Four people arrested by gardaí investigating murder of gangster Gary ‘The Canary’ Carey

The father-of three was shot several times in the shooting in Kilmainham and died two months later in hospital.

According to the garda press office four people were arrested today.

“Two men in their 20s and two women in their 20s and 30s are currently being detained under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 in various Garda stations across Dublin city.”

The Sunday World previously reported how the known criminal was hit in the shoulder, arm, chest and leg by the gunman who is thought to have had him under surveillance.

Witnesses reported hearing up to eight shots before Carey was discovered critically injured in the underground car park of the Hilton Hotel in Kilmainham.

He had not been wearing a bullet proof vest after working out in the hotel’s gym and was chased around the car park by a gunman.

Originally from nearby Islandbridge, there was speculation Carey had been targeted after getting in a dispute with three separate gangs over his drug trafficking distribution network in the capital.

He had been based in Spain for a number of months before returning home in the weeks before he was targeted.

In November 2021 Carey was lucky to survive an earlier attempt on his life after being shot several times outside a house on Ballyfermot Crescent.

Carey was sitting in a car in the front drive of a house when a gunman fired nine bullets through the front windscreen.

The previous March, gardaí also received reports that he was shot at in Ballyfermot but escaped serious injury.

He only received a light injury in that attack and drove himself to hospital and did not make any complaint to gardaí.

Even after his death he was still the target of rivals who smashed up his grave and sent taunting messages aimed at his grieving family.

He was buried alongside his brother Darren, who was shot dead with his pal Patrick Murray (19) during the New Year period between 1999 and 2000.

The rival mobsters filmed the vandalism at Palmerstown Cemetery, smashing up a marble gravestone and using a screwdriver to prise off a family photo.

Gary Carey had been questioned a number of times by detectives in relation to seizures of drugs, firearms and cash.

Despite his multiple arrests as part of organised crime investigations, Carey had only served one significant prison sentence when he pleaded guilty to drug dealing at Dublin Circuit Court back in 2002 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.