A “senior member” of the Kinahan cartel who directed an attempt to murder Hutch gang member James “Mago” Gately has been jailed for 11 years.
Peadar Keating, 40, drove to Belfast in a specially arranged car to carry out surveillance on the top Kinahan target, who Estonian hitman Imre Arakas had been flown in to kill.
Keating, of Rowlagh Green, Clondalkin, West Dublin, pleaded guilty in June to directing the activities of a criminal organisation between December 7, 2016 and April 6, 2017.
This involved the “ongoing targeting” of Gately in the context of a feud between the Hutch and Kinahan crime groups, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said.
He added that hitman Arakas was brought to Ireland in 2017 to carry out the murder of Gately but had been apprehended by gardai.
The Kinahan cartel’s plan to murder Gately was “crystallised” with the arrest of Arakas, said Mr Justice Hunt at the Special Criminal Court.
The judge added that Keating was a “senior figure” for the Kinahan organised crime group, which he described as being a “well-organised, complex, sinister and dangerous organisation”.
He fixed 16 years’ imprisonment as a pre-mitigation headline sentence but gave Keating a “full and fair” 25% discount for his early guilty plea, which the judge said was in the public interest and also saved a costly trial.
He added Keating was a “senior frontline member” and a “significant part of the surveillance of James Gately and his family regarding the proposed murder”.
He said that although Keating had 10 previous convictions, the offence before the court of directing the activities of a criminal organisation was a “significant step up”.
The judge added that Keating could not have been ignorant of the nature of the Kinahan organised crime group and that the failed attempt on Gately’s life was not due to any “reluctance” on the part of Keating but was due to Garda intervention.
Judge Hunt said that Keating was a “repository of trust and confidence” for the Kinahan cartel, which “heavily aggravated” matters”.
He sentenced Keating to 12 years’ imprisonment, suspending the final year for two years.
Father-of-three Keating, dressed in a grey top and blue jeans, spoke at the non-jury court only to acknowledge himself bound to the peace for two years upon his release from prison.
Speaking outside the court after the sentencing, Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland said: “Today’s sentencing for Peter, also known as Peadar, Keating for 12 years’ imprisonment for directing the activities of an organised crime group is a significant development for An Garda Siochana’s strategy to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups participating in violence, which is the scourge of communities.”
Det Chief Supt Boland added: “Three people have now been convicted of conspiracy to murder an individual [Gately] in Belfast in April 2017.”
Arakas, 62, was jailed for six years in December 2018, having pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to murder Gately. Arakas was arrested before the planned attack could be carried out.
David Duffy, 33, from Clondalkin, who booked flights for the hitman to come from Estonia, was jailed for five years by the Special Criminal Court in July.
Gately was the victim of another attempted murder in May 2017.
Caolan Smyth, 30, of Cuileann Court, Donore, Co Meath, was sentenced to 20 years last February for attempted murder in relation to that second bid.
Gately, the court heard, wore a bulletproof vest and survived the attack, despite being shot five times.
At Keating’s sentence hearing, Det Sgt Carolan said Arakas’ arrival into Dublin Airport on April 3, 2017 was noted by gardai who then watched as he walked around areas of inner city Dublin associated with the Hutch group.
Gardai arrested Arakas the following morning and from information on his mobile phone it became clear he had been brought to Ireland to target Gately.
Gardai contacted the PSNI who discovered a tracker device on Gately’s car and harvested CCTV footage which gardai used to identify Keating and others near Gately’s apartment on March 28 and 30, days before Arakas’ arrival in Ireland.
Gardai then pieced together Keating’s movements and found that on March 28 he travelled to Dublin Airport to pick up a Peugeot that had been brought to Ireland from Holyhead earlier that day.
Keating left his own Volkswagen Caddy in the airport car park and drove to Dundalk, Co Louth, where he bought a sat nav device.
On March 30 Keating again drove the Peugeot to Belfast, this time with two other men.
One of the men went into the car park of Gately’s apartment complex and attached a tracker to a Toyota Avensis.
When Gately travelled to Dublin from Belfast later that day Keating was 10 minutes behind him on the same road, the detective said.
Following the arrest of Arakas, Keating directed one of his co-accused to clean the Peugeot “from top to bottom to ensure all prints are gone off it”.
The detective also pointed to Keating’s arranging to leave Ireland by ferry after finding out one of his co-accused was arrested at Dublin Airport.
