Christy Kinahan
From IRA Inc. to gangland’s blinging molls, Nicola Tallant exposes the 2017 Underworld Rich List. Here is the final part, which covers the Top 5.
Daniel and Christopher Kinahan (€20 to €30m)
The sons of the ‘Dapper Don’ Christy Kinahan have inherited their father’s thriving drug business at its headquarters in Spain, where they have lived a lavish lifestyle for years.
Both have been linked to a number of luxury properties complete with swimming pools, they drive a selection of high-end cars and have been central to the establishment of the MTK gym in Puerto Banus.
The brothers have a penchant for glamorous women and regularly splash their cash on the ladies in their lives.
It is understood that they have also made private investments of their own funds across the globe in order to legitimise their earnings.
Daniel and Christopher Kinahan
Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy (€50m)
The IRA godfather was raking in more than €10 million a year from four diesel laundering plants in south Armagh before they were uncovered in recent years. However, even after he was busted, ‘Slab’ continued to control secret fuel factories.
He has also been a key figure in the lucrative cigarette smuggling market, making millions off contraband from Asia.
The Chief of Staff of the IRA Army Council since 1997, Murphy (below), who is currently in jail for tax evasion, lives like an ordinary farmer in Hackballscross, Co. Louth, in a property that straddles the border.
Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy (€50m)
George ‘The Penguin’ Mitchell (€50m)
He has wealth beyond most people’s wildest dreams and is known as a greedy workaholic who will not let anyone stand in his way.
Ireland’s godfather of crime, Mitchell is suspected of ordering several murders and shipping vast quantities of drugs.
Sources say he is desperate to legitimise his money as he becomes more concerned for his health and his legacy.
Mitchell has made investments in Asia and also has financial interests in high-tech phone equipment in Germany. When it comes to spending his loot, ‘the Penguin’ is a man of simple pleasures who instead spoils his large extended family, including his daughters Rachel, Lisa and Jean, grandchildren, his wife and his secretary-turned-lover Kadiba Bouchiba.
George ‘The Penguin’ Mitchell
John Cunningham (€50m)
The Jennifer Guinness kidnapper, nicknamed ‘the Colonel’, has been the business partner of Christy Kinahan for three decades.
Cunningham has managed to remain under the radar since his arrest in 2010 as part of operation shovel, but he has been listed in the top tier of the cartel.
Like his business partner, it is believed he has moved millions in personal wealth into investments and assets around the world.
Cunningham, from Ballyfermot in Dublin, always craved the good life. When he was arrested in 2000 in Holland he was living in a luxurious farmhouse complete with indoor swimming pool and outhouses.
Christy Kinahan (€100m)
Kinahan remains on the top rung of the cartel he built from small beginnings.
His organisation is estimated to be worth more than €500 million. He has an expertise in money laundering and has in recent years moved more of his funds into ‘legitimate’ businesses.
His personal wealth spans companies and assets in Europe, South America, Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
He is currently based in Dubai, where he is believed to have bought up luxury properties and where he protects his business interests in free-trade zones.
CHECK OUT PART THREE OF THE LIST HERE, Dirty Money: The Underworld Rich List, Part 3 PART TWO Dirty Money: The Underworld Rich List, Part 2 AND PART ONE: Dirty Money: The Underworld Rich List, Part 1