Members of the gang led by suspected crime boss and former boxing promoter Daniel Kinahan, who was an advisor to Tyson Fury, have been urged to give him up
The hunt for Tyson Fury’s former advisor Daniel Kinahan is escalating with £11.5m and witness protection on offer to those who turn on him.
The Irish boxing promoter, who previously helped match-make for Fury, is the leader of the Kinahan cartel, suspected to be one of the largest organised crime groups in the world. A key figure in the gang, Sean McGovern, was arrested in Dubai on Thursday.
The 38-year-old has been wanted for over two years on foot of a European Arrest Warrant. He is wanted in Ireland in connection with the murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwa, 62, in 2016 and other organised crime offences.
With McGovern, who’s considered Kinahan’s right-hand man, now in custody, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris urged other confidants of Kinahan to come forward and claim the $15m (£11.47m) reward which the US Department of State announced was on offer in April 2022 for information leading to the conviction of him, his brother Christopher Jr and their father Christy Sr.
Commissioner Harris also clarified that US witness protection is on the table for mob members who turn on their boss. He said: “We’ve always said we’re resolute and relentless in the pursuit of those individuals.
“They’re Irish nationals – the Kinahan organised crime group have created misery around the world, they’ve been involved in very serious criminality, and they are a murderous gang of drug dealers, and so therefore then, they are one of our main objectives in terms of law enforcement.
“I would speak then to, unusually perhaps, other members of the Kinahan organised crime gang. They should look about them, they should see what is happening here, and they should remember that there is $15m with US federal law enforcement and the US federal protection scheme is open, and they should consider that.
“They should consider their own future given, as you say, the progress and the ingress that we are making into the Kinahan organised crime gang collectively. Not just us, but also other partners, be it the National Crime Agency (NCA), Europol or US federal law-enforcement counterparts.”
McGovern had fled to Dubai in April 2017 after being arrested and later released as part of the Garda investigation. He now faces criminal proceedings in the United Arab Emirates, with it hoped he’ll be extradited back to Ireland to face charges.
Kinahan, though, remains a free man. He co-founded promotion MTK Global with Irish boxer Matthew Macklin in 2012, going on to sign the likes of Fury and Darren Till. Kinahan was said to have parted ways with them in 2017. MTK Global ceased operations in 2022.
