A wanted Drogheda feud gang member was among the 300 mourners who attended the funeral earlier this week of notorious gang boss Cornelius Price, we can exclusively reveal.
Brendan Maguire, 42, an older brother of paralysed Drogheda mob boss Owen Maguire, fled to the UK shortly after he was targeted in a murder attempt in the Co Louth town four years ago.
He had been warned by officers under Operation Stratus that his life was in danger before he was blasted in a botched hit close to Smyths Toy Superstores outlet in M1 retail park on February 26, 2019.
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The thug, who is wanted by gardai as he has a number of warrants outstanding for his arrest in relation to a violent disorder charge, possession of weapons and other matters, was spotted among the mourners at Price’s funeral in Rochford in Greater Manchester on Monday morning.
Wearing a dark green jacket and black t-shirt, Brendan stood with a number of others, including another key associate of Owen’s, as the drivers of three Lamborgunies revved the engines as part of the funeral procession for Price at Rochdale Crematorium & Cemetery.
However, there was no sign of Brendan’s mob boss brother Owen at the funeral. Owen was left paralysed and in a wheelchair after he was shot in a botched hit by hitman Robbie Lawlor in July 2018. That murder attempt escalated the feud that has resulted in four murders and over 100 incidents in Drogheda. Owen has rarely been seen in public ever since.
Earlier this year, High Court Judge Alexander Owens found in favour of the CAB who wanted to seize two properties, two vehicles, a Rolex watch and €305,000 in cash belonging to both Brendan and Owen declared the proceeds of crime. Neither of the brothers had turned up to contest the case.
And in a sworn affidavit lodged in the High Court for the CAB case, Brendan is described as a "senior and active member of the Price-Maguire Organised Crime Group" and "a person of significant strength, the person who collects the money owed for drugs or uses intimidation when required."
Psycho gang boss Price was facing a trial in the UK for his part in a kidnap and blackmail plot but became ill in October 2021 with a brain disease and never stood trial.
The feared gangster - who lived at a fortified compound off the M1 in Gormanston, Co Meath which was described in an affidavit by a senior detective as “an enclave for criminality” - was behind much of the chaos in the Drogheda feud.
Owen and Price rose to the ranks of heads of the Price/Maguire Organised Crime Group in 2006 when they became close criminal associates who took over drug dealing in the North East of the country following the murders of two Louth drug dealers.
Both Maguire and Price are not suspected of being involved in those murders.
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