The
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Vol. 14 Issue 392 www.theolivepress.es April 20th - May 3rd 2022
The real story behind the new Colin Firth blockbuster See page 6
VODKA SOUR Local businessman and his vodka firm named on US sanctions list for key links to Irish mafia
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KinahanTCOTips@dea.gov
KinahanTCOTips@dea.gov
HIGH PROFILE: Morrissey and wife Nicola in the local press (left) and (above) the US goverment wanted posters and Christopher Kinahan Jnr, the US has also put Malaga-based Morrisey and Bernard Clancy on its list. They, along with Ian Dixon and Sean McGovern, are said to be a key part of the Kinahan gang, who owned a string of gyms, restaurants and other businesses on the Costa del Sol, before moving to Dubai a few years ago. While the gang still have an important influence here, its leaders started decamping to the Middle East after rival gangster Gary Hutch was killed in Estepona in 2015, leading to a bloody gang feud. But ‘Johnny’ Morrissey, 62, stayed put to help run his high-profile drinks business Nero Vodka, which is owned on paper by his wife Nicola. Based in Spain for two decades, he had moved from Ireland where the country’s Criminal Assets Bureau dealt a hammer blow to his business
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THE boss of a well-known Costa del Sol drinks company has been named as a key member of one of Europe’s biggest mafia gangs. John Morrisey and his company Nero Vodka have been placed on a US Treasury department sanctions list for their association with the Kinahan crime cartel. The American government has placed sanctions on him, alongside other key associates of the Irish gang, who lived for many years between Estepona and Marbella. As well as Christy Kinahan Snr, Daniel Kinahan
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there, seizing €630,000 in cash and property. Now he looks set to come under a similar microscope here, with the US describing him as ‘having worked for the Kinahan Organised Crime Gang (KOCG) for several years’.
Enforcer
The US Treasury claims he is involved in smuggling, money laundering and other key aspects of the Kinahan operation, including as ‘an enforcer’. The sanctions mean he and his partner Nicola, who are regularly seen on the Costa del Sol party circuit, face the same economic sanctions as the gang bosses. Their Nero Drinks Company Ltd, registered in Glasgow, has specifically been put on the list of companies that face sanctions, alongside two others, a sports company, Hoopoe Sports, and a marketing company, See page 21 Ducashew Trading. The highend vodka
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brand is sold at many Costa del Sol beach clubs and is even available in El Corte Ingles after Morrissey fronted a massive publicity campaign over the past few years, with events attracting
many well-known members of Marbella society. He was regularly seen splashed across newspaper pages and was a recent guest at the Marbella Film Festival.
THE GOING GETS TOUGH...
THE sanctions mean any US assets held by those named must be froze and reported to the US treasury. n In effect, US citizens are banned people and their companies – anywfrom doing business with the named This extends to non-US citizens whohere in the world. are resident in the US, or just transiting through. It almost certainly means that they Western countries, who are expectedwill now be blacklisted by most other Explaining the unprecedented mov to follow suit. and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelse, US Under Secretary for Terrorism narcotics, including cocaine, to Euro on said: “The group smuggles deadly economy through its role in internatiope, and is a threat to the entire licit “Criminal groups like the KOCG prey nal money laundering. bring drug-related crime and viole on the most vulnerable in society and nce, including murder, to the coun in which they operate. tries “The Treasury is proud to have coor dina ted so closely with our international counterparts, and the US governm able resource to dismantle these criment will continue to use every availinal networks.” Among the radical moves, the US dresses and passport numbers of Treasury has even listed the home adall people on the list, including two dresses for the Kinahans in Marbella adand Estepona.