Brothers Linked to Assassination Attempts in Drogheda Gang Feud

Slain hitman Robbie Lawlor is alleged to have said “these are from Keith” as he shot Owen Maguire in July 2018. Keith and Josh Boylan have been identified as being at the centre of a gangland feud that has gripped Drogheda. Two brothers identified as leaders of a criminal gang involved in the deadly Drogheda feud have been linked by gardaí to attempts to kill their rivals Owen and Brendan Maguire.

Keith Boylan and his brother Josh were named this week by a Garda witness as the leading members of an organised crime gang (OCG), as three women were sentenced for money laundering. But details of the pair’s alleged roles in the gang war previously emerged in a 2022 Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) case against the infamous Maguire mob. Bitter rivals Owen and Brendan Maguire.

Slain hitman Robbie Lawlor is alleged to have said “these are from Keith” as he shot Owen Maguire in July 2018 — leaving the gangster paralysed and sparking the infamous feud. An investigating officer said in an affidavit that he believed “this was the start of the vicious feud between the Price-Maguire OCG and the Boylan OCG”. He described Lawlor as an “associate of Keith Boylan, who is the leading member of the Boylan OCG, a rival drugs gang operating in the Drogheda and wider area”.

When Brendan Maguire was shot and seriously wounded in February 2019, gardaí believe the attempt to kill him was carried out by members of the Boylan gang. Boylan was also the target of revenge attacks and on June 20, 2019. “Keith Boylan was driving his vehicle in the direction of his sister’s house when a dark-coloured vehicle approached him from behind,” said gardaí. “A number of shots were fired from a second vehicle and Keith Boylan was struck in the chin and shoulder. He drove aggressively from the scene and made his way to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. Mr Boylan sustained minor injuries and refused to cooperate with gardaí.”

Another previous attack included one in which a viable bomb was found burning in the exhaust pipe of a car owned by a female friend of Keith Boylan. Two days later, in November 2018, there was another alleged attempt to attack members of the Boylan gang, which led to a gardaí rescuing a man being tortured. Officers responded to reports of a burning car which was later found to have two gas cylinders in it, one of which had exploded, according to the affidavit. “Investigators believe the vehicle was destined for the Boylan home at Moneymore, Drogheda, but had been intercepted before it arrived there.”

Keith and Josh Boylan have been identified as being at the centre of a gangland feud that has gripped Drogheda. The same night “gardaí received a report stating Josh Boylan had taken a man from a vehicle in front of his house” and brought him into another property in Moneymore. “Further calls stated this man’s life was in danger and he was being assaulted. Gardaí made a forcible entry at this address and the man was located upstairs in a bath.” He “had extensive injuries to his face and body having being assaulted repeatedly and then ‘sliced’ with a Stanley knife”. Keith and Josh Boylan have been identified as being at the centre of a gangland feud that has gripped Drogheda.

News in 90 Seconds - June 24th. Gardaí believed the man had been driving the car with the gas cylinders, it was stated. The duo who were assaulting him fled next door where five men were then arrested, including Josh Boylan, according the affidavit. The Boylan gang is believed to be behind two attacks on December 13, 2018, when a car and house were set on fire in separate incidents. A discovery of 400 rounds of ammunition and two pipe bombs on December 19, 2018, are believed to have belonged to the Boylan gang and “were intended for use in the feud against the Price Maguire gang”.

Keith Boylan is also stated in the affidavit to be close to Richard Carberry, who survived an attempt by the Maguire gang to shoot him in March 2019. Carberry was later shot dead. In one the feud’s most reckless attacks Keith Branigan was shot dead at a caravan park in Clogherheard in August 2019. In CAB evidence, it was stated that the victim was “a close friend of Keith Boylan”. The evidence in the affidavits was given in the case against the Maguire brothers which centred mostly on seized cash. In January 2023, two derelict properties, two vehicles, a Rolex watch and a total of €305,000 in cash were declared to be the proceeds of crime.