A number of Kinahan cartel members have been put into protective custody in prison at their own request.
It is understood they no longer have the cash to pay for their drug debts as the Kinahan cash machine dries up.
A prison source said: "These guys were getting a couple of hundred of euros a month from the Kinahan cartel to pay for their drugs behind bars.
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"They have now stopped receiving any cash as the Gardai, the American Drug Enforcement Agency and the Spanish authorities turn the screw on the whole Kinahan crime organisation.
"The Kinahans are a spent force and no longer carry the power and the money that they had in this country.
"Some of these gang members have run up drug debts inside jail and haven't got the money to pay for it.
"A number have asked the prison authorities to protect them because they are worried about their safety and fear they will be attacked by other gangs if they don't pay up."
A couple of hundred prisoners across the country are normally kept in permanent protective custody at any given time if they request it.
Some stay locked up on their own while others are put in a landing with prisoners that are not a danger to them.
Prison sources say drugs continue to be smuggled into Irish jails every day despite the best efforts of the Irish Prison Service to stop it.
Drones have been used to drop drugs into Mountjoy and Wheatfield prisons in the past.
There are currently 20 to 30 Kinahan gang members serving sentences in prison, including a number of known hitmen.
The prison source added: "The Kinahan gang do not have the organisation here that they used to have.
"Since the Regency shooting and the feud with the Hutches they have taken a lot of hits to the organisation from the police and much of their whole money laundering operations both in Ireland and Spain has been seriously damaged and dismantled.
"You need cash to stay top of the tree in the Narco world and if you don't have it, you are in trouble."
Yesterday, it was revealed that the head of the cartel, Daniel Kinahan, has fled from their bolthole in Dubai to Iran which does not have an extradition treaty with either Ireland or the United States.
A Garda Supt along with US DEA agents have been monitoring the family in the United Arab Emirates.
It is understood that if the ring leaders of the cartel, Dad Christy, and sons Daniel and Christy Jnr are captured the Irish Government is willing to let them stand trial in America.
The US authorities have already put a $5 million dollar bounty on each of their heads.
A Government insider said: "There are serious charges against them in the USA and they should first face the music there, The punishment and the prisons are also far more severe than here."
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