gangster tribute Slick video shows sax player, pitbull in tux and dancing mourners at James Whelan's funeral

A 45-minute video showing the elaborate funeral of slain gangster James Whelan - featuring scrambler bikes, a saxophone player and dancing mourners has gone viral. 

The professionally-shot footage has been widely shared on Facebook alongside comments paying tribute to the 29-year-old who was shot dead in Dublin last week.

Whelan is believed to have been murdered as part of a feud involving the notorious Finglas-based drug-dealer Mr Flashy.

Father-of-one James ‘Whela’ Whelan was laid to rest in Dardistown Cemetery yesterday following his funeral mass in his native Finglas.

The event was recorded for posterity in a video posted by O'Dwyer & Sons Funeral Directors who add: "We would like to pass on our deepest condolences to the family of young James Whelan and the biggest thank you for choosing of taking care (sic) of their loved one. RIP Whela."

The video begins with aerial footage showing a temporary marquee set up near his home with people crowded outside on the streets.

The filming then descends to street view where dozens of bikers in high-vis yellow vests are seen revving up scrambler bikes amid clouds of smoke.

Mourners are also depicted preparing the house drawn carriage with flower displays featuring the words ‘Brother’, and ‘me mate’.

A dog in a cut-off tuxedo and black dickie bow is led on a rope while men in black top hats gather together the horses to pull the carriage.

The camera then focuses on some of the other floral arrangements with one created in the shape of a motorbike, a Rolex watch, a miniature Ferrari and a headstone surrounded by horseshoes.

A gold-plated coffin is then brought out of the house and carried aloft by several young men in black sunglasses as cheering people dance and clap hands.

As the cortege sets off, led by a man playing a saxophone, hundreds of mourners fall in behind the horse-drawn carriage.

There is film recorded of the service inside the church before the coffin is then brought back outside on its way to Dardistown Cemetery.

At the gravesite, the gold coffin is lowered into the ground as hundreds of black and white balloons are released into the sky.

Flowers are thrown in on top of the coffin as mourners spray champagne over the open grave.

The Finglas parish priest saying the funeral mass of the father-of-one had earlier referred to the “great big gaisce, a show put on for a funeral”.

At Requiem Mass in Oliver Plunkett church in Finglas, Fr Seamus Aherne told the congregation that there is nothing ever glamorous or blingy about death.

“Young James is in his coffin," Fr Aherne said. "He looks like a teenager. A child really. I know he is nearly 30. But this is how he looks. Nothing can add glamour to this occasion.

“Some of you have had your own rituals. A shrine. Flowers. Messages. Bikes. Whatever. The facts are that a young man has been wasted by the order of some miserable gangster. A life has been destroyed. No one has the right ever to take a life,” he added.

Fr Ahearne told how James Whelan’s mother Sonya craved "quietness, dignity, and respect around her child. She is angry. She is screaming - even at God".

“She doesn't want all the noise. Here is how she recalls life with James. He was a torment.

"The bane of her life. She spent all her years worrying about him and what he was doing and with whom he was involved. What had he done now? Where was he? Those thoughts rang in her head every day of his life. Her praying was deep and rich.

“He had a big heart. He was a terror. He was soft. He would give anything to anyone and liked the image of being a Robin Hood type of character,” he said, adding that a young Whelan brought every kind of stray into the house, even a horse one time.”

Fr Ahearne also described how Whelan was “meticulous about his food, about his clothes, about his shampoo, about his aftershave”.

“He loved his bikes, his cars, his dog, and of course his clothes. Money. Designer was made for him. He loved Jean. He loved Parker. But he did mix with strange people and got caught up in bad things,” he said.