A FEARED thug has become one of the Kinahan cartel’s key enforcers in Dublin.
Jamie Griffin (21) has been “causing terror” since his release from jail in June.
Described as a “complete loose cannon”, the young criminal is now running the gang’s activities and extortion rackets in the south inner city.
“Everyone is terrified of him. He’s going around collecting debts on behalf of the cartel. The fear is that he’s going to do serious damage to someone soon,” a source said last night.
Griffin has been taking over cartel activities after a leading criminal connected to the Kinahans was jailed recently.
He is also suspected of a feud-related knife attack on murdered Gary Hutch’s brother, Derek ‘Del Boy’ Hutch, in Mountjoy Prison last year.
It is believed Griffin and his older brother Leon (26) were offered €10,000 by the cartel to carry out a merciless attack on the convicted armed robber.
Hutch suffered defensive slash wounds in the attack after three prison officers intervened and managed to restrain the Griffins.
Hutch is serving multiple sentences for offences including manslaughter, possession of a firearm and robbery and is considered a prime target for the cartel in their deadly feud with his associates.
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Speaking at the Prison Officers’ Association annual conference earlier this year, the organisation’s president, Stephen Delaney, said: “The three officers, using only bare hands and courage, pulled Hutch from certain death.”
Both brothers were moved from Mountjoy after the attack, with Leon transferred to Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon and Jamie to Wheatfield Prison.
The Griffin brothers are considered to be among Ireland’s most volatile inmates and have amassed more than 40 “P19” disciplinary reports between them in the past 18 months.
Sources said Jamie Griffin had been far worse behaved than his older brother and had come to the attention of the authorities for breaches of discipline, which included fighting and possession of contraband.
The Griffin brothers were also involved in a savage assault on high-profile criminal Wayne Bradley in Mountjoy Prison in December 2014 that resulted in Bradley needing three weeks of hospital treatment.
That beating led to fears of a gangland bloodbath.
Jamie Griffin, of Iveagh Trust Building, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty in March last year to a violent attack in Ladbrokes in Killinarden, Tallaght, on December 13, 2012.
Dublin Circuit Court heard he was part of a three-man gang who stabbed a customer and brutally assaulted another man there.
Griffin, who was already serving a six-year sentence for another offence, has 13 previous convictions, including for violent disorder.
The court heard gardai were called to the scene and both injured men were transferred to Tallaght Hospital.
One man had multiple stab wounds and the other a broken hand.
Ronan Kennedy, defending, told the court that Griffin expressed remorse and regret at what he had done and was seeking help for his aggression.
Judge Nolan took into acc-ount the fact that Griffin was only 17 at the time of the offence, and handed down a three-year custodial sentence with the last year suspended on condition that he be of good behaviour.
Herald
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