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Garda protection is slashed due to cutbacks
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02-01-2012 2:59am#1MOB YULE
Gangsters' 'best-ever Christmas present' as Murder Inc witnesses' armed Garda protection is slashed due to cutbacks
FEARS: Philly Treacy
FEARS: Philly Treacy
TWO FAMILIES who helped take down Limerick's Murder Inc Mob have had their Garda protection pulled days before Christmas. Philly Treacy - whose son Owen helped put away five members of the McCarthy-Dundon mob for the murder of Kieran Keane - was told the security around his family was being axed due to budget cutbacks.
And State witness Mark Heffernan revealed that he too has lost his Garda protection detail, despite being under a death threat for testifying against the mobsters.
"It's the best Christmas present they could have given the country's gangsters. The drug dealers and the hitmen know that witnesses will be even more reluctant to come forward," Heffernan said.
A devastated Mr Treacy told the Sunday World this week: "When my son was shot dead and my other son Owen gave evidence, the agreement was that we would have security for life and the family would be protected.
"I was told it is because of cutbacks. When I go out that door, my wife doesn't think I am coming back."
Armed protection pulled from families who took down Murder Inc
GARDAI have pulled protection from two families who helped bring down Limerick's Murder Inc mob just days before Christmas because of cutbacks. State witness Mark Heffernan and the family of marked man Owen Treacy - who have already had one son murdered - say the decision is like a death sentence. They have pulled the plug with just days' notice, according to Heffernan and Treacy's father Philly.
"Its gone from 'high risk' to 'you're dead safe' to 'no problems' in a matter of days," a worried Heffernan told the Sunday World.
"There is no scaling it down. Two days before Christmas they are pulling the plug on it
Testimony
MURDERED: Daniel Treacy
MURDERED: Daniel Treacy
The family of murder witness Owen Treacy - whose testimony put five of the McCarthy/Dundon gang behind bars for life - has been told that their protection has been withdrawn because of budgets. Their son Daniel, who had no involvement in gangland crime, was murdered in a brutal execution while on a bread run on the Ennis Road, in Limerick city centre.
His breadman father Philly has had police protection since his son Owen gave evidence about witnessing the murder of his uncle Kieran Keane. Owen had a miracle escape himself after being repeatedly stabbed by the killers.
"When I go out that door my wife doesn't think I am coming back," a distraught Philly Treacy said in a rare interview.
"I was told by the same detective who told me that my son had been killed that now my protection would be gone.
"They've made three threats to take it off us, but not because the threat isn't there. It was just because of cutbacks.
"I was brought in and told that cutbacks imposed from Dublin meant that my security was pulled completely. Two days later all our protection was gone."
The Gardai told him that they would continue to do spot checks on the family.
"When my son was shot dead and my other son Owen gave evidence, the agreement was that we would have security for life and the family would be protected.They are all there when they want your help but when you need it they desert you," the devastated dad added.
He is now vowing to go to the High Court in the new year to try and reverse the decision.
Owen Treacy's testimony helped put Dessie Dundon, David 'Frogs Eyes' Stanners, James McCarthy, Christopher 'Smokie' Costelloe, and Anthony 'Noddy' McCarthy away for life for murder.
Desperation
THREAT: Heffernan
THREAT: Heffernan
As the five men were being led away, one shouted: "For every action there's a reaction - remember that."
State witness Mark Heffernan spent last week driving on the bread run with Mr Treacy so his own armed protection detail would be present. But now he too has been told his security is being pulled.
"It's a mark of our desperation that State witnesses are following each other around to effectively share armed protection," Heffernan said.
"It was the best Christmas present they could have given the country's gangsters. The drug dealers and the hitmen know that witnesses will be even more reluctant to come forward," Heffernan said.
"They more or less told me that there is no threat to my safety and that I talk to criminals or ex-criminals on a daily basis and therefore there is no threat to me.
