Slain hitman Robbie Lawlor is alleged to have shouted these four chilling words – ‘These are from Keith’ when he shot mob boss Owen Maguire on behalf of the Boylan Organised Crime Group – leaving the gangster paralysed and fuelling the vicious Drogheda feud.
The details of that shooting and what Lawlor is alleged to have said can now be revealed as two brothers identified as leaders of a criminal gang involved in the dangerous Drogheda feud have been linked by gardai to the attempted murders of rival mob boss Owen Maguire and his brother Brendan.
Keith Boylan (30) and his brother Josh (26), from Moneymore in Drogheda, unmasked last week for the first time by a garda witness during a money laundering sentencing case of three women as leaders of the Boylan Organised Crime Group who are at war with Maguire and his associates.
Garda John Walsh of Drogheda Garda Station unmasked the brothers at Dundalk Circuit Court.
He told the court: “the Boylan Organised Crime Group is one of the two feuding factions involved in the large scale sale and supply and importation of drugs.”
He continued: “Keith Boylan has been identified as the head of the Boylan Organised Crime Group and his brother Josh Boylan is classed as second in command of the organised crime group.”
The Boylan Organised Crime Group helped fuel one of Ireland’s most terrifying gangland feuds while at war with the Price-Maguire Organised Crime Group.
That feud, which kicked off in 2017 and escalated following the shooting of Owen Maguire in July 2018 led to four murders including that of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods who is suspected of being murdered and dismembered by Lawlor.
The feud erupted when now slain serial killer Lawlor – who was an associate of the Boylan brothers – shot Maguire at Mell Halting Site on the Cement Road in the town on the night of July 5, 2018.
The brothers alleged roles in the gang feud emerged in a 2022 Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) case against Owen Maguire and his brother Brendan and details can now be revealed that gardai have linked the attempted murders of Owen and Brendan to the Boylan Organised Crime Group.
In an affidavit lodged in court during the CAB case against the Maguires, an investigating officer stated “The person who shot Owen Maguire is alleged to have said words similar to “these are from Keith.”
“As a result of this shooting, Mr Owen Maguire remains paralysed from the chest down. It is believed that Mr Robbie Lawlor was the person who shot Owen Maguire.”
The investigating officer described Lawlor “as an associate of Keith Boylan, who is the leading member of the Boylan OCG, a rival drugs gang operating in Drogheda and wider area.
“I believe that this was the start of the vicious feud between the Price-Maguire OCG and the Boylan OCG,” the investigating officer stated in the affidavit.
The investigating officer also stated that when Owen’s brother Brendan was shot on February 26, 2019 “Gardai believe that this attempt to murder Brendan Maguire was carried out by members of the Boylan OCG.”
Brendan had left Gym Plus in the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda in the company of two associates. The investigating officer detailed that “All three men got into a car with Brendan Maguire seated in the front passenger seat.
“The vehicle was then approached by a gunman who fired into the vehicle directly at Brendan Maguire. He was struck in the upper body and arms.”
Brendan was then driven at speed to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital where he was admitted and received emergency treatment and survived.
In another shocking shooting two months later, a man working in the front garden of a house in Hardmans Garden in the town along with associates of the Price-Maguire OCG, was shot twice when a gunman fired five shots indiscriminately towards the group of men. The male was hit with a bullet in his shoulder and leg and underwent surgery for non-life threatening injuries.
The CAB affidavit by an investigating officer stated: “The Boylan OCG are believed to be responsible as the (targeted) group is closely aligned to the Price-Maguire OCG.”
In another incident on March 5, 2019 detailed in the sworn affidavits, the investigating officer stated gardai received a report from a caller who stated that an associate of Owen Maguire’s had “received a threat from Keith Boylan.”
The affidavit continued: “Keith Boylan had allegedly pulled up outside the home and allegedly threatened a pipe bomb attack on the house that night. It was further alleged that Keith Boylan would shoot the male and his son.”
Further details of the kidnapping of now deceased Aaron Rochford were also outlined in the CAB affidavit stating: “On the night of November 11, 2018 gardai received a report stating that Josh Boylan had taken a man from a vehicle in front of his house” and brought him into a house in Moneymore estate.
“Further calls stated that this man’s life was in danger and he was being assaulted. Gardai made a forcible entry and the man, later identified as Aaron Rochford, was located upstairs in a bath.
“Mr Rochford had extensive injuries to his face and body having been assaulted repeatedly and then ‘sliced’ with a Stanley knife.’
“The men who were assaulting Mr Rochford fled to a next door house and five males were subsequently arrested,” the affidavit stated.
The affidavit stated “it is believed that he [Rochford] had driven a vehicle” that earlier went on fire and contained two gas cylinders. One of the cylinders exploded at the scene at The Boxing Club at The Twenties, Moneymore.
“From investigations conducted it is believed that this vehicle was destined for the Boylan home,” the investigator stated in the affidavit, adding “I believe that members of the Price-Maguire OCG were responsible for this incident.”
Earlier, Irish Sunday Mirror exclusively revealed that Keith Boylan was also targeted in revenge attacks when he was shot at twice within two months in 2019 during the height of the feud.
In May 2019 he was targeted in a gun attack near Donaghmede Shopping Centre in Dublin when a number of shots were fired at him. He escaped without injury.
The second shooting happened in the Termon Abbey area of Drogheda in June 2019 when a number of shots were fired at him as he sat in his car.
Two bullets struck him on the chin and shoulder while other rounds were lodged into his vehicle. He was rushed to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Last Friday, the Irish Mirror revealed that gardai believe the Boylan brothers “will be fuming at their unmasking.”
Sources said 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.
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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