Heroin dealer and friend murdered on way from tanning salon, court hears

A heroin dealer and his friend were murdered by their backseat passenger when they drove into Dublin city centre after going to a tanning salon, an inquest heard.

Michael “Roly” Cronin (35) from Hampton Wood Green in Finglas, Dublin 11, and James Moloney (26) from Braithwaite Street in Dublin 8 were fatally shot in a car at Summerhill in Dublin city centre on January 7th, 2009.

Heroin dealer Cronin was described as a "major player" in organised crime in Dublin in the High Court when the Criminal Assets Bureau sought an order to seize his assets following his death.

Dublin Coroner's Court heard the two men left the Tansun tanning salon in Finglas at about 7.40pm on the evening of the incident. Their car was then sighted a number of times as they made their way into the city centre.

Third man
Det Insp Francis Sweeney said that in most of these sightings the two men were on their own. However, there was a third man in the backseat of the car by the time they arrived at Summerhill at about 8.20pm.

Witness Ioan Samu said he saw the car coming out of a side street and crashing into the railings dividing the road. A man then stepped out of the rear driver’s side door of the car and ran down a side street.

Gardaí at the scene initially thought it was a road traffic incident but realised it was a shooting when another witness told them he had seen the third man carrying a gun.

Garda Stephen Lawless told the court he could see smoke rising from Moloney’s neck.

Cronin was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at the Mater hospital and Moloney was taken to St James’s Hospital where he died two days later. A postmortem found Cronin died from a single close-range gunshot to the back of the head and neck which would have rendered him unconscious immediately. The court heard Maloney had been shot in the head, right shoulder and upper arm with the injury to the head leading to his death.

Cronin’s sister Vivette Cronin told the court the family were aware her brother had received threats against his life prior to his death. Moloney’s mother Geraldine Moloney said her son had never received any death threats .

Det Insp Sweeney said that following the Garda investigation, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided an individual who was not identified in court should be charged with the murder.

However, gardaí have been unable to locate him and he remains at large, said Det Insp Sweeney. He assured the families the investigation remains active. The jury returned verdicts of unlawful killing for both men.