DRAPED in top designer labels, cruising in supercar convoys, and lounging in high-end mansions, the Kinahan cartel’s “First Ladies” lived worlds apart from the average punter.
Some continue to enjoy lavish lives in sun-soaked boltholes, while others have watched their underworld romantic partners taken down, stripped of their power and influence.
Nichola Morrissey lived a lavish life in the south of SpainCredit: Solarpix
Caoimhe Robinson married mob boss Daniel Kinahan at a luxury Dubai hotel
For the who have so far evaded justice, their multi-million pads are half a world away from the carnage and spilled blood on Dublin’s streets.
But – as revealed in The Sun’s gripping new ten-part podcast, Kinahans Downfall – the shadows are lengthening.
With international law enforcement agencies joining forces to , the high-rollers not yet jailed are glancing nervously over their shoulders.
Alongside them stand the – innocent of any criminality but boasting Birkin bags, the Botox, and the big houses.
It all comes with a terrifying risk, and for many, this lavish lifestyle carries a price tag written in blood.
Whether their “other half” is being hunted by police or marked for death by rival hitmen, being a mob wife is never as glamorous as the Instagram filters make it out to be.
Some keep their luxury lives under wraps, hidden behind gated estates.
Others have no qualms about flaunting their wealth on social media, shamelessly showing off exactly where the money is spent.
UK private investigator Alison Harris, who runs Miss AM Investigating, says there are several psychological reasons why women are drawn to high-level heavies.
Alison, a pro in profiling and criminology, told The Sun: “If a woman has been brought up around criminal activities, they don’t see it as abnormal—it’s just their version of normal.
The Irish Sun’s brand new podcast tells how Ireland’s most powerful crime family lost their grip on powerCredit: Supplied
“For others, being chosen as the partner of someone they view as powerful makes them feel special and important.”
Then there are the “Trophy Wives” who simply love the fancy trappings of the proceeds of crime. “A criminal lifestyle offers a chance to live beyond their wildest expectations,” explains Alison, author of Private Lies.
“Designer clothes, an affluent address, and a ‘different class’ of friends. They also get a false sense of safety. The higher up the criminal ladder a man is, the more his family is feared.”
Here, The Sun unmasks the Kinahan Cartel’s better halves — and the women linked to the most dangerous men in the mob.
Caoimhe Robinson
Caoimhe is the wife of the one of the world’s most wanted men, Daniel Kinahan – and she’s no stranger to the “moll” life.
Before Kinahan, she was the girlfriend of Dublin thug Micka ‘The Panda’ Kelly, who was .
Caoimhe was previously the partner of another gangster who was gunned down in 2011
Daniel Kinahan currently has a $5million bounty on his head
Following his murder by the Real IRA, she stayed firmly within the mob circle, meeting Daniel in Spain in 2014.
The pair wed in 2017 at the Burj Al Arab — the “world’s only 7-star hotel”—right at the height of the Hutch-Kinahan feud.
A former CAB detective said: “She was introduced to Kinahan because of the circles she moved in. She has proved her loyalty by moving to the UAE to be by his side.”
In Dubai she has become a property tycoon, regularly flipping high-end pads and in 2022 splashing out $2.1million on an unfinished 20,000sq ft villa – described as a “true lifestyle destination”.
Robinson has grown accustomed to a life of immense wealth, but the investigator warns: “It could all come crashing down. The feeling is she will return to Ireland only if he is extradited to stand trial.”
The Sun's award-winning podcast returns
KINAHANS Downfall is the follow-up to international smash hit The Kinahans
Millions of people listened to the first series, which told the story of the “Dapper Don” Christy Kinahan Snr’s improbable rise to become an international criminal kingpin.
It finished in 2023, just after the gang’s leaders were hit with US sanctions and a collective $15million bounty placed on their heads. Kinahans Downfall, narrated again by The Irish Sun’s Damien Lane, reveals how the gang’s wealth has only grown since then.
But while they flourish on the international stage, the podcast reveals how the gang was dismantled in Ireland.
Using reconstructed garda wire taps, it unmasks the kill crews who cops took down one by one.
Listen to the ten-episode series on Apple , Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Simoan McEnroe
Simoan, 43, is married to Kinahan Cartel heavyweight Liam Byrne, 44, and is understood to be one of the most trusted figures outside the immediate bloodline.
