IT IS thought possible that the killing of P.J. Judge, the leader of a heroin dealing gang and suspect in at least two killings this year, may be a consequence of recent power shifts in the criminal underworld.
The largest and most successful criminal gang, led by a chief suspect in the investigation into the murder of Veronica Guerin, has been largely dismantled by intensive Garda activity since June.
Its demise may have set the scene for an outbreak of rivalry between smaller gangs seeking to establish control over parts of the city's drugs trade which are now up for grabs.
The gang at the centre of the Guerin investigation held sway over other Dublin gangs involved in the drugs trade for two years. It dominated the city's cannabis supply, delivering between 60 and 300 kg of cannabis in the city each week as well as supplying a large part of the ecstasy and cocaine market.
This gang had established its dominance in the city largely through violence and intimidation in the two years since the murder of the city's previous drugs baron, Martin Cahill.
Cahill was shot dead in August 1994. The assassination was claimed some time later by the IRA but there are residual suspicions that it was carried out by a Belfast IRA man working to a contract with a Dublin criminal.
In the scramble for power that followed Cahill's death there was a spate of murders in Dublin. Dominance was soon established by the gang suspected of the Guerin murder.
In the process of stamping its authority there was an unprecedented number of assassinations. Between Cahill's death and the murder of Ms Guerin there were 11 gangland killings. This violence reached a climax in November 1995 when there were four killings in a nine day period.
The killings finally stopped, and the major drug gang in the city appeared to be on the verge of consolidating its position and was in the process of shifting its huge cash assets into front leisure businesses when its leader apparently gave the order to have Ms Guerin assassinated because she was threatening to further expose his activities.
This evoked the most determined response yet from the State against organised crime.
A team of experienced detectives, whose talents were never previously directed against organised crime, was set up in west Dublin and has spent the last five months deconstructing the criminal organisation set up by the man who ordered Ms Guerin's death.
The gang's drug supply route has been cut. Its money collecting and laundering system has been exposed and destroyed and its main figures are now either in prison or on the run abroad.
The success of the Garda action was demonstrated recently when the previously uninterrupted supply of cannabis into Dublin suddenly dried up. The drug has started to reappear in recent weeks but in less predictable amounts.
The decline in this major gang, however, created opportunities for people like P.J. Judge.
He was already believed responsible for murdering one of his associates, William Corbally, in February last. Corbally's body has never been found.
Judge, or an associate, is also reckoned to have shot dead Michael Brady on the Dublin quays three months ago.
The other Dublin gangs who have remained largely untouched by the Guerin investigators, including that led by Judge, are believed to be heavily involved in the smaller heroin market.
There has been an undiminished flow of heroin into Dublin and street prices are still at levels of between £8 and £10 a gram.
Judge had marked himself out as an exceptionally violent criminal, probably with the intention of intimidating his opponents. He is known to have enjoyed being referred to by the nickname "Psycho", which was conjured up by journalists.
However, he had stiff competition from other, longer established and equally violent Dublin drug gangs including at least ones based in the Finglas area where he was killed. This gang is led by men involved in the huge cannabis shipment intercepted by gardai as it was being brought into the country in November 1995.
Another gang, led by a family from Ballyfermot, also still has a strong presence in the city. This gang was involved in the attempt to set up ecstasy factories in west Dublin in 1994.
Another north inner city gang is also largely intact. Despite claims that this gang has no involvement in drugs, gardai insist the brother of the leader is heavily involved in drug trafficking.
The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, has already indicated that the primary object of his period in office will be to attack the State's organised criminals. Last week he told a Dail Select Committee that he would bring the city's gangland killers to book.
The coming year could prove to be a critical one in the war be tween the State and the criminals.