Irish 'cardboard gangster' whacked over $50k drug debt

Zach Parker, 23, found his calling by trafficking cocaine. He quit his job as a barber and peddled drugs. He was targeted by a hitman and blasted with 5 shots as he sat in his BMW in 2019.

Parker was enjoying the high life and had returned from a trip to Dubai, home to the Kinahans. The Kinahan-Hutch feud rocked Dublin's underworld, with 23 murders.

Police say his death was likely connected to a drug debt.

Parker was the next victim of a gangland machine that sucks in the naïve and spits them out: jailed, addicted or dead. A relatively small quantity of drugs bought on credit but then lost to the police creates a debt to that supplier. If a debt cannot be paid, that debtor may be killed simply as an example to others.