The Hutch criminal gang has been described as an intergenerational family-based organisation with associates and affiliates working together and independently, the Special Criminal Court heard today.
The garda officer in charge of investigating national and international organised crime groups operating in Ireland told the court that the Hutch gang is "less hierarchical than some", which has been "galvanised" by the Hutch-Kinahan feud.
He was giving evidence in the trial of three men in connection with the murder of Kinahan gangster David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 2016.
Gerard Hutch, 59, of the Paddocks in Clontarf has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Byrne, while Jason Bonney, 50, of Drumnigh Wood in Portmarnock, Co Dublin and Paul Murphy, 61, of Cherry Avenue, Swords, Co have both pleaded not guilty to helping a gang commit the murder.
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Today was the first time that evidence was given in an Irish court about the existence the Hutch organised crime group, its membership, structures and modus operandi.
Detective Superintendent David Gallagher from An Garda Siochána's Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau has spent his entire 28 years in the force in drugs and serious crime investigations.
Since 2016, he has been in charge of investigations into national and international organisations operating in Ireland.
He told the court that he has had first-hand involvement in multiple organised crime investigations, surveillance, tactical operations, the prevention of murders, the recovery and seizure of firearms and inquiries into drug trafficking and money laundering.
Det Supt Gallagher also said he has access to and knowledge of confidential information from multiple sources in relation to organised crime in Ireland, including downloads from mobile phones and seized encrypted devices, audio recordings made in investigations, files and statements.
He said he was part of the senior management team tasked with investigating criminal organisations involved in the dispute between the Hutch and Kinahan families.
Gunmen have been intercepted carrying firearms to carry out murders in the feud and 33 people have been convicted for offences such as conspiracy to murder, directing a criminal organisation, enhancing and facilitating organised crime and associated firearms charges.
He confirmed to the court the existence of a criminal organisation known as the Hutch organised crime group, which he said was predominantly from Dublin city centre and built on intergenerational family bonds.
The gang is less hierarchical than some criminal organisations and operates a patriarchal system based on loyalty and monetary gain, Detective Superintendent Gallagher said.
He said that historically it is quite a fluid organisation whose associates and affiliates work together, independently and with other criminal organisations to commit crime. Its rules and procedures like those of other organised crime groups are "not set in stone".
However, since 2015 and the emergence of the feud there has been a "galvanisation" of positions within the Hutch gang, he said.
Gary Hutch was shot dead in Spain in 2015 in a murder that escalated the feud.
The court also heard that Gerard Hutch was worried about the evidence in relation to the organised crime group and his standing in the community and sought to limit the testimony to be given by Det Supt Gallagher.
Senior Counsel Brendan Grehan said that Mr Hutch enjoys the presumption of innocence and if he walks out of this trial a free man, evidence that tarnishes and damages him is for all time on the public record and will follow him around.
"Once this is said in an open court by a senior garda, it is there to be quoted at all times, by the media or anyone else commenting on Mr Hutch," Mr Grehan said,
Ms Justice Tara Byrnes reiterated that Mr Hutch was entitled to presumption of innocence and said the court would of course protect his rights.
However, she said that Mr Hutch's issue was not with the Special Criminal Court but with the court of public opinion and that the three judges "can’t police what is said by the media, nor should we".
The judge also pointed out that the evidence of Det Supt Gallagher relates only to the case against Mr Bonney and Mr Murphy, not against Gerard Hutch.
