One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This

By Michael Caruso

Some believe that our unfortunate reality is that, sometimes, no amount of thoughtfulness, hard work, or understanding will transform an intractable problem into a resolvable one. Yet, today marks the 25th anniversary of a counter-example—the “signing” of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland and ended decades of violence known as “The Troubles.”

The origins of the Troubles date back to centuries of warfare in which the predominantly Catholic people of Ireland attempted to break free of British (overwhelmingly Protestant) rule. In 1921, the Irish successfully fought for independence, and Ireland was partitioned into two countries: the Irish Free State, which was almost entirely Catholic, and the smaller Northern Ireland, which was primarily Protestant with a Catholic minority.

While Ireland was fully independent, Northern Ireland remained under British rule, and the Catholic communities in cities like Belfast and Derry complained of discrimination and unfair treatment by the Protestant-controlled government and police forces. In time, two opposing forces coalesced in Northern Ireland mainly along sectarian lines: the Catholic “nationalists” versus the Protestant “loyalists.”

During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Northern Ireland suffered dozens of car bombings and sectarian attacks perpetrated by paramilitary groups on both sides, like the Provisional IRA and the Ulster Volunteer Force. Hundreds