https://youtu.be/8puRBvrFAVQ?si=uyHxblqYuVSXCISd
I would love to back into this game but feel I might have fallen behind as I remember Valkyrie being roughly new when I stopped playing. Is the game still worth a shot ??
Most incidents based partly on real life, with slight artistic license of course
Highlighting with the rich and famous all the time, son marrying a "respectable " footballers daughter
Armed robbery
Byrne and his close friend Liam Greenhalgh, the former Ireland under-16 football captain, carried out armed robberies on two shops in Dublin's south inner city in July 1998.^([6]) During the second robbery, an off-duty Garda walked into the shop.^([6])
Liam pleaded guilty to burglary, dangerous driving and firearms charges.^([6]) In January 2000 he was found guilty and given a suspended sentence of four years.^([6])
On 23 April 2000, Trevor Donnelly and his partner Jennifer Doyle were involved in a row with three women in the Abrakebabra in the Crumlin Shopping Centre.^([6]) The women followed them from the takeaway, hitting them as a security guard intervened.^([6]) Byrne arrived in his car and began beating Donnelly with a baseball bat, hitting him even as he lay on the ground.^([6]) When Jennifer pleaded with him to stop, Liam said "Tell him if he wakes up it's bullets."^([6])
About fifty people witnessed the assault, but only Doyle and Donnelly were willing to testify.^([6]) Most were too afraid of Byrne and his gang to testify.^([6])
When he was brought before the court his suspended sentence was activated and he was jailed for the first time on 23 May 2000.^([6])
Byrne tried to intimidate Doyle on several occasions.^([6]) First he offered €50,000 to her to not testify, with a threat to kill her if she testified.^([6]) She refused to take the bribe.^([6])
Further threats forced her to leave her home after it was shot at.^([6]) There was a plot to murder her - an INLA gunman was asked to kill her to prevent her testimony.^([6])
She lived in B&Bs and hotel accommodation under an alias and was virtually penniless.^([6]) She was not included in a witness protection programme.^([9])
After she testified she was badly injured in an assault in the corridors of the Four Courts.^([6])^([9])
Her testimony was a major factor in Byrne's conviction and two years were added to the four-year sentence which after remission amounted to four and a half years.^([6]) The sentences were initially to run concurrently but the Court of Appeals decided they should run consecutively.
I think all of those familiar with armed organisations are familiar with his concerns, voiced before his assassination.
The phrase refers to the critique of militant "macho culture" found within the writings of Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) activist Thomas "Ta" Power. In his prison-written dissertation, Power argued against the dominance of secretive, militaristic cliques over open political structures. [1, 2, 3]
The Ta Power Document
While incarcerated in Long Kesh (the Maze Prison) during the late 1970s and 1980s, Thomas "Ta" Power wrote an extensive historical and political critique of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) and the INLA. [1, 2]
The text is divided into two parts focusing on the culture within the movement:
Contemporary Relevance and Impact
For further reading on how this essay reshaped the movement's history, visit the IRSP History Archive or read the essay on The Communist. [1, 2, 3]rd
"Background
Firstly to explain how the Ta Power document came about, we need to outline a little about Thomas ‘Ta’ Power’s background and his political journey. At the age of 33, he was assassinated by the IPLO along with John O’Reilly, at the Rossnaree Hotel outside Drogheda. Ironically, he and O’Reilly had gone to the hotel to reach an agreement with the IPLO. Hailing from from Friendly Street in the Markets area of south Belfast, Ta Power had originally been in the Official IRA but joined the INLA in 1975 while a prisoner in the Cages of Long Kesh. Noted for having later spent the longest time on remand (4 years and 4 months) on the word of ‘Supergrass’ Harry Kirkpatrick, he was also held on the evidence of five different Supergrasses, and had just been released from Crumlin Road prison a short time before he was killed.Thomas Power was widely regarded as a theorist and thinker within republican circles and was highly respected within his community and among Republicans belonging to different movements.
The Ta Power document is part history and part analysis on the Republican Socialist Movement. He also pulls few punches in his analysis and it can be argued he was so bruntly fearless in his critique that he wanted to radicalise the movement into multi-faceted revolutionary political action. "
Ta Power was a committed Marxist. He quotes Costello on a number of occasions and points out that his phrase, “I owe my allegiance to the working class” as an example for all comrades to emulate. He also points out that “we must also present our vision of what revolutionary socialist state means. When we say our programme that we want to establish a 32 county socialist state with the working class in control of the means of production, distribution and exchange we must be able to decipher it for the working class to understand what it means.” That is paramount comrades, which basic economic ideology has to be understood by all comrades.Ta Power embraces the notion of a broad front, but it must be lead by the working class.
