The Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG) has been charged with directing a 40-year reign of terror and violence that built a global drugs empire, with ties to Colombian and Mexican cartels as well as the Russian Mafia.
Daniel Kinahan, 49, has been charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation after being arrested in the UAE. He was extradited from Dubai to Dublin amid a massive security operation, including decoy vans and snipers on roofs.
A dynasty built on Dublin's heroin epidemic
The KOCG began preying on Dublin's vulnerable drug users at the height of the city's heroin epidemic in the 1980s. The family came under the spotlight again earlier this year when suspected boss Daniel Kinahan was caught after going on the run for a decade.
Kinahan is the son of "Christy" Kinahan, who created what became known as the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG) in the 1990s. Christy Kinahan's criminal record stretches back to the 1970s before he became the boss of the notorious clan.
Global reach and complex finances
At last estimate, the Irish crime syndicate was thought to be worth more than €400million (£340million). The cartel, believed to have assets of at least £1billion, has invested in holiday resorts, sports promotion firms and distilleries in Australia. It allegedly put hundreds of millions in investment portfolios in Asia.
The gang's wealth structure is said to be highly complex, and they have compartmentalised their finances to reduce the risk of confiscation by authorities. US officials say it is one of the world's largest crime groups.
Boxing links and the Hutch feud
Kinahan was also involved in sport via his now defunct boxing management firm MTK Global, representing more than 100 fighters, including Tyson Fury and Carl Frampton. Fury wrote in 2020: "I'm just after getting off the phone with Daniel Kinahan. He's just informed me the biggest fight in British boxing history has just been agreed. Get in there my boy!" Terms had been agreed for Fury to fight Anthony Joshua.
The Kinahans' bloody turf-war with another Irish crime family is said to have led to scores of deaths. Between 2015 and 2018, their feud with the Hutch crime family resulted in the deaths of 18 people.
Arrest and court proceedings
In 2018, the Irish High Court accepted police evidence that the KOCG was an international crime group and that its drug operations were controlled by Daniel Kinahan, allegations his lawyer has denied. In 2022, the US offered a reward of up to £3.7million for information leading to Kinahan's arrest and/or conviction for his alleged participation "in transnational organised crime, namely narcotics trafficking and money laundering".
A wanted poster of Kinahan on the US State Department's website now features the word "captured". Kinahan was apprehended in the United Arab Emirates on April 15 and flown back to Ireland amid heightened security. He is charged with directing the activities of a criminal organisation between 18 October 2015 and 6 April 2017. He was remanded and scheduled to appear in person at court again on 21 December.
