Saturday, February 21, 2004

RICHIE GOSS : 1915-1941 --- A REVOLUTIONARY IRISHMAN .......



....... Ireland 1915 ; a split in the Irish camp , pro-British forces forming and arming , threatened mutiny within the British Army in Ireland : turmoil .......


Irish forces were re-grouping ; the ' Irish Citizen Army ' was recruiting for Volunteers , as was Sinn Fein , the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' and John Redmond's ' United Irish League ' . There was turmoil in the country .

A child was born into the above circumstances in Dundalk , in County Louth . He was child number three in the family , and one more was to be born after him . This third child in the Goss family , Richard , went to a local school and , like others in the Goss neighbourhood , tried to get work locally when he was finished his schooling - he was successful , and got a job in Rasson's Shoe Factory in Dundalk .

The troubled times he lived in got his attention and , at 18 years young(in 1933), Richie Goss joined the North Louth Battalion of the IRA , and trained in the use of explosives ....... (MORE LATER).



WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


INCHIGEELA.......




"....... RIC Sergeant Kelly was in view ; two armed Volunteers stood in front of him and told him to stop . He tried to get through them ......."


" A shot aimed low knocked him off his bicycle and wounded him slightly in the leg . Jamie and Dan searched him . A notebook he carried contained the information he had got from a local informer about Jamie's own movements and the movements of others . Soon after this incident , the names of both Jamie and Dan appeared in the 'Hue and Cry' , an RIC newsheet .

The publicity made no difference . At one time it would have been of importance to the wanted men , who , in order to escape arrest would have had to leave the country . Now it did not matter as we were all on active service ."

[END OF - 'INCHIGEELA ....' : tomorrow - ' BALLINGEARY BARRACKS '].



THE BUTCHER BOYS .



FROM THE BOOK ' The Shankill Butchers : A Case Study of Mass Murder ' , by Martin Dillon . Published by HUTCHINSON .

(Reviewed by Niall O'Flynn , and published in ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , Tuesday , 1st August , 1989 , page 6 ).

(10 of 16).


Such prolific activity brought Lennie Murphy high on the RUC's 'most wanted' list , and he was imprisoned briefly in the early 1970's - for minor offences- and again in 1976 , though he continued to direct 'Brown Bear' operations from his Maze Prison jail cell .

William Moore , the taxi-driving member of The Butchers , took up where Lennie Murphy had left off . Murphy had prepared well for his terrorist 'career' , attending many of the murder trials of the early 1970's , at Belfast's Crumlin Road Courthouse . He learned about the law , the nature of witness and forensic evidence , and when such evidence was ruled admissible or inadmissible , and why .

Attending IRA trials , he was able to identify IRA supporters in the public gallery who could later be targeted for assassination .......

(MORE LATER).


Friday, February 20, 2004

RICHIE GOSS : 1915-1941 --- A REVOLUTIONARY IRISHMAN .



Ireland 1915 ; The Irish Volunteer Movement had split ; approximately 170,000 men stayed with John Redmond and fought with England in the belief that to do so would guarantee a form of 'Home Rule' for Ireland - but about 10,000 men broke away as they had no faith in Redmond's plan .

Months earlier , British 'Sir' George Richardson had taken command of the Ulster Volunteer Force (a pro-British militia) and had landed about 25,000 rifles and two-and-a-half million rounds of ammunition at Larne in County Antrim - when the British Government in Westminster attempted to move against the UVF (as they had no control over them then) , British Army Officers mutinied in objection ...

Meanwhile , elsewhere in Ireland , other forces were recruiting .......

(MORE LATER).




WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


INCHIGEELA.......





".......The RIC Sergeant , Kelly , took delight in burning down Irish Tricolour Flags which the locals put up in the area . One of our men , Con Sean Jer , placed a 'booby trap' device in a Tricolour flag and hung it high in Ballyvourney ....... "


" RIC man Kelly came across the flag and , as usual , set fire to it . He watched with evident satisfaction as the flame climbed upwards towards the green . Already , the white was more than half eaten . Suddenly , he found himself seated on the road as if a giant had pushed him backwards . The flag had disappeared with a loud explosion . Thoughtfully he arose and went home ...