In part two, Ta Power discusses, using both historical analysis of the years 1974-1981, in various parts and it’s relevance of the movement. He uses a number of contradictions, most prominent of which is the problems associated with a party/army movement and the predominance of group ‘B’ over group ‘A’. This is a prolonged debate, in which he is fearlessly open and somewhat scathing of the culture then prevalent within the movement. It is deeply argued that his analysis is spot on here
He states that group ‘A’ by its very nature is “democratic, open structures, working openly, have its own priorities, tasks etc” where as group ‘B’ suffers from, “undemocratic, closed structures, working secretly, have its own priorities, tasks, etc.” Ta Power is particularly scathing when the dominance of group ‘B’ is over group ‘A.’ He goes into detail of the various outcomes that can arise. Ta is scathing of the macho image of group ‘B’ in particularly in the periods of 1979-1981 and again from 1982-87.
He also states that every time there was an attempt to shift power from ‘B’ to ‘A’, this has led to failure. Perhaps he is being prophetic here, indeed it was a result of a split and power struggle within the movement that led him to being assassinated fighting the very problems he tried to overcome. Indeed again in 1996 another acrimonious split led to the death of Gino Gallagher who was also attempting to implement Ta Power’s recommendations.
Ta Power argues that a common bond should exist. He also rightly argues that that 1981 Hunger Strike was about brave Volunteers dying so that political recognition of our prisoners was restored and that it would thwart any attempt to criminalise our struggle.
“Our movement played a full and committed role in the history of this period – on the streets, the IRSP mobilised in support of the prisoners, and in the prisons our members stood steadfast and firm. Three of our movement’s finest volunteers, Pasty O Hara, Kevin Lynch and Mickey Devine lost their lives on hunger strike.”
Ta then questions why after the Hunger Strike, why the movement didn’t reach its full potential. To this he noted two short words: INTERNAL TURMOIL
He looks at the B/A relationship and decided that the wrong people took control, were in power and there was a predominance of B over A. Ta argued for proper structure and placed a ten point strategy which he argues is extremely important for the movement to implement. The ten point structure is as follows:
1: Politics in command
2: Internal democracy
3: Absolute legitimacy
4: Collective Leadership
5: Central authority
6: Coherency
7: Accountability
8: Discipline
9: Efficiency
10: Effectiveness
Ta Power argues that there has to be coherence and discipline for the 10 point structure to work, any failures will result in each aspect being affected. Furthermore Ta continues to argue that our politics should be in control, the main concern, not the army. Ta argues that Costello wanted to grow the Party, but others deemed resources be ploughed into the army. Ta cites that as the first contradiction. This led to “loss of coherency and the formation of “power blocks” and factions, loss of politics, the political ideals which make us, as a movement are not being addressed.
Power states in his second contradictions that the party is entrusted with “building a revolutionary class conscious party with a revolutionary programme for development. However, in order for this to be achieved, finances, resources time and above all revolutionary mature leadership (The AC) which understood the importance of such, a party was required.
Ta Power goes on and states that the army stifled political development of the Party and firmly believes that without the proper political vehicle no revolution can be won.
The internecine wars for territory and Fiefdoms continue
Edit: Yes the narrator's voice is his own, not AI, he lived over here for a while covering these issues
A vicious drug feud in one of Ireland's most deprived and violent cities, most of the players have finally been arrested (or frankly, killed) so things are marginally better but drugs remain a huge problem I Limerick.
The main feud began after a school fight between the daughters of two senior members ended in a botched assassination attempt, then one that wasn't botched, the Limerick feud Began
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_feud
"Limerick feud
The Limerick feud is a feud between rival criminal gangs in Limerick City, Ireland. The feud started between two criminals in the year 2000 and then spread to involve several criminal families, mainly the Keane-Collopy gang from St. Mary's Park and the McCarthy-Dundon gang from Ballinacurra Weston."
