THE CRIMINAL Assets Bureau (Cab) yesterday concluded a case against members of the Felloni drug-dealing family some 14 years after it began.
Cash to the value of almost €500,000 that was found to be the proceeds of drug dealing has now been transferred to State coffers and to the British and Northern Irish exchequers.
The case against the heroin- dealing family led by Tony Felloni (67) was one of the first pursued by the bureau on its inception in 1996. It has taken so long because Felloni, his son Luigi (36), and daughter Regina (34) challenged the case and then refused to co-operate when the High Court granted orders to Cab against them. They had also hidden cash in the Republic, the North and England.
Tony Felloni, from Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, was one of the most high-profile heroin dealers during the 1980s heroin epidemic in Dublin and remained a key dealer for two decades. He became notorious when it emerged he used some of his children in his drug dealing and got some of them hooked on drugs.
Felloni was jailed for heroin dealing in June 1996, and is serving a 20-year term in Portlaoise prison. Luigi Felloni was also jailed for heroin dealing in June 1996 and received a sentence of six years, while Regina Felloni was jailed for six years and nine months for heroin dealing.
A trawl of their assets by Cab in the Republic has realised a cash total of just over €292,000, which includes the sale of a property. The bulk of the monies, some €253,173, relate to Regina Felloni. A bail bond of €24,000, lodged on behalf of Tony Felloni, has been transferred to State coffers.
The investigations also found the Fellonis had lodged £145,519 in six bank accounts in Belfast and Liverpool. That cash has now been realised by the British and Northern Irish exchequers.