The funeral of notorious drug dealer Tony Felloni has taken place in north inner city Dublin.
The brief service ended with the song ‘Love Theme from The Godfather’ being played as the remains of Felloni, the son of an Italian immigrant, were taken from the church. The song is an instrumental piece, composed by Nino Rota, which featured in the 1972 film The Godfather.
Felloni, whose heroin dealing business was brought down by the Garda’s Operation Pizza, had served a number of lengthy prison sentences. He died suddenly last Monday aged 81.
The funeral Mass at St Saviour’s Church on Dominick Street was attended by about 20 people. There was no eulogy and the service took just under 20 minutes.
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At least two of the dead man’s children – Lena and Regina – were in attendance, along with several younger mourners. Cllr Mannix Flynn, whose sister was at one time married to Felloni, was also present offering his support to the younger people present.
The funeral cortege, comprising a hearse and two funeral cars, wound its way through the streets of the north inner city in the rain after the service as Felloni’s remains were taken to Crookstown Cemetery in Co Kildare for burial.
A photograph of Felloni in his latter years and a single bunch of flowers adorned the coffin during the Mass. One personalised floral arrangement read ‘Dad’ and a bunch of red roses were placed in the hearse as it made its way to the church on the street where Felloni spent much of his life.
Lena Felloni and a number of other younger relatives read the prayers of the faithful, though none of those present offered any words about the deceased. The small group of mourners departed in funeral cars after the short service.
The priest concelebrating the Mass said that, in death, “Tony has surrendered into the mercy of God” and “Christ now will meet him and take him”. He said those present prayed “Tony was now at peace in the presence of the Lord”.
No death notice for Felloni was published and no funeral details were publicly available. However, on a social media post there was a strongly worded request that any friends of the once leading heroin dealer stay away from the funeral. That request appeared to have been respected given the very small attendance.
Felloni was one of the highest-profile dealers during the 1980s heroin epidemic in Dublin and remained a key figure in the trade for two decades. He became notorious, and was dubbed ‘King Scum’ by the media, when it emerged that he used some of his children in his drug dealing and got some of them hooked on drugs.
Felloni, who used heroin himself and was HIV positive, also had a number of convictions for beating his wife. He was released from a 20-year prison sentence in 2011, after serving about 15 years, and was also previously jailed for heroin dealing, for 10 years, in 1996.
He had a lengthy criminal record, including for being involved in organising prostitution, and was jailed for drug dealing in the UK, for four years, in the early 1980s.
However, while he resumed heroin dealing when released from prison in the early 2000s, he was in poor health and in his late 60s by that time.
He never regained a foothold in the drugs trade, which had completely changed during his time in prison and was characterised by murderous gun feuds between Dublin’s organised gangs.
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