Gardaí believe the fatal shooting of Hutch family associate Jason Molyneux is linked to three gun murders in Dublin.
The 27-year-old was killed on Tuesday night after being shot at the James Larkin House flats complex on North Strand in the north inner city.
Detectives are concerned the Kinahan gang may now be sponsoring a Ballymun-based criminal faction to target the Hutch family and their associates.
Some of those associated with the Hutch family have been embroiled in a sporadic and drawn-out feud that has pitted criminals in the north inner city and Ballymun against each other.
Gardaí are now concerned that two gun attacks in Dublin in the past week may be the result of a joint enterprise involving the Kinahan and Ballymun gangs.
A convicted armed robber from the inner city, who is linked to the Hutch faction, was shot and wounded last Friday outside a boxing tournament at the National Stadium on South Circular Road.
The shooting of Molyneux, who had 122 previous convictions and was warned his life was under threat due to the Kinahan-Hutch feud, is also being linked to co-operating gangs.
Retaliation
Michael Devoy
(41) was shot dead in January 2014 a day after being released from prison. He was held responsible by Dublin criminals for a shooting outside a pub in the city in which one man was wounded. Devoy’s murder was seen as retaliation for the pub shooting.
Men close to Devoy believed Molyneux and others were involved in his murder.
Last August, the men from the Hutch faction decided they would kill an associate of Devoy, whom they believed posed the biggest threat to their safety.
They tried to target him outside a house in Ballymun but he escaped and mother-of-six Antoinette Corbally (48), Devoy's sister, and Clinton Shannon (30) were shot dead. The Ballymun faction has since been out for revenge.
Appealed Gardaí investigating the Molyneux killing yesterday appealed to the north inner city community to assist them in solving the “callous murder”.
“Following the shooting, witnesses are indicating to us that a male left the scene, no better described than in dark clothing,” said Supt Gerard Murphy of Store Street station. “We don’t know the direction of travel at this stage, and that’s why we’re appealing to witnesses out there as to where this person would likely have gone.”
A partially burned-out Renault Kangoo – registration 10-D-126064 – was found on the south side of the East Link toll bridge about 2½ hours after the attack.
The vehicle was not completely destroyed and gardaí hope that a number of items still intact in the van may yield forensic evidence linking the killers to the scene.
