Cocaine Wars by Mick McCaffrey Page B

quickly gained the upper hand in the feud. They took advantage of the fact that their leading rival was severely weakened to exert their supremacy on the streets.
    While Freddie was establishing himself as the top dog in drug dealing in Dublin 12, fate intervened and took the life of the man who had inadvertently kicked off the whole gang war. At 10.35 p.m. on 22 May 2002, a lone gunman entered a Portakabin outside Kilworth Road in Drimnagh, and fired two shotgun rounds at close range to the chest and leg of twenty-six-year-old Derek Lodge, who was repairing a second-hand TV. He died instantly, after a round pierced his heart. Four years previously, Lodge had set fire to Declan Gavin’s motorbike, which led to the gang splitting in two with tragic results. While Declan Gavin had gone on to lead his side of the gang and continue to sell drugs, Lodge had distanced himself from the Rattigan gang, and gradually left the feuding behind. He spent a lot of time in his unofficial workshop, which led to frequent rows with some of his neighbours, because it blocked most of the road. Lodge had a six-year-old son from a relationship that had ended. Gardaí believe that he wanted a life free from crime so that he could watch his son grow up.
    Although he was not involved with Brian Rattigan and the others, he had not completely given up on breaking the law. It is believed that Lodge had become involved in a dispute with a local man, and that Lodge was constantly threatening and harassing the man and his family, and making their lives hell. Gardaí believe that a hit man was paid to shoot Lodge as a warning and to make him back off. However, the hit man went too far and shot Lodge dead, instead of just shooting him in the leg, as had been intended. On 25 May 2002, Gardaí received a phone call informing them that ‘The man who did the murder in Tallaght on St Stephen’s Day got a €1,000 to shoot Derek Lodge.’
    The man referred to was Shay Wildes, a notorious hit man from Tallaght. On St Stephen’s Day 2001, Wildes, who was born in December 1967, walked up to Joseph Cummins outside the Dragon Inn and shouted, ‘Merry Christmas,’ before shooting him in the head from close range. Wildes then fired two more shots into Cummins as he lay on the ground, killing the father of five. Wildes later claimed that he carried out the murder as revenge, because Cummins had allegedly raped a woman eighteen months previously, although there was no evidence to back this up. In September 2003, Wildes received two life sentences after he was found guilty of the murder and possession of the murder weapon, a .22 semi-automatic handgun. Gardaí believe that Wildes operated as a gun for hire, had links to the Continuity IRA and was behind protection rackets in and around Tallaght. In April 2003, Shay Wildes also coldly shot dead thirty-two-year-old Declan Griffin in a packed pub in Inchicore. Wildes had been paid by a gang that Griffin owed money to, and lured the victim to the pub, saying that they would offer him protection. Griffin was suspicious and arrived expecting trouble. He was wearing full body armour and had a pistol in his waistband to protect himself. But before he got a chance to take it out, Wildes calmly shot him in the head, through his right ear from close range with a .38 pistol, before strolling out. A jury later found him not guilty of the murder. Witnesses due to give evidence in the case had been intimidated, and Gardaí were also threatened. Although he was later arrested in connection with Derek Lodge’s murder, Wildes replied, ‘Nothing to say’, to every single Garda question. He was released without charge. Nobody was ever charged with Derek Lodge’s murder. The investigation remains open.
    In the eyes of ‘Fat’ Freddie’s gang, anybody involved or suspected of being involved in Declan Gavin’s murder was fair game. On 28 May 2002, a man, who the gang believed