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Gangland target who survived SIX attempts on his life has fuel drive-away court case dismissed

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Gangland target who survived SIX attempts on his life has fuel drive-away court case dismissed

Our exclusive pictures show Michael Frazer – nicknamed Mickey ‘Nine Lives’ – making good his exit from Tallaght District Court after the case against him was withdrawn

Our exclusive pictures show Frazer — nicknamed Mickey ‘Nine Lives’ — making good his exit from Tallaght District Court after the case against him was withdrawn.

The rare images of the car dealer show him to be in apparent good health in spite of his many near brushes with death, as he sported a black Under Armour tracksuit for the hearing.

Fraser had earlier appeared relaxed in the courtroom, barely glancing at fellow defendants as they came and went, while he waited for his court case to be called.

The 45-year-old, whose address we are not disclosing, was before the court charged with making off without payment from the Circle K filling station in Ballyboden after filling his car with €30 worth of diesel on October 6, 2022.

As his case was called, Sgt Mick Holahan informed the district court that the charge could be withdrawn.

“That’s been paid. It can be withdrawn and struck out,” he said.

Frazer last cheated death in 2017 when he was targeted by hitmen Gary Gleeson and Stephen Dunne, who were contracted to carry out the hit by a senior figure in the Kinahan cartel.

The gun seized from Gary Gleeson and Stephen Dunne

Gary Gleeson and Stephen Dunne

Gardai swoop on the car on the Naas Road in Dublin

The pair were arrested and charged after detectives intercepted a Fiat Doblo van during an operation targeting organised crime in Dublin in August 2017.

A gun seized from the van was loaded and ready to fire.

There was one round in the breach and there were nine further rounds in the magazine.

A can of petrol, lighter and rubber gloves, as well as a small amount of cocaine, were found after gardai searched the vehicle.

The men had been secretly recorded by detectives as they planned the hit, with Gleeson recorded as saying “Aim for the head. Have to get him in the head. Head shots or we won’t get paid.”

To which Dunne replied: “Once I get him a bit, I’ve to walk right up to him you know what I mean, do you get me? I just keep walking closer yeah, as soon we block him I’m going to let a shot off in the van yeah, and then once I get him a bit I’ll keep walking towards him yeah, right up to the windscreen and I’ll just keep shooting yeah, and around to the side and I keep shooting yeah?”

James ‘Nellie’ Walsh got 10 years for gun attack on Frazer

Gleeson responded: “Riddle him.”

The Special Criminal Court also heard that detectives found a tracking device under Frazer’s van, and Dunne’s DNA was found on a SIM card which had been inserted into this tracker.

This tracker was linked to a mobile phone, and Dunne was caught on CCTV cameras buying €20 phone credit for that phone.

In relation to Frazer, gardai said a number of attempts had been made on his life, and he had received a GIM (Garda Information Message) form from officers informing him of that.

The two men pleaded guilty before the Special Criminal Court to possession of a semi-automatic pistol and 10 rounds of ammunition at Naas Road, Crumlin, Dublin on August 7, 2017.

Gleeson and Dunne were sentenced to 11 and 10 years in prison respectively over their roles in the shambolic murder plot.

Michael Frazer

After that attempt on his life, Frazer spent time in Turkey and also in the UK but has, in the wake of gardai dismantling the Kinahan cartel’s organisation in the capital, returned.

The 2017 assassination attempt was not by a stretch the closest Frazer has come to being murdered.

In 2014, he was blasted in the chest while sitting in a Mini Cooper in the car park of the Church of the Transfiguration in Clondalkin.

Frazer managed to drive himself to Clondalkin Garda Station where he abandoned the car outside.

Pumping blood, he collapsed in the front office but not before telling gardai he had been shot and indicating was something to do with Crumlin/Drimnagh”.

The emergency services were called and Frazer was taken to hospital and operated on, but he declined to allow gardai access his medical records and declined to make any statement to gardai.

Notorious gangland hitman James ‘Nellie’ Walsh was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for carrying out the attack.

A court later heard the gunman had shot himself in the leg while escaping from the scene.

Gardai believe Walsh was hired by Frazer’s former gang associates in the Crumlin area to shoot him dead.

It was one of five different attempts on Frazer’s life to occur over the space of a number of months that year.

Frazer would survive murder attempt in the south inner city, Firhouse, Drimnagh and Islandbridge areas between July and November of 2014.

Despite having no serious convictions, Frazer has repeatedly found himself under threat from some of the country’s most serious criminals.

Because of his previous friendship with ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson, Frazer was a long-term target for the rival Brian Rattigan gang during the bloody feud that claimed up to 15 lives.

His family home in Drimnagh was shot at on a number of occasions and a grenade was even thrown into it in June 2008, causing extensive damage.

All these incidents were linked to the now defunct Crumlin/Drimnagh feud.

Sources said there has been suggestion that Frazer has “sorted out” some of the disputes and now wants nothing more than to be allowed live in peace.

Frazer is the latest in a line of former Kinahan targets to have been pictured by the Sunday World back in the capital’s following the cartel’s demise at the hands of gardai.

Patsy Hutch and son Patrick have been photographed by this newspaper on a number of occasions over the past year, while we also snapped James Mago Gately enjoying a coffee in the city.

Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch also made it a point to be seen enjoying life in the city after his acquittal on a charge of the Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne.

“It’s another sign of the waning influence of the cartel in Dublin,” a source said.

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