http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ing-scheme.html

IRA militant on run from Italian police for alleged involvement in mafia money laundering scheme as luxury properties worth £390million are seized
Convicted IRA terrorist Henry James Fitzsimons, 63, wanted in Italy

Police swooped on 20 alleged members of 'Ndrangheta gang today

Fitzsimons allegedly part of plot involving luxury resorts in Calabria
Police believe he was sent by IRA to launder drug-trafficking profits

An IRA militant is on the run from Italian police after they cracked an alleged money laundering scheme linked to mafia gangs today.

A European arrest warrant has been issued for Henry James Fitzsimons, 63, a convicted terrorist from Belfast, after 20 alleged members of a criminal gang were arrested and assets worth £390million during the operation.
He is accused of conspiring with the 'Ndrangheta mafia to launder drug-trafficking money by investing in luxury properties along the Calabrian coast of southern Italy.

The IRA allegedly sent Fitzsimons to launder drug-trafficking profits with the help of the Italian mafia gang 'Ndrangheta, according to the news agency AGI.
Fitzsimons had invested around 12 million Euros with the Italian mafia and a group of Spanish entrepreneurs to build resorts and luxury residences on some of the most beautiful, undeveloped beaches of Calabria, police said.
After serving eight years for terrorism, Fitzsimons had reinvented himself as an entrepreneur. His role was to promote the properties in Britain and Ireland and advise potential customers.

The money he invested in the construction of a resort called ‘Gioiello del Mare ‘ or Jewel of the Sea, in Brancaleone, on the southern tip of Italy was certainly of criminal origin, according to detectives.


The Irish separatist group allegedly first contacted the 'Ndrangheta mafia branch, based in Calabria, as far back as 2007.
The IRA has previously been known to launder money through organised criminal gangs in Spain.
Colonel Claudio Pettrozziello said: 'We know from the terminology he used that the money originated from crime.

'We can't prove it was IRA money but we know he still had strong links to the organisation.

'We are still hoping to catch Fitzsimons. We have issued the warrant for his arrest but he has already fled Europe, beyond our jurisdiction.' he said.

He added: 'He knew he was involved with the mafia and we believe he himself had reason to fear for his life.'
The 'Ndrangheta, whose name means 'virtue' in a dialect of ancient Greek, originally made their money from kidnappings and extortion.

But they have now expanded into the drugs and property from which their huge profits are invested in northern Europe.
Police seized 12 companies and 17 tourist complexes in Calabria where the 'Ndrangheta had allegedly invested illicit money.
The investigation was led by veteran anti-Mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri who says the ‘Ndrangheta has evolved into an extensive business network reinvesting the profits from narcotics, arms trafficking and other sources estimated at ten of billions of euros a year.

'This is a new ‘Ndrangheta entrepreneurship, a new way of ‘doing Mafia’ where there is no shooting or killing, but where affiliation derives only from one matrix: money,' the finance police statement said according to the Financial Times.




Wanted: Convicted IRA terrorist Henry Fitzsimons is on the run after allegedly conspiring with the Italian mafia in a money laundering scheme



Fitzsimons is accused of conspiring with the Italian mafia to launder money by investing in property on the Calabrian coast



Veteran mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri is leading the investigation into the 'Ndrangheta gang

The cruel irony here is that the local economy would benefit from any capital investment along the shore. It would increase tourism and create jobs for the unemployed locals. Southern Italy (Calabria, Sicily and Campania) has the lowest income per capita in italy and the highest unemployment rates in the country. The economic disparity between north and south is pretty wide with income per capita about half what it is in the north.


GDP per person in Euros:

Calabria - 16,600
Sicily - 16,800
Northwest Italy - 31,800
Northeast Italy - 31,300

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STAT-11-28_en.htm

WOW knew there was a connection, also saw in newspaper years ago the NYC mafia & IRA where behind a painting heist anyone else remember?

I see the BBC is making a documentary on this. Also, the Italians seem to be talking down the IRA link. My thoughts are either this stuff isn't IRA business or it is laundering money from the Northern Bank job.

Don Mega - can't see the Ra ever getting involved with the Mafia. They were shooting these guys in Ireland at that time - still are, in so far as there is an IRA today - so I can't see them getting involved with the Mafia to steal paintings in New York. A needless security breach and a waste of valuable resources.

I know in the 80s the IRA sent guys to NY and America to buy bulk weapons, I wondered if they approached any mob guys but it doesn't look like it. I am not surprised at all about alleged IRA links with Italy, some of these real IRA members are basically just gangsters.

They act like gangsters, but they have a legit reason, to get England out of their country. Still I see the IRA as a mafia type organization, but their core is still the same beliefs of a free Ireland.

Being English myself I keep an eye on whats going on and it good to see things are much better than they used to be, especially as I remember the 90s. Since the peace treaty, its a small breakaway group known as the "Real IRA" who are still fighting, but its worth noting they are pretty small and more of a gang than the IRA of the 70s and 80s.
There's a few Irish people on here I think who ave posted about how other Irish gangsters in recent times have taken on the Real IRA and killed some of them over territories and drug trafficking.

