Authorities Confident Remaining "Super Cartel" Leader Daniel Kinahan Will Be Captured

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

It is believed that Daniel Kinahan is possibly hiding out in Qatar having fled Dubai ahead of arrests of "Super Cartel" members last month.

In Ireland, Assistant Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said that while 68 members of the Kinahan Organised Group have been convicted so far, gardaí continue to target other senior figures in the gang – including Christy Kinahan, Daniel Kinahan, and Christopher Kinahan Jr, each of whom has had a $5 million bounty placed on their heads by the US government.

“I’m confident that senior members of that group will be brought to justice. Where that happens, I think it’s too early to say,” he said. “We are working hand in hand with international partners, so we will see where that goes.

“We’ve recently had members of the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau with other international colleagues in the UAE. We’ve met colleagues over there from Dubai. For us, those international relations are absolutely essential when you’re targeting a transnational group like the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.

“I think I can say with some confidence that none of the senior members of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group will come voluntarily back to Ireland. We have submitted a number of investigation files to the Director of Public Prosecutions and we have some other ones underway in relation to senior members of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.”

EU Places UAE on Money-Laundering Blacklist

The European Commission added the United Arab Emirates to its register of countries considered high risk for money laundering and terrorist financing. The move was announced by EU financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness, who said the EU is targeting countries that have “deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing frameworks.”

Dubai is a sheikhdom with internal autonomy and is part of the United Arab Emirates. But it has built its economy around being a home for expatriates.

In the 1990s, the emirate’s oil revenues plummeted and its leadership began looking abroad for investments. Since then, real estate development has been a significant source of income for the emirate, attracting foreign capital and wealthy people from around the world. Today, Dubai has three million residents, but only half a million are Emirati nationals. foreign individuals and companies have invested over $145 billion in Dubai’s housing market and it is largely seen as a tax haven.

The rules impose severe restrictions on any financial dealings between individuals or businesses in the Middle Eastern country and the EU. The move comes after months of political pressure to stop criminals such as Christopher Kinahan Sr. and his sons Daniel and Christy Jr. from using the tax haven and operating their organized crime groups from Dubai. The move is expected to put additional pressure on authorities there to take more proactive measures against the Kinahan leadership.

The presence of Russian oligarchs in the UAE attempting to hide their assets from EU and US sanctions has also fuelled the political campaign to tighten financial controls there. “Every little helps,” a senior garda said on the development. “This mightn’t be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but that day is coming, I think. I see it more as a political statement that anything else,” he told The Irish Times. “It’s about chastising the UAE on the international stage.”

Dubai Company Data Leaks

A May 2022 leak of Dubai property data exposed how many foreigners have poured their money into apartments and villas there. The data, which dates from 2020, was obtained by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that researches international crime and conflict. It was then shared with the Norwegian financial outlet E24, which coordinated an investigation into the real estate.

Daniel Kinahan is listed as the owner of a sizable office in the exclusive Jumeirah Bay Tower 3. Two companies Kinahan co-founded over the years have listed the same unit, number 3005, as their office. Currently, a similar-sized officer in the same tower is listed for AED 1,200,000 ($325,000). Information about Kinahan’s passport and Emirates ID in the leak suggests he acquired this property between the spring of 2017 and January 2018.

An additional leak contained documents that have shown how the Kinahans planned to open an import and export food business in Dubai with a projected profit of $6.8 million. Their business plan described how ‘Haizum General Trading Co. LLC’ would import food from Brazil, Thailand, India, China, and East Africa to Persian Gulf countries and beyond.

“We also hope to eventually expand into the trading of edible oil, pasta, and even poultry, if we happen to line up potential leads, prospective clients, and profitable deals for these products,” the business plan read. The company's website shows just a logo and email contact. The LinkedIn page however provides additional information on their client locations and a generic mission statement.

"Currently, our client base is in the Middle East (ME), South Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. However, we wish to expand our market and our global presence over the coming years. Our mission is to provide our clients with a professional, uncomplicated trading experience. We would like to handle all of your procurement of commodities."

Christy Kinahan Jr's LinkedIn profile.

Daniel was to own 30% of the company, with 19% owned by Christy Jr. (listed as Director of Development) and the rest by a UAE national, Hadif Al Ktebi. This was because until recently, UAE laws governing business stipulated that more than 50% of the company must be owned by an Emirati partner. Several other companies, based in Dubai seem to have links to the Kinahan Clan as well, most notably Christy Kinahan, Jr including companies such as the aforementioned LLC, CVK Investments, Christopher Vincent Business Brokers, and others.

These companies also feature largely generic information and mission statements with their websites currently not available anymore. "Not only do we offer the capital, but we also offer the expertise and experience to work with all aspiring entrepreneurs and businesses to optimize their potential," displays the CVK Investments profile. "We can introduce you to your peers and professionals to enable you to create successful synergies. CVBizBroker strives to point you in the right direction for your company and for you as an individual to succeed," states the Business Broker consulting profile on LinkedIn.

