A lawless ghetto

Associates of an outfit which has left a trail of blood and heartbreak proudly display elaborate tattoo tributes to fallen gang members.

Our startling photograph show three Limerick men, their affiliations permanently etched onto their bodies.

In a chilling tribute to victims of the city's bloody feud, the men are proud to reveal their tattoos for the camera.

Violent

The tattoo designs are a disturbing mix of religious and violent gun imagery.

On the far right, James Collins (41) displays a tattoo of a firing gun beneath the name ‘Frankie’, as well as a crucifix on his right arm.

The ‘Frankie’ in question is ‘Fat’ Frankie Ryan, who was killed in September 2006.

The Keane/Collopys were understood to have hired a gunman to murder the McCarthy/Dundon’s key man in Moyross.

Ryan was ambushed and shot in the back of the head as he sat in his car at Pineview Gardens in Moyross.

There is little sign of the gunshot wounds which James Collins himself suffered in an assassination attempt earlier this year, when he was blasted several times with a machine gun. He survived and recovered from the attack.

His son Garrett, scarved in the centre of the picture bears the most extensive tattoos, showing a “thug angel” carrying a gun in each hand, kneeling at the graves of two victims.

On his upper chest, two pistols point downwards, beneath the inscription: “Know your rights”. Beside him, Christopher McCarthy shows off a tattoo of an automatic handgun on his right shoulder.