A WELL-KNOWN gang leader is to appeal his conviction for the murder of a drug dealer that began a feud which has continued for almost a decade and has cost 13 lives so far.
Brian Rattigan (28), Cooley Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, lodged an appeal yesterday at the Court of Criminal Appeal to his conviction for the murder of drug dealer Declan Gavin. The deceased died from stab wounds.
Rattigan was convicted last month of murdering Gavin (20), Mourne Road, Drimnagh, Dublin, outside Abrakebabra on Crumlin Road, Crumlin, Dublin, in August 2001.
The murder split a large gang of young criminals and began a feud between the two factions in the neighbouring southside Dublin suburbs of Crumlin and Drimnagh.
Apart from the 13 fatalities since Gavin’s death, the feud has also resulted in a continuing round of tit-for-tat non-fatal shootings, beatings and pipe-bomb attacks.
In one such attack Rattigan was wounded in the stomach during an unsuccessful attack in 2002 on his brother Joseph Rattigan, who escaped the gunman by jumping through an upstairs window at his home. Joseph Rattigan has since been shot dead.
