The imprisoned Hennessy gang is facing mockery from rival criminals who have branded them as “rats” through graffiti within their own stronghold.
Gardaí are believed to be examining the matter after suspected adversaries of brothers Jason, Devon and Brandon Hennessy displayed threatening messages near the west Dublin neighbourhood they had controlled through fear for years. Images seen by this publication reveal graffiti stating “Hennessy rats” and labelling Devon a “dirty rat.”
Sources said gardaí believe the provocation stems from escalating friction between the Hennessy outfit and a competing gang seeking to seize their turf while they remain imprisoned following the savage torture of a victim. The violent siblings Jason, 29, Devon, 30, and Brandon, 24, each received custodial sentences for their involvement in the horrific assault on associate Barry Moore at their base in Sheephill Avenue, Corduff, on February 12 last year, reports the Irish Mirror.
Father and son Kenneth, 44, and Dean Fitzsimons, 24, were similarly imprisoned for their participation in the attack, during which Moore was burned with the word ‘rat’ using a cattle iron – and at one point faced threats of sexual assault. Sources now indicate a criminal organisation is engaged in an ongoing feud with the Hennessy gang, and is seeking to menace them while they remain helpless in custody.
15/04/’26 Graffiti which appeared overnight on the back wall of houses in Fortlawn in Blanchardstown …..Picture Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin.(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins)
A number of serious offenders – some currently facing court proceedings – are understood to be implicated in several recent retaliatory episodes involving the Hennessy outfit. Sources suggest concerns are mounting that criminal elements may now seek to exploit the power vacuum created by the departure of the Hennessy crew, who terrorised the locality for the past decade.
On 12 February last year, Barry Moore, a gang associate, was enticed to the Hennessys’ base at Sheephill Avenue in Dublin, after the increasingly suspicious drugs gang suspected him of being an informant. Moore endured hours of torture – including having the word “rat” seared onto his stomach with a cattle iron – and faced threats of sexual assault. However, the gang hadn’t anticipated that Moore, despite his severe injuries, would initially cooperate with gardaí.
Moore, who sustained serious injuries from the brutal attack, eventually declined to testify, allowing four of the accused to enter pleas to the reduced charge of assault causing harm, rather than false imprisonment and assault causing serious harm. Had the trial proceeded and resulted in convictions, four of the five defendants could have received life sentences. Devon Hennessy, by contrast, entered a guilty plea at an earlier stage, ultimately securing a reduced sentence of merely three years.
15/04/’26 Graffiti which appeared overnight on the back wall of houses in Fortlawn in Blanchardstown …..Picture Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin.(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins)
Nevertheless, the arrest of these individuals for this horrific and unthinkable assault has brought a sudden conclusion to the gang’s reign, which had dominated the Corduff drugs trade through intimidation and violence for numerous years. Gang leader Jason Hennessy Jr, aged 29, was handed an eight and a half year prison sentence for his involvement in the savage assault on Moore. Hennessy became notorious following his appearance in the Virgin Media documentary ‘Inside the K’, which chronicled the work of gardaí policing the area, where he was filmed squaring up to officers and hurling abuse at them.
Hennessy had been running a drugs gang that had been wreaking havoc across the Corduff area, and was entangled in a number of violent feuds – including one against Glen Ward, the notorious Finglas-based criminal known as ‘Mr Flashy.’ The Hennessy faction had been locked in a prolonged conflict with ‘Flashy’ and his associates, with gardaí keeping a close watch on escalating threats from both sides.
Devon Hennessy.
In 2023, tensions reached a catastrophic peak when gunman Tristan Sherry forced his way into Browne’s Steakhouse in Blanchardstown on Christmas Eve and opened fire. Sherry discharged several rounds at Jason Hennessy Sr, who was dining with his family at the time.
The Hennessy family patriarch sustained life-threatening injuries and passed away in hospital several days later. During the incident, a number of Hennessy gang members turned on Sherry, subjecting him to a ferocious attack in which he was kicked, stamped upon, stabbed and shot dead.
Associates Michael Andrecut, 23, Noah Musueni, 18, and David Amah, 19, were all ultimately convicted of Sherry’s murder. Three others, including Hennessy’s young son Brandon, 22 – who has now received a consecutive six-year sentence for the attack on Moore – were convicted of violent disorder in relation to the terrifying incident.
Another associate, 19 year old Juares Kumbu, was jailed for two years for removing the gun from the scene. The incident exposed both the extent of violence each side was prepared to inflict and the sheer scale of the Hennessy mob, which comprised numerous very young associates.
Jason Hennessy Jr led a gang of feared associates – many of them teenagers – who were clearly prepared to carry out serious acts of violence. Following the shooting and double murders at Browne’s Steakhouse, gardaí maintained around-the-clock patrols in Corduff, concerned about potential further retaliation.
Jay Hennessy Jr, Jay Hennessy Sr, and Devon Hennessy
Jason Hennessy Jr had his own history of violence, with multiple court appearances for various incidents. In 2018, he avoided prison with a suspended sentence for violent disorder – after a court learned he had launched an attack on Dublin’s D’Olier Street on 23 May 2015.
One victim, Dylan Campbell, had been knocked to the ground by a large group of teenagers while walking along the street with his friend Lee Whelan. The court was told Hennessy had gone back to his vehicle, collected a hammer and launched a second assault on Dylan Campbell, inflicting damage to the tendons in his fingers and a 4cm head wound that needed stitches.
He and his associates were notorious for flaunting their offences, frequently uploading photographs and footage to social media where they brazenly displayed the proceeds of their criminal activities.
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