The next day he passed by the Cross again . A new flag flew from the old staff . He did not bring his torch to burn it . He let it wave in triumph until it wore away . Now he was coming at a smart rate down Rath Hill . Two men with guns called on him to pull up . He tried to get through ......." (MORE LATER).




THE BUTCHER BOYS .



FROM THE BOOK ' The Shankill Butchers : A Case Study of Mass Murder ' , by Martin Dillon . Published by HUTCHINSON .

(Reviewed by Niall O'Flynn , and published in ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , Tuesday , 1st August , 1989 , page 6 ).

(9 of 16).



The RUC , though they knew not the perpetrators of the Shankill killings('1169...' Comment - those slaughtered by the gang were Catholics ; all members of that religion were suspected by the RUC to be either active IRA members or supporters of same - the 'Butcher Gang' was , 'unofficially' , doing the work of the Six-County State . The RUC were not too concerned .) recognised from a very early stage that they were dealing , not with ordinary terrorists , but with psychopaths .

" We're looking for somebody more brutal than the average terrorist and we'd better get to him , " RUC Detective Inspector Jimmy Nesbitt told his men as the first victims of the serial killers were found . " It represents for me a new degree of cruelty . We have seen victims who have been killed with concrete blocks , stabbed , shot or beaten to death , but the sight of this ....stirs something inside me which makes me feel cold , " Nesbitt said .

Speaking later , another RUC man recalled : " I knew I was witnessing something different , a more personal type of killing . " (MORE LATER).



Thursday, February 19, 2004

JACKIE GRIFFITH , 1921 - 1943 ; A STAUNCH REPUBLICAN .......



.......Three members of the Dublin Brigade IRA had been picked to do a fund-raising job in July 1943 ; Jackie Griffith , Charlie Kerins and Archie Doyle . A wages van delivered cash to a Dublin cigarette factory on a regular basis , at a set time .......



Each one of the three IRA men were on pushbikes when they intercepted the van at the gates of the factory and held it up ; they cycled off with over £5000 between them ! That wages-van job (1st July 1943 , a Thursday) was to be Jackie Griffith's last job for the Republican Movement ; he was not to live past the coming weekend ....

On Sunday , 4th July , 1943 , Jackie Griffith left the house in Ballsbridge , Dublin , where he was staying , on a pushbike , at around 1pm , to meet other Republicans in the Phibsboro area of the city . As he was cycling down Holles Street he was spotted by a car load of Free State Special Branch men - without warning , one of them rolled-down the car window and took aim at Jackie Griffith with a Thompson sub-machine gun and emptied a full ammunition-clip in his direction .

The young Volunteer , 21 years of age , was dead before his body reached the ground ; he had been hit by sixteen of the bullets fired at him . That year (1943) marked the eleventh successive year that De Valera and Fianna Fail had been in power in the then twenty-one year old Free State . They killed the wrong twenty-one year old in 1943 .....


How long must we travel ,
'till our journeys done ?
How long must we struggle ,
'till the fight is won ?
May we live in peace again , may we live to see ,
this land of ours , our Homeland ,
a true democracy .


(From 'Freedom Walk', as published in 'Songs of Resistance' , 1982).


[END of - ' JACKIE GRIFFITH , 1921 - 1943 ; A STAUNCH REPUBLICAN .......'].



WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


INCHIGEELA.......





".......The second raid on Inchigeela RIC Barracks had been postponed at very short notice . We were annoyed and angry , and wanted to take some action against the British ......."



" We came home in a very bad humour . The following day , as if to add insult to injury , the RIC Sergeant from Ballyvourney Barracks cycled alone to Renanirree , about half way between Ballyvourney and Inchigeela . Jamie Moynihan of Gortnascarthy and Dan Sullivan , his neighbour , had been with us at Inchigeela . They got the news that the RIC Sergeant had passed up the hill at Rath about a mile away . Taking shot-guns with them , they waited at the foot of Rath for his return . That RIC man , whose name was Flynn , had , from an early date , been very active against the rising tide of opposition to the old order .