This feud would become intergenerational and decades long, still continuing today, one particular incident stands out even amongst the brutality, the Dundon double Cross
The Dundons are a frightening family whos violence is matched only by their deception
" Double Cross
The McCarthy-Dundon gang, who were involved in drug dealing, robbery, and extortion, secretly agreed to join forces with the Ryan faction in an attempt to take control of the Limerick drug scene. They had been careful not to allow themselves to be seen to be allied with the Ryans and their associates. They deceived the Keane-Collopys in to believing they would remain neutral in the feud even though they had supplied them with guns previously.^([7])
On 23 January 2003, Eddie Ryan's sons, Eddie Jr. (aged 20) and Keiran (aged 19) were reported abducted after being bundled in to a van by several armed and masked men on Moylish Road, Ballynanty.^([8])
It is unclear if the McCarthy-Dundons set up the "kidnapping plot" after being contracted to do so by Keiran Keane. Keane had agreed to pay €60,000 in the return for the Ryan brothers' murder.^([7])
Seven days after the Ryans were allegedly abducted, Keiran Keane and his nephew Owen Treacy went to a house in the Garryowen area of the city to meet Dessie Dundon. They believed they were going to witness the execution of the Ryan brothers or view their dead bodies. On entering the house they were confronted by several armed men, had their hands tied and were beaten. After a failed attempt by the captors to also lure brothers Keiran and Phillip Collopy in to a 'trap',^([7]) Keane and Treacy were eventually brought to a country lane in Drumbanna, five miles outside the city. Keiran Keane was stabbed in the face before being shot in the back of the head. Owen Treacy was stabbed seventeen times in the face, head and chest. The attackers left believing both men to be dead but Treacy survived and made his way to a nearby house for help.^([9])
Six hours later the Ryan brothers walked into a Gardaí station in Athlone. Subsequent Garda investigations revealed they had never been kidnapped and spent the week at the home of an associate in Thurles, County Tipperary.^([10])
Dessie Dundon (aged 20), David Stanners (aged 31), James McCarthy (aged 24), Christopher Costelloe (aged 20), and Anthony McCarthy (aged 21) were all given life sentences for the murder of Keiran Keane^([11]) ^(")
The Wikipedia page covers the post Double Cross activity
Notorious Hitman Robbie Lawlor was driven to his death by a Dundon in Belfast under the mistaken belief he was collecting a debt, he frankly should have known better. "Never get into a car with a Dundon" was already a term
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGkFbc34D0&t=00s&pp=2AECkAIBygULUHd1bCBjcm9zYnk%3D
"I feel bad for you Owen to tell you the truth, hard on top init?, Was thinking and the boys might leave you up a few flowers yesh? And nappies (diapers)"
I
" Hotwheels Maguire is your new street name"
" Smell the campfire off ya" Maguires are trsvellers
Maguire : "Do you remember that time you messed up the job and we had you bleeding out your arsehole??" Crosby gets very angry at this and then loses his cool
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Crosby_(criminal)
Lawler is suspected to have shot Owen Maguire in revenge for murder of his Brother in law , drug dealer Ritchie Carberry, shot while Lawlor was in jail
Robbie Lawlor was a hitman for hire and out and out serial killer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Lawlor
Minded
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/76_pnOVHkaM Lawlor gets jumped after release from prison by the son of a man he shot dead (mobbed up of course), that kid is now knew deep in Drug dealing too
Lawler had bigger fish to try in Drogheda, then Belfast (normal he thought) the teenage lookout on Carberrys murder was said to be 17 year old Keane Mulready-Woods.
