Ирланд республікашысы және есірткі сатушы Джимми Браунның өмірі

Irish republican and drug dealer

Jimmy Brown (1956 – 18 August 1992) was a militant Irish republican and drug dealer who was a member of Fianna Eireann, the Official IRA, then Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP)/ Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), and latterly of the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO).

Brown was born on Broadway Road near the Falls Road in west Belfast. As a teenager, he was a member of Fianna Eireann and in 1969, upon the onset of the Troubles, he joined the Official IRA where he was a member of their "intelligence department". Within the OIRA, Brown was a member of the Seamus Costello faction which split off as their own organisation in 1974. Their faction became the Irish National Liberation Army, with the Irish Republican Socialist Party as their political wing. Brown did not immediately follow Costello into the INLA, instead remaining within the OIRA until early 1976 as a spy. After that, Brown openly joined the INLA and in December 1977 Brown was made a member of IRSP's ard comhairle (executive committee). Thereafter Browne acted as both a political spokesman and an "intelligence officer" who planned bombings and shootings. Those who admired Brown gave him the moniker "the Professor" because of his skill with Marxist rhetoric while his detractors mocked him by calling him "the Clown", due to his involvement in several high profile blunders.

Brown was closely associated with childhood friend and neighbour Gerard Steenson, and in December 1981 Brown supported Steenson's attempt to seize control of the INLA. By February 1983 Brown was chairman of the IRSP's Belfast branch; that same month he contested a Belfast City Council by election. However, during his campaign, he was arrested alongside Steenson and other leading Belfast INLA members after INLA member Rab McAllister became an informant to the police. In March 1983 McAllister retracted his testimony, but Brown and the rest of the detained INLA members were still held because of the evidence of another informer, Jackie Grimley. In December 1983 the INLA members were put before the court, but Lord Justice Maurice Gibson deemed Grimley, a petty criminal, unreliable. Nevertheless, Brown and the INLA members continued to be held when a third informer, Harry Kirkpatrick, gave evidence against them. During this time period, Brown used his time in court during bail applicants to make political speeches. He also created political articles and letters. In December 1985 Brown and the INLA members were convicted of terrorism on Kirkpatrick's evidence, but one year later in December 1986, their sentences were overturned on appeal. Brown was killed by the Belfast Brigade on 18 August 1992 in West Belfast. Disgusted by the entire matter, the Provisional IRA moved in and attacked both groups. Weak, leaderless and demoralised, both versions of the IPLO "surrendered" to the PIRA.