He took a particular delight in the destruction of the Irish Tricolour when it was displayed in his area . He had a specially made torch mounted on a long staff for the purpose , and he always carried out the operation himself . At length , however , Con Sean Jer cured him of his incendiary tendencies . Con hung a Tricolour on the telephone wires at the Village Cross of Ballyvourney . The RIC Sergeant had already burned down several of the flags from the same setting . Had he looked closely , he might have noticed a 'fold' or 'wrinkle' in the middle of the white band of his latest target . Evidently , he had noticed nothing , for he applied his torch .

Within the fold was a white paper which wrapped half a stick of gelignite complete with detonator and a very short bit of fuse ......."

(MORE LATER).




THE BUTCHER BOYS .



FROM THE BOOK ' The Shankill Butchers : A Case Study of Mass Murder ' , by Martin Dillon . Published by HUTCHINSON .

(Reviewed by Niall O'Flynn , and published in ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , Tuesday , 1st August , 1989 , page 6 ).

(8 of 16).



Martin Dillon , the Author of this book , confirms Lennie Murphy's pleasure in these sadistic practices : " There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Lennie Murphy committed the crimes firstly for pleasure and secondly for information . Many studies have indicated that sadists need aggression and I believe that in Northern Ireland (sic) the conflict provides the trigger for this aggression . It also allows misfits to find social acceptance by expressing the prejudice which is not endemic but socially acceptable . It has enabled many people who cannot escape prejudice to find a security within it and to accept its manifestations as a badge of patriotism . "


(MORE LATER).


Wednesday, February 18, 2004

JACKIE GRIFFITH , 1921 - 1943 ; A STAUNCH REPUBLICAN .......



.......A colleague of Jackie Griffith's , Charlie Kerins , was put to death by Fianna Fail on 1st December 1944 - they paid an English hangman to do the job .......



Jackie Griffith and Charlie Kerins knew each other and worked closely together for a period in the early 1940's . The Free Staters were determined to put Griffith out of action as they felt humiliated by his jail-break (2nd November 1942) ; their informers told them that Jackie Griffith was staying in a safe-house in Margaret Place , in Dublin , and they raided there (in mid-1943) looking for him - he was'nt there . But the Staters were getting closer ....

Meanwhile , a fund-raising job had been planned by the Dublin Brigade IRA ; three men had been picked for the operation - Jackie Griffith , Charlie Kerins and Archie Doyle . An IRA Reconnaissance Unit had observed that a wages van kept to a routine on its deliveries - it was known that , on 1st July , 1943 , a few thousand pounds in cash would be dropped-off to the management of the Player Wills Factory on the South Circular Road in Dublin ....... (MORE LATER).




WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


INCHIGEELA.......





".......We learned from our failed attack on the RIC Barracks ; but so did they - they re-inforced the weak-spots we had 'pointed-out' to them ......."


" I doubt not , if the matter had been left in the hands of our own local Battalion , that we would have regained our lost ground . But now the Brigade took a hand and told us to sit up and learn a lesson . Young as we were , we were yet anxious to improve our education . Some of us had indeed made certain suggestions for the overcoming of the new difficulties . We were told to watch our elders working and profit thereby . We humbly acquiesced and waited for the demonstration ...

On the night of 7th March we had again encircled Inchigeela RIC Barracks . I stood with a storming party drawn up at the edge of the barbed wire . Three IRA Brigade Officers were busy with a trestle of guncotton . While they inserted the primers and detonators with the fuses , I wondered with others how they were to cross the wire . Provision had been made (on paper) to block the bombing loophole . Another trestle stood by to effect this . But the wire had yet to be crossed . Very soon all was ready ...

The taller trestle stood like a Roman standard over our heads . I looked higher up to see the kites , but it was to dark . The 'brass hats' moved to the edge of the wire and stopped . Now was our time to learn something of the science of tactics . But we were to learn nothing . Very quietly we were withdrawn again . Ourselves alone knew of our discomfiture . The kites went home hungry ......."

(MORE LATER).




THE BUTCHER BOYS .



FROM THE BOOK ' The Shankill Butchers : A Case Study of Mass Murder ' , by Martin Dillon . Published by HUTCHINSON .

(Reviewed by Niall O'Flynn , and published in ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , Tuesday , 1st August , 1989 , page 6 ).

(7 of 16).



