Bumbling Gunmen’s Botched Hits on Drug Lord Lead to 50-Year Jail Sentences

In a tale of errors that would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic, two men have been handed a combined 50-year jail sentence for the murder of notorious drug lord Malcolm McKeown. Their downfall wasn’t just the result of a single mistake, but a catastrophic series of blunders that ultimately made them the easiest targets for police.

The men, Jake O’Brien and Andrew Martin, have now been unmasked as the infamous ‘piggy mask’ gunmen who, just weeks before McKeown’s murder, had already attempted to kill him. In a stunning twist of incompetence, they carried out the first hit attempt while McKeown was safely behind bars, completely unaware of his whereabouts.

This initial bungle was merely the beginning of their criminal career’s spectacular failure. O’Brien and Martin, both members of a criminal gang, proceeded to make a series of critical errors that not only failed in their mission but also left a trail of evidence that would lead directly to their capture.

The court heard how the pair’s first attempt on McKeown’s life was doomed from the start. Wearing the now-infamous pig masks, they stormed a location they believed their target was inhabiting. In reality, McKeown was serving a prison sentence, a fact the gunmen seemed to have missed in their planning.

Weeks later, when they finally succeeded in murdering McKeown, their incompetence continued. The subsequent police investigation was described as straightforward, with the pair making it incredibly easy for detectives to piece together their guilt. Their previous blunder, however, was to be their ultimate undoing, as the ‘piggy mask’ became a signature that linked both attacks together.

The sentencing judge condemned the cold-blooded nature of the crimes but also noted the sheer ineptitude of the perpetrators. "While the violence was calculated and brutal, the execution was comically incompetent," the judge remarked, highlighting how their own mistakes became the key to their conviction.

For investigators, the case was a textbook example of how arrogance and carelessness can unravel even the most sinister plans. The link between the two hit attempts, established by the distinctive masks and the sheer improbability of the first attack, provided the crucial link needed to secure justice.

As O’Brien and Martin begin their long sentences, their story serves as a stark warning to those who operate in the shadows: sometimes, the greatest threat to a criminal enterprise isn’t the police, but their own staggering ability to get everything wrong.