They actually did approach mobsters like Bulger, Joe Murray, and Pat Nee in Boston and Ed Loney and Johnny Berkery of the K&A gang in Philly. Also John McCullough, who ran the Roofers local in Philly who was a semi-gangster and semi-legitimate guy used to raise money and actually hire IRA members on the run in Philly.

If I remember correctly Harry Fitzsimmons was with the Provos and not the Real IRA.

Does the actual IRA condone the real IRA, or allow them to operate? Or are they just trying to use the name IRA to make themselves sound better?

Yes the real IRA are guys who did not agree with the peace treaty and decided to keep fighting, their actions are not praised by old IRA guys like Gerry Adams etc, they go against the peace treaty but are obviously small in number, they have done some bad stuff though like the Omagh bombing in 1997 that killed about 30 and they shot 2 British soldiers dead in 2009.
I think the leader though got shot dead in Dublin a few years ago in a gangland hit, but their still active.

Doubt it. Gerry McGeough - who I believe is anti-Good Friday Agreement - was one of the guys sent to procure weapons in the 80s and he bought the bulk of them legally in Florida and smuggled them into Ireland. They more heavy duty gear - anti-aircraft machine guns and SAM missiles - was procured through contacts in New Orleans. I think I remember reading that they were South American or something. It was on one of these missions that they were caught in an FBI sting. McGeough fled successfully but was eventually caught abroad and returned to America to serve his time. I forget the name of the older volunteer who was caught in the same sting - he initialled tried to swap himself with one of the undercover agents so that in the event of it being a trap he knew 'that someone was going in a fucking hole' over it.

You don't know what you are talking about though. I read your posts in the previous thread on the IRA.

Firstly, they generally don't behave like gangsters - even their recent stuff (which I don't agree with) isn't gangsterism. How many gangsters do you see taking on soldiers in their own barracks, killing two, for no personal gain?

Secondly, you strike me as someone willing to fight to the last drop of someone else's blood. Sad.

They had a lot of support early on - that is to say, before Omagh. They were given weapons and assistance by Provos who were then on their ceasefire.

The British had to break the back of them, which they did with Omagh. After Omagh they were finished. If you're English you should shock yourself and see what your government did with Omagh - in my view the British at the very best manipulated the events to cause havoc or actually directed the while operation. The whole thing stinks - even the RUC/PSNI held their hands up and said so on British television just a couple of years ago.

Alan Ryan was the volunteer you mention. Shot this summer by drug dealers. His story is a hard one to work out. He was definitely a Republican activist and had been to training camps in the North, and perhaps even gone on active service, but I think he must have been taxing the drug dealers in Dublin. I don't think he personally benefitted from it though. He must have been giving the money for weapons and operations - though looking at the Real IRA, what fuckin operations? They're a joke and should give it up.

A quick potted history -

The IRA emerged from the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Citizens Army. They fought the British to the table and the Provisional Government signed the treaty, 1921.
Then followed the Civil War, when the IRA split, which most volunteers being anti-Treaty and staying in the IRA and the rest forming the (officially recognised) Irish army.

After the Civil War the anti-Treaty IRA stayed active in recruiting, maintaining an arsenal, etc, but wasn't very active - small campaigns and actions during the 40s.

They started the border campaign in the 50s, but had little success.

In the sixties they became Marxist and became a complete joke. This led to Catholic homes in the north being left unprotected from loyalist mobs and when the troubles started 1969 they refused to fight back. Due to this old volunteers from the 40 seized what weapons they had to defend the areas. This (eventually) led to a split in the movement - Official IRA (the Sticks) who did nothing and the new Provisional IRA (the Provos) made of traditional Republicans. It was they who fought the war.

This group also split in the 1980 after Sinn Fein changed their constitution. Republican Sunn Fein was formed by Ruari O'Bradaigh (who died this year), with their own military wing - the Continuity IRA (the Contos).

The Provos split again in 1998, over the Good Friday Agreement, to give us the Real IRA (the Cokes - from the Coca Cola advert 'The Real Thing', seriously!).

All these groups have now all split again and again to form various combinations of - the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA, the New IRA, Oglaigh na hEireann, ONH, Republican Action Against Drugs, Direct Action Against Drugs and at least one 'Independent Republican Unit'. There are probably more.

Just this week people were arrested in Glasgow (all Scottish born) for non-specific Republican activity, something I have never heard of before. They aren't members of any group but are anti-GFA Republicans who were apparently meant to be attempting to kill Loyalists in Scotland. It's very strange.

These groups are all riddled by informers and I'd say at least the Real IRA, but probably more, is run from top to bottom by British security services.

In terms of legitimacy that goes to the Contos - they have the direct lineage to the first IRA - but it's a moot point. Physical force Republicanism is and should be finished for now.





I've skipped a lot and over simplified a lot, but that's generally how they ended up where they are today.

Totti, I don't like the English (which obviously you are), a free Ireland is something I believe in to my foundation. You don't like it, pull your imperial government out of our country.

