With the various travails of Brian Rattigan and Freddie Thompson and their respective gangs, one might have expected the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud to simply reach a natural end after running its course. However, the next generation of feuding criminals has emerged to continue the violence. Approximately two dozen youngsters have aligned themselves with the Thompson and Rattigan gangs, with the numbers being split evenly between each faction. Some of these wannabe gangsters are only sixteen years old but the majority are in their late teens and early twenties. They are too young to know Brian Rattigan and probably are not even aware of the origins of the feud. There has been a total of twenty-two gang-related shooting incidents in 2010. Nobody was seriously injured but Gardaí say that the younger gang members are becoming more skilled with guns and that it is only a matter of time before the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud claims its seventeenth victim. It is a vicious circle and no end seems to be in sight.
Brian Rattigan’s family has paid a high price for his involvement in criminality. His brother Joey was murdered to send out a message to him. His sister Sharon was shot in the leg while she was unsuccessfully trying to stop her partner, Shay O’Byrne, being shot dead. Brian’s older brother, Ritchie, is a virtual prisoner in his own home because there is a contract out on his life, even though he has no involvement in the feud. Again, he is seen as an easy target. Through the face of unthinkable tragedy and adversity, Dinah Rattigan has been there trying to hold her family together. It must be very difficult for her. Brian’s relationship with Natasha McEnroe also appears to be on the ropes. In March 2010, the twenty-six-year-old was arrested by Gardaí at her apartment in Adamstown after they discovered the names and addresses of the jury members in Brian Rattigan’s trial for the murder of Declan Gavin. Other confidential Garda files were also discovered, but McEnroe was released without charge after spending two days in custody. She escaped charge because of an archaic law that allows those accused of murder to see the personal details of the jury of their peers. Sources say that Natasha no longer speaks to the Rattigans family and that their relationship has effectively ended.
The events of August 2001, when Brian stabbed Declan Gavin to death, continue to have consequences today for so many people. Indeed, many of those who attended Joey Rattigan’s eighteenth birthday party celebrations have fallen victim to what some might call a ‘curse’. John Roche, who first saw Declan Gavin outside Abrakebabra and then went back to the party and told the others, was murdered as part of the feud. Joey Rattigan was also murdered, as were Darren Geoghegan and Paddy Doyle, who arrived at the restaurant just minutes after Declan Gavin was stabbed. Shay O’Byrne, who was at the party with Sharon Rattigan, was also shot dead. Shane Maloney, who drove his Nissan Micra to the scene of the murder, was handed a lengthy sentence for drug possession. Karl Kavanagh was jailed for possession of a firearm, Brian Rattigan for drugs possession, shooting at Gardaí, and, of course, the murder itself. Andrew Murray, who was present outside Abrakebabra when the murder happened, was jailed for two years for contempt of court after refusing to give evidence during Rattigan’s second murder trial. The events of the night of Joey Rattigan’s eighteenth birthday party have had consequences for many people in the ten years since it took place, and the lives of dozens of people have been ruined because of what happened that night.
Freddie Thompson has come through the worst of the feud physically unscathed, which is remarkable considering the central role that he played. When Thompson was stopped and searched by a senior Garda in 2008, and told that his life was in danger, he responded that the police had been telling him that he was going to be shot since he was fourteen years old. Although Freddie is nominally in charge of his gang and remains the public face of the feud, he is not really taken seriously by his fellow gangsters. The real brains behind his operation float in the background, and shun publicity or anything that brings them to the attention of the Gardaí and media. There are probably five of these individuals, and most cannot be named for legal reasons. These men are content for Freddie to bask in the media limelight, which he is only too happy to do, and the thought of their names being published horrifies them. The future for Freddie Thompson looks grim, though he has defied the odds for so long by staying alive that Gardaí would not be in the least bit surprised if he lives to a ripe old age. The ‘G’ District has always been seen as one of the toughest areas to police in the county, but the dedication and skill of the brave Gardaí who work there does not go unnoticed by Garda management. Many of the senior officers who have policed Crumlin and Drimnagh have gone on to be promoted. Many of them must take a lot of credit for the fact that, during the feud, the murder count was not far greater. Detective Inspector Brian Sutton, who was well respected by both feuding gangs because of his tireless efforts at brokering peace, was promoted to Superintendent in June 2009. After a short stint in uniform in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, he was promoted to Detective Superintendent and was transferred back to Crumlin in July 2010. He is now in charge of policing in the Dublin Metropolitan South division. Another one of the most influential officers involved in keeping a lid on hostilities is Detective Sergeant John Walsh. Walsh has a knowledge of the feud that is second to none, and this was recognised in February 2009, when he was promoted to Inspector. He was based in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, until July 2010 when he returned to the Dublin Metropolitan South division as Detective Inspector in charge of Tallaght Garda Station. He maintains an active involvement in policing the feud. Detective Garda Ronan Lafferty, who worked out of Sundrive Road Garda Station, has been promoted to Detective Sergeant. He is now a senior investigator in the Organised Crime Unit.
The hard work of the Gardaí in the ‘A’ District of Kevin Street and Kilmainham has also not gone unnoticed. Detective Inspector Gabriel O’Gara was often awoken in the early hours of the morning to be told that the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud had spilled over into his patch, leaving him with another murder investigation on his hands. O’Gara was promoted to Superintendent in February 2008. After a short stretch in Kilrush, Co. Clare, he was transferred back to Dublin, where he is now the Detective Superintendent in charge of investigating serious crime in the Dublin Metropolitan South Central division. He mainly works in Pearse Street Garda Station.
In early 2011, Freddie Thompson and Brian Rattigan are really looking like the John Gilligans of the new millennium. Garda crackdowns and a relentless war have seen them both fade to shadows of their former selves. Rattigan is in a prison cell alone with his thoughts of his fading empire. Freddie Thompson is on the run, moving between four different countries, scared to death of coming home because there is a bullet with his name on it or a pair of handcuffs waiting for him. Meanwhile, the next generation of dealers jockey for position, observing how vulnerable the two gang bosses are and biding their time until they take over, much like Brian Rattigan and Declan Gavin did after Gilligan’s demise. While this goes on, the families of sixteen young men continue to grieve for their loved ones, and a community struggles to come to terms with the devastating feud that will mean that Crumlin and Drimnagh will be forever associated with death and destruction.
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