The pair have been a team for nearly three decades and have three children.
Simoan is married to top Kinahan associate Liam Byrne
Byrne’s brother was shot dead in a notorious gangland shooting in Dublin back in 2016Credit: Journalist supplied
While there is no suggestion she or her kids are involved in crime, the luxury they enjoyed was built on a foundation of felony.
Simoan was named in the High Court’s 2018 case against Liam, whom authorities branded the head of the Byrne Organised Crime Group—the Dublin arm of the Kinahan OCG.
A CAB case revealed their Crumlin home, later seized by the state, was a vulgar temple of excess featuring a private bar, an all-weather pitch, and a gym.
McEnroe was named as the one booking travel and digs for the gang, with access to the “proceeds of crime.” CAB even stripped two diamond rings from her fingers.
Liam Byrne also helped run the Kinahans’ UK operation alongside brother-in-law Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh.
He was jailed for five years in 2024 over a submachine gun haul designed to get Bomber a reduced prison sentence, but was last year released on an electronic tag under the UK’s controversial early release scheme.
Despite his trial claim that he was a humble “car salesman” and “spray painter,” the couple shared a home in a gated Merseyside community.
Joanne Byrne
Caged godfather Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh was once the highest-ranking member of the gang without the Kinahan surname.
But “Bomber” has run out of luck, currently facing a bill for £1.1million in seized assets or another 12 years on top of his 21-year sentence for a £30million drug plot.
Joanne is the sister of murdered Kinahan associate Liam ByrneCredit: Padraig O'Reilly Photographer
Thomas Kavanagh was jailed after being arrested at Birmingham AirportCredit: Collect
His loyal wife and teenage sweetheart Joanne is the sister of murdered Regency victim David Byrne and mobster Liam Byrne.
While not personally involved in crime, she lived a life of staggering excess.
When cops raided their Tamworth fortress in 2019, they found 100 pairs of designer heels and 120 handbags — many stuffed with wads of cash.
They also found a grim arsenal of knives, swords, and even an axe.
Dubbed the “real Carmella Soprano”, Joanna once splashed out on a massive Las Vegas trip for pals to celebrate her birthday.
Deidre Brady and Erika Lukacs
Declan ‘Mr Nobody’ Brady appeared to be a family man truck driver – but underneath the ordinary façade lay a man at the heart of the Kinahans’ war on the Hutches.
Erika Lukacs was named in court as Declan Brady’s mistressCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk
Brady was found with weapons set to be unleashed on the Hutch family
In 2016 Brady, 59, was busted with an enormous stash of weapons at the Greenogue Industrial Estate in Dublin, guns primed to be used in a deadly assault on the Hutch mob.
He was also sitting on hundred of thousands of pounds in dirty money.
His wife, Deirdre Brady – AKA Mrs Nobody – wasn’t just watching the money, she was washing it for the Cartel.
The grandmother-of-seven laundered over €770,000 through eight bank accounts – and for years had unwittingly being paying Brady’s mistress’s rent.
She shunned the highlife, the bling, and the foreign holidays – and she didn’t even drive.
Brady’s Hungarian lover Erica, 18 years his junior, laundered almost €200,000 for her sugar daddy and received a suspended jail term for that.
Deirdre was eventually jailed after a court ruled her initial suspended sentence was too lenient. Mr Justice George Birmingham famously asked: “Did she think the money was coming from heaven, or from a fairy godmother?”
Declan Brady was caged for 11.5 years for the Greenogue firearms offences, then received over seven years for money laundering and in 2024 received a nine-year term for his role in the murder of innocent man Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan.
Nicola Morrissey
, is the wife of Kinahan-linked ‘Johnny Cash’ Morrissey—the man named by the US as a “material supporter” and enforcer for the Cartel.
Johnny earned his nickname for his habit of carrying massive rolls of banknotes.
Nicola and her husband Johnny lived a glitzy life on the Costa del SolCredit: Solarpix
She was arrested alongside her husband in 2022Credit: Solarpix
The couple lived a life of pure luxury in , fuelled by their Nero Vodka brand.
Before the US sanctions hit, Nicola posed for Exclusive Life magazine, draped in diamonds next to a £350,000 Rolls-Royce.
Her world changed in 2022 when she was arrested alongside her husband in a massive money-laundering probe.
She was later released without charge.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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