On 12 January 2020, Keane Mulready-Woods went missing, having been last seen at 6pm at St Dominic's Bridge in Drogheda.^([25]) The next day, a sports bag containing human hands was found in Coolock.^([26]) The discovery of a human head and hands beside a burning car in Drumcondra^([27]) followed, with DNA tests confirming both were the severed body of Mulready-Woods.^([28]) It was believed he was lured to his death, and his head and hands were severed from his body. A pair of flip-flops were found in the bag with Mulready-Woods's remains dumped in Coolock, interpreted as a threat not to cross Lawlor.^([24]) His torso was found two months later in an overgrown ravine area in Drogheda.^([29]) It was believed that Lawlor had planned to dump parts of Mulready-Woods's body at Cornelius Price's compound in Gormanston.^([30])
^(Paul Crosby was later found guilty of dismembering the body)
On 4 April 2020, Lawlor was shot at around 11:50am outside a house in Etna Drive, Ardoyne in Republican North Belfast.^([31)^([]) The PSNI and Garda Síochána believe he had travelled to Belfast in the hours before he was shot, possibly to collect debts.^([31])^([32])^([11]) He had been threatened by one faction in the Drogheda feud but was also at odds with a major Dublin criminal who is suspected of several murders including that of Alan Ryan. Three men suspected of the murder were arrested and questioned by the PSNI at Musgrave police station.^([11]) Three suspects were arrested on April 4, a fourth was arrested on April 5.^([33]) The PSNI suspect that a single gunman shot Lawlor.^([33])
Following his death, footage emerged of rival gangs dancing and cheering in celebration of his death.^([24]) Lawlor was buried next to Richie Carberry in Dardistown Cemetery.^([10])
Angelo Fusco and the M60 gang
"As the SAS members at the front of the house exited the car the IRA unit opened fire with the M60 machine gun from an upstairs window, hitting Captain Herbert Westmacott in the head and shoulder. Westmacott was killed instantly, and is the highest-ranking member of the SAS killed in Northern Ireland.^([5])^([6]) The remaining SAS members, armed with Colt Commando automatic rifles, submachine guns and Browning pistols, returned fire but were forced to withdraw.^([4])^([5]) Magee was apprehended by the SAS members at the rear of the house while attempting to prepare the IRA unit's escape in a transit van, while the other three IRA members remained inside the house.^([7]) More members of the security forces were deployed to the scene, and after a brief siege the remaining members of the IRA unit surrendered.^([4])^(")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Fusco
The surname Notarantonio is associated with several historical and high-profile figures from Northern Ireland and its Italian roots. The most notable individuals from this family span history involving the Troubles in Belfast, political controversies, and legal battles. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Francisco Notarantonio (Murdered 1987)
A 66-year-old pensioner from Ballymurphy, west Belfast, shot dead at his home by loyalist paramilitaries. [1]
Victor Notarantonio (IRA Veteran)
The late nephew of Francisco and prominent member of the republican movement in west Belfast. [1, 2]
Francisco "Cricky" Notarantonio
Victor's son and nephew of Joe O'Connor, who was convicted of a highly publicized 2006 manslaughter. [1, 2]
Chris Notorantonio fought Arturo Gatti in the amateurs in an Ireland vs Canada tournament, losing on points
https://boxrec.com/en/box-am/1000436
Feud with Devlin family, Francisco Cricky Notorantonio Jr convicted of stabbing rival Gerard Devlin to death
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14978580
Gerard Devlins son happens by and fights Francisco on the Falls Road
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11994217
court has heard how a murdered Catholic chip shop owner tried to barricade himself in a storeroom during a gun attack.
Robert James Clarke, 58, from Dundrod Road in Nutts Corner is on trial for the murder of 53-year-old Alfredo Fusco in north Belfast in February 1973.
On Tuesday, a retired police officer said he believed Mr Fusco had tried to hide behind a closed door.
He added that he believed a shot through the door hit him in the head.
Robert Clarke, who denies murder, claims he could not shoot a gun after losing two fingers in an industrial accident years earlier.
However, the court has also heard that he was later convicted of the murder of Margaret O'Neill on the New Lodge Road in 1975.
'Slumped'
Retired chief inspector Alan McCrum described to the court how he found Mr Fusco's body, slumped behind the store room door at the back of the shop.
The retired RUC scenes of crime officer said that he found two 9mm live rounds of ammunition outside the door, while he noticed one bullet hole and a further strike mark on the door caused by a .45 round.
Reading from a report made at the time, Mr McCrum said he had formed the opinion that Mr Fusco had been "against this door in an effort to keep it closed and was probably in a crouched position so not to be seen through the glass panel in the upper half of the door".
"In my opinion," he read, "of the two shots fired through the door, one struck Mr Fusco in the head and passed through the skull and landed on the floor.
"Possibily after this, the assassin forced the door sufficiently open to fire a shot into Mr Fusco's back as he lay prostrate on the floor".
Prosecuting QC Gordon Kerr claimed that Robert Clarke, armed with a Sterling sub machinegun, was one of the two gunmen Mr Fusco fled after he had "guessed correctly that they were coming after him".
