Relative of criminal 'Mr Flashy’ targeted in second weekend firebomb attack in Finglas

The first was an attack in the early hours of Saturday morning on an innocent family member of James ‘Whela’ Whelan, the 29-year-old father-of-one murdered last month.

It is believed the attack was carried out by associates of the so-called ‘Mr Flashy gang’ who Whelan used to be with until he split from them to start a lucrative drug dealing business of his own.

But in what is being viewed by gardai as a tit-for-tat revenge attack, the home of the innocent relative of ‘Mr Flashy’ was targeted in a separate firebomb attack less than 24 hours later on Saturday night at 11.15pm.

Tensions were already running high on Saturday after the attack on Whelan’s family home. His mother Sonya and a younger relative were in the house on Barnamore Crescent when the attack happened at 2.20am, and they had to flee for safety.

The front of the house was extensively damaged in the attack and locals said the occupants were lucky to escape uninjured. Two vehicles were also badly damaged in the incident. One was a taxi, and the other was a white van.

Now the attack on the home of the innocent female relative of ‘Mr Flashy’ in the Casement estate in Finglas has heightened those tensions further and gardai are said to be carrying out regular patrols in an effort to keep a lid on the simmering row.

Local reports said the woman received burns in the attack, but this could not be confirmed by gardai.

The alarm was raised shortly after 11pm and crews from Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene. They in turn contacted the gardai and the scene was sealed off for a time in order to gather forensic evidence.

Gangland murder victim Whelan was shot dead in the Deanstown Avenue area in the early hours of April 3 on the orders of ‘Mr Flashy’, a Kinahan cartel-linked criminal, as part of an escalating local drugs feud.

‘Mr Flashy’ earned his nick name because of his liking for expensive high-end brands and for his flashy lifestyle.

Whelan was once a key member of his crime network but had broken away from the gang to set up his own criminal enterprise.

He was a senior player in a gang of young dealers using electric bikes and electric scooters to deal crack cocaine and cannabis in the northside suburb at the time of his death.

This brought him into direct confrontation with ‘Mr Flashy’, and Whelan and his gang had been subjected to threats and taunts on social media in the months before he was murdered, after a number of escalating violent feud incidents in Finglas.