'King Scum' drug dealer deemed one of Ireland's worst criminals for flooding Dublin with heroin in the 1980s dies of a heart attack aged 81

One of Ireland's most notorious drug dealers, Tony 'King Scum' Felloni, has died of a heart attack at the age of 81 in Dublin.

Born Anthony Carroll, Felloni was deemed one of the worst criminals in the history of the State for flooding Dublin with heroin in the 1980s.

The high-profile dealer was allegedly HIV positive when he died suddenly on Monday, reports the Irish Times, and his death is not being treated as suspicious.

Felloni was one of the most recognised dealers during the 1980s heroin epidemic and remained a key figure in the drug trade for 20 years. 

He gained notoriety when it emerged he used his children to sell drugs after getting them hooked on heroin to ensure his control over them. 

Felloni was deemed one of the worst criminals in the history of the State for flooding Dublin with heroin in the 1980s

He died on Monday of a heart attack aged 81, in south inner city Dublin

His son, Luigi Felloni, was jailed for heroin dealing in June 1996 and received a sentence of six years, while daughter Regina was jailed for six years and nine months. 

Felloni, who was a heroin user himself, also had a number of convictions for beating his wife and was the first person to receive a life sentence for drug dealing.

His brutality towards women and his family earned him the infamous nickname 'King Scrum'. 

The father-of-six had kept a low profile since his release from prison in 2011, after being thrown behind bars in June 1996 for heroin dealing.

While in jail, Felloni was targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau and Revenue Commissioners under money laundering legislation - where it was revealed he had made over £860,000 from drug dealing.

But they reportedly seized around £430,000 of his wealth in 2010. 

After being jailed in 1996, Felloni served much of his time in Portlaoise Prison in Mountjoy - his final appeal of his sentence was dismissed by the courts in 1991.

In 1980, Felloni moved to Britain and led a gang of armed robbers before moving into the lucrative drugs trade

However, following a series of probation and psychiatric reports carried out on him at the time, it was revealed the crime boss had become completely institutionalised, was HIV positive, and had managed to obtain drugs in prison.

He was unable to fend for himself for more than two days.

Originally from Lower Dominick Street - one of the earliest Georgian streets in northern Dublin before they were wiped out and turned into flats -  Felloni began his long career in crime in the 1960s by seducing women while working as domestic staff in large, wealthy houses.

He would develop his relationships with them and win their trust before snapping compromising photos of them - demanding half of their wages in return for not showing their employers the images.

Along the years, Felloni racked up over 20 convictions, many for burglary and assault, including against his wife. 

Following one conviction of that nature in 1980, he moved to Britain, where he began to develop contacts among the criminal underworld and led a gang of armed robbers.

But he quickly outgrew his position as a gang leader and wormed his way into the more lucrative area of drug dealing.

Felloni was arrested in Surrey in 1981 and jailed for four years for conspiracy to import heroin.

Upon his return to Ireland in 1984, he began to take the drugs business more seriously - and although he never earned the title of the top operator, he became well-known as one of the few major dealers who sold Heroin on the streets.

Felloni was also running a professional shop-lifting gang in Dublin city centre. 

He was slapped with a 10-year sentence in July 1986 and a decade later was jailed for 20 years.

Felloni only served 15 years of that sentence after remission was factored in.