'Jammed'
As Mr Fusco tried to wedge himself up against the door of the store, the sub machinegun jammed twice and Clarke "returned to his accomplice and exchanged the sub machinegun for the revolver and ran back and fired the revolver through the door".
The Diplock trial has already heard that Robert Clarke was arrested last year after finger and palm prints found on the store room door were identified as his.
The case had been reviewed by the Historical Inquiries Team.
Following his arrest in August last year, Clarke claimed that at the time he had worked as a "door hanger" although he accepted he had not worked in the north Belfast or York Road area.
Mr Kerr said that while Clarke could not explain how his prints got on the door, he maintained he had not shot Mr Fusco.
My suspicions grew throughout reading the book many years ago (wasn't too up on gangster history at the time, but knew enough to critically think) but it had to be the part where he claimed to have went to Brazil to assassinate two Cartel brothers outside the compound for me to say yeah for all the hype this has gotten (from people who didn't know any better) this is all.sounding increasingly absurd and fantastical
I've since learned his claims have been thoroughly discredited (although he is a multiple murderer, sociopath, and liar, he did not murder hundreds of people or hunt down Cartel members and Old Moustaches ) but were you old/informed enough to know he was BSing from the start of did it take you having to read the book/hear his claims to realise this guys talking bollocks
When
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eEDStI8oQak&pp=ygUNU2hhbmtpbGwgZmV1ZA%3D%3D
Adair makes his move to take over the protection and drug rackets
The impression I got from the books I read over the years was that Dean O'Banion could have had it mostly his own way if he didn't keep pushing it. Torrio was experienced enough to know he didn't want a war and the 7 year aftermath of O'Banions death showed why, blood is a big expense as they say and the Northside Crew were never going to just lie down easy so even winning a war against them could be a but of a Pyrhicc victory with the sheer police and public attention alone from the Valentine's Day Massacre. Had O'Banion stopped hijacking Capone and Torrios trucks when he was offered a good deal, and both sides did business rather than war, do you think both sides could have had a much more "lucrative" future? Or were both sides inevitable going to come to blows over complete control of the bootleg rackets
Opinions?
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/explosion-damages-four-homes-ballymun-33931957
"Gardai fear a grenade may have been used in a terrifying feud attack in Ballymun last night.
Gardai rushed to the scene of an explosion that caused significant damage to four properties in Hampton Wood Square shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
Officers found windows smashed in at the four properties and damage to a number of vehicles - suspected to have been caused by an explosive device. Sources say officers fear a grenade was used - marking a significant escalation in an ongoing feud in the area.
Thankfully no one was injured during the terrifying incident - which comes after a child recently fired a shot from a handgun which had been dropped in the area."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jvljjx4pyo
Shot fired after child picks up discarded gun
A shot was fired from a loaded gun in a residential area of Dublin after a child picked up the weapon which had been thrown away during a police chase.
The child, believed to be about 11 years old, reportedly found the discarded gun in a bush in Ballymun on Tuesday afternoon.
Gardaí (Irish police) said they had earlier arrested a teenage boy and a man in his 20s after responding to a "firearm incident".
It was the second loaded gun to be found in Ballymun within a three-day period after officers found a handgun hidden in a bush near a playground on Sunday.
There were no reports of any injuries in Tuesday's shooting.
Councillor Conor Reddy said he understood Gardaí were involved in a pursuit in the vicinity of Ballymun Garda Station when a suspect ran into the nearby Sillogue Gardens.
"The gun was thrown into a bush and a child picked it up," Reddy told BBC News NI.
The weapon discharged, reportedly in the presence of at least one other child.
The People Before Profit councillor said the incident is believed to be linked to an ongoing drugs feud which has created an "escalating cycle of violence" in the area.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-52623783
"The court heard that after Mr Knocker bettered Lanigan in a fight, Lanigan armed himself with the Browning then chased Mr Knocker.
The judge said Lanigan fired a first shot then "coldly and callously finished him off" with a second shot to his head at point blank range.
Mr Justice Horner it was a "bloody revenge that he was determined to exact" in full view of others "to prove who was the boss" after he was humiliated in the fight.
Lanigan, formerly of Knockmore Square in Lisburn, County Antrim, appeared via video-link from Maghaberry Prison.
