How decrypting secret messages could help bring Kinahan cartel’s hitmen to justice
A breakthrough in decrypting secret messages could prove crucial in bringing a notorious Kinahan hit team to justice over an unsolved feud murder.
Gardaí are continuing to investigate the killing of Darren Kearns, who was shot dead in 2015 after wrongly being blamed for a botched hit on senior members of the crime group.
In the early stages of the inquiry, a crew of prolific younger criminals from north-west Dublin were identified as suspects in the case but were never arrested.
An inquest into Kearns’s murder this week heard how gardaí are now probing new areas of investigation that were not previously available.
The Irish Independent understands this includes the decryption of devices used by Kinahan gang members in which murder plots were discussed.
It follows technological advances and co-operation with international law-enforcement agencies.
Detectives are continuing to investigate the Kearns murder, with the aim of prosecuting the two chief suspects in the killing.
These include a “volatile” criminal, now aged in his mid-30s, who is a suspect in at least two other feud murders and has around 200 convictions.
He has also spent time in custody in the UK and went on the run there following the outbreak of the feud.
The other suspect was an associate of slain mob boss Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland and is considered a prolific getaway driver in organised crime circles.
This individual is understood to have relocated to Spain in recent years, where he continues to be involved in high-level criminality.
“These two men were identified as suspects early on in the investigation, and that suspicion remains,” a source said.
“There have been recent cases where advances in technology have led to associates of this crime group being convicted for offences that happened many years ago, and it is hoped the same can happen in this case.
“Investigations into serious crime, including murder, always remain active and even nearly nine years on, gardaí are actively pursuing this case.”
The two murder suspects were considered among the cartel’s main hitmen before fleeing abroad due to mounting pressure from gardaí.
Investigators believe Kearns was targeted on December 30, 2015, after wrongly being blamed for involvement in a botched shooting months earlier targeting senior Kinahan figures.
He had just left the Phoenix Restaurant on Blackhorse Avenue in Cabra with his wife when he was approached by a lone gunman and shot dead.
Two months earlier, a gunman attempted to target members of the cartel at the Red Cow Hotel during a boxing event.
The crime group wrongly identified Kearns and his friend Daithí Douglas as suspects. Douglas was also targeted by the gang, surviving a murder bid days later before being gunned down in the south inner city in July 2016.
Only last month, the Special Criminal Court heard evidence of how criminal Jason ‘Jay’ O’Connor was prosecuted for facilitating murder on behalf of the crime gang after gardaí cracked his mobile devices.