FIRM BUSINESS

The 2019 murder of drug kingpin Malcolm McKeown ended one criminal era, and marked the beginning of another.

It was McKeown’s gangland rival, The Firm, who carried out the shooting and quickly assumed control of his territory. Fast becoming known to police as the dominant organised crime outfit in North Armagh, Northern Ireland.

In the years since, The Firm has used drug-dealing, assault, extortion, and death to enforce its ruthless control over small communities in the area.
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0:00 – The murder of Malcolm McKeown
2:07 – 2019 attack on Colin Duffy’s home
3:49 – Ryan Treanor loses his fingers
4:58 – 2021 Jerretspass gun haul
6:39 – Kinahan’s call in debts
8:15 – The murder of Shane Whitla

11:29 – Kilwilkie’s drug problem
14:03 – 2023 Portadown raids
15:19 – Two more charged with McKeown’s murder
16:24 – Sawed-off shotgun recovered in Tyrone
17:38 – A difficult year comes to an end
19:17 – The murder of Kevin Conway

23:19 – Final thoughts

These are the final moments before Malcolm mun was shot dead in broad daylight the man’s body was found in a part car behind the petrol station on Main Street in this quiet county down Village Malcolm mcon was shot six times at close range in his head and body he

Was found slumped over in his car two hours later by two teenagers my investigation is at an early stage and I’m keeping an open mind as to the motive for this murder however a strong line of has organized crime the June 2019 murder of criminal Kingpin Malcolm mcon ended

His gang’s dominance over the drug trade in North ARA Northern Ireland 25-year-old Jake O’Brien and 24-year-old Andrew Martin were jointly accused of the shooting with detectives suggesting that the murder was connected to a longstanding feud between Mone and another gang in the area this is a quiet

Rural Village lots of children lot of young families and I know that children were in the vicinity at the time and it it has been deeply traumatizing for the entire Community as it turned out mckone had been attempting to tax drug dealers connected to the firm his biggest Gangland competition in Greater Craig

Aven after orchestrating mone’s murder The Firm quickly moved in on his territory and fast became known to police as the dominant organized crime outfit in the region The Firm was rumored to be led by the son of a well-known Provo from luren whose uncle was murdered by the uvf and

His top Lieutenant the son of a notorious lvf killer from Porta down but the firm was not a paramilitary gang the 50 men and women they worked with were both Catholic and Protestant Republican and Loyalist as long as you could make money that’s all that mattered they

Relied on a violent reputation and faced little to no Challenge from any paramilitary group with a presence in North ARA months before they murdered Malcolm mcon The Firm targeted prominent dissident Republican Colin Duffy in the early hours of Tuesday February 23rd 2019 two bullets were fired through the

Front window of Duffy’s home in an attack police believed was connected to an incident earlier in the year involving Duffy’s 19-year-old son who would tragically pass months later in a car crash immediately following the 2019 attack on Colin Duffy a member of the firm was seen on social media posing

With a shotgun inside the kill wilki estate yet despite this Brash claim of responsibility there would be no charges filed nor any Revenge attacks by dissident Republicans in fact around this time the firm had begun cooperating with members of the new Ira the European cartels which The Firm worked with had

Been offering to sell them shipments of seex an explosive used by the provisionals to murder hundreds during the troubles however the plot would be foiled when French police hacked the European and cochat network being used to arrange the deal while these dealings between the firm and the new Ira

Ultimately went nowhere they would shatter the myth that dissident Republicans were at loggerheads with the gang who had also been cooperating with members of the uvf and lvf in greater Craig Avan making money was all that mattered to the firm a remarkably straightforward Concept in the often politically complex criminal underworld

That exists within Northern Ireland the following year on December 1st 2020 24-year-old Ryan trainer was sent to the nisin estate in Craig Aven to pipe bomb the home of the the mother of a drug dealer who owed the firm money but his trainer approached the home around 9:30

P.m. the pipe bomb detonated prematurely and exploded in his hand trainer now missing two fingers and a thumb screamed out in agony calling for an ambulance while neighbors watched in horror when police arrived on the scene trainer claimed he had lifted something plastic and it exploded however officers would

Quickly notice the partial remains of a latex glove stuck to his wrist trainer was taken to the hospital and was arrested for attempted murder the following day trainer would plead guilty and ultimately receive a 9-year sentence during trainer sentencing he would be linked to the firm as a lowly Aaron boy