Despite warnings from 'Ulster Volunteer Force' superiors that only armed Republicans were to be considered as the enemy , the bulk of the Butchers' victims , in fact , were innocent civilians , picked up at random , easy pickings - " If you can't get an IRA man , get a Taig . "

Lennie Murphy was 'blooded' first on July 21 , 1972 , when , with other members of Loyalist paramilitary organisations , he was involved in the torture and killing of a 34-year-old Catholic , Francis Arthurs , who was picked-up by a Loyalist gang after leaving a Catholic area and taken to the Lawnbrook Social Club , a Loyalist club off the Shankill Road .

Francis Arthurs was beaten severely by a large group of drinkers , stabbed repeatedly by Murphy , interrogated , tortured and shot . That night , those present have said , Murphy was seen to demonstrate that he could cause the victim the most pain by hitting him harder than anyone else . Joe Bennett , who later became one of the major UVF 'supergrasses' , said that Lennie Murphy stood out as the most barbarous gang member present .


(MORE LATER).


Tuesday, February 17, 2004

JACKIE GRIFFITH , 1921 - 1943 ; A STAUNCH REPUBLICAN .......



.......Working in Carlow as Leinster Co-ordinator for the IRA , Jackie Griffith met Charlie Kerins ; in June 1944 , Kerins was arrested by the Free Staters and 'tried' before a Free State Military Tribunal .......



Charlie Kerins was sentenced to be put to death by hanging . They had no evidence against him , but someone had to pay ; a number of IRA men had already been charged at various times during the previous two years , with O'Brien's shooting , but nothing came of those charges . By putting Charlie Kerins to death , the Free Staters were sending a signal to their colleagues in Westminster of just how serious they were in dealing with " the dissidents " .

Indeed , it was to the Brits that Eamonn De Valera turned when he failed to get an Irishman to carry-out the death sentence on Charlie Kerins ; De Valera paid for an English hangman to do the job and , on 1st December 1944 , at twenty-six years young , Charlie Kerins became the last Irish Republican Soldier to die on the gallows for Ireland . His remains were re-interred in Rath Cemetery in the Tralee Republican Plot in September 1948 . And , to this day , De Valera's Fianna Fail party still describe themselves , on all their literature , as ' The Republican Party ' ! However , they are not alone , in Leinster House , in that respect.


(MORE LATER).




WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


INCHIGEELA.......





".......Our raid on the RIC Barracks was going nowhere , and time was against us . Some of our Unit tried to break down one of the barrack walls , but with no success ......."


" Undoubtedly , there were alternative methods to the breaching of the barrack-wall , and had the failure of that failure been foreseen , others , like petrol bombs through the roof , could have been quickly substituted . It was my first acquaintance with Conny Creedon , a merchant in the village . He came out to the middle of the village street to offer us four or five barrels of paraffin he had in stock .

We returned home sadder but certainly much wiser men . We had gained nothing from the enemy but a little experience which would prove useful to us . In future we would not put our trust in numbers , but rather in quality . The following day we learned of the capture of Carrigtwohill RIC Barracks . With no better tool than a wall brad , the men at the wall had made a small hole in it . Inserting some gelignite , they had blasted a large breach in it . Through the breach a small IRA Unit entered and the RIC surrendered .

We were not to get again the opportunity we lost that night . The RIC took steps to strengthen their defensive positions , and the lesson of Carrigtwohill was not lost on them either . High up in the windowless gable-wall , they broke out a small loophole for dropping bombs . This they lightly plastered over again . From the gable outwards they threw a heavy entanglement of barbed wire . They also re-inforced the garrison ......."

(MORE LATER).




THE BUTCHER BOYS .



FROM THE BOOK ' The Shankill Butchers : A Case Study of Mass Murder ' , by Martin Dillon . Published by HUTCHINSON .

(Reviewed by Niall O'Flynn , and published in ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , Tuesday , 1st August , 1989 , page 6 ).

(6 of 16).


The "Murphy Gang" , in its heyday , included Robert "Basher" Bates and "Big Sam" McAllister , who joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (a pro-British murder-gang) at Murphy's bidding . Later , they were joined by William Moore , a taxi driver , who had learned to use a butcher's knife in a previous job . Meeting in The Brown Bear pub , the 'Brown Bear Gang' soon numbered close to two dozen men , mostly in their 20's - but one as young as 14 - and some who were not known to the RUC (pro-British 'Police') until such time as the Butcher gang were caught .

