Convicted kidnapper Mick Cunningham β who died from a massive heart attack β was laid to rest at the Church of the Assumption in Ballyfermot, Dublin, on Wednesday.
At the service, Mick was remembered as a kind and generous family man who volunteered his time and often helped those in trouble. The Sunday World can reveal how Cunningham had vowed to have Gilligan murdered as a result of a bitter falling out stretching back nearly three decades. Mick had vowed to finish off the pint-sized thug if he ever set foot in Ireland again as payback for a nasty stunt Gilligan pulled on the Cunninghams when the brothers were locked up for the Guinness kidnap back in Gilligan had initially agreed to blast the pair out of Mountjoy jail after they received 14 and 17 years for the botched job, which saw Mrs Guinness, the wife of a bank chairman, released unharmed after a massive manhunt.
However, Gilligan bottled it on the plan to use dynamite to blow up the jail wall, but instead promised the brothers, Mick and John, that he would look after their families.
It is understood that Gilligan firstly gave the Cunningham wives supplies to help them feed their children, but then decided he wanted payment and sent a thug up to their homes to trash them. Under his orders, his enforcers barged into their homes and smashed the furniture, windows, doors, televisions and anything else that could be broken.
After their release from prison Mick remained in Ireland, while John travelled to Amsterdam, where he hooked up with Christy Kinahan and built up what is now an international drug dealing cartel based in Spain. However, Gilligan was still in their sights and following the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, Mick agreed to travel with the drug boss to Amsterdam to help him transport money.
