"Mr. Big", according to the nationals, of drug importation captured by police
On Tuesday November 15 news of the arrest of a Limerick man in Antwerp on drug related charges was made public. Jim “Chaser” O’Brien from Lough Gur in Co. Limerick had been the subject of a major Garda operation since the spring of 2004. Operation Sword involved police from the U.K., Spain, Belgium and Holland and culminated in his arrest in late October. A mobile Ecstasy laboratory capable of producing 50,000 tablets per hour was seized.
Mr. O’Brien, according to Garda sources in Limerick, was second in command of the distribution network responsible for the supply of drugs in the South, West and Mid-West of the country. The man he worked for hails from Kilrush in Co.Clare and is said to be at the head of an empire at least equal in size to that of John Gilligan’s in its heyday. O’Brien would receive the product from the Kilrush based man and distribute it to local crime bosses including members of the McCarthy/Dundon and Keane crime families in Limerick. Cars were said to have been parked in Limerick valet centres with the drugs concealed in door panels, hours later the distributor would return to his car to find the drugs replaced by cash.
Chaser was not always involved in criminality. He came from a law abiding family and attended Le Salle C.B.S in Hospital, Co. Limerick. Other members of his family are all involved in mainstream society, holding employment in the legal and accounting professions among others .There has been no contact between the Jim and his family in over 5 years. Chaser himself had several legitimate businesses throughout Limerick such as the Red Cellar bar in Lough Gur, Chaser O’Briens in Pallasgreen and the Henry Cecil in Limerick City. It is believed his first encounters with senior gangland figures may have taken place during his time running the Cecil. The pub was closed after infamous Limerick criminal Mark Cronin shot Georgina O’Donnell in the face while attempting to shoot his common law wife. Ms. O’Donnell died from the injuries sustained.
O’Brien fled Limerick after the murder of Kieran Keane in 2003. One of Keanes convicted murderers, Dessie Dundon, was stopped by Gardai driving a car registered to O’Brien while trying to flee the country. While it is not believed O’Brien ordered the hit both himself and the Kilrush based criminal would have been aware of the plan. The survival of Keanes nephew, state witness Owen Treacy ensured Chaser could be named as a major figure in the Limerick Drug scene. Chaser repeatedly offered to clear his debts with CAB from his exile in Spain. O’ Brien and co would also have been aware of the plan to murder nightclub doorman Brian Fitzgerald.
An English based assassin, James Martin Cahill, has since been convicted of Fitzgerald’s murder and has subsequently turned super grass. O’Brien, his Kilrush based boss and members of the McCarthy/Dundon gang will all be on tender hooks awaiting the decision on whether Cahill’s testimony will be deemed admissible.
Many believe O’Brien continued to organize the importation of drugs to the Kilrush based man from his base on the continent. Importation methods ranged from the use of yachts coming into the marina in Killaloe Co.Clare, where another associate of the pair lives, to the use of lobster trawlers docking in Kilrush and throwing nets filled with the package overboard to be collected at a later time.
The Kilrush based businessman was shot 4 times in August 2003. The attack is believed to have been carried out by one of the Limerick families in response to the man’s alliance with another family. He has been convicted for two relatively minor crimes in the Eighties; the stealing of 30,000 euro worth of bicycles and the operation of a mobile brothel. The man is said to own much of Kilrush and run a furniture warehouse and several market stalls in the mid-west. His son was arrested in June 2004 for assaulting a guard and has 26 previous convictions. Fianna Fail councilor Larry O’Gorman was shot at after speaking out about the criminal element in his Kilrush constituency.
Gardai believe O’Brien was involved with the importation of several seized shipments of drugs over the past 18 months. Among these were 20 Kilograms of Cocaine seized in Cork in May with a street value of 1.4 million euro, 650,000 Euro worth of LSD found in Dublin docks in April, 6 Kilo’s of cocaine seized in Ardee, Co.Louth last October and the seizure of 1.2 tonnes of cannabis worbury Co.Kildare in August.