For a much larger criminal Enterprise and that Enterprise was just getting started on May 20th 2021 the uk-wide National Crime agency in an operation supported by the psni discovered 11 guns belonging to the firm buried in the village of Jarrett pass the hall included handguns machine guns machine

Pistols an assault rifle and ammunition found in two waterproof hold doll bags it was a major win for law enforcement but this was not some chance find the previous year a few members of The Firm had gone on holiday to Spain and on their trip back to Belfast they took out

Their phones and began sending each other messages over the encrypted encro chat Network when the enro chat network was compromised shortly thereafter it wasn’t difficult for police to match the date and time the messages were sent with passenger records for flights between Spain and Belfast on that same

Day with this this information in hand a surveillance operation was set up on these individuals and it was only a matter of time before they gave the police something of value National Crime agency Branch Commander David Cunningham described the 11 guns seized at Jarrett’s pass as the most significant

Find of serviceable firearms in the area in 10 years and for anyone unfamiliar with UK and Irish law gun ownership is heavily regulated in both places with those wishing to own a gun required to apply for a license from the police so as of today the Kenan transnational

Criminal organization joins the ranks of Italy’s kamora Mexico’s loas Japan’s Yakuza and Russia’s thieves in-law while they had multiple shipping connections to get drugs into Northern Ireland the firm’s most important relationship was with the kenahan cartel who post brexit had been shipping cocaine directly into Ireland from South

America and while the kenahan themselves had fled to Dubai they had maintained the allegiance of street gangs throughout the island of Ireland collecting kenahan money and handing out their punishments but in the beginning of 2023 the kenahan were still re ing from the international sanctions imposed the previous April and were calling in

Debts across the island of Ireland the street gangs the kenahan worked with were ordered to pay up what they had been buying on credit a large figure given how often wholesale drugs need to be purchased on consignment the kenahan were clearly scared of the threat against them imposed by the Irish and

American authorities who had exposed Ed their boxing management company as a front to wash illegal cash so in 2023 The Firm was also calling in debts and to show they meant business an example had to be made on the evening of January 12th 2023 Shane whitler a 39-year-old father of 4

Exited his home around 7:30 p.m. and walked down Woodville Street in lurg just beside the Republican Kil wilky estate whitla a low-level criminal who had been in a row with members of The Firm over a drug debt moved in the direction of Lord luren Park before

Turning down an alley just ahead of the Park’s entrance half an hour earlier whitler had received a phone call from a member of the firm telling him the boys whitler owed money to wanted to meet him in 30 minutes in an Alleyway near near his home this must have been a

Terrifying phone call for whitler to receive I don’t know if his children were in the house that night but if they were it probably crossed whittler’s mind that he could be saying goodbye to them for the last time however given whittler’s willingness to enter the alley I would suspect he probably

Anticipated a punishment beating or a kneecapping but that’s not what happened 23 seconds after whitler entered the alley two men were seen on CCTV running out the way he came in Shane whitler had been shot twice including once in the back and was losing blood fast so in a

Last ditch effort to find help whitler managed to drag himself out of the alley and into Lord luren Park where he collapsed and died Shan whitler was a 39-year-old father of four police said today that he was shot a number of times they described it as a totally senseless

Murder another murder had been committed by the firm and another murder investigation was underway on the 21st of January 25-year-old Kevin Conway 29-year-old Josh Cotter and a now 27-year-old Jake O’Brien on bail while awaiting trial for the murder of Malcolm mcon were jointly charged with the murder of Shane whitler all three men

Plad innocent during bail hearings it was the prosecution’s case that Kevin Conway used a phone purchased by Jake O’Brien to ring Shane whitler four times around 700 p.m. on January 12th with instructions to come to the Fateful alley police also believe CCTV footage shows obrien and cotter following whitla

Into the alley then 23 seconds after that they are believed to be the two men seen running away and despite police objections Josh Cotter alleged by prosecution to be an active member of the firm and his associate Kevin Conway were both granted bail 27-year-old Jake O’Brien listed as a professional dog

Sitter and allegedly the firm’s most deadly Hitman was thankfully denied bail and remanded into custody where he awaits both his first and second murder trials around the 14th of January just days removed from Shane Whit’s murder a young man took his own life inside the kilki