Officially , 'Brown Bear Gang' members were used by the UVF to carry out executions , bombings , assassinations and punishment beatings , to deal with troublemakers within the pro-British paramilitary ranks . 'Punishments' then might mean kneecappings , beatings with baseball bats , the use of a power drill on the kneecaps , or "breeze-blocking" - where concrete blocks were dropped on to the hands , or heads , of offenders .

"It is an incredible fact that , within the subculture of the paramilitary world , punishments of varying degrees were applicable according to the gravity of the offence . When it came to their respective terror campaigns , no such gradations applied to the atrocities committed " , writes Martin Dillon .


(MORE LATER).



Monday, February 16, 2004

JACKIE GRIFFITH , 1921 - 1943 ; A STAUNCH REPUBLICAN .......



.......After his jail-break from Mountjoy Jail (on Sunday , 2nd November , 1942) , Jackie Griffith laid low in Dublin for a few weeks . Then , on 26th December 1942 , he cycled to Carlow to work from there as Leinster Co-ordinator for the IRA .......



In that position , in Carlow , Jackie Griffith met , and worked with , another Irish Republican legend - Charlie Kerins ; a Kerry man , (from Tralee) who was (within a year of meeting Jackie Griffith , while the latter was working as Leinster Co-ordinator) to become Chief-of-Staff of the IRA . In June 1944 , Charlie Kerins was arrested by the Free Staters and accused , before a Free State Military Tribunal , with the shooting dead of Free State Detective Sergeant Denis ('Dinny') O'Brien , who was executed by the IRA on 9th September 1942 as he left his home in Ballyboden , Rathfarnham , Dublin .

When his 'trial' was over , the 'Court' was adjourned for a few hours to allow for Charlie Kerins to consider making a plea of mercy on his own behalf ; when the circus re-convened , Charlie Kerins did indeed take the floor - he stated : " You could have adjourned it for six years as far as I'm concerned , as my attitude towards this Court will always be the same ."

The Free Staters sentenced Charlie Kerins to be put to death by hanging ....... (MORE LATER).




WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


INCHIGEELA.......





".......The attack on the RIC Barracks was not going as planned ; we should have caught them off-guard , but two carelessly-aimed shots put paid to that ......."



" Now they were settled down behind their loop-holed steel shutters , and were busy with rifle and small hand grenades . Two of their comrades were in houses in the village when the firing started . One of them , a man named Tobin , tried to get back to barracks , but he was shot down . He later recovered from rather serious wounds caused by shotgun slugs . The other RIC man in the village hid himself and was not found . A useless and prolonged exchange of fire was maintained by some of our men with the barracks garrison . The RIC bombs exploded with great violence quite near some of the Volunteers . At length a humorist amongst them remarked - " Those things must be all empty ! " This evoked a hearty laugh which the RIC Sergeant must have heard , for he shouted : " Fire away , lads , glass is cheap , " to show that his own morale was sound .

In vain we waited for news from a party of picked men who had been sent to breach one of the gables . Later we learned that , just as they had started to work with a will to break down the wall , some Volunteer had come and shouted an order to them to retire by the way they had come . This they had reluctantly obeyed , and when the IRA Officer in charge , who had gone on a circuit of the barracks , returned , they had gone . Mystified ,he , with others , started a search for the men . They had taken the tools with them , and by the time they were located it was rather late in the morning ........" (MORE LATER).




THE BUTCHER BOYS .



FROM THE BOOK ' The Shankill Butchers : A Case Study of Mass Murder ' , by Martin Dillon . Published by HUTCHINSON .

(Reviewed by Niall O'Flynn , and published in ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , Tuesday , 1st August , 1989 , page 6 ).

(5 of 16).


According to Martin Dillon , the author of this book - " Lennie Murphy was prepared to shoot anyone ; man , woman or child . Or a blind man . As long as he could reasonably establish the religion of the victim . " Victim after victim was killed in the same brutal way - hacked through the throat with a butcher's knife . So callous were Murphy's men , so brutalised , that , while their victims waited , it was not unknown for gang members to stop for a cup of tea or to watch football on TV .

