang and has links to former members of the now defunct Westies crime gang.
Claxton also had links to several Kinahan cartel associates but is not considered a member of the cartel.
Eric Fowler was shot dead
Last year’s seizure is not the first time Claxton has had cash seized by gardaí.
He was one of four men stopped with cash totalling €17,600 as they prepared to travel on one-way tickets to the then Kinahan stronghold of the Costa Del Sol in February 2016.
Dublin Circuit Court heard customs officials seized the cash after hearing contradictory explanations about its use.
Claxton was stopped with €12,000 and claimed it was to buy an apartment in Malaga.
He also said €6,000 belonged to his father Gerard Claxton Snr and later told customs he ran a gym and started a second-hand car business and the cash came from these sources.
Claxton told customs he had no documentary evidence of where the money he was stopped with came from as it was accumulated in cash.
Claxton at a previous appearance in court
Another associate, Michael Jones from Whitestown Drive in Blanchardstown, also had €1,500 cash with him which was also seized.
Jones is a pal of Jay O’Connor, from Whitestown Grove, who is facing charges before the Special Criminal Court of attempted murder and with facilitating a criminal gang in murder and drug dealing.
The attempted murder charge is linked to the shooting of Charlie Cooper in Mulhuddart in 2016.
A fourth man stopped at the airport with Claxton back in 2016 was Lee Boylan of Fortlawn Avenue in Clonsilla. Boylan had €2,500 in cash on him, which was also seized as he tried to travel abroad with Claxton. He said it was to spend on his holidays.
Officials said they deemed the cash seized in Dublin Airport to have been pooled by the four men and later investigations revealed that Garda criminal intelligence linked the men together and to the drug trade in west Dublin.
Boylan was seriously injured after he sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body and neck at Blakestown Road, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, on March 6, 2019, as he sat in a van.
The getaway driver, Alan Graham from Davin Gardens, Caherdavin, Limerick, was jailed for 10 years in 2021 for his role in the hit attempt on Boylan.
The court heard Boylan was targeted because an organised criminal gang “perceived” he had been involved in the murder of a man in December 2018 —which was referring to the murder of another Kinahan cartel associate, Eric Fowler, who was shot dead outside his Blakestown home three days before Christmas as part of a local dispute.
Lee Boylan
As well as having links to Lee Boylan, Claxton has links to his father Noel Boylan, who was also a one-time close associate of Christy Kinahan Senior.
Noel Boylan survived a gun attack on the Blakestown Road in Dublin in June 2019 just three months after his son was almost killed. The shooting was linked to associate of Fowler.
Derek Byrne, of Drynam Hall in Swords, was jailed last year over his role in helping the gang try to kill Boylan.
Claxton Jnr and Boylan Snr took part together in a high-profile armed robbery of a bookmaker returning from Fairyhouse Racecourse in April 2006.
Gardai had received a tip-off that Claxton and four other men were planning to hold up John Carty of Chronicle Bookmakers as he returned from the track with his takings on April 17, 2006.
Detective Garda Donal Tully got into the back of Carty’s jeep while he left the racecourse.
The car was followed by Eddie Farrell — a member of the armed robbery gang — back to Mr Carty’s office on Deansgrange Road.
At the same time, other officers were watching Claxton and three other men who were driving a stolen Mercedes car around Foxrock, before heading to Deansgrange Road, when Mr Carty returned with the takings.
Claxton ran up to Mr Carty armed with a handgun, along with two other men, and shouted at him to hand over the money.
At this point Garda Tully, who was armed, got out of the jeep and told the raiders to put down their weapons.
Claxton refused to drop his weapon. However, the brave officer tackled the gunman to the ground.
Noel Boylan
Anthony ‘the Giant’ O’Callaghan, who also took part in the robbery, was ordered to pay €1.3m to CAB in 2009 and was jailed for 12 years in 2016 along with hitman Paul Zambra after a foiled hit attempt attempted on Dean Russell in Clonshaugh the previous year.
The Sunday World revealed Claxton’s suspected involvement in the drug trade back in 2016 when he was running a gym in west Dublin.
As well as providing services to normal members of the public, the gym hosted private sessions for criminals who wanted to train in peace.
Claxton had been stopped by officers a number of times driving different cars owned by LS Active Cars – a now dissolved company run by senior cartel figure Liam Byrne, whose brother David was shot dead at the Regency Hotel attack.
Gardaí seized dozens of cars belonging to the firm in 2016 as part of an investigation into a network of dodgy car dealers used to launder money for the cartel.
