Steven Gerrard’s daughter, Lilly-Ella Gerrard, is expecting her first child with the son of one of Ireland’s most infamous gangsters.
The 20-year-old influencer shared a picture of her baby scans with her 216,000 Instagram followers, to which her famous father responded: “We can’t wait. Great news and congratulations we love you.”
She tagged her boyfriend, Lee Byrne, whose own loved ones have endured a turbulent few years, despite himself and the Gerrard family having no involvement in crime.
His father, Liam Byrne, is currently serving a five-and-a-half year sentence in a UK prison for a plot to stockpile machine guns.
The Kinahan Cartel
Liam Byrne has been described in the High Court as a “trusted lieutenant of Daniel Kinahan and the Kinahan Organised Crime Group”. The notorious Kinahan cartel was founded by convicted drug smuggler Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan.
Kinahan cartel member Liam Byrne will be in jail during the birth of his grandson
(Image: Irish Mirror)
His son, Daniel Kinahan, now leads the gang and has a £12million bounty on his head. Before being named as a most wanted man, he had a more public presence, working as a boxing manager with MGM (later changed to MTK), advising stars like Tyson Fury and Darren Till, reports the Mirror.
He entered combat sports with his friend and former fighter Matthew Macklin – but drugs and arms-dealing were reportedly his main source of income. Kinahan has also been linked to a Dubai ‘super cartel’.
David Byrne murder
His gang gained worldwide notoriety in February 2016 when the murder of Lee Byrne’s uncle, David Byrne, ignited a deadly feud that claimed 18 lives.
Christy Kinahan, once had close ties with the Hutch gang, led by Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch.
However, relations between the gangs eventually deteriorated, culminating in the shocking murder of David at the Regency Hotel during a boxing weigh-in for some of Daniel Kinahan’s MTK fighters in February 2016.
David Byrne smiling just weeks before his murder
(Image: Internet Unknown)
As one boxer stepped onto the scales, four men, two disguised as police, stormed the hotel armed with AK-47s.
Children were present, and their chilling screams were captured on camera as the killers reportedly pursued Daniel Kinahan, who was present but managed to escape unscathed. David wasn’t so lucky, and was shot dead as terrified bystanders fled the building.
What happened next?
The public nature of this underworld assassination shocked the nation and sparked an all-out war on Dublin’s streets. Three days later, Eddie, brother of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, was murdered at his home in the capital in a suspected revenge attack.
The killings didn’t stop there – in total, 18 people were killed at various stages, including ten in 2016 alone. Three people were killed in cases of mistaken identity, while four members of the Hutch family lost their lives.
‘The Monk’ was apprehended for the murder of Byrne in 2021 but was later acquitted and released.
In contrast, Kinahan, tied to a reported $1billion empire, came into the limelight in 2022 when the US authorities offered rewards for information leading to arrests or convictions within his gang.
The weigh-in moments before gunmen stormed the hotel
They aim to bring the group responsible for smuggling “deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe” to justice.
Matt Horne of Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) declared: “They thought they were untouchable, but we will explore every opportunity to disrupt their criminal activities. We will not stop here.”
Kinahan remains at large.