Stakeknife’s Dirty War: The Inside Story of Scappaticci, the IRA’s Nutting Squad and the British Spooks who Ran the War

Description

In this sensational exposé of British Intelligence’s top informer in the upper ranks of the IRA, Richard O’Rawe delivers the most definitive account yet of the Troubles’ most enigmatic, notorious and sinister figure, Freddie Scappaticci.

Codenamed Stakeknife, from the late 1970s through to his eventual exposure in 2003 he was the ‘jewel in the crown’ of a British infiltration system designed to cause mayhem and chaos in the IRA’s military operations. O’Rawe gained unprecedented access to Scappaticci’s former comrades, who reveal extraordinary details of the inner workings of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit. Headed by Scappaticci, this secretive group was known locally as the ‘Nutting Squad’ owing to its fearsome reputation for the abduction, interrogation, torture and execution of volunteers suspected of working for the British or the RUC. The political scandal at the heart of this story is that Scappaticci’s intelligence handlers were aware of almost every abduction and execution he carried out prior to it taking place; a scandal that became the subject of the British government sponsored inquiry, Operation Kenova.

In this compelling and extraordinary story of state-sanctioned murder and extreme moral ambiguity in the overriding quest for the protection of ‘national security’, the truth is truly stranger than fiction.

Praise for Stakeknife’s Dirty War

‘O’Rawe kept my attention … [a] powerful narrative … perfect.’ – The Irish Times

‘Richard O’Rawe tells his story from an unrivalled vantage point, that of a former comrade. The result is an unprecedented insight into life and death during the Irish Troubles.’ – Kevin Winters, KRW LAW

‘The reality of the intelligence game is laid out for all to see in Richard O’Rawe’s new book.’ – Belfast Telegraph

“Richard O’Rawe’s book illustrates how, in the North, this callous attitude towards the lives of informers by the British security apparatus was widespread.” – Irish Examiner 

‘O’Rawe … when it comes to putting matters on the record, has done both republican historiography and public understanding an immense service.’ – The Pensive Quill

About the Author

Richard O’Rawe is the author of the best-selling books Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike, Afterlives: The Hunger Strike and the Secret Offer that Changed Irish History, In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story and the novel Northern Heist.