AS PART of their continued crackdown on organised crime, Gardai arrested, detained and questioned a senior figure in one of Limerick’s criminal gangs last week as part of their continuing investigations into the murder of Brian Fitzgerald.
The man, who is in his thirties, was arrested at 8am on St. Valentines Day at an address on the southside of the city.
He is believed to be the man who ordered the hit on the Limerick bouncer after a complaint was made against him over a threat and Mr Fitzgerald notified gardai. The subject of the complaint had a suspended prison sentence hanging over him and that is believed to have been and additional motive into the killing of Mr Fitzgerald.
The year before his murder, the home of Mr Fitzgerald was shot and his car was destroyed with paint after he refused to allow members of the McCarthy Dundon drug gang sell drugs in the night club where he worked.
Originally from England, the suspect fled the country after Brian Fitzgerald was murdered in the early hours of a November morning in 2002 after he returned home from work. Two men lay in wait outside Mr Fitzgerald’s Corbally home and shot the bouncer in the head and chest.
UK born, James Martin Cahill (28) was the hitman hired to carry out the killing and was paid €10,000. He was arrested and pleaded guilty to the murder a short time after but said he would only do so if others were charged with him. He is currently serving life in prison.
Notorious Moyross criminal, Gary Campion, is also serving life after a jury convicted him of driving the motorbike used in the killing. He too is serving life in prison.
In 2011, the suspect returned to Limerick after serving five and half years of an 11 year sentence for the possession of a machine gun and ammunition in suspicious circumstances.
At the time of his return, a number of the key figures in the McCarthy Dundon gang were starting lengthy prison sentences having been convicted for serious criminal activity in Limerick.
Gardai say that their investigations are continuing after the suspect was released and file is being prepared for the DPP.
Above: The late Brian Fitzgerald
