Mr Eddie Ryan, shot dead in Limerick on Sunday night, was well known to gardai as a crime figure dating back to the 1970s when he was convicted of manslaughter.
The 40-year-old, from Hogan Avenue, Killeely, was one of the major criminal figures on the north side of the city who first came to Garda attention as a teenager.
A father of three, he was convicted of manslaughter in 1978 at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and sentenced to five years following a fight with Mr Christy Jackson after a row outside the Savoy Theatre in the city centre.
Gardai said he had been involved in crime since he was about 12. His first court appearance was on a burglary charge in 1972. "There was a long history there," one garda said.
Mr Ryan also served time for handling stolen property in the mid-1980s. Following a series of burglaries at the time, he was found to be in possession of items of stolen jewellery. He has one daughter and two sons.
The family had attended the removal of his brother-in-law, Mr Patrick Collins, at St John's Cathedral and had adjourned to a bar across the street afterwards. The funeral of Mr Collins, who died of natural causes, went ahead today.
One Garda source said that despite the lack of convictions in recent years, Mr Ryan was "a well-known hardened criminal". His last conviction was in 1991 for criminal damage. "He would be classed as a very dangerous and wild individual and had his own criminal association on the north side of the city," the garda said.
Mr Ryan was also a suspect in the shooting dead of Mr Michael McCarthy in his caravan at Grand Canal Bank, Clare Street, Limerick, on New Year's Eve, 1993, but no charges were ever preferred. A shotgun and handgun were used in the attack which injured three other people and was believed to be a revenge attack following a previous stabbing incident.