Episode 441: Winston ‘Winkie’ Rea leaves behind a legacy of violence and denies justice to the families of his victims

Bomber’s empire begins to unravel, as an innocuous scrap of paper found in a raid of a weapons-filled industrial unit in Dublin gives international law enforcement a thread to follow in their investigations. Meanwhile, a lavish marriage ceremony in Dubai attracts a lot of attention. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The criminal underworld is shattered when gunmen armed with AK-47s storm a Dublin hotel weigh-in, leaving Bomber’s brother-in-law dead and igniting a “psychotic” revenge feud that turns the city into a war zone. Forced out of the shadows, Bomber stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Daniel Kinahan at a military-style funeral, a public show of defiance that finally earns him and the gang the undivided attention of international law enforcement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the “champagne years” of the international drug trade, Bomber emerges as a global power-broker, helping Daniel Kinahan forge a lethal “Super Cartel” alliance with Dutch and Italian kingpins to dominate the European cocaine market.  Amidst a backdrop of first-class flights and fortified mansions, he earns the nickname “Santa” for his flash displays of wealth, even as murder and violence underpin his reign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the quiet Staffordshire town of Tamworth, Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh established a deceptive front as a car dealer and built a sophisticated, international logistics hub for the Kinahan organisation. Utilising “Trojan horse” concealments in industrial machinery to smuggle millions in narcotics, he maintained absolute control through a cold “science of fear” that terrorised subordinates and ensured his status as a global underworld tycoon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rising through the ranks of a drug-fuelled Dublin in the 1990s, Kavanagh weaponised fear and forged a deadly alliance with the notorious Byrne crime dynasty to dominate the city’s exploding cocaine market. As he became the historic first target of the Criminal Assets Bureau, a campaign of savage witness intimidation and extreme violence eventually forced Bomber to flee Ireland and expand his operations across the Irish sea.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.