The brutal ‘Irish mafia’ who became real-life Sopranos of the Costa del Crime… until a botched hit sparked all-out war

THE Kinahans were small-time Irish street dealers who became billionaires.

But a series of bloody shootings on Spain’s Costa del Crime, where they enjoyed Sopranos-style lives of gangster luxury, nearly brought their whole empire crashing down.

Today the Dublin crime family – led by godfather Christopher ‘Christy’ Kinahan and two sons Daniel and Christy Junior – have a $5million bounty on their heads in the US.

The cartel is wanted for drugs and firearms trafficking, money laundering and murder.

To date, Daniel and Christy Junior have never been convicted of any serious crimes, and all three Kinahans remain at large. 

Now a BBC documentary – Kinahan: The True Story of Ireland’s Mafia – charts how the family grew their empire to become one of the world’s most feared crime organisations.

It’s a story of underworld feuding, double-dealing, betrayal and gangland assassinations, from the streets of Ireland and the UK to the Netherlands, Spain, Dubai and America. 

Christy Kinahan Senior started to take over Dublin’s heroin business in the 1980s.

A stint in prison didn’t dampen his ambition – instead, it fuelled it and gave him the impetus to take the operation international.

He moved to the Netherlands in the 1990s, building his crime gang into a cartel, shifting hundreds of millions of pounds worth of drugs.

At the same time, his sons Daniel and Christy Junior were being primed by their father to join the family business. 

As dance music and rave culture changed the cultural landscape, ecstasy became the almost socially-acceptable drug of choice to fuel the party and the Kinahans leapt on it, with the boys dealing drugs supplied by their dad in Amsterdam to their lucrative market in Dublin.

Then as cocaine consumption exploded across Europe and Ireland’s economy became the booming Celtic Tiger, the cartel’s empire became even more powerful.

And where did powerful multi-millionaire crime bosses go to flaunt their wealth and evade the authorities? The Costa del Sol, of course.

Costa del Crime

In recent years, the gang’s links to sunny Spain have been thrust back into the spotlight after the shock arrest of cartel money man Johnny Morrissey.

The Manchester-born businessman was nicked in September 2022 and accused by prosecutors of laundering over €200million in drug money for the Kinahan cartel.

But he was freed on €60,000 bail after the authorities failed to produce enough evidence to charge him.

Cartel links to the Costa del Sol run deep, with journalist Paul Williams tells the documentary: “In the British criminal underworld it was referred to as the Costa del Crime – the little bit of Spain that fell off the back of a truck.

“That is where all the blaggers, the faces as they were called, the big villains – the Mickey Greens of this world, the Great Train Robbers – all went because there was no extradition agreement at that stage so it became an extension of Amsterdam.”

With its proximity to Morocco – just 12 miles away from the Spanish shore – it was the ideal gateway to smuggle drugs in.

Sunday World Investigations Editor Nicola Tallant says: “Christy Kinahan Senior, he was kind of on the move constantly and of course to be a major drug supplier in Europe you have to have a presence on the Costa del Sol.

But it was cold in Amsterdam. Villains love the heat.

Paul Williams

“Christy Kinahan Senior got an introduction to some Moroccan suppliers of cannabis.

“But at the same time into the new millennium the cocaine boom starts.

“If you are in that business I am sure there is a lot of excitement in the air because the money is really ramping up.

“And he was out there developing what was to become one of the biggest cocaine groupings in Europe.”

With his dad running the European operations from the Spanish sunshine, son Daniel seemed to be in control of the Irish operation – with deadly consequences.

“The arrival of cocaine and the Irish public’s insatiable demand for cocaine changed the face of gangland,” explains Paul Williams.

“Very quickly we found ourselves in this new era with a new generation, a young group of criminals born into crime.

“These were really dangerous, volatile gangsters. 

“They all coalesced together around Daniel Kinahan, principally because the father had become one of the biggest suppliers to the market.

“So he became the natural leader and they were making fortunes on the back of working with him.

“The amount of money they were making was mind-boggling and they had no problem with using violence to protect that.”

Suddenly the streets of Dublin were plagued with murder and violence – all linked to the city’s lucrative drug trade.

Gang alliance

Daniel formed an alliance with Gary Hutch – part of the infamous Hutch family from the North Inner City in Dublin – which was eventually going to lead to mayhem and murder.

Nicola Tallant says: “Some people describe the Hutches as an army – there is so many of them.

“The majority of the people with the name Hutch are not criminals, but the fact of the matter is that there were quite a few who became major names in criminality, in particular Gerry Hutch.

“The monk was his nickname.

“Gary Hutch was befriending Daniel and Christopher Kinahan Junior. Because he’s that ambitious, he knows if he goes with them he will get up there, he will do anything for them.”

Paul Williams says: “Daniel Kinahan on one side and Gary Hutch on the other, they would be considered gangland royalty.

“And that would become very significant later on down the line. But the problem with the human dynamics of criminal organisations, the template for them, gangs that are very tight-knit inevitably fall out and they kill each other.

“The case of the Kinahan and Hutch collaboration was always destined to blow up in that way as well.”

Costa living

In the early 2000s, on their dad’s orders, Daniel and Christy Junior, moved down to the Costa del Sol.