Kinahan Cartel Downfall Begins

The money laundering designation caps off a terrible year for the group, and Daniel Kinahan in particular, which started in March with the jailing of its main representative in the UK, Thomas “Bomber” Kavanaugh, for 21 years. Details of the Kinahan network were revealed in affidavits to the court which described the cartel as being involved in €1 billion worth of illegal activities. For the first time, Daniel Kinahan was directly targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau when a house CAB said belonged to him and Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh was taken by Ireland. The CAB has also seized millions of Euros in cash and properties from other Kinahan-connected gangsters.

A month later, the Garda and several US agencies announced sanctions that froze the US assets of the gang and offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of its leaders. The UAE followed suit and froze Kinahan assets in Dubai. MTK Global, the boxing management company founded by Daniel Kinahan, announced its closure a short time later.

California court documents accuse Kinahan founded MTK Global of using drug money to poach a Mexican fighter from another management company.

He continues to be pursued by US Marine turned lawyer Eric Montalvo, who is suing Daniel for €15 million over MTK's alleged illegal poaching of Mexican fighter JoJo Diaz using funds gained from drug trafficking. Montalvo obtained approval from the District Court in the Central District of California to serve a fresh summons, containing updated allegations against the crime boss. MTK and Kinahan were not represented at the court during recent hearings, Kinahan broke contact and dropped his lawyers following the announcement of sanctions and their $5 million wanted reward in the US.

The court papers were served on Kinahan at the Industrious Facilities Management company at Office 602 in the Crystal Business Centre in Port Saeed, Dubai. The papers can be served on Kinahan at that address, even if he is not present in person to receive them. Kinahan is now believed to be hiding out in Qatar. 

A failed scheme involving multiple front companies setting up routes to smuggle cocaine from Africa to the borders of the EU via former Egyptian military planes, under the guise of humanitarian aid during the COVID-19 pandemic was revealed. Patriarch Christy Kinahan Sr. utilizing false identities, and front companies while traveling to aviation conventions. He was attempting to broker the deal via the Crescents & Crosses airline based in Singapore and Malawi. Christy Sr. had also attempted to relocate to Zimbabwe as part of the scheme.

In December, multiple operators and members of the "Super Cartel" were arrested across the world. And shortly after, it was announced that Camorra link, Rafaele Imperiale had begun cooperating with authorities in Italy, and likely additional agencies after a second arrest while already in Italian custody after his extradition from Dubai.

Imperiale was second on Italy’s most wanted list when he was extradited from the UAE, where he had attended Daniel Kinahan’s wedding in 2017, providing authorities with their first hint of the global Super Cartel.

Pentiti Raffaele Imperiale's Statement

Kinahan cartel ally Raffaele Imperiale has revealed how he was making €300,000 a month from drug trafficking and dealing in recent evidence given to prosecutors. 

“I intend to undertake a process of collaboration with the judiciary, answering every question and reporting every element in my possession useful for the reconstruction of the facts of which I am being investigated,” Imperiale has declared. "It is an opportunity to change my life, and I intend to exploit it, also to set an example for my children and my family.

“Despite my intention to collaborate with justice, I currently do not intend to resort to a protection program or to undertake a collaboration in the form of the law on collaborators of justice, at least in the state".

Following his dramatic arrest in August 2021, the Italian has agreed to become a cooperating witness in his home country, revealing what life was like for the Camorra crime figure abroad. He also explained the reason for his cooperation is he wants “to set an example for my children and my family".

“I arrived in Dubai in 2010, I had €90 or 100 million in cocaine with Mario Cerrone, which was in Naples, on various sources, the proceeds of my business in Brazil. This "work" from Brazil had been done without the knowledge of the Amato-Paganos, and I decided to sell that quantity in the Neapolitan territory, little by little, so as not to attract attention. At that time there were as leaders of the Amato-Paganos, first Mariano Riccio, then "Aunt Rosaria" or Rosaria Pagano as the leaders had been arrested."

He relates how, in 2016, he took a look at his accounts and “realized that I had squandered everything."

“I rolled up my sleeves and started my business again, this time internationally. To start over, I contacted Rico Riquelme, [who is currently detained in the Netherlands.] I contacted him through cryptographic systems. He gave me the opportunity to reintroduce myself into the system by entrusting me with 300 kilos of cocaine and telling me that I could pay for it when I could, even in 6 to 12 months."

“It was bought in Spain at €25,000 per kilo, so it was worth €7.5 million and I sold in the Neapolitan area for around €31,000 per kilo, earning €9 million [total]. On European territory, today it is €2,500 in earned profit for each kilogram of cocaine, previously even €7,000 per kilogram. Ultimately, I received about €300,000 a month.”

“I kept these relationships directly (with the most important clans), always with encrypted telephones."

He is now in a bid to become State witness against the Camorra, the Italian organization that he was a high-ranking member of for over two decades.

Sources Sunday World, Sunday World, Sunday World, Sunday World, Sunday World, Irish Times, OCCRP, Property Finder UAE, Bayut, Sunday World, LinkedIn