Brian Rattigan was the leader of the Drimnagh (Drim Na) gang, which was one of two gangs which were engaged in what became known as the Crumlin-Drimnagh gang feud in Dublin, Ireland throughout much of the 2000’s. The gang feud would claim 16 lives over 10 years and would involve beatings, intimidation, pipe-bombings etc
The two sides, both from the Drimnagh & Crumlin areas of Dublin once worked together in drug dealing but that relationship broke down in 2000 when a Garda (Irish Police) raided a hotel room, capturing 50,000 Ecstasy tablets and 2 kilos of Cocaine. Three men had been inside the hotel room mixing the Cocaine but one of them, Declan Gavin, had not been present in the room when the raid happened, the two inside the room at the time were arrested, they were both charged and convicted.
There were unproven allegations that Declan Gavin was an informer, this led to a split between the groups, one group formed around Declan Gavin and were mostly based in Crumlin and the other group formed around Brian Rattigan and his brother Joseph, that gang were mostly from Drimnagh.
Tensions flared between the groups and would finally come to a head in 2001, Declan Gavin was stabbed to death outside a fast-food restaurant on Crumlin Road in Dublin in the early hours of August 25th, 2001. He received two knife wounds, one to the hand but a fatal one to the heart.
in 2002 during the Crumlin-Drimnagh gang feud, Brian Rattigan was wounded in the stomach in a gun attack when one or two masked men burst into his home. He escaped the gunman by jumping through an upstairs window at his home.
Brian Rattigan went on trial for the murder of Declan Gavin twice in 2009. The first jury could not reach a verdict but a second jury convicted him. However, that conviction was successfully appealed in 2017, however the State accepted a plea deal and accepted a manslaughter charge instead of going for a third murder trial. The police investigation itself was held back by hostile witnesses, some of which had to be arrested and brought to court to give evidence.
Declan Gavin’s killing was the first in that feud, Joseph Rattigan would also be shot dead in the gang feud, the Crumlin gang would eventually come out on top.
