THE boxing group founded by Daniel Kinahan was being run like a “cult” with the gang boss still a presence behind the scenes, an insider has claimed.

An associate of the management firm has told how Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan’s eldest son used subtle forms of intimidation to threaten terrified fighters on his payroll.

7 Daniel, second right in red cap, handing over charity cheque with, left to right, Lynch, Herbert and fighter Macklin

Speaking exclusively to the Irish Sun from a secret location in Dublin, the insider claims he broke ranks to expose Daniel Kinahan’s role in the world of boxing.

Originally known as MGM, the gym was set up with British-Irish ex-fighter Matthew Macklin, who Daniel claimed was his “best friend”.

In February MTK boss Sandra Vaughan, who took over Kinahan’s MGM outfit, announced a boycott of the Irish media. She issued a statement for MTK saying it is the victim of a “witch hunt” due to past links to the gangsters.

Vaughan, who is not involved in crime, is the ex-partner of a one-time member of the Kinahan cartel, convicted drug dealer Kevin Kelly.

7 Mob boss Daniel Kinahan

MTK Global represents 29 Irish fighters including Carl Frampton, Paddy Barnes and Jamie Conlan — none of whom are involved in crime.

That ban was in place this week as MTK fighters fought in Belfast last night on the undercard of Frampton’s WBO interim featherweight title bout versus Nonito Donaire.

The gangland whistleblower told how mob boss Daniel — who previously described himself as MGM General Manager — had “brainwashed” fighters by promising them huge amounts of cash.

He told how he believes ex-boxer and Sky TV pundit Matthew Macklin, who isn’t involved in criminality and is not under investigation, is “spooked” after forging a working relationship with the heir to godfather Christy Kinahan’s throne.

7 Godfather Christy Kinahan Credit: Refer to Caption

He said: “During the MGM years, Daniel was brainwashing his fighters by offering them cash but the whole thing was just a vanity project to feed his ego.

“It was cult-like at times. Macklin is a nice guy but I believe he is in way over his head with Daniel.”

We can also reveal how boxers in the stable rejected offers of drugs as payment and how many were too scared to leave the group, according to the whistleblower.

Our source added: “People need to recognise how difficult they made it to walk away from this group. When fighters would ask for their payments Daniel would often tell them they would know what happened if they stepped out of line. It wasn’t a direct threat but it was enough to terrify the fighters because they knew who they were dealing with.

7 Christy Kinahan Jr

“He also promised fighters they would hit the big time with him but if they left him he warned he would insure they would never fight again — it’s all about control.

“Daniel was trying to run the gym like a drugs operation. He only paid fighters when he felt like it. The gym was all about manipulation and was simply an exercise by Daniel to portray himself as a legitimate businessman but this couldn’t be further from the truth. He ruled through fear.”

The insider added: “There were incidents in which people were promised money but it took months to even get a payment of just €500. There were other cases where drugs were offered to fighters instead of cash. This was refused.”

Our source also revealed Christy Senior and Christy Jr want nothing to do with the boxing operation.

7 Boxer Simmons tags Twitter account @djk256 aka Daniel Kinahan

He added: “This was all about Daniel, his ego and his influence. Christy senior has no interest in it. Everywhere Daniel and his cronies went they thought they could solve problems by throwing money at it. Fighters were easily influenced because of the wealth that was on display. After the Regency he went back to being a recluse and then it wasn’t long before he was on his way to Dubai. People also seem to forget the Kinahan gang had murdered relatives of some boxers.

“Daniel also told some of his fighters to forget about the Regency and to brush it under the carpet.

“The boxers who still have an association with Daniel should realise he will drop you once you no longer have any use for them.”

Previously known as the Macklin Gym Marbella or MGM, the gym changed its name to MTK after the killing of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel on February 5, 2016.

7 MTK Global represents 29 Irish fighters including Carl Frampton, Paddy Barnes and Jamie Conlan — none of whom are involved in crime

During it’s heyday in southern Spain, Hutch associate James ‘Mago’ Gately and Anthony ‘Scarface’ Fitzgerald previously trained at the state-of-the-art gym.

And our insider also told how Daniel Kinahan jokingly named the new gym ‘Meet The Kinahans’ after the rebrand last October.

Now run by Sandra Vaughan and her convicted fraudster partner Darren, the gym underwent a revamp because of the negative publicity surrounding the attack on the Regency and because of the Kinahan cartel’s feud with Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch’s gang.

Since then, Daniel has distanced himself from the company as he continues to remain in exile in Dubai while his mob continue to cause mayhem on Irish streets.

7 Daniel Kinahan has distanced himself from MTK which was previously called MGM

MTK represent about 100 boxers and have nine locations in London, Marbella, Dubai, Johannesburg, Manchester and New York.

In September 2016, the MGM gym in Marbella, Spain, was searched by Guardia Civil and visiting gardai as part of a major international crackdown on the Kinahan gang.

In the two months since the media ban was enforced, no MTK fighter has spoken to the Irish media, with many slamming their coverage at home. Our source added: “The boxers are obsessed with this media ban and you see lots of their fighters — both British and Irish — going on social media making all kinds of daft statements.

“The rest of the industry is laughing at them. They try to encourage people privately as well to send out tweets and messages against the Irish media, but by in large they are just laughed at.

“The evidence is staring them in the face, but they don’t want to believe it. They are constantly talking on social media about ‘taking over’. Some of them love the gangster image, but a number of others hate it. There’s a lot of great people in MGM and now MTK. Proper legitimate boxing people. There are some great boxers and coaches.

“They just want to keep their head down and get on with their job. It’s stupid and naive, but I can understand it. MTK is the only show in town with money.”

As part of our revelations, we also publish an exclusive image of Daniel with close pal Macklin.

In our exclusive pic are Kinahan associate and convicted armed robber Kevin Lynch, 50. Lynch, from Ballyfermot, moved to Spain to help run the Kinahan empire and worked as a minder for Daniel.

And the snap also shows the cartel’s links to major criminals in the UK with one-eyed former criminal Marvin ‘Marv’ Herbert helping train boxers at the gym.

Herbert — who was cleared of helping killer Dale Cregan when he was on the run over the killings of father and son Mark and David Short — was a regular visitor to the gym.

The picture was taken after Daniel raised cash for the unconnected Spanish special needs charity, Aspandem, by holding a boxing event in Marbella. Our insider said:

“The image shows the type of people Daniel was associating with.” Although Daniel could soon be on the move from Dubai and has distanced himself from MTK gym, fighters Stephen Simmons and Jack Catterall claimed in a tweet he was still being “advised” by Daniel.

Irish Olympic boxing hero Paddy Barnes previously said: “MGM is Matthew Macklin. He is the founder of the gym, and he is my manager.

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“I have nothing to do with any criminality. Matthew is not a criminal. I am not a criminal.

“So if anyone wants to talk about criminality, and about Daniel and Christy Kinahan, they should go ask them themselves.

“If he wants to sit in my corner, he can sit in my corner.”