Belfast is so much a city divided that , tragically , sectarian gangs are able to identify the religion of intended victims simply by the streets on which they are walking or working . Even on public routes , people travel towards either Protestant or Catholic housing estates . " Hundreds of people " , estimates Martin Dillon , had their fate sealed by this ghettoisation - and this was the basis on which The Shankill Butchers operated and selected their victims .

(MORE LATER).



Sunday, February 15, 2004

JACKIE GRIFFITH , 1921 - 1943 ; A STAUNCH REPUBLICAN .......



.......At 21 years of age (in 1942) , Jackie Griffith was arrested by the Free Staters and sentenced to 33 years in Mountjoy Jail . The Republican prisoners in that jail wanted out .......



A metal bar on one of the cell windows was worked-on until it was fit to be pulled free - in late October 1942 it was ready to be removed . Three of the Republican prisoners were picked for the escape attempt ; Jackie Griffith , Frank Kerrigan and Jim Smith , and the early hours of Sunday morning , 2nd November 1942 was chosen as the date for the escape .

Early on that Sunday morning , a 'rope' ( canvass , sheets etc ) was thrown out of the cell window and the three men climbed down into the prison yard and scaled the wall - it was hours later before their absence was noted . The three men had split-up on escaping , and went their separate ways ; Jackie Griffith was placed in a safe-house in Margarets Place (near Grand Canal Street Upper , in Dublin - between South Lotts Road and Bath Avenue ) .

His first call was to the Dublin Brigade IRA and he was put back on active service . He kept his head down in Dublin for the first few weeks following his jail-break , then , as arranged , on 26th December 1942 , he used a pushbike to get to Carlow (a distance of some fifty miles) , where he was to be based by the IRA while working to co-ordinate the Leinster area for that organisation ....... (MORE LATER).



WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


INCHIGEELA.......





".......We were in place around the RIC Barracks ; those inside knew nothing about our presence ......."


" It had previously been noticed that most of the RIC men visited pubs and other houses , and there was a great chance of finding the barracks door open , and only one or two of the garrison inside , unprepared . This was the case when we arrived . A local scout brought three Volunteers by the route we had taken . One of them saw an RIC man in front of the barracks , and quite close to him . What did he do ? Fired two shots at him and , to make matters worse , missed him altogether ! The RIC man , of course , dashed for the door which was wide open , and shut it behind him .

Two Volunteers , one my uncle , who saw him run , fired hurriedly in an effort to stop him . They had little chance of hitting him , since they were taken by surprise , the distance was short to the doorway , and the light none too good . Those two first shots closed the door , in more senses than one , against an easy victory . The RIC man had only come out to take the air . Had he been let alone he might have strolled up the village street . In that case , we could easily have grabbed him and pulled him in to our gateway , without raising any alarm . Had he remained loitering around the barracks gate , any two men , ostensibly on their way home , could have seized him .

A few more , with revolvers , through the open doorway , would almost certainly find inside men who were totally unprepared . But not now ......." (MORE LATER).



THE BUTCHER BOYS .



FROM THE BOOK ' The Shankill Butchers : A Case Study of Mass Murder ' , by Martin Dillon . Published by HUTCHINSON .

(Reviewed by Niall O'Flynn , and published in ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , Tuesday , 1st August , 1989 , page 6 ).

(4 of 16).



As a teenager , Lennie Murphy began to keep company with men in the Shankill district while , at local discos , it was he who decided who got in and who was turned away . In one early incident , a man who bumped against him at a bar , spilling his drink , was later badly beaten by his gang . Murphy joined the junior wing of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1969 and was in the midst of the violence when Protestant mobs invaded Catholic streets that summer , when hundreds of homes were burned . Says Martin Dillon , author of a new investigation of the gang's activities --


-- " He often talked overtly while drinking in the 'Bayardo Bar' of his hatred for all Catholics because they were 'scum and animals ...' He was beginning to develop into what one UVF man later called a "Super Prod " , which was shorthand for saying that Murphy was more anti-Catholic , anti-Nationalist and anti-Republican than even the most bitter man on the Shankill Road . "


(MORE LATER).