Estate as it turned out he had been feeling the pressure being applied to him by dealers connected to the firm who had suddenly begun calling in debts that would have been considered insignificant a year before the Kil wilki estate a historic provisional Ira stronghold that still retained dissident Republican

Elements had had enough and while in the past the firm had faced little Community opposition there was suddenly a shift in public mood the estate had become angry about the drugs problem and the psn’s seeming disinterest in pleasing it within kilki the power base of the firm’s Catholic boss so in the beginning

Of 2023 the continuity and new Ira began holding meetings with a view of combining their strengths to tackle the firm with the young man’s suicide hardening the attitudes of many so on the night of Saturday January 21st two armed men representing the continuity Ira patrolled the streets of kilki in a

Bid to reassure the area that Republicans were still in control in the weeks afterwards resident-led anti-drug vigils were held and in March a drug disposal bin was installed in the kilkki estate where users could dispose of Narcotics with no questions asked however given the high unlikelihood of a

Drug user or addict voluntarily throwing away what gets them High and the recent showing of armed continuity Ira men with the same anti-drug message just weeks earlier the Kil wilky drug bin may not just have been a chance for users to turn their lives around but also a

Veiled Threat to do so in response to the deaths related to unpaid drug debts and the community upheaval that followed in February of 2023 The Firm issued a chilling warning to customers that even if they died their debts would not the heartless reminder meant that in the

Event of another suicide or murder the victim’s grieving family would be ordered to pay unpaid drug bills which had nothing to do with them now anybody thinking of taking their own life would just be leaving what they owed to someone they loved on Monday February 6th heavily armed officers from the psni’s organized

Crime team raided six properties in the garaki road area of Porta down during a pre-planned operation during the 4-Hour search police found nine suspected Firearms six swords herbal cannabis cocaine and 6,000 cash Days Later a follow-up operation would also take cops to a small cannabis Factory in the area

With an estimated street value of £32,000 the cops were on a hot streak and they had one more card up their sleeve on the third of March £270,000 was frozen in bank accounts belonging to the two firm bosses from luran and Porta down the accounts freezing order stunned

The leadership of the gang who all enjoyed enjoyed lavish Lifestyles but still owed plenty of money to Dublin the psni was finally not just getting to the firm in the streets but also at the bank and now to go with keeping the kenahan happy The firms to bosses had to worry

About keeping themselves at a prison these people who who are responsible for for for killing them um have absolute blatant disregard for members of the public so if you have information I want you to come forward with it and I understand people may be concerned about coming forward with information but for

The for the the purpose of this investigation I can guarantee you anonymity for the purpose of this investigation in June of 2023 two more men were formally charged with the murder of Malcolm Mone Stevie Lee Watson and Simon absy Smith both 34 and from luran appeared at Belfast Crown Court on

The 16th of June where they were charged with murder and possessing firearms with intent Watson’s father also named Stevie is a convicted murderer who has been named by the Belfast Telegraph as a criminal enforcer for the firm both the younger Watson and Smith pled not guilty and were released on

Bail bringing the total number of people charged with the murder of Malcolm mcon to four alongside Andrew Martin and the infamous Jake O’Brien 2 months later on Friday August 11th police were called to conduct a welfare check at a home in County terone but when officers arrived

They spotted a stolen Ford Focus with blacked out plates parked nearby the car quickly drove away and the police soon followed but after a short chase the Ford Focus found itself stuck in a ditch and crashed into police as it tried to get out the officers who were unhe hurt

Surrounded the now inoperable Ford Focus guns raised to eliminate any threat that’s when 53-year-old Kevin Patrick Hart and 24-year-old Ben Craven exited the car wearing boiler suits and gardening gloves each man was arrested and a loaded saw off shotgun was recovered from the back seat during bail hearings detectives outlined how

Intelligent suggested the two were planning to use the shotgun on the address the police were called to for the welfare check and had the psni not arrived when they did the property would have been attacked affirming that police believe both men are linked to the firm Hart and Craven were both denied bail

Only speaking to confirm they understood the charges while the psni have had some recent success against the firm it continues to be the most influential organized criminal group in North ARA and Beyond now with about 70 members and Associates and an operation rumored to extend as far south as nurri in 5 years

