Associates of the Kinahan cartel were transferred to other prisons after causing major tensions at Mountjoy jail earlier this week.
Six inmates were moved after jail bosses identified them as intimidating other prisoners into “going on strike” from their cleaning and kitchen jobs.
They are also believed to have organised large-scale protests in the Dublin jail’s exercise yard which involved some people refusing to return to their cells.
On three separate occasions prison staff in riot gear had to be deployed to the exercise yard when inmates refused to turn in.
As well as the transfers, 10 other prisoners were issued with P19 disciplinary forms and moved to other areas of the jail for not also obeying orders.
A source told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Prison bosses identified a number of inmates who appeared to be causing tension and decided the best course of action was to move them.
“Tensions are already high with the current Covid-19 restrictions and they didn’t want to add to it.
“The prisoners were moved during the week to another jail. The inmates are believed to have been
intimidating others into carrying out protests.”
The move comes just days after a court heard members of the cartel were paid €20,000
for “setting people up for a hit”.
The Special Criminal Court heard of audio surveillance of a conversation between a woman and one of the suspects in a failed plot to murder Patsy Hutch, the brother of Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, in Dublin in 2018.
In the recording, people were saying, “they have so much money, they could buy half the Hutch lads” and “they’re getting €20,000 for setting
somebody up, used to get that for doing the hit”.
During a sentence hearing on Friday for Michael Burns, Ciaran O’Driscoll and Stephen Curtis, evidence was given that gardai recovered a written record of the finances of the Kinahan gang sub-cell from a suspect’s address.
This breakdown of the expenses to murder Mr Hutch had a “starting balance” of €7,000 and
“logistical costs” in excess of €10,000.