Your beloved little England is getting what has been coming to it for hundreds of years. During y'all imperialistic time, you conquered and took over countless nations. Now that your on a rapid decline and turning into bottom of the barrel shit, you want peace. Peace is for the weak, which is what your country is becoming.

Over a hundred years, your government has hurt the people of Ireland, and now, it's time to reap what you sow. As long as people like me are around, people like you don't stand a chance. You already know that England's time in Ireland is coming down to the wire, all it will take is one final push to rid you and make the country pure again.

Shows what you know ya clown!

I'm something you don't know the first thing about - an Irish Republican.

England are more safe in Ireland just now than ever they were - the Unionist veto is preserved, they have established a new identity (Northern Irish) among young people, they have turned Republicans into British police and members of the British state apparatus, they have broken physical force Irish Republicanism - all the Yankee blowhards like yourself calling for a return to a war that no-one wants just now and that the few that do want are incapable of fighting arent going to change that.

As I said, you want to see the war return for your own bloodlust so you can post about it on a forum about American criminal - willing to fight to the last drop of someone else's blood.

You also said Republicans use gangster tactics - a malicious lie which shows te extent of your knowledge on the topic, eg fuck all.

If you are an Irish Republican, This is a sad day for any person that has Irish in their blood. It's people like you that want to hold hands around the bond fire and touch your buddies where they pee.

You are the reason the movement has stalemated. Grow a pair, and until the day you do so, your an Irish Liberal, I'll call you Obama from now on. You don't like it? Then pick up a weapon and choose sides, before the real supporters pick one for you.

Tell me this, have you ever even been to Ireland?

There is no appetite for war. There is no possibility of running a war. No possibility of winning a war. Irish men and women aren't going to pick up weapons and start killing and being killed on the say so of some real crime obsessed Yankee without the first clue about Republicans or Republicanism.

Anyone who has an understanding of Republicanism would identify the strain to which I belong - conservative Catholic Republican, anti-Treaty, anti-GFA, dis-satisfied, disillusioned but ultimately acceptant that there is no justification for or possibility of war at this time.

For you to identify that as 'liberal Irish' only marks you out as an ignorant fool talking through his hole.

What an exhibition you are making of yourself!

Yes I have been to Ireland, I have been eight times if it suits you. I have extended family in Hollymount, which is a damn small rural place. Where exactly are you from?

And another thing, Your the only one with this live and let live attitude because you are from the younger generation that has never experienced the hardships or had a reason to fight. Any true Irishman knows that there will NEVER be a united Ireland as long as England has a presence. No one in my family from Ireland would be as passive as you are. They put on a peaceful front, but the blood underneath boils at the atrocities committed by the English!

You claim to be anti-treaty, anti-GFA, and dissatisfied, yet you tremble at the thought of picking up a weapon! Your more suited for Sinn Fein than a member of IRA, Go practice your politics in a Goat Pasture!

Who said I'm passive? I'm heartbroken at the future for the Republic, but the solution to that isn't goading people into picking up weapons (where from, incidentally? What weapons? Who or where should the people who pick these weapons up attack?) or calling them cowards if they don't.

I don't have a "live and let live" attitude, I just don't have a "kill, kill, kill" attitude. As I explained to you in the last thread where you lost the run of yourself there is a massive responsibility that comes with prosecuting a war - you must have a strategy, an aim and a chance of victory otherwise you are just killing...for anger, for revenge, for hatred or for any of the other emotions that come out of your posts.

It doesn't matter if your family puts on a peaceful front while boiling underneath, it's the peaceful front that matters. Their contribution to the physical force strain of Republicanism is the same as mine or any of the sane people of Ireland's just now - nothing. Are they cowards too? No they're just ordinary Irish people who recognise the situation.

You say that my attitude is that of the younger generation, or of Sinn Fein - well explain to me this...how can that be if Sinn Fein is run by those of the older generation who fought the war for the IRA? Gerry Kelly, Martin McGuinness, Bobby Storey, Gerry Adams, etc, etc?

You are the Republican version of a loyalist - an ill-educated buffoon who believes that his opinion should be realised through force no matter who it affects.

What selfishness to expect other people to put their lives and liberty at risk as untrained, unpaid volunteers in an armed campaign against a better equipped and battle hardened standing army just returned from a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan! Who are you to demand that? You have no right and no reason and your attitude - which you proclaim as being the most Irish - would be foreign to all but a handful of Irish people and offensive to most.

Brave men and women gave their lives to get the Republican people to this point - what an insult to their memory to demand that this generation do the same to satisfy your whims from the safety of behind a computer in America.

Pathetic.

Just watched a movie about the Omagh bombing. Pretty interesting stuff.

The English didn't come off well in their investigation.

They actually want to win something. GA said something about being sick of celebrating historic defeats. He wanted to celebrate successes.

You have to out breed the Unionists in Northern Ireland. Which they have been and I believe they are still doing to this day.

The armed struggle died with the economic advances and the Catholic's getting a say in the government. Only way Northern Ireland ceases existence is through the ballot box. Which may or may not ever happen.