This is the pot smoking ex-hunger striker recruited by the leaders of dissident republican outfit the New Real IRA.
Veteran republican Gerard Hodgins has been drafted in by the terror group’s leadership to oversee council election campaigns with hand picked runners standing under the banner of Independent Republicans
He will team up with cancer stricken dissident chief Tony ‘TC’ Catney to promote the push for district council seats.
The Sunday World can reveal the die hard republican is now a prominent member of the so called Independent Republicans which are under the control of the Collective Leadership consisting of Alex McCrory, Collie Duffy, Brian Arthurs and Frankie Quinn.
His selection however has been strategic as the CL, Brian Arthurs and Frankie Quinn in particular, have had their reputations damaged by their close association to criminals such as tiger kidnapper Brain Conway.
Bringing in someone of Hodgins’ calibre was designed to quieten the discontent among the ranks and to give an air of credibility to the dissident leaders and the Independent Republican candidates.
However the Sunday World can reveal that Hodgins himself is connected to criminal circles and uses his associates to feed his drug habit.
And as our exclusive pictures reveal Hodgins is more than happy to enjoy the perks of the criminal underworld he inhabits.
Hodgins allied himself to the NRIRA after a falling out with the Continuity IRA in which he held the prominent position as finance officer.
The gang was headed up by Christopher ‘Cricky’ Notarantonio who is currently serving a jail sentence for blackmail.
During his time with the CIRA criminal gang Hodgins received large amounts of cannabis which had been stolen in raids carried out by CIRA members including Notarantonio.
This was given to him for his own personal use.
All involved took large amounts for themselves, the rest was passed on to be sold to raise money for the CIRA.
Such incidents include a substantial amount of cannabis being taken from a house in Ballymurphy.
In another raid 20 black bin liners full of cannabis was taken from a storage unit in Springbank Industrial Estate in Poleglass and in another raid on a warehouse in Antrim Industrial Estate £18,000 in cash and a another substantial amount of cannabis was also taken by the paramilitary group.
Hodgins fell foul of the CIRA after he claimed that a large amount of cash he was holding for the CIRA, raised from drug dealing, kidnapping and extortion, was stolen from his flat in Lenadoon during a robbery.
The west Belfast man claimed that the flat was broken into while he was out and the money in question was taken.
So desperate to have his ‘story’ backed up he gave a media interview claiming that his house had been broken into and personal items were taken.
The CIRA did not believe his claims. Members were dispatched to search his home and Hodgins began to seek protection from other dissident groups.
The Sunday World can reveal Hodgins was suspected by the dissident group of stealing the money to enable him to travel to Amsterdam along with a close friend who has an extensive criminal past.
Said one dissident source: “It’s hard to understand the rationale behind the leadership’s decision to hang our hat on Gerard Hodgins.
“Everyone and their granny know Hodgies is into drugs big style, he makes no bones about it, in fact he promotes the use of drugs on his Facebook.
“How do we justify killing Kevin Kearney, yet promote Gerard Hodgies as a sound republican?” he said.
“As for his mates, they’re pure scum and have terrorised the very community we claim to be acting on behalf of. It’s inexcusable, just because Hodgies has a history with the Ra and says the right things – let’s all turn a blind eye to his drug dealing? I don’t think so.”
