Gerard Steenson

Gerard Steenson
Born
Gerard Steenson

c. 1957
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died(1987-03-14)14 March 1987 (aged 29)
Springhill Avenue, Springfield Road, Belfast
Other names"Doctor Death"
Years active1972–1987
Organization(s)Irish People's Liberation Organization (1986–1987)

Irish National Liberation Army (1974–1986)

Official Irish Republican Army (1972–1974)
Known forParamilitary leader

Gerard Steenson (c. 1957 – 14 March 1987) was an Irish republican paramilitary and a leader of the Irish People's Liberation Organization during The Troubles.

Early life and career

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A Catholic, the son of Frank Steenson, he was born in 1957 and raised in heavily republican West Belfast. Nicknamed "Doctor Death" by the media[1][2] and by the Royal Ulster Constabulary for the multiple assassinations he purportedly accomplished according to The New York Times[3] However Fortnight alleges that he got his nickname after he dressed up in a white coat to attack British soldiers guarding a patient at the Royal Victoria Hospital.[4]

Steenson was widely associated with internecine violence between Irish republican groups. He joined the Official IRA's C Company in 1972 at the age of 14. Two years later, he left to join the 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 in 1975 for killing Billy McMillen, the Official IRA's Belfast leader, during the feud between the INLA and the Official IRA when he was just 16 years of age.[6] Jim Cusack, a journalist describes him as the "assassin-in-chief" of Hugh Torney.[7]

During the 1981 local elections, Steenson and Seán Mackin both led efforts within the INLA to obstruct IRSP candidates which disrupted their votes, viewing the decision to run in the election as wasteful, believing that the allocated resources would be better spent on weapons. Following the election, Steenson later changed his mind with regards to elections, declaring that the party should have run more candidates.[6]

In December 1981, with Steenson fearing that the Dublin INLA leadership would make a move on him following his efforts to set up a parallel organisation, planned an assassination attempt on the Dublin leader, Harry Flynn. Following a meeting of the Ard Comhairle on 5 December, Flynn and others went for drinks in the Flowing Tide pub at the corner of Sackville Place and Marlborough Street in Dublin. Shortly before 11 p.m., Steenson's gunman entered the pub and fired shots at Flynn before his gun jammed and he fled. Though seriously wounded, Flynn survived. After the botched assassination attempt, Steenson then unsuccessfully threatened Seán Flynn for his seat on Belfast City Council. Later, on 25 January 1982, a botched attempt was also made on Seán Flynn and Bernard Dorrian at a bar in the Short Strand area, provoking a feud where a unit from the Derry INLA came to Belfast searching for Steenson. Failing to secure power, the attacks only demoralised the IRSP and INLA and began a trend of internal feuds.[6]

In 1985, he was convicted of 67 terrorist offences (including six murders) after his former friend Harry Kirkpatrick testified against him.[8][3][9] Kirkpatrick and Steenson were rarely seen apart in public and were given the nicknames "Pinkie and Perky".[10]

Creating the IPLO

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In 1986, Steenson, Jimmy Brown, and Martin "Rook" O'Prey formed the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO),[11] consisting of disaffected and expelled INLA members,[12] with the express intention of wiping out the INLA and IRSP and to replace it with their own organisation.[13] He argued in letters, written while he was in prison in the early 1980s, that the INLA had become militarily "inefficient" and that the IRSP leadership had become "ineffective" and required 'realignment'.[6]

He was involved in the Rosnaree Hotel shooting on 20 January 1987, where a meeting between the leadership of the INLA and IPLO was to take place to end hostilities. However, IPLO members ambushed the four INLA members at the hotel killing, Thomas "Ta" Power and John Reilly, while Hugh Torney and Peter Stewart managed to escape.[6][14]

Reputation

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Steenson was viewed highly in the movement with Brown calling him a "committed and highly efficient military activist and a dedicated revolutionary". However he was described by Lord Justice Carswell as "a most dangerous and sinister terrorist. A ruthless and highly dedicated, resourceful and indefatigable planner of criminal exploits who did not hesitate to take a leading role in assassinations and other crimes". Henry McDonald and Jack Holland write "Both his friends and enemies spoke in a tone of awestruck at his paramilitary abilities".[15] Ken Wharton refers to him as a "notorious psychopath".[16] Sean O'Callaghan describes Steenson as someone who "never took to orders".[17]

Terry George wrote of him that he "was extremely clever and even wittier than Billy McMillan. He had an angelic face and women adored him. He was also ruthless, cunning and fearless.".[18]

Death

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On 14 March 1987, Steenson and Tony "Boot" McCarthy returned to Ballymurphy after a night of drinking which was cut short by anger over the INLA GHQ faction's show of force in the Divis flats earlier in the day. After bringing their car to a stop on Springhill Avenue, they were killed in an ambush by an INLA active unit, with a member of the ASU closing the security gate at the top of the street to trap the pair.[6][19][20] An INLA spokesperson said Steenson was killed for being "actively involved in continuous and concerted efforts to undermine the authority of the ... movement."[21] Jimmy Brown gave the graveside oration.[22]