"The phrase they used to me was 'moderate risk' but clearly everyone knows it must be cutbacks. At least they were straight with the Treacys. Everybody knows the danger I'm in."
Heffernan had 24-hour armed security as part of a protective umbrella around him and his family but he was told on Monday that it would finish this week. Heffernan said that he talks to ex-criminals and young offenders as part of his community outreach work trying to bring a peace process to Limerick gangland.
Conviction
James Collins (right) son Gareth (c) and Chris McCarthy
James Collins (right) son Gareth (c) and Chris McCarthy
It is less than a year since he testified and was instrumental in securing the conviction of seven key Limerick underworld figures, including Jimmy Collins, Christopher and David McCormack and Christopher McCarthy.
At the jailing of Jimmy Collins, his son Gareth and Christopher McCarthy for using threats with menace, Chief Supt David Sheehan said that Heffernan and his family were threatened with being burned out of Limerick and that Heffernan - from Southill, a stronghold of the McCarthy/Dundons - was a dead man if he did not pay the gang the money they were demanding from the former nightclub boss.
His case sparked a changing of the guard in the city and has arguably given Limerick its most peaceful period in the last decade. Heffernan was told this week that he did not warrant security anymore. He was told by his liaison officer that there was no intelligence relating to any threat to his life. Heffernan asked for it in writing and said that he was told that it was unlikely to be forthcoming.
Previously, in the immediate aftermath of the court case, the Gardai had asked Heffernan to consider disappearing into the witness protection programme and assuming a new identity. The Gardai had told Heffernan that if he chose to live in Limerick, they would
protect him. Heffernan took that as a promise and now is devastated that it is gone overnight.
''They told me they had a duty to protect me and now they have abandoned me and my family.There are others in my family who get protection and it's all gone," he said.
Repay
RISK: Donal, Paul Crawford and Mark Heffernan
RISK: Donal, Paul Crawford and Mark Heffernan
"If I am taken out you have it from me that the State will have my blood on its hands. I put my life at risk to tell the truth and this is how they repay me and others."
A key underworld source who has been a target of Limerick gardai for decades told the Sunday World that Heffernan and Treacy would now be vulnerable.
"This is a city of vendettas," the veteran gangster warned. "Memories run hard and long and what they and their families did is not forgotten.
"There will be some very pleased people out there just waiting for their opportunity. They are in grave danger, make no mistake."
Heffernan added: "I gave evidence even though people like Roy Collins were killed because they challenged the mob. I knew the risks and despite the death of Roy Collins and Daniel Treacy, I did my side of the bargain - now the Gardai have deserted me.
"If they are saying I am not at risk, why didn't their intelligence system prevent the murder of innocents in the city?
"I don't believe they have their finger on the pulse of Limerick's gangland and unfortunately myself and the Treacy family may pay the ultimate price."
Heffernan, a full-time community worker with charity Changing Lives, said he will protest outside the Dáil to complain about the treatment of State witnesses. Heffernan has been ruffling feathers in the city with his programme, aimed at bringing ex-offenders to work on antigang initiatives. Similar schemes have proved very effective in the UK and in the US. Through his community work and football programmes, Heffernan has engaged with ex-offenders, including Paul Crawford, a former key underworld figure whose innocent brother Noel was shot by mistake in an attack meant for him.
It is his association with these former underworld figures that has partly given the State the ammunition to withdraw his security.
"When there is a secure peace then of course we will not need protection but until then the Treacys and I are under threat," Heffernan said.
"After what I've been through I can only advise people not to take to the witness stand. You will not be protected. Without protection my life is going to be very difficult. I am now walking on egg shells. It's not just me but I've got to think about my family.
"In all fairness, the people who looked after me day to day were lovely but it's the accountants who have put money before life that I have the issue with."
Philly Treacy added: "A death sentence is not the present you want at this time or any time of the year."
http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/index.php?aid=98200
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