The Kinahan crime cartel is reportedly offering a €5million bounty for the assassination of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, Irish Sunday Mirror has learned.
It is also believed that hefty prices have been placed on the heads of known associates of the 58-year-old, currently on trial at the Special Criminal Court.
Rumours are also circulating in Irish jails that a deck of playing cards with the faces of The Monk and those close to him are doing the rounds, similar to those used by American soldiers during the Iraqi invasion in 2003.
Mr Hutch, of The Paddocks, Clontarf, denies murdering father-of-two David Byrne, 33, at the Regency Hotel in Dublin on February 5, 2016, during an attack at a boxing weigh-in event.
Mr Byrne, 33, was shot dead when three masked gunmen with assault rifles, disguised as ERU gardaí, stormed the hotel along with an armed man wearing a flat cap as well as one dressed as a woman in a blonde wig.
A source told Irish Sunday Mirror how word of the €5m bounty has been circulating around the prisons, with some inmates joking they would have taken up the offer if not locked up.
The source said: “Rumours are flying around the jails and inmates are saying that €5m is being offered to any hitman who will take Gerry out.
“The word on the streets has got into the prisons and apparently it’s not just Gerry who has a price tag on his head.
“Close associates of his are also believed to be on the hit list, with various huge amounts being offered depending on the closeness to Gerry.
“Rumours are also circulating that there are decks of cards going around with Gerry as the Ace and the faces of others known to him on others alongside the bounty price for anyone who assassinates them.
“Staff who are transporting Hutch are aware that these stories are going around and some believe them to be true and are fearful of being in the convoy transporting him back and forth to the court.
“There is obviously a lot of security in place and no chances are being taken.
“There is definitely a real sense that there is a level of threat against Hutch and any associate of his at the moment.”
On the opening day of the Gerry Hutch murder trial earlier this week, the Special Criminal Court heard he had claimed he was one of the hit team that killed Kinahan ally David Byrne in the Regency Hotel.
The trial is expected to last up to 12 weeks.
Mr Hutch is on trial with two other men – Paul Murphy, 59, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin and Jason Bonney, 50, of Drumnigh Wood, Portmarnock, Dublin 13.
Neither is charged with murder but they have both pleaded not guilty to participating in or contributing to the murder of Byrne by providing access to motor vehicles on February 5, 2016.
As well as hearing allegations that Mr Hutch said he was involved in the murder of Mr Byrne, the trial also heard harrowing evidence from people who were caught up in the shooting.
Mel Christle, who is a senior barrister as well as a former boxer himself, told the court he was present at the hotel to oversee two weigh-in events. He said there were up to 250 people present when the drama erupted.
Later in the week, the trial was shown footage allegedly of Kevin Murray at the bar of the Regency Hotel the night before he is said to have taken part in the hit on Byrne.
Images claiming to be of “flat cap shooter” Murray’s last movements prior to the attack were shown in court.
State prosecutor Sean Gillane SC told the first day of the mammoth trial that disgraced former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall would say that Hutch confided in him about his role in the infamous hit.
Mr Gillane made his comments on Tuesday, shortly after Mr Hutch formally denied the charge of murder at the start of the trial.
Meanwhile, it is understood bosses are struggling to find a suitable prison to house Jonathan Dowdall and his father Patrick in after they were both sentenced on Monday.
They are to present themselves to Portlaoise Prison on October 31 after their defence was granted a deferment on “humanitarian grounds”.
There is speculation they might end up not being placed in the State’s maximum security prison, but rather be guarded by the Ranger wing at Baldoyle.
The source added: “There are very few prisons, if any, that would be suitable regarding security to place them in.
“The basement cells at Arbour Hill, once used for Charlie Bowden, are no longer usable.
“They may be given their own wing somewhere like Portlaoise Prison but the alternative could be to put them somewhere like Baldoyle.
“Army rangers would have the task of watching them around the clock. It’s slightly outlandish but very possible.”
The former Sinn Fein councillor, who is set to give evidence against Mr Hutch, pleaded guilty to lesser charges connected with the Regency attack which saw Mr Byrne killed.
The 44-year-old along with his father Patrick, 65, both with an address on the Navan Road in Dublin, admitted assisting a criminal gang to commit murder.
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