A murder investigation was under way in Dublin last night after a leading crime figure was shot in a gangland-style killing in the north inner city.
Niall Mulvihill, a 57-year-old father of two with an address at Old Cabra Road, was gunned down as he sat in his taxi at Spencer Dock Bridge near the International Financial Services Centre at around 9.30 p.m. on Thursday.
A number of shots were fired into his Mercedes estate car by a man wearing a balaclava and armed with a handgun.
Early indications suggest the gunman was driven to and from the scene in another car.
Immediately after the shooting, Mulvihill fled the scene in his taxi. It is believed he was attempting to get to the Mater Hospital for treatment.
He got as far as the junction of the North Circular Road and Dorset Street, just a few hundred yards from the hospital.
He is believed to have passed out at the junction due to his injuries. His taxi was involved in a six-car collision near the Big Tree pub.
He was taken from the scene by ambulance to the Mater where he died shortly after midnight.
The results of a post-mortem were expected late last night. The dead man's car, which had been damaged during the shooting and subsequent crash, was undergoing a forensic examination at Dublin's Store Street Garda station last night.
It was not known why he had been killed but one Garda source said the extent of his criminal associates meant there was no shortage of suspects or possible motives.
A Garda spokesman said they were not following any definite lines of inquiry but added the investigation was still at a very early stage.
Mulvihill had been known to the gardaí for more than three decades. He was an associate of Martin Cahill, also known as "The General". And he is also understood to have been close to well-known criminal John Traynor, an associate of John Gilligan.
Gardaí suspect Mulvihill was involved in widespread criminal activity involving fraud, drug dealing and receiving stolen goods over many years.
He was arrested in Antwerp in 1993 on suspicion of handling the stolen Beit Collection paintings. It was believed that he was involved in trying to sell the paintings on behalf of Martin Cahill, who had stolen them from Russborough House, in Co Wicklow.
When his involvement in handling the paintings became known, it moved him into the category of serious criminal in the eyes of the gardaí. His financial affairs became the subject of investigation. More recently the Criminal Assets Bureau had been probing his financial affairs. CAB are understood to have examined his income over a prolonged period and were seeking a settlement of almost €1 million from him.
As well as having been involved in crime he was also a businessman and had been a director of at least two companies in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was also a former publican, having owned at least two licensed premises in Dublin's inner city.
