Exclusive: Kinahan Cartel gun-for-hire Caolan Smyth moved AGAIN to a new prison

The Coolock thug is currently detained in Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon after his latest move from Cork Prison while he awaits a judgement on his appeal against his conviction.

He remains a target for gangsters involved in the Coolock feud as well as the murderous Hutch-Kinahan feud, according to Sunday World sources.

The 30-year-old has failed to settle into prison routine until now and has previously complained over the regime, sources added.

While in protective custody in Mountjoy he wrote the governor over being held in protective custody and on the Midlands was on a restricted landing with fellow Kinahan Cartel gun-for-hire Alan Wilson.

Just seconds after he was sentenced to 20-years for the murder attempt he said he would be out in “five World Cups."

A close pal of Finglas gang leader Mr Flashy, he was suspected by associates of Sean Little of being involved in his murder in May 2019.

Before his arrest over the attempt on Mago Gately’s life Smyth had taken a lie-detector test in a bid to prove he had nothing to do with the killing.

His protests of innocence, however, cut little ice and in September 2019 gardaí moved in just as a hit team planned to shoot Smyth at his Artane home.

Stephen Little, Sean Little’s father - who was later jailed for six years for possessing a gun - told gardaí who arrested him: “Had you given me another hour, I would have killed the bastard that killed him.”

Smyth was never arrested or charged in connection with Little's murder.

A few months later Smyth was arrested over the attack on James 'Mago' Gately who was shot five times in 2017 but survived the murder bid.

At the time of the attempted hit on Gately, Smyth was relatively unknown to gardai but the shooting revealed he was a significant player being used by the cartel in their war against the Hutch faction.

He was branded a “ruthless and ­dangerous” ­criminal by a judge as he was jailed for the botched hit on James ‘Mago’ Gately.

Gately, who was a prime target for the Kinahan faction with a €500,000 bounty on his head, survived because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

His car had been fitted with a tracker which allowed Smyth to follow him to a filling station near Dublin Airport, where he got out and fired five times with a handgun.

Four of the shots were lodged in the bulletproof vest Gately was wearing, but one hit him in the jaw.

The assassination attempt was the second in just over a month in which the Kinahan cartel had set out to kill Gately.

Estonian hitman Imre Arakas flew into Dublin from Spain in April, 2017 to kill Gately but was arrested by gardai before he got his chance.

Smyth is one of a number of associates of Mr Flashy who are currently serving time.

They include Mohammad Smew, who is in jail for his role in the Kinahan plot to kill Patsy Hutch, and Scott Capper, serving time for assaults and robbery.

At the Court of Appeal in February, it was heard the use of mobile phones records to convict Smyth was a breach of his right to privacy under Irish and European law.

The prosecution had argued a combination of CCTV footage and mobile phone location data had proved that shortly after Gately was shot, the car used in the shooting was driven from the scene by Smyth to where it was found burned out.

A judgement on his appeal has not yet been given.