The IPLO would later kill Emmanuel Gargan in the Hatfield Bar on the Lower Ormeau Road and Kevin Barry Duffy in Armagh in retaliation for the killing of Steenson. The IPLO would draw the ire of the Lower Ormeau community through the circumstances surrounding the killing of Gargan, with graffiti appearing in the area labelled "IPLOscum"[6]

On Halloween 1992, the Provisional IRA would carry out a large-scale operation (dubbed the "Night of Long Knives") with the goal of neutralising the IPLO. Following the operation and execution of Jimmy Brown, both the Belfast Brigade and Army Council factions disbanded.[23][24][25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ McDonald, Henry (23 October 1999). "Terrorists recruit teenage soldiers". The Observer. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016., The Observer, 24 October 1999.
  2. ^ McKittrick, David (12 October 2009). "Army of mavericks lays down its arms". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b Clines, Francis X. (29 March 1987). "A dozen die as Ulster's rebels feud". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  4. ^ Clarke, Liam (1987). "INLA: Back from the Political Grave?". Fortnight (251): 8–9. JSTOR 25551178.
  5. ^ Owen, Arwel Ellis (30 November 1994). The Anglo-Irish Agreement: The first three years. ISBN 9780708312742. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g McDonald, Henry; Holland, Jack (2010). INLA - Deadly Divisions. Poolbeg Books. pp. 377, 230, 251–254, 352, 358–360, 373–374, 379–380. ISBN 978-1-84223-438-9.
  7. ^ Cusack, Jim (12 August 2007). "INLA man feigned friendship but ordered my death". Sunday Independent. Dublin. ISSN 0039-5218. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018 – via www.pressreader.com.
  8. ^ "Diary of Events". Fortnight (232): 18. 1986. JSTOR 25550716.
  9. ^ McKittrick, David (12 October 2009). "Army of mavericks lays down its arms". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  10. ^ Wharton, Ken (19 July 2013). Wasted Years, Wasted Lives Volume 1: The British Army in Northern Ireland 1975-77. ISBN 9781909384552. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  11. ^ Leslie, David (15 May 2014). Lighting Candles: A Paramilitary's War with Death, Drugs and Demons. Black & White Publishing. ISBN 9781845027940. While Manny was in jail, the arguing and infighting had come to a head and a core of the INLA, including Gerard Steenson, Manny's good friend Jimmy Brown and Martin 'Rook' O'Prey, had broken away and set up the Irish People's Liberation Organisation. At Brown's behest, a political wing, the Republican Socialist Collective was also formed.
  12. ^ van Um, Eric (2012). "Why Militant Groups Fight Each Other: The Role of Support, Political Objectives and Revenge" (PDF). Economics of Security (64). Berlin. ISSN 1868-0488. In 1986, fighting between IPLO and INLA started shortly after IPLO had been formed by expelled members as a breakaway faction of the INLA.
  13. ^ Sawyer, John Paul (8 December 2010). COMPETITION IN THE MARKET FOR POLITICAL VIOLENCE: NORTHERN IRISH REPUBLICANISM, 1969–1998 (PDF) (PhD of Philosophy in Government thesis). Georgetown University. pp. 163–165, 202–204. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  14. ^ "INLA Men Killed In Drogheda". RTÉ Archives. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  15. ^ McDonald, Henry; Holland, Jack (29 June 2016). I.N.L.A - Deadly Divisions. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  16. ^ Wharton, Ken (19 October 2016). Another Bloody Chapter in an Endless Civil War. Volume 1: Northern Ireland and the Troubles, 1984-87. ISBN 9781912174270. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  17. ^ Morrison, John F (19 December 2013). The Origins and Rise of Dissident Irish Republicanism: The Role and Impact of Organizational Splits. ISBN 9781623566777. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Terry George". irishamerica.com. October–November 2005. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  19. ^ "Paramilitary Feuds in Northern Ireland - List of people killed". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). University of Ulster. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014.
  20. ^ Cusack, Jim (5 September 1996). "Another grim landmark in a bloody history". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  21. ^ "'Dr. Death' of IRA splinter group is slain". Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  22. ^ "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  23. ^ "IRA's Night of Long Knives' part in peace process". IrishCentral.com. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  24. ^ Monaghan, Rachel (2002). "The Return of "Captain Moonlight": Informal Justice in Northern Ireland" (PDF). Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 25 (1): 41–56. doi:10.1080/105761002753404140. ... and in October 1992 took action against the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO). The IPLO had a history of criminal activities including a gang rape of a woman in the Divis flats complex and involvement in the growing drug trade. The IRA's action resulted in the execution of one IPLO member and the shooting of a further 20 members with assault rifles in Belfast. The IPLO disbanded shortly after this.
  25. ^ Holland, Jack (16 February 2011). "A View North Shocking! Paramilitaries running North's rackets". Irish Echo. Retrieved 11 April 2024. The Irish People's Liberation Organization, a splinter from the Irish National Liberation Army, under the direction of Jimmy Brown, were the first to commence with the importation of drugs on a sizable scale, mainly ecstasy tablets popular at rave parties in the late 1980s. Brown, who fancied himself as something of an intellectual, justified this by pointing to the guerrillas in Colombia, who finance their war against the state through proceeds from the trade in cocaine. The IPLO was forced to disband by the Provisional IRA in November 1992. But the drug trade goes on, mainly in the hands of elements within the Ulster Defense Association.
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