Jailed Dublin man who moved over €1m in crime cash ‘was gang boss Mr Big’s gillie’

Carl Buckley (38), from Holywell Green, Swords, was jailed for three years this week after he pleaded one count of possessing the proceeds of crime at Swords on February 4, 2022.

Gardaí caught Buckley handing over €53,000 in cash in a transaction “between two criminal entities” last year and subsequently searched his home where they found a ledger outlining dozens of similar transactions totalling over €1m.

They also found encrypted messages on his phone referring to a ‘Mr Brownstone’.

Sources said Mr Brownstone is suspected to be a senior member of the gang led by the north Dublin crime boss known as Mr Big, one of the most dominant figures in the Irish underworld. His gang are suspected of being behind up to 16 murders.

He has survived numerous gangland feuds, ranging from the Real IRA gang led by Alan Ryan to hitman Robbie Lawlor.

Buckley wasn’t a member of Mr Big’s gang but is believed to have been recruited as a ‘gillie’ for the gang after falling into debt with them.

His defence counsel urged Judge Martin Nolan not to impose a jail term, saying Buckley said he got involved with the criminal gang under duress after getting a loan to buy his child a PlayStation. He is the sole carer of his child.

Buckley said he wanted to get his son a PlayStation 5 for Christmas one year but that the financial institution he normally got loans from had shut down. He instead took out a loan of €3,000 from a “particular individual”.

When Buckley was unable to work during Covid as he was caring for his child, he couldn’t pay off the loan and started working for the criminal organisation instead, the court heard. ​

Sentencing Buckley on Tuesday to three years,

Judge Nolan said that if it hadn’t been for the excellent mitigation in the case, he would have set a headline sentence of eight years.