Barney Morgan
This is the abandoned half built ‘dream home’ of Ulster’s King Coke – Barney ‘Rubble’ Morgan.
Barney Morgan's rotting half built mansion
The forlorn pile of bricks has lain untouched for almost four years, since the Sunday World first revealed the border drug dealer was pouring his ill gotten gains into building the mansion in the countryside outside Newry.
Work halted at the Ballykeel Road site when we revealed the true extent of Morgan’s criminal empire.
A succession of building firms refused to work on the house after it emerged the site was owned by a cocaine peddling gangster.
And now the house is unlikely to ever be completed. Morgan’s marriage to childhood sweetheart Joanne has turned sour and while the couple still share a house at Willow Grove on the fringes of the border city, they lead separate lives.
The Sunday World understands Morgan is currently in a relationship with the former girlfriend of a rival drug dealer.
He has been flaunting his new love around Newry, much to the annoyance of rival dealer The Chocolate.
The pair have been deadly rivals for years, at one stage The Chocolate threatened to usurp Morgan as top dog in the border city. He had the protection of a criminal gang and a number of Morgan’s crew had ‘defected’ to his side.
But the Sunday World can reveal that the tables have turned. The Chocolate had been bankrolled by a gang of self-styled republican criminals which had loose connections with the Official Republican Movement, a splinter group which broke away from the Official IRA.
The gang began to distance themselves from The Chocolate after the dealer’s behaviour became more and more unpredictable.
He was involved in a series of violent confrontations including an incident involving the driver of Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy in which a man was beaten in broad daylight in the middle of Newry.
He was also involved in furious outburst with a leading member of the republican gang.
The criminal outfit has switched sides and is now providing protection for Morgan.
The Sunday World is aware of the identity of the senior criminal figure who, in return for a slice of Morgan’s profits provides the drug dealer with a bodyguard.
The Chocolate has now gone to ground.
Petrolhead Morgan, below, who runs a tyre depot on the outskirts of Newry as well as buying and selling cars, has spent years building up an extensive criminal empire.
Sources have told us his drug running and tobacco smuggling operation is worth more than £30 million a year.
Despite a penchant for fast cars, the drug lord maintains a low profile around Newry and was seen this week
driving a black Skoda. We understand he has access to up to 15 different vehicles and is never seen in the same car if he can arrange it.
And we can also reveal that has only returned this week from a fresh tobacco buying trip to the continent.
Morgan and his gangster nephew John ‘Flo Jo’ Morgan are regulars at an underground bookies being run from a house in The Meadows estate in Newry, laundering thousands of pounds from Barney’s drugs empire.
Flo Jo phones in a series of bets, placing money on every horse on the card guaranteeing a pay out. The bookie receives a “fee” in return for taking the bets.
“You’ll never see Barney or Flo Jo at the house, they have too many enemies in the estate and would end up getting a kicking. But that doesn’t stop them doing business there,” a well-placed source told us.
John 'Flo Jo' Morgan
It is understood the pair will be betting heavily this week as the Cheltenham Festival gets under way.
Flo Jo has been brought back into the fold after the pair had a violent parting of the ways last summer.
Barney battered his nephew after Flo Jo taunted him about his wife and a Limerick-based crime boss.