Also watching, via a live-link, were members of Mr Knocker's family. "
"Steenson was widely associated with internecine violence between Irish republican groups. He joined the Official IRA's Belfast Brigade in 1972 at the age of 14, becoming part of the Brigade's C Company. Two years later, he left to join the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) upon that paramilitary group's formation, consequent to their split from the Official IRA. He became head of the INLA in Belfast.^([5])
Steenson first came to notoriety as a teenager in 1975 for killing Billy McMillen, the Official IRA's Belfast leader, during the feud between the INLA and the Official IRA.^([6]) Jim Cusack, a journalist describes him as the "assassin-in-chief" of Hugh Torney.^([7]) ^(")
Steenson was 16 years old when he assassinated McMillen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Steenson
Newsreels on Steenson
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YaffIKxMQMw&pp=ygUPZ2VyYXJkIHN0ZWVuc29u0gcJCU8Co7VqN5tD
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EwbuclEQpV4&pp=ygUPZ2VyYXJkIHN0ZWVuc29u
Video fixed : Further Context on feud after Steensons death, IPLO implodes, IRA steps in and clears the riff raff, too many alphabet organisations filled with hoods and drug dealers : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bSJVSAVNnsY&pp=ygUJSXBsbyBmZXVk
Greg McGuinness a British boxer records himself getting jumped by two men on drugs , no weapons
>>!<
5-0
After Upper Ormeau UFF killers Joseph Bratty and Raymond Elder organised a machine gun spray job (helped by the state) on a small bookmakers in the tiny ghetto of the Lower Ormeau Road, killing 5 local people, to warn against any support for the IRA, the Orange Order , a protestant Supremacist Organisation did their annual march through the area and some were photographed taunting locals with five fingers up in the air, shouting "Five-Nil" like a football game, none of the people killed, including a 15 year old, had anything to do with the IRA
The "Unit" was responsible for several atrocities, including beating a woman who recently moved in to death after locals complained about stereo noise
"Bratty and Raymond Elder were shot dead by the IRA on 31 July 1994, in an act seen as one of a number of "revenge attacks" immediately prior to the IRA ceasefire. The pair had been drinking in the Kimberley Inn off the Ormeau Road unaware that the IRA had been informed of their whereabouts. A nearby IRA unit dispatched an assassination squad that lay in wait, hidden in a white van parked right in front of Bratt's car.^([15]) On the loyalist group entering the Ormeau Road from Deramore Avenue, Elder was ordered to check out the van but failed to spot anyone inside. Seconds later three gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and a pistol, emerged from the van and shot repeatedly at their targets. Elder was killed close to the car almost opposite South Parade while Bratty managed to run across the Ormeau Road before being shot dead, 18 bullets in his body.^([16])^([17])^([18])^([19]) The getaway car was pursued by a Royal Ulster Constabulary vehicle that was in the area but the chase stopped when the police vehicle was impeded by a crowd of republicans.^([15])^([20]) Bratty was 33 years old at the time of his death.^([21]) He left behind a widow and three children. His son was given honorary membership of the Paisley Imperial Blues flute band, the leading UDA-aligned flute band in Scotland, immediately following his father's death.^([22])
In late July 2024, a UDA shrine to Bratty and Elder was removed from a garden of remembrance in Annadale Flats to the British Army.
