Gardai investigating the murder of Gary Carey have seized a phone from crime boss Brian Rattigan as part of their probe into his associates, we can reveal.
Sources have confirmed to the Irish Mirror that officers took a mobile phone from ‘King Ratt’ after he arrived back in Ireland via Dublin Airport last week.
It is understood that Rattigan, whose associates are being probed over the gangland murder of Gary ‘The Canary’ Carey, willingly handed over his phone to gardai.
READ MORE: Ex-Dublin gangster turns porn star after spending 10 years in prison
Convicted killer Rattigan (42) has been predominantly abroad ever since his release from Portlaoise Prison in August 2021.
The infamous gangster served 18 years behind bars for stabbing Declan Galvin to death in 2001 - a killing which sparked the bloody Crumlin Drimnagh feud. It is understood that Rattigan surprised officers when he returned to Dublin last week - and he told them he was back for business.
Sources say Rattigan was cooperative with detectives and willingly handed over a mobile phone when asked.
Rattigan’s return to Dublin comes just weeks after gardai made major arrests in relation to the murder of Gary Carey. The arrests included the suspected triggerman - as well as a former female associate of Carey, who was believed to have set him up.
Gangster Carey was ambushed by a gunman in the underground car park of the Hilton Hotel in Kilmainham and was shot multiple times shortly before midday on June 24, 2022. He subsequently died in hospital on August 5th, and gardai launched a murder investigation.
Gardai believe Carey was murdered by associates of notorious mobster Declan ‘Dee Dee’ O’Driscoll and a West Dublin mob nicknamed ‘The Family.’ However, associates of Rattigan are also in the frame.
Rattigan is now believed to be staying at a property not far from Dublin city centre. While in prison the mobster became the first drug dealer to be convicted of managing his illegal business from behind bars.
He was sentenced to 17 years for dealing almost €1million worth of heroin from his cell but it was backdated to 2008, when the find was made. In 2017 Rattigan’s murder conviction was overturned and two years later he was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for manslaughter - and walked free in 2021.
Gary Carey, who was a major drug dealer in the west Dublin area, had previously had multiple attempts made on his life. Carey, a native of Ballyfermot in south Dublin, had been living in Spain since he escaped a previous attempt on his life in March – and was too afraid to come home.
But sources said he made the decision to come back to Ireland at the start of June after being assured the threat on his life had been lifted.
However he subsequently flew home after gardai suspected he was lured to his death in a carefully-laid trap. The gang used a silver Audi A4 to follow Carey to the Hilton Hotel where they hunted him down in the underground car park at around 11.30am.
He was shot six times and lost a significant amount of blood, before he was given life-saving treatment at the scene and was then rushed to hospital, where he was in intensive care for some time, before later dying.
Pals of convicted criminal O’Driscoll (49) had been feuding with Carey for some time. Carey previously survived being shot twice while sitting inside a car outside a house in Ballyfermot in November 2021 – and escaped with only minor graze injuries from a previous incident in March that year.
Carey has been questioned a number of times by detectives in relation to seizures of drugs, firearms and cash. He has also previously served 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to drug dealing at Dublin Circuit Court back in 2002.
READ NEXT:
