logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2022
13m 16s

IRA gun-running in America

Bbc World Service
About this episode

How an undercover FBI agent bust an IRA gun-running plot in New York in 1981. We hear from retired FBI agent, John WInslow, who posed as a gun dealer to infiltrate a network of Americans supplying weapons to the Northern Irish paramilitary group, the IRA. The United States was a key source of money and guns for the Irish republican cause.

Photo:

Up next
Yesterday
The man who said ‘no’ to Disney
In 1941, Walt Disney made a tempting offer to a fellow pioneer of the animation industry, Quirino Cristiani - the author of the first animated feature film.Cristiani was an Italian immigrant raised in Argentina who built a career creating animated political satires in the early d ... Show More
9m 55s
Jul 10
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Jul 9
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2024
The IRA ambush in Central Park, New York
On April 13th, 1922, three IRA volunteers chased a man through Central Park in New York. In front of dozens of witnesses, they shot him four times before escaping. This event marked the culmination of an international manhunt as the IRA tracked an informer across the world.In thi ... Show More
29m 23s
Oct 2023
1. Miami, 1985
When Jesus Garcia is arrested on gun charges, he explains to his lawyer, John Mattes, that he has been set up by members of a CIA-backed operation running guns into Central America. As Mattes investigates, he finds supporting evidence and gets the attention of a newly elected Sen ... Show More
41m 53s
Mar 2023
Episode 250: The new IRA and the attempted murder of PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell
A car has emerged as a key piece of evidence in the attempted murder of PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell after football training in Omaha last week - a callous shooting which has shocked all Ireland.The second hand Fiesta purchased in a private sale on February 8th wa ... Show More
31m 59s
Jun 2024
Episode 600: New IRA leader Thomas Ashe Mellon arrested after failing explosives swab at Portlaoise prison
New IRA leader Thomas Ashe Mellon found himself arrested by police over the border this week hours after he failed an explosives test when he went to visit inmates in the Republic’s high security Portlaoise Jail. So what was Mellon doing meeting with the New IRA’s southern comman ... Show More
36m 9s
Oct 2022
The Hunt for Nazi Spies in World War II
While Ireland remained neutral in the Second World War several Nazi agents were smuggled into the country. Their aims varied, some sought to establish contact with the IRA while others were spies. In this episode, I interview historian Marc McMenamin about the attempts of Irish M ... Show More
27m 55s
Mar 2023
The Mystery of Henry Wilson’s Assassination
On June 22nd 1922, the British Field Marshall, Henry Wilson was shot dead in London. The assassination sparked a major political crisis in Ireland. The British government blamed the killing on a faction of the IRA opposed to the recent Anglo-Irish Treaty. When they demanded actio ... Show More
28m 27s
Feb 2022
Crime and Terror in South America
South America’s Tri-Border Area has been described as “the United Nations of crime.” Along the porous borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, counterfeiters scheme, narco-traffickers move product and launder funds, and criminals sell fake or stolen goods on the open market. S ... Show More
35m 50s
May 2021
The Unabomber | 47
In the 1990s the FBI’s most wanted criminal was an elusive mystery bomber who had been mailing dangerous and deadly packages to executives and university professors since 1978. The UNABOMBER had left a trail of destruction around the United States, but the FBI had very little har ... Show More
53m 14s
Oct 2023
Episode 392: The life and crimes of IRA mole Freddie Scappaticci
The intriguing story of IRA double agent Freddie Scappaticci is one of mystery and fascination and for years has been the subject of the Operation Kenova investigation due to be published in coming weeks.Nicola speaks with author and former Provision IRA prisoner Richard O’Rawe w ... Show More
1h 12m
Aug 2023
The Brighton Bombing - the attempt to kill Margaret Thatcher
In 1984, the Conservative Party, lead by the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, gathered in the seaside town of Brighton for their annual conference. In the early hours of October 12th a bomb ripped through the Grand Hotel where Thatcher and several other conservative lead ... Show More
50m 5s