They began to live the ultimate luxury lifestyle in the millionaires’ playground.

They were living in mansions with private pools and top of the range security and driving around in luxury supercars.

With lots of their contacts from Dublin joining them in the sunshine, they were known as the Costa del Sol’s ‘Irish Mafia’.

Nicola Tallant says: “They lived the lifestyle of international drug dealers. It was absolutely extraordinary.

“The cops in Spain put up with a lot, But they don’t really like murders because it scares away the tourists.”

Murders

In 2008 Irish international drug trafficker and murder suspect Patrick Doyle was gunned down in Spain – at around the same time some of the Kinahan’s money had disappeared.

Spanish police came to the conclusion he had been murdered because he had stolen it.

Daniel Kinahan’s right-hand man Gary Hutch and another gangster Freddie Thompson were with Doyle when he was shot but escaped.

The suspicions were that Hutch was showing his loyalty to the Kinahans by setting up his childhood friend Paddy Doyle to be killed.

The murder made the Spanish police sit up and take notice and they launched Operation Shovel to look into the Kinahan’s activities.

Operation Shovel discovered the Kinahan’s business empire was so successful that they were running out of places to stash the cash – so Christy Senior was buying up gold bars and diamonds.

They lived the lifestyle of international drug dealers. It was absolutely extraordinary

But they also discovered he had made trips to Brazil on the pretence of buying large quantities of sugar – but instead was planning to ship back cocaine.

And they were able to establish the structure of the family business.

Christopher Junior was seen to be the more intellectual of the two sons, so he was charged with the money laundering side of things, while Daniel was suspected of being in charge of the ‘hard section’ – drug dealing and murder.

In May 2010 the police arrested the Kinahans in Spain along with their associates, including lawyers and accountants across Europe.

Nicola Tallant says: “When Operation Shovel happened we were told very confidently by the Spanish police the Irish Mafia were no more.

“But Operation Shovel was an absolute disaster. By 2013 they had got bail and they were out. They were back.”

And far from keeping a low profile, the Kinahans celebrated style.

“They threw the most massive knees up,” says Nicola Tallant.

“Word got back to Dublin about this party. It was a real two fingers to the law.

“The Spanish legal system maybe isn’t strong enough for some of these organised crime charges.”

And after the party, the crime family went straight back to business.

But behind the scenes all was not rosy between former best friends Daniel Kinahan and Gary Hutch.

“That friendship broke down and that led to murder and mayhem,” says Nicola Tallant.

Boxing hit

Daniel Kinahan had become involved in the boxing world, taking a major front-facing role at a professional Marbella boxing gym.

In August 2014, former boxing champion Jamie Moore was shot in the legs at Daniel Kinahan’s villa.

Nicola Tallant says: “There was so much confusion. It made no sense that an innocent boxer was shot.

“You had Jamie Moore on his way in and a gunman lurking in the garden.”

But investigations reveal it was a case of mistaken identity – and the intended victim was Daniel Kinahan.

And it was soon uncovered that the hitman and an associate drove away from the scene – and the only person who had access to the getaway car was Gary Hutch.

Paul Williams says: “You cannot over exaggerate how profound an event that was.

“Here we have Gary Hutch from gangland royalty trying to whack his boss who is from gangland royalty as well.

“This is a seismic event.”

There was so much confusion. It made no sense that an innocent boxer was shot

Gary Hutch was running for his life. But in another incredible turn of events, his uncle Gerry was brought in from his home in Lanzarote as a negotiator.

Nicola Tallant says :“Gary Hutch and Daniel Kinahan hammered out a deal.

“And Gary agreed that the family, or the Hutch organisation, hand over 200,000 euros which was a compensation as such for what happened in the garden when Jamie Moore was shot.”

But Daniel Kinahan wanted revenge. He blamed Patrick Hutch Junior, Gary’s brother, for being the triggerman on the night. 

Patrick was later shot in the legs – but refused to speak to the police about it.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Gary Hutch was shot dead at an apartment complex in Spain.

And that was just the calm before the storm.

Nicola Tallant says: “Daniel Kinahan and Gary Hutch’s friendship was the glue that brought those two families and groupings together.”

On New Year’s Eve the Kinahans sent a hit team to Lanzarote to kill Gerry Hutch – but he escaped.

And that attempt on godfather Gerry ‘the monk’ Hutch led to one of the most audacious attacks in Irish criminal history.

Gunmen dressed in police uniforms stormed into Dublin’s Regency Hotel and shot dead Kinahan associate David Byrne.

Then, on the Monday, Gerry Hutch’s brother was shot dead. In total the Hutch-Kinahan feud claimed 18 lives.

Gary’s brother Patrick Hutch was charged with the murder of David Byrne, accused of being the gunman who was dressed as a woman during the Regency attack.

Gerry ‘the monk’ Hutch was also tried for the murder, accused of being one of the gunman dressed as police.

The Patrick Hutch trial collapsed in 2019 and all charges were dropped.

Gerry Hutch was found not guilty in 2023.

A lawyer for the Kinahans told the BBC that ‘rumours’ and ‘theories’ about them had not been tested in court and a ‘massive investigation’ by five countries ended with a dismissal of the main charges against them.

KInahan: The True Story of Ireland’s Mafia is on BBC iPlayer.