Gardaí in Limerick have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the alleged abduction of the two Ryan brothers - Kieran (19) and Eddie jnr (20) - last January, writes Conor Lally.
They say they expect the public to be surprised when the true story emerges during a trial.
Referring to the feuding factions, Chief Supt Gerry Kelly said: "It's a handful of thugs who are at this, they either correct their behaviour or they will face the court."
He was reviewing the crime scene in the city after the the successful conviction of five men on Saturday for the January murder of Limerick drugs baron Kieran Keane (36) sent out a clear and strong message to the criminals: "The evidence will be gathered and you will suffer in the courts".
He added that three out of four murder trials conducted in Limerick this year had resulted in prosecutions.
Not only were Limerick gardaí successful in those three cases, they had also prevented more murders than had taken place, Mr Kelly said.
Asked on RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday if the Ryan abduction and the Keane killing were linked he said: "Our investigation has followed the alleged abduction and that investigation has brought the gardaí into other counties.
"We have now submitted a very substantial file to the DPP and we are awaiting a decision on the alleged abduction and other related matters that came up in the investigation. If the DPP decides to go with our recommendations, I think when it unfolds the true story will come out and there will be surprises in it for the general public".
Mr Kelly said the investigation into the November 2002 murder of Mr Brian Fitzgerald was "one of the most protracted we have carried out in Limerick". Mr Fitzgerald was shot dead because he refused to let a gang deal drugs in the nightclub where he worked.
"We have arrested up to 28 people. The file has gone to the DPP approximately a week and a half ago, it's a very substantial file and we await a decision on that."
Since 1997, he said, there have been 40 murders in Limerick and 35 people have been charged in relation to them. He said the killing of John Ryan (46) in July was feud related. Ryan was the uncle of Eddie and Kieran Ryan.
"We interviewed people and believed we had the people we needed to get. Unfortunately the system beat us and we couldn't progress it any further. But there is a very substantial file just gone to the DPP in relation to people who could have and should have supplied us with information and did not do it. We have to await a direction there."
In relation to the collapsed trial in November of Mr Liam Keane (19) for the 2001 murder of Mr Eric Leamy, Mr Kelly said a file is being prepared for the DPP regarding witnesses who suffered "collective amnesia" during the trial.
The investigation into the murder of Seán Poland in Clare last New Year's Eve was ongoing and gardaí are hopeful of bringing that to a successful conclusion. The same applied to the murder in May of Robert Fitzgerald (23) and shooting dead in the city of Michael Campbell-McNamara (23) in October.