Mr. O’Brien, according to Garda sources in Limerick, was second in command of the distribution network responsible for the supply of drugs in the South, West and Mid-West of the country. The man he worked for hails from Kilrush in Co.Clare and is said to be at the head of an empire at least equal in size to that of John Gilligan’s in its heyday. O’Brien would receive the product from the Kilrush based man and distribute it to local crime bosses including members of the McCarthy/Dundon and Keane crime families in Limerick. Cars were said to have been parked in Limerick valet centres with the drugs concealed in door panels, hours later the distributor would return to his car to find the drugs replaced by cash.
Chaser was not always involved in criminality. He came from a law abiding family and attended Le Salle C.B.S in Hospital, Co. Limerick. Other members of his family are all involved in mainstream society, holding employment in the legal and accounting professions among others .There has been no contact between the Jim and his family in over 5 years. Chaser himself had several legitimate businesses throughout Limerick such as the Red Cellar bar in Lough Gur, Chaser O’Briens in Pallasgreen and the Henry Cecil in Limerick City. It is believed his first encounters with senior gangland figures may have taken place during his time running the Cecil. The pub was closed after infamous Limerick criminal Mark Cronin shot Georgina O’Donnell in the face while attempting to shoot his common law wife. Ms. O’Donnell died from the injuries sustained.
O’Brien fled Limerick after the murder of Kieran Keane in 2003. One of Keanes convicted murderers, Dessie Dundon, was stopped by Gardai driving a car registered to O’Brien while trying to flee the country. While it is not believed O’Brien ordered the hit both himself and the Kilrush based criminal would have been aware of the plan. The survival of Keanes nephew, state witness Owen Treacy ensured Chaser could be named as a major figure in the Limerick Drug scene. Chaser repeatedly offered to clear his debts with CAB from his exile in Spain. O’ Brien and co would also have been aware of the plan to murder nightclub doorman Brian Fitzgerald.
An English based assassin, James Martin Cahill, has since been convicted of Fitzgerald’s murder and has subsequently turned super grass. O’Brien, his Kilrush based boss and members of the McCarthy/Dundon gang will all be on tender hooks awaiting the decision on whether Cahill’s testimony will be deemed admissible.
Many believe O’Brien continued to organize the importation of drugs to the Kilrush based man from his base on the continent. Importation methods ranged from the use of yachts coming into the marina in Killaloe Co.Clare, where another associate of the pair lives, to the use of lobster trawlers docking in Kilrush and throwing nets filled with the package overboard to be collected at a later time.
The Kilrush based businessman was shot 4 times in August 2003. The attack is believed to have been carried out by one of the Limerick families in response to the man’s alliance with another family. He has been convicted for two relatively minor crimes in the Eighties; the stealing of 30,000 euro worth of bicycles and the operation of a mobile brothel. The man is said to own much of Kilrush and run a furniture warehouse and several market stalls in the mid-west. His son was arrested in June 2004 for assaulting a guard and has 26 previous convictions. Fianna Fail councilor Larry O’Gorman was shot at after speaking out about the criminal element in his Kilrush constituency.
Gardai believe O’Brien was involved with the importation of several seized shipments of drugs over the past 18 months. Among these were 20 Kilograms of Cocaine seized in Cork in May with a street value of 1.4 million euro, 650,000 Euro worth of LSD found in Dublin docks in April, 6 Kilo’s of cocaine seized in Ardee, Co.Louth last October and the seizure of 1.2 tonnes of cannabis worbury Co.Kildare in August.
posted by wesley maj at 11:53 AM
2 Comments:
The writing isn't bad. Is it all your own?
Some of the "organised crime limerick style" sounds like its from a book like 'Family Feud'. No offence!
Good luck with it anyway.
That was the most interesting crime story I've read in ages Wesley - have you considered publishing it in some form?
Post a Comment
<< Home