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SHUT YOUR MOUTH

• Priest told to stop talking about evil of drugs at gangland funeral

• Innocent boy caught in crossfire told to 'say nothing' by gang members

A BRAVE priest was told to shut up as he warned mourners at a gangland double funeral about the evil drug trade.

A female relative of murdered mob brothers Paul (35) and Kenneth Corbally (32) marched to the altar to silence elderly Father Seamus Ryan as he spoke out at the mass in Neilstown, Dublin.

The Sunday World has also learned that youths linked to the warring drug gang that carried out the double hit were overheard telling an innocent teenage witness to "say nothing" as he lay in hospital suffering from gunshot wounds he sustained when three men blasted the Corballys to death on Monday.

HEAR NO EVIL

A FUNERAL mass for the gangster Corbally brothers was interrupted yesterday after an angry mourner stormed the altar at the church to tell the priest: "Don't mention drugs again."

The woman - who is related to the slain mobsters - interrupted the service and confronted the elderly priest after he condemned drug dealing during his sermon.

Fr Seamus Ryan had just told mourners in St Andrew's Church in Ballyfermot, Dublin, that drug dealers had destroyed hundreds of lives in the area.

The brave priest also told pals of the murdered mobsters to make the choice to live: "A life that is honest and decent."

Paul (35) and Kenneth Corbally (32) died in a hail of bullets in a car on Neilstown Road in Clondalkin in the capital on Monday night.

Gardai believe the notorious brothers were major players in the drug trade in west Dublin and fear their deaths could spark a wave of bloodletting.

A 14-year-old who was in the car with the Corballys when they were shot was put under 24-hour armed garda protection in Tallaght Hospital.

Last night, a source told the Sunday World the terrified teenager - who was shot in the leg - was threatened in the A&E area of the hospital after he was rushed there for emergency treatment.

Hospital sources described scenes in the A&E as "terrifying" as youths linked to a criminal gang visited the hospital to warn the teenager to "keep his mouth shut" or face the consequences.

Lure

Yesterday, hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects to the Corbally brothers.

Their coffin was carried into the church by their armed robber father, Paddy. Speaking at the mass, Fr Ryan called on young people not to get involved in the drug trade.

He said: "We need to face the question, how is it these young men who come of good parents and are of a genuinely good nature can easily be lured on by the big bucks in the drug trade?

"They do not seem to be sufficiently aware of the evil ways in which they are being exposed to harm that's done to others.

"Behind me is a remembrance tree, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin comes every May for a special service in memory for all those who have been affected by drug-related deaths - sadly, running to hundreds in Ballyfermot."

At this point a female relative of the Corballys left her front pew and confronted the priest on the altar.

He was told: "I told you not to mention drugs."

However, the brave priest continued on and addressed pals of the murdered mobsters telling them to learn from their friends' deaths.

"For you, their deaths raise another question.What are you going to do about their death?

"What are you going to do with your lives in response to their memory? I suggest you do something fitting. It is your life, a life that can be lived better, a life that can be lived more selflessly, a life that can make a difference, a life that is honest and decent.

"You have a choice to make at this mass today."

Gardai believe the Corballys were murdered by associates of drug baron Derek 'Dee Dee' O'Driscoll (36).

The teenage boy, who had accepted a lift from the brothers was also injured in the attack as the gunmen fired a succession of shots at the car.

He was hit in the leg, arm and upper body as he sat in the back of the car. He managed to scramble from the vehicle and has been under armed guard in hospital all week amid reports of threats on his life because he witnessed the shooting. He was released on Friday.

Last night, a hospital worker said he was confronted by members of a criminal gang as he lay in hospital.

She said: "There was total chaos the night he was brought in, we had a load frightening looking guys strolling around shouting.

"They went into his room and told him, 'Keep your mouth shut, or you'll be in trouble'.

"The staff in the hospital were terrified."

The innocent teenager is believed to have known the Corballys through their mutual interest in horses.

"They bought and sold horses, and the kid knew all about horses," a source said.

