Gardai raises 4 million euros in the remote property of the cartel of ‘La Familia’ that is used as ‘bank of the mafias’

Police made one of the largest cash seizures in Irish history after a raid on a remote property that a huge drug cartel was using as a “mobster bank.”

The Garda National Office for Drugs and Organized Crime confiscated 4 million euros after attacking the homonymous drug mafia ‘The Family’.

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Investigators believe the gang, whose stronghold is in West Dublin, used a “trusted lieutenant” to buy property in a remote area near Ballybunion, Co Kerry.

All proceeds from the sale of the mafia’s cocaine and heroin trafficking networks in the capital were moved to Co Kerry’s home.

CASH RAIDS

But the gang, led by brothers Brian and Philip Grendon and operating at an international level similar to the Kinahan cartel, took a crushing blow after they were targeted in a major raid Wednesday afternoon.

The rest of its members are not related to the two brothers.

During the raid, 4 million euros in cash, which had been vacuum packed, was recovered from the Kerry rig and another property in Co Laois. Three cars were also seized in the crackdown on the mafia.

Gardai arrested a 46-year-old man from Co Laois, who we can reveal who owned Kerry’s property and also had connections to the other platform.

Most of the cash was recovered from Co Kerry’s home.

Police believe the suspect collected the cash in the capital before heading to the Kingdom. Once there, he placed the cash in the secret bank.

KERRY BANK ‘OFF SITE’

Officials believe the gang would use the money to fund drug shipments and other forms of organized crime.

A source said: “The arrested man is a mid-level member of the gang and is someone who would have been a trusted lieutenant.

“The house in Kerry was essentially an external bank to keep money earned from drug trafficking out of Dublin.

“The suspect played a vital cog in the gang’s money laundering operations and this will cause serious disruption to their criminal activities.”

Gardai said yesterday that the raid was “targeting the suspected criminal activities of a particular organized criminal group, believed to be involved in the international drug trade.”

Investigators believe that the mob is making “millions” a week through its activities here, as the Kinahan Organized Crime Group, now headed by Daniel Kinahan, has been severely damaged by the Gardai investigations.

‘HUGE OPERATORS’

More than 30 Kinahan associates have been jailed since the dispute between Kinahan and Hutch broke out in 2016. So far, it has claimed 18 lives.

Although the Kinahans are still important players here, the gang of the Grendon brothers is considered to be alongside them.

A source told the Irish Sun: “The gang are big operators and they have been building towards that for some time. They have been in operation for years and years, now they are in the highest echelons of drug trafficking here.

“The family’s main business area was previously West Dublin, but due to recent Garda successes, especially in relation to the dispute between Kinahan and Hutch, they have entered the void and increased their business area.

“Many people related to the Kinahan gang are now in jail or in exile and La Familia has certainly exploited this scenario and now has its own international connections.”

We can also reveal that the gang’s leadership has instructed its members not to get involved in violent fights.

GARAGE WASH

Another source added: “The people who control this gang are like the gangs on The Wire because they know that violence is bad for business.”

While the mob is a major target for the Garda’s National Office for Drugs and Organized Crime, it also remains in the crosshairs of the Office of Criminal Assets, which has targeted them on several occasions.

Drug traffickers have used car garages for years as a mechanism to launder their money, and have continued to do so despite the Garda’s crackdown.

In 2017, CAB reached out to five dealerships that they were using as part of the uproar in a deal that caught more than € 1 million in assets.

But in the two years before that, police officers believe they imported 250 luxury engines into the country as part of a money laundering scheme.

Officers believe The Family was behind a € 1 million cocaine seizure in 2014 and a € 4.9 million and € 280,000 cash heroin bust in 2015 that dropped submachine guns and pistols.

‘THE FAMILY’

The family is led by Brian Grendon, while his older brother Philip is a major player in their operation.

Brian, 42, was jailed for almost € 2 million worth of heroin possession in a pub in November 2001, which remains his only conviction.

But he likes to keep his head down and stay under the radar.

His 45-year-old brother Philip was caged in 2015 after throwing one of two suitcases containing 3.8 million euros in cocaine from a hotel window in Valencia, Spain, after suffering a fit of paranoia.

He threw the case from the eighth floor onto an internal hotel terrace, where it was found by a receptionist, after convincing himself that the noise made by the guests was a rival gang trying to enter his room.

When police called the four-star Hotel Tryp Valencia Oceanic around 10 p.m. on August 8, 2014, they found Philip outside his room with the second suitcase full of cocaine after losing his access card.

‘IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT’

Between them, the two suitcases contained 55 kg of high-purity cocaine. Philip was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 3 million euros for “crimes against public health”, a common term for drug trafficking in Spanish law.

He was also ordered to pay the hotel € 2,000 in damages. It was his first major conviction, and the others were only minor traffic offenses in Ireland.

It is understood that Philip was released from jail last year.

Deputy Commissioner John O’Driscoll yesterday welcomed the seizure of 4 million euros on Wednesday.

The senior officer said: “The Garda Siochana, through its Organized and Serious Crime section, continues to attack criminal activity associated with organized criminal groups with a particular focus on depriving those affected of the proceeds of their criminal activity.

“The seizure yesterday by the Garda National Office for Drugs and Organized Crime, potentially in the amount of € 4 million, bringing the total amount of cash seized by GNDOCB so far this year to € 8 million, is another important achievement, which reflects our determination to dismantle particular groups of organized crime ”.

The latest statistics also show that € 23 million worth of drugs have been recovered in 2020.

In other operations launched by the GNDOCB, 23 firearms have also been removed from Irish streets.