A legal document from Northern Ireland law enforcement outlines an alleged conspiracy leading to the murder of Robbie Lawlor in Ardoyne, north Belfast, on April 4, 2020. Lawlor, a 36-year-old from Dublin who had moved to Laytown, Co Meath, was shot several times at close range in a front garden after arriving at an address to collect a debt payment and receive a Mercedes.

The document, used for an extradition request, identifies main figures as a Dublin criminal active in Northern Ireland organised crime, a Sligo criminal leading a drugs gang and currently imprisoned for directing organised crime, and a Belfast criminal. These individuals allegedly collaborated because they owed debts to Lawlor or his late brother-in-law Richard Carberry, with the killing intended to cancel those obligations.

Carberry was shot dead outside his home in Bettystown, Co Meath, in November 2019 while Lawlor was in prison awaiting trial for a shooting. After his acquittal and release in December 2019, Lawlor took over Carberry's drug debts. The Sligo criminal knew Lawlor would pursue money owed to Carberry.

The Belfast and Sligo criminals met at the Sligo Park Hotel on March 16, 2020, to discuss cancelling a debt owed by the Belfast criminal to the Dublin criminal in exchange for assistance in the murder plan. The day before the killing, the Belfast criminal met Lawlor in a Belfast car park, paid some money, and arranged for Lawlor to visit the Ardoyne address the next day.

The Dublin criminal aligned with a faction opposing Lawlor in the Drogheda feud in Co Louth. Carberry had supported a breakaway group in that dispute with money, drugs, and guns. Lawlor collected debts for Belfast dealers while based there after a January 2020 killing in Drogheda.

Three men linked to Limerick's McCarthy-Dundon gang, who provided muscle for Lawlor, were arrested in Belfast shortly after the murder and released without charge. One drove Lawlor to Ardoyne. Two days later, two women connected to that gang were arrested in Portlaoise after collecting 50,000 euros at an M7 service station.