Gang boss Liam Byrne’s son rang in the New Year with Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard and his daughter.
Our exclusive pictures show Byrne, the son of Kinahan cartel mobster Liam, partying with Gerrard in Dubai on New Years Eve.
Photos also reveal Lee playing tug-o-war with Gerrard in a wildlife park in the United Arab Emirates, in the last few days.
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Lee has recently revealed his love-affair with Gerrard’s daughter Lilly (18), who he called “the best person I’ve ever met” and his “little love.”
Now these photos show for Byrne hanging out with Lilly’s Premier League star dad - as the family enjoy a holiday in the UAE.
And in one photo posted to social media, Byrne can be seen with Lilly, her father and her mother Alex as the family posted for a photo at a New Years Eve party in the middle-east metropolis.
Steven Gerrard, his daughter, wife and Lee Byrne have no involvement in crime.
Lilly, like Lee, has a massive following on social media site Instagram, and is also a model and considered to be an ‘influencer.’
The pictures come after a video appeared on social media last year of the former Aston Villa manager with Lee’s gangster father.
In the video the former Liverpool captain is seen inviting the man to watch a match as Byrne is seen joking with the fan.
Towards the end of the video Byrne offers to set up a dinner between the fan and Gerrard in his home.
“You pick a date you want and I’ll get the lads on Dublin to bring you over, come around my house and Stevie is going to come around and have some dinner with you,” Byrne is heard saying.
Dubai happens to be the bolthole of mob boss Daniel Kinahan for the past six years - and is also understood to be a favourite hideout for Liam Byrne also.
Liam, who was named in Dublin’s High Court as the leader of the so-called ‘Byrne Organised Crime Group,’ is considered to be the de-facto leader of the Kinahan cartel in the UK.
Byrne is believed to have taken over from mobster Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh as the “number two” in the hierarchy of the Kinahan cartel, and leader of its operations in the transporting of drugs across the UK and Ireland.
Kavanagh, who is Liam’s brother-in-law, is currently serving a 21 year sentence for conspiring to import millions of pounds worth of drugs.
Liam Byrne has enjoyed relative freedom while Kinahan is now said to be moving between various countries in an effort to escape possible capture.
Meanwhile Byrne - who fled Ireland when the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) took away his €2M criminal empire, seems not to have a care in the world as he rubs shoulders with prominent sporting figures.
His brazen actions mirror almost exactly what mob boss Daniel Kinahan has been doing for years - as he attempted to wash his image through the sport of boxing.
Kinahan, who co-founded boxing firm MTK Global, regularly appeared alongside the likes of two-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world Tyson Fury - and proudly boasted about his abilities in managing boxers and arranging fights.
But the strategy soon wore out for Kinahan - who was sanctioned by the US government and authorities in the UAE earlier this year - effectively ending his career on the world boxing stage.
Last year we revealed pictures which showed Byrne acting like he hasn’t got a care in the world - as he smiled for a photo at the Champions League Final in Paris.
Byrne put on the brave face in spite of the fact that just two months prior - his own brother-in-law - Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh was jailed for 21 years for his role in a conspiracy to import €36M worth of drugs in the UK.
But Byrne, whose sister Joanne is married to Kavanagh, smiled for the camera as he posed beside son Lee and his two younger children among 75,000 football fans at one of the biggest matches in the world - all while his criminal empire fell to pieces at home.
The picture of Liam also came just weeks after the ruthless Kinahan cartel was exposed to the world after being sanctioned by the United States government.
Byrne is understood to be paranoid that he’s next - and is aware that he’s a target for authorities in Ireland and the UK.
His brother David was gunned down in Dublin’s Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.
It was that ruthless killing that sparked a campaign of revenge from the Kinahan cartel that saw 16 more men shot dead.
The killing of David Byrne not only enraged Liam, but his pal and boss Daniel Kinahan as well - who was in the hotel at the time - and was believed to be the primary target of the hit.
But six years on the Kinahan gang has been torn apart - and many of its key associates are now in jail or on the run.
Those jailed include Kavanagh and Byrne’s cousin ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson, who led the gang’s murder plot against Daithi Douglas on July 1, 2016.
Byrne’s keen attempts to show he still lives a life of luxury come three years after he was forced to give up Ireland for good - having been named in the High Court as the leader of a criminal organisation.
The High Court ruled that assets worth €2.7m - cars, jewellery, cash and the Raleigh Square home seized by CAB - were the proceeds of crime - and that Liam ran the gang named the ‘Byrne Organised Crime Group’ that controlled those assets.
He then moved to Birmingham - close to brother-in-law Thomas Kavanagh’s mansion in Tamworth, where the gang had a stronghold.
But that stronghold has now been firmly shattered - with Kavanagh imprisoned in one of the strictest prisons in the UK.
Bomber Kavanagh was once regarded by gardai in the High Court as being “at the top of the tree” of the Kinahan cartel - and a number-two to mob boss Daniel Kinahan.
The NCA is now involved in a case to seize his Tamworth mansion and other assets it has deemed to be the proceeds of crime.
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