IRA 2 UFF 0
Contemporaneous graffiti celebrating the killings of Bratty and Elder, still extant in 2017. Lower Ormeau Road, IRA 2 UFF 0
The killing of Bratty was greeted with relief, even by those opposed to violence
Even in a political whirlwind of murder and paranoia in 1970s Belfast, one sadistic going thug gained a reputation for extreme and sadistic sectarian violence that would shock hardened killers.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankill_Butchers
"Cut-throat killings
On 24–25 November 1975, using the city's sectarian geography to identify likely targets, Murphy roamed the areas nearest the Catholic New Lodge in the hope of finding someone likely to be Catholic to abduct. Francis Crossin^([5]) (34), a Catholic man and father of two, was walking down Library Street towards the city centre at approximately 12:40 am when four of the Butchers, in Moore's taxi, spotted him. As the taxi pulled alongside Crossin, Murphy jumped out and hit him on the right side of the head with a wheel brace to disorient him. He was dragged into the taxi by Benjamin Edwards and Archie Waller, two of Murphy's gang. As the taxi returned to the safety of the nearby Shankill area, Crossin suffered a ferocious beating. He was subjected to a high level of violence, including a beer glass being shoved into his head. Murphy repeatedly told Crossin: "I'm going to kill you, you bastard", before the taxi stopped at an entry off Wimbledon Street. Crossin was dragged into an alleyway and Murphy, brandishing a butcher's knife, cut his throat almost through to the spine. The gang dispersed. Crossin, whose body was found the next morning by an elderly woman, was the first of three Catholics to be killed by Murphy in this "horrific and brutal manner".^([6]) "Slaughter in back alley" was the headline in the city's major afternoon newspaper that day.^([7]) A relative of Crossin said that his family was unable to have an open coffin at his wake because the body was so badly mutilated.^([8])
The Lawnbrook Social Club (1979)
A few days later, on 30 November 1975, an internal feud led to the deaths of two members of a rival UVF company on the Shankill and to that of Archibald Waller, who had been involved in the Crossin murder. On 14 October of that year, Waller had killed Stewart Robinson in a punishment shooting gone wrong.^([9]) With the sanction of the UVF Brigade Staff, he in turn was gunned down by one of Robinson's comrades in the UVF team based in the Windsor Bar, a quarter of a mile from the Brown Bear pub. Enraged, Murphy had the gunman, former loyalist prisoner Noel "Nogi" Shaw, brought before a kangaroo court in the Lawnbrook Club, one of his Shankill drinking dens. After pistol whipping Shaw, Murphy shot him in front of his whole unit of about twenty men and returned to finish his drink at the bar. John Murphy and William Moore put Shaw's body in a laundry basket, and Moore dumped it half a mile away.^([10])
Murphy's other cut-throat victims were Thomas Quinn (55) and Francis Rice (24). Both were abducted late at night, on the weekend, in the same area as Crossin. Quinn was murdered in the Glencairn district of the Upper Shankill in the early hours of 7 February 1976 and Rice a few streets from Murphy's home at about 1:30 am on 22 February 1976, after a butcher's knife had been collected from a loyalist club. Quinn's body was not found until mid-evening, after a phone call to a Belfast newspaper, while Rice's was found about six hours after his murder. Murphy's main accomplices on both occasions were Moore and Bates, while Edwards was party to the killing of Quinn. Another man and two women, whom Dillon did not name, were accessories to Murphy in the murder of Rice.^([11])
Documentary on Lennie Murphy and Butcher gang
State collusion without a doubt
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Jo5HRQZ1Q&pp=ygUcU2hhbmtpbGwgYnV0Y2hlciBkb2N1bWVudGFyeQ%3D%3D
"
Kevin Conway Jnr (26) was murdered in Belfast in January 2024, an act believed to be retaliation by dissident republicans for his role in a 2019 attack on the home of prominent Lurgan republican Colin Duffy. Conway was linked to "The Firm," a crime gang involved in drug dealing, and targeted Duffy following a long-standing feud.
Key Details on the Conflict
"Man denies murdering father of four shot in alleyway
Image source,PSNI
Image caption,
Shane Whitla was shot dead in an alleyway near his home in Lurgan in 2023
A 30-year old man has pleaded not guilty to the January 2023 murder of father-of-four Shane Whitla.
Mr Whitla, who was 39, was shot dead in an alleyway in the Woodville Street area of Lurgan.
Jake Joseph O'Brien, whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry and who is formerly of Church Walk in Lurgan, appeared at Belfast Crown Court where he was arraigned on two charges arising from the fatal shooting.
As well as Mr Whitla's murder, Mr O'Brien is accused of possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life on the same date.
After being asked how he pleaded to the second charge, O'Brien again replied "not guilty".
Mr O'Brien's barrister told the judge the defence would be seeking a number of expert reports ahead of the trial.
These, he said, included instructing a medical expert, a firearms expert and "potentially" an imagery expert.
A co-defendant appeared in court last September and was charged with murdering Mr Whitla and possessing firearms and ammunition with intent.
Joshua Adam Cotter, 32, from Glenalina Road in Belfast, entered "not guilty" pleas to both charges.
A third man who was charged with Mr Whitla's murder was later shot dead.
Kevin Conway, 26, of Deeny Walk in Lurgan was killed at a bail address in the Greenan area of Andersonstown in west Belfast on 9 January.
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