Boylan brothers ‘will be fuming’ at their unmasking as leaders of Drogheda feud organised crime group

The Boylan brothers – named for the first time in court as alleged leaders of one side of the two feuding gangs involved in the dangerous Drogheda feud – will be fuming at their unmasking, sources have said.

Keith Boylan, 30, of Moneymore in Drogheda, Co Louth was named by a garda witness at a sentencing hearing at Dundalk Circuit Court on Wednesday of three female money launderers for the gang, as “the head of the Boylan Organised Crime Group.”

His younger brother Josh, 26, also of Moneymore, has been named as “second in command,” a garda witness told the court on Wednesday.

It is the first time the brothers have been publicly identified as the alleged gang leaders, as we reported on Wednesday.

We also revealed exclusive images of the Boylan brothers for the first time. One image showed the brothers all smiles side by side, in an image taken several years ago.

Other exclusive images show the brothers outside Drogheda District Court during the height of the deadly feud in 2019 and other images from their now deleted social media accounts.

The Boylan crime group, also known as the Anti-Maguire faction, have been at war with paralysed mob boss Owen Maguire and his associates since early 2017 when an initial drug trafficking gang split into two warring factions trying to control the illegal drug trade in Drogheda.

Senior sources have now revealed that the naming publicly of the Boylan brothers “won’t stop them in their tracks with their drug supplies to the town” – but “they will be fuming at their unmasking.”

“They managed to stay unnamed for over seven years since the feud started but I would imagine they are fuming now,” sources told Irish Mirror.

The brothers, sources say, will, though, find it harder to secure drug mules to import drugs on their behalf to the town. “Josh is based in Thailand and over the past while mules have been caught trying to bring drugs in from his base,” the source said.

“For example, Jamie Mahon, from Drogheda was jailed for three years recently in Norway for importing 29.9kig of cannabis from Thailand. Those drugs were destined for Drogheda,” the source continued.

The crime group, also known as the Anti-Maguire faction, have been feuding with a gang led by paralysed mob boss Owen Maguire and Cornelius Price, who died in 2023.

Four people lost their lives in the turf warfare over drug selling rights in the town including the horror murder and dismemberment of teenager Keane Mulready-Woods.

The feud escalated in 2018 following the shooting of Maguire and saw over 100 violent incidents including several shootings, a kidnapping, houses petrol bombed, people assaulted and four murders.

Maguire was shot several times by notorious hitman Robbie Lawlor and survived but was left paralysed and wheelchair-bound.

Lawlor was later shot dead in Belfast in April 2020, having been the main suspect in the gruesome murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods in January 2020 in a crime that shocked the nation. Keane’s body parts were dumped in Moatview estate in Dublin’s Coolock while his head, hands and feet were discovered in a burnt out car in Drumcondra in Dublin days later.

The Boylan brothers trusted lieutenant and one of the main antagonists in the deadly feud, Paul Crosby, 30, of Rathmullen was jailed in 2023 after he pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to facilitating the teen’s murder along with another associate of the brothers, Gerard ‘Rocky’ Cruise. Crosby was jailed for ten years while Cruise was jailed for seven years.

The gang violence led to the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) being deployed to the town while 25 new garda recruits were also assigned to Drogheda during the height of the feud. The violence was brought to an end following successful garda operations, the deaths of key figures, the jailing of several members and the fleeing overseas of several from both sides of the feuding gangs.

Gardai have had significant successes against the Boylan Organised Crime Group with large seizures of drugs and cash in recent months as well as many associates before the courts as well as several associates convicted of gang-related offences.

“Gardai are also examining a suspected connection to the Boylan Organised Crime Group of a large stash of pipe bombs discovered recently at a property in Ardee,” a source said.

That find was part of an intelligence-led operation by the Drogheda Divisional Drugs Unit.

However, gardai suspect the Boylan Organised Crime Group are still supplying the town with drugs from the brothers’ overseas bases in Dubai and Thailand.

They fled overseas following the murder and dismemberment of Keane due to threats on their lives.

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