THE criminals who murdered Veronica Guerin may have Unwittingly written their own death warrants, as the rest of Dublin's, organised crime world wakes up to the fact that they are facing the most concerted Garda action ever undertaken against them.
Rumours were beginning to circulate at the end of last week that Dublin's most ruthless and powerful criminal, a figure based in the north inner city, was threatening to kill two other criminal figures who were suspected of having plotted to kill Ms Guerin.
The two criminal figures, one involved in the smuggled cigarette trade and the other in drugs to robbery operations, have left Ireland ahead of possible retribution from other criminals.
The Guerin investigation has provided gardai with a focus for the exchange and correlation of intelligence on the activities of Dublin criminals who had a likely reason to murder her.
Garda management directed that major resources be allocated to the Guerin investigation, and it soon became clear that it would provide a good focus for tackling the Dublin criminals. The Deputy Commissioner in charge of operations, Mr Pat Byrne, has taken a personal interest in the investigation and ensured that it is adequately resourced.
Surveillance experts from the Special Detective Unit (SDU), recently involved in successfully tracking IRA bomb making activity, have temporarily been seconded to help the Central Detective Unit (CDU) officers leading the Guerin investigation.
The investigators are assembling a major dossier on the activities of Dublin's organised criminals, from property and business owning millionaires to rising drug traffickers and robbers still in their 20s.
None of the criminals has yet been identified as the leading suspect. Detectives are assembling files on each of five major criminal figures who would have reason and the means to have Ms Guerin killed.
The investigation, led by Chief Supt Tony Hickey of the CDU has, almost by accident, drawn in sufficient intelligence on the workings of the Dublin underworld to provide the basis for major moves against the criminals by the State.
The information so far correlated by detectives has uncovered previously unknown links between certain criminals and the involvement of gangsters in types of crimes they were not previously suspected of running.
A key figure in the investigators' sights is a millionaire, who has risen in the past two years to become one of the major players in crime in Dublin. His sudden rise to such levels of wealth had largely been put down to involvement in drug dealing.
However, it now appears that he was only momentarily involved in drug dealing after his release from prison and then moved to take control of cigarette and tobacco smuggling. The lower profit levels in this activity are made up for by the fact that it is less dangerous than drug dealing and highly profitable when run on a major scale.
The man is understood to buy huge amounts of cigarettes for cash in the Dutch free port of Schiphol, which are then collected and distributed to lorry drivers returning to Ireland from the Continent. The cigarettes and tobacco are available on the streets of Dublin for considerably less than the tax paid product.
The Garda investigators are also analysing the information contained in various reports and affidavits written by Ms Guerin about criminal activity in Dublin, to see if these point to her killers.
One item which has emerged in the investigation supports the theory that the criminal who ordered Ms Guerin's murder may have felt his standing in the criminal fraternity might be undermined if she published allegations that he was bisexual.
The man is married with children and, in keeping with the ethos of the Dublin criminal underworld, maintains a heterosexual facade, supposedly enjoying a reputation as a `ladies' man.
He is understood to have had a number of homosexual relationships in prison but has maintained his heterosexual facade since his release.
The criminal may have had information to make him believe Ms Guerin was about the publish information about this aspect of his life.
Gardai believe the man may have felt sufficiently threatened to have contracted her murder.
The murder investigation is also devoting considerable efforts to discovering the identity of the hired gunman who shot dead the journalist on the Naas dual carriageway two weeks ago A number of leading suspects, including a former republican terrorist who also served in the Defence Forces have emerged.