The US Marine turned IRA Gunrunner

No Edit with Patricia Devlin

Born in New York to Irish parents, John Crawley knew from a young age exactly what he wanted to do with his life - join the IRA.

Enlisting in an elite unit of the US Marine Corps, his only goal was to receive the most intensive military training possible so he could go 'home' to Ireland and fight to end the British occupation of the North.

He did, and received a total of 45 years in prison for both gunrunning and bomb plots.

His recently released memoir 'The Yank' recounts his extraordinary experiences during gruelling Marine Corps training, and how, not long after his discharge, he joined the IRA. His life in the Provisonal IRA led him back to America where he would work with notorious American mobster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger to amass a shipment of weapons only to be captured a gunrunning trawler off the Kerry coast.

Upon his release, he became one of the masterminds behind the IRA’s plan to throw London’s electrical system into disarray.

In this interview, Crawley is candid about the people he worked with and unflinching in his commentary on the IRA leadership.

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