"Paul and Ken owned a few horses which they kept in the area, and the kid was always in and out of the stables down there.

"They were always buying and selling them looking to make a few grand here and there," the source added.

Dealer

The brothers were associates of Michael Byrne (36), from Clondalkin, a major drug dealing figure who was convicted for the
possession of 32 kilos of heroin valued at €6.2m and sentenced to 18 years in April.

Byrne's mob had been involved in a feud with a rival southwest Dublin gang - headed up by drug baron O'Driscoll.

There was an attempted hit on O'Driscoll at a house in Bluebell in recent weeks which is believed to be linked to the feud.

Another O'Driscoll associate was also injured in a stabbing attack which has been linked to the Corballys.

"When the Corballys stabbed a relative of O'Driscoll six weeks ago a contract was taken out on their lives believed to be worth €40,000.

"They were dead men walking," a source told the Sunday World.

The two groups were involved in a violent street battle which led to the death of English hood Jason Martin last year.

The 41-year-old was stabbed outside Hannigen's pub in Ballyfermot when a brawl escalated into a full-scale riot involving up to 20 thugs. Martin, a member of a UK-based drug gang who was wanted by Manchester police for the kidnap and possible murder of missing businessman Paul Brady.

The row began after an associate of Comerford challenged O'Driscoll to a fist fight.

Words were exchanged before the row spiralled out of control. Martin was a close associate of drug baron Seanie Comerford who is originally from Drumfinn Road but is based in England.

Comerford who supplies heroin to the UK and Irish markets from his base in Manchester received a 10-year sentence for drug trafficking a number of years ago.

Gardai said Comerford, who was dubbed King Gear, created a heroin trafficking organisation that shipped over £40m worth into Dublin before his arrest.

He was previously an associate of O'Driscoll and both were part of the M50 gang who stole cars for use in ram raids.

The Corballys were also part of the gang. But they fell out with O'Driscoll as they became rivals in the drugs trade. Ballyfermot kingpin O'Driscoll gained notoriety the 1990s when gardai found a jaguar and cerval in his Ballyfermot home.

He was convicted of animal cruelty in 1997. He notoriously kept the wild animals in his garage to intimidate anyone who owed him money.

He was also found guilty of bribing corrupt cop Garda John O'Neill who was jailed in 1998 for accepting bribes. On one occasion O'Driscoll arranged to have the hand-over of £5,000 to the garda videotaped so he could blackmail him.

Another criminal, Tony Long, was also involved in the plan.

Bribe

O'Driscoll fled to Portugal before he was jailed and continued to run his crime operations from there. He returned to Dublin in 1999 and was apprehended in an apartment in Camden Street.

He served one year in Portlaoise for the bribery charge.

Several of his associates have made the news in recent weeks. Last month Eric Wilson, originally from Ballyfermot, was arrested in Spain for the murder of an Englishman in a bar after a row over a woman.

Wilson, who is suspected of carrying out a number of murders in Ireland, got into a row with a group of Englishmen at a bar before leaving and coming back and allegedly shooting wanted man Daniel Smith (24) three times in the head.

Another O'Driscoll associate was arrested in April after gardai found a .38 revolver and ammunition at his home in Ballyfermot.The 38-year-old widower was subsequently released on bail.

Gardai have also made a number of seizures of drugs linked to the gang this year.

The Corbally brothers were the only boys in a family of five children from a Council house on Drumfinn Avenue, off Ballyfermot Road, where their parents still live.

Their father Patrick Corbally (56) was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1999 for possession of a machine gun with intent to endanger life.

This happened after a man who had gone to collect a car at the Corbally family home was shot by Kenneth while his brother Paul
joined the attack using an iron bar.

The court was told that, despite being unemployed, Patrick Corbally had an affluent lifestyle.

Like his two sons he was on the dole, but they had two new pick-up trucks and a new car at their house.

In January 2002 Paul Corbally was jailed for five years after taking part in a 1997 armed robbery during which a garage owner was rammed in his car in Clondalkin and relieved of more than €3,000.

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