Moments before his brutal execution in a crowded Dublin pub, notorious gangland figure Eamon Dunne received a chilling phone call that would be his last. The feared criminal, known as 'The Don', was celebrating a friend's birthday when assassins stormed the venue, leaving his teenage daughter screaming in horror beside his bullet-ridden body.
The Final Moments of a Crime Boss
On that fateful April evening in 2010, Dunne was holding court at the Faussagh House pub in north Dublin, attending a birthday celebration. According to sources speaking to The Irish Independent, the gangster took several "serious" phone calls in the minutes leading up to the attack. One came directly from Mountjoy Prison, where a jailed gangster serving a life sentence for murder confronted Dunne using an illegal mobile phone.
"This fella was convinced that Dunne was sleeping with his girlfriend," a source revealed. "He confronted Dunne about this on the phone - Dunne was his usual aggressive self with this man." Just minutes after this tense exchange, two gunmen marched into the pub shouting "down, down, everybody down" before unleashing a volley of shots at the 34-year-old crime boss.
A Desperate Attempt to Survive
In a final, desperate act, Dunne grabbed lounge boy Jen Tiang - who was waiting for payment for a 7-Up he had served the gangster - and attempted to use him as a human shield against the attackers. The chaotic scene unfolded as Dunne sat beside his 17-year-old daughter Amy, who witnessed the entire gruesome attack.
The assassination was meticulously planned, with another gunman positioned outside to prevent any escape attempt while the getaway driver remained in the car. Dunne was shot twice in the back of the head, and a total of six bullets were recovered from his body during the subsequent investigation.
The Legacy of Ireland's Public Enemy Number One
Eamon Dunne was no ordinary criminal. As the leader of a ruthless north Dublin gang, he oversaw operations involving drug dealing, armed robbery, extortion and murder. At the time of his death, authorities had linked him to at least 12 killings and considered him Ireland's public enemy number one.
Despite being out on bail and preparing to face trial for conspiring to rob a cash-in-transit van, Dunne's criminal activities continued unabated. His paranoia had reportedly grown severe, fuelled by heavy cocaine use, making him a high-priority target for multiple Irish law enforcement agencies including:
- The National Drugs Unit
- The Criminal Assets Bureau
- The Organised Crime Unit
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, rather than coming to his aid, Dunne's own gang members fled the scene, leaving his daughter Amy standing over his bloodied corpse screaming "me da, me da". The killing, rather than being connected to the jailed gangster who made the final phone call, was reportedly carried out by a group of criminals from Dublin's north inner city.
Despite two men being arrested in May 2010 in connection with helping plan the attack, and another person being questioned under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, no convictions were ever made. The execution of Eamon 'The Don' Dunne remains one of Ireland's most high-profile unsolved gangland murders.
