In what could only play out as a Hollywood movie or a five part Netflix documentary, the US, UK and Ireland have named Christopher Sr., Christopher Jr. and Daniel Kinahan as being at the apex of the notorious Irish Kinahan Organized Crime Group. Just some of the crimes this crew is being accused of include money laundering, drug dealing, human trafficking, racketeering, murder and many more. These dudes are so bad, there is a 5 million dollar bounty offered by the US for information leading to the capture of EACH one! Comparisons to Japans Yakuza, Mexico’s Los Zetas Gang, Italy’s Gomorrah and Russia’s Thieves in Laws (I can honestly say that I’ve never heard of these Russian mobsters, but I’m guessing they’re probably just as deadly as all the other aforementioned thugs) brings back memories of Whitey Bulger’s Winter Hill Gang, that ravaged Boston’s neighborhoods with brutal and inhumane violent tactics during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya on stage at award ceremony

What seems to be troubling the sports world about these guys is their involvement and heavy influence in combat sports, particularly the sport of Boxing. Daniel Kinahan, son to Christopher Sr. and older brother to Christopher Jr., appears to be the Capo of this entire enterprise, have deep connection with the likes of Bob Arum (Top Rank Boxing promoter), Richard Schaefer (President of Probellum Boxing and former founder and partners of Golden Boy Promotion and Oscar De La Hoya), Tyson Fury (Heavyweight Champion of the World) and many more pro boxers who Kinahan’s managed, advised and promoted.

The most damning evidence of Kinahan’s relationships and influence in boxing comes from Top Ranks’ very own dinosaur Bob Arum in an interview with Yahoo Sports Kevin Ioli. Arum is quoted as saying, “Kinahan called me and we had a long conversation. He has kids and he said he wanted to get out of the other stuff. He said to me, ’Bob, I’ve done some bad things in my life. I admit that. But I’m not involved with that any more. I’m just trying to clean up my life and be a legitimate business man’. I wasn’t involved in any of the things he might have done before and he was telling me he wasn’t doing anything.”

Tyson Fury

Suffice to say that Dinosaur Bob’s resume as a promoter in the sport for more than four decades as well as being a Harvard educated lawyer should have helped him recognize the telltale signs to stay away from the Kinahans.  Unfortunately for Arum and all those directly involved in the sport of boxing, the stench of this situation and the severity of its consequences is only coming to light now. We are far from hearing the end of this as the worst is yet to come!

Derrick Harmon and Bob Arum