Years The Firm has snowballed from a petty crime gang into murderous kenahan backed wholesale drug suppliers she and leaves loved ones behind including four children there’s no possible justification for this murder and in addition to everything else I should also note that the firm has been Loosely mentioned in connection with the

Attempted murder of DCI John Caldwell who is investigating the murder of Jan whitler the gang is also believed to be in possession of the confidential information released in the psnis August 2023 data breach and have been linked to multiple drug seizures including the7 Million worth of cocaine seized in

Liverpool at the end of September 2023 but as 2023 came to a close the firm’s Ironclad grip on North ARA only got tighter with the gang being linked not only to drug dealing but extortion sex trafficking and The Grooming of young people in fact another young person in

Luran took his own life at the end of the year with rumors that mounting drug debts to the firm left the young man feeling there was no other way out this isn’t about what Kevin may or may not have been linked to this is about trying to find us killers and

Certainly any incident linked to Kevin would form and do form part of the ongoing police investigation and we looked at as a line of inquiry on January 9th 20124 almost one year to the date of Shane whittler’s murder Kevin Conway a high-ranking firm member who allegedly made the phone call which

Brought whitler to the scene of his death was shot dead inside a home deep within Republican West Belfast where he had been living as part of his bail conditions for whittler’s murder the location of of Conway’s murder is a highly builtup area which would require extensive local knowledge to get in and

Out of quickly as well and more importantly it is the turf of the inla and on the two dissident Republican gangs with a pair of Hitmen responsible for killing drug dealers Jim donigan Shan Fox Warren crosson and his enforcer markall we don’t live in a sprawling

Metropolis you know we live in a small City and small communities and people are are puzzled as to why after all this time after so many murders that no one has been identified as that person is needs to be arrested that person needs to be brought to the courts and face

Face Justice prison T It is believed a pair of Republican Hitmen were also contracted to kill Kevin Conway and send a message that Republican West Belfast will not be a Dumping Ground for criminals involved in drug gangs this afternoon the body of the man fin shot dead yesterday was

Finally removed from the disused farmhouse in aale the dead man is believed to be Kevin Conway a Catholic father of four from the kuki estate in luran Conway’s father also named Kevin was minding his three-month-old son when he was lured out of his home and

Murdered by the IRA in 1998 for his role in a cigarette smuggling operation alarms were raised after Conway’s infant son was discovered alone in the family’s kwil EST State home that child was Kevin Conway who at 26 years of age met an eerily similar fate as his father it has

Also been theorized that Conway’s murder may have been retribution for the role he allegedly played in the 2019 shooting of dissident Republican Colin Duffy’s home which could very well have been personal for Kevin documents made public during a 2011 inquiry referencing his father’s murder revealed within days special Branch had received intelligence

That Colin Duffy organized and participated in the abduction and murder of Kevin Conway Senor however it was Duffy’s provisional Ira comrade Gary Marshall who was ultimately charged in 2013 with the 1998 murder of the Elder Conway but Marshall was acquitted in 2018 due to a lack of evidence it is

Also worth noting that Marshall’s brother was a top luran Provo killed by loyalist paramilitaries there is no suggestion that Duffy himself played any role in Conway Jr’s murder on Monday January 29th 27-year-old aen o’keef and 53-year-old fergo Kain were charged with the murder of Kevin Conway as well as being in

Possession of the shotgun and handgun Polie believe were used in the attack during the short hearing police revealed they were also in possession of CCTV linking both men to the scene of the crime no application for bail was made I also want to be clear that towns

Like luren and Porta down are largely peaceful nonviolent and increasingly mixed communities whose residents will never be affected by the plague of gang activity but just around the corner their neighbors are overdosing taking their own lives and resorting to Crime to keep the cycle of addiction going and

While the firm itself is in its own way a reflection of The Changing Times in Northern Ireland to call them a cross community gang is giving these losers far more credit than they will ever deserve people in both communities are worried for their children and continue to demand serious action be taken for

Their safety but given the firm’s merciless reputation and Sinister ability to instill fear in those it comes across this action will most likely need to come from the police or maybe it will come from someone The Firm has pushed too far someone who looks at their leaders the same way those men

Once looked at Malcolm Mone hating everything they saw becoming consumed by anger just waiting for their chance at revenge and maybe when the firm least expected that chance will Come