Latest news with #Megahey
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Feds move to deport 82-year-old convicted IRA terrorist after decades in the United States
A convicted terrorist and boss of the Irish Republican Army in North America may finally be getting booted from the United States. Gabriel Megahey, 82, lived in New York for decades but a June 20 letter from the US Department of Homeland Security warned his 'parole' was being terminated, nearly 30 years after he and other IRA members were given dispensation to stay in the country. 'Do not attempt to unlawfully remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately,' reads the one-page letter, which Megahey shared with the Irish Echo. Advertisement The Belfast native was convicted in 1983 in Brooklyn Federal Court for conspiring to buy missiles to shoot down British helicopters amid the violent clashes in Northern Ireland known as 'The Troubles.' Gabriel Megahey was convicted in 1983 of conspiring to buy weapons to shoot down British helicopters. Gabriel Megahey /Facebook At the time, federal authorities considered Megahey 'the officer commanding (OC) of America and Canada' for the IRA, he told PBS's Frontline. The married father of six served five years in federal prison for conspiracy and arms shipments. Advertisement Megahey, known by the nickname 'Skinny Legs,' was convicted with three others, with then U.S. Attorney John Dearie describing him at the time as 'the most culpable of these defendants,' and the group as a whole as 'a network of men who sought to use this country as a base of terrorist activities,' according to reports. 'No one wants peace more than us,' Megahey, who first settled in Jackson Heights, Queens in 1975, insisted at the sentencing hearing. He was released from prison in 1988 — but never deported. Advertisement Megahey and four other IRA members were then allowed to remain in the country as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the historic April 1998 accords which ended decades of violence in Ireland between those who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom and those who didn't. Now the grandfather of 14 and great-grandfather of five, who records show moved to Delaware in 2019, is reeling after DHS warned he would be fined and criminally prosecuted if he stays in the United States. Now 82, Megahey is facing deportation decades after he served his sentence. Gabriel Megahey /Facebook 'DHS is terminating your parole,' according to the one-page letter, which Megahey shared with the Irish Echo. 'Do not attempt to unlawfully remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.' Advertisement Megahey, who relies on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to pay for expensive medicine necessary to treat a heart ailment, also faces the loss of his benefits. 'It would cost me $4,000 to $5,000 a month to pay for it on my own,' he told Straus News. 'I can't afford that. I'll have to go home.' DHS and Megahey declined comment.
Sunday World
6 days ago
- Politics
- Sunday World
Alleged head of the IRA in America Gabriel Megahey once killed a man with a single punch
The late-night attack took place outside a chip shop more than 60 years ago on Belfast's Crumlin Road and Megahey was jailed as a result The alleged head of the IRA in America Gabriel Megahey once killed a man with a single punch, the Sunday World can reveal. The late-night attack took place outside a chip shop more than 60 years ago on Belfast's Crumlin Road and Megahey was jailed as a result. On his release, the Ardoyne man emigrated to the United States to work in the New York building industry. But in the States he found himself in jail once again – for trying to buy surface-to-air missiles (SAM) for the IRA from an FBI agent. But it appears he failed to tell the Yanks he had been jailed for killing a man when he was a teenager. And now the Trump administration want the 82-year-old great grandfather out of America. Originally from Ardoyne in Belfast, Megahey disclosed last week that he has been ordered to quit the United States immediately. Megahey's poster The emigration enforcement agency ICE delivered the devastating news to him at his home in Delaware. A letter served on Megahey made no reference to his status in the States – he's married to an American-born woman and together they have six children, 14 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. The ICE letter warned Megahey not to consider 'going on the run' as Homeland Security would find him. As recounted in this week's RTE documentary, Noraid: Irish America and the IRA, in which he featured, Megahey was jailed for seven years for trying to buy the missiles that would have been used to take down British army helicopters. Since his release from an American prison, Megahey had been living in the States under a 'set aside' arrangement implemented by for President Bill Clinton. And now the Trump administration has moved against Megahey, ordering him out of the country immediately. But the Sunday World has learned that when he first entered America after a short stint in Southampton, Megahey failed to declare he had already served a prison sentence in Northern Ireland for killing a man. As this newspaper court report from the time proves, in 1962, 19-year-old Megahey was caught up in a verbal row with another man in Gleneagle chip shop of Belfast's Crumlin Road – ironically about a fight between Belfast champion boxers Freddy Gilroy and John Caldwell. Veteran Belfast republican Gabe Megahey And without warning, Megahey, who was described in court a seaman from Herbert Street, Ardoyne, headbutted 24-year-old Kevin McLaughlin, of Highbury Gardens, causing him to fall to the floor. The row, which happened just after midnight on October 24/25, continued on outside the chip shop, where Megahey punched McLaughlin on the head, knocking him to the ground for a second time and rendering him unconscious. Mr McLaughlin died in hospital two days later. In America, Megahey set himself up as the leader of the IRA in America. He told the RTE programme this week: 'We didn't need Irish Northern Aid money. There were people here – contractors – if I needed money I'd go to them to get it. 'And on quite a few occasions there was finance from Belfast.' Newspaper story from the time Keen to spring a military propaganda spectacular, the IRA was desperate to bring down a low-flying helicopter in south Armagh. Megahey was ordered to buy SAM missiles from American arms dealers. But he was caught after he tried to buy the missiles from an undercover FBI agent. This week's RTE programme also interviewed an FBI agent who said Magahey was a 'French Connection type of individual'. 'He was so surveillance-conscious and professional in the way he handled himself. 'Times when we surveilled him, he would walk backward, go in an out of subway cars.' This week we consulted a legal source in Belfast inquiring if Megahey had any chance of overturning the US authorities' plans to forced him from the country. He told us: 'Megahey has his work cut out on this one. If Trump wants him out, he's out. And it looks as though it's going to be sooner rather than later.' Trump moves to deport veteran Belfast republican Gabe Megahey News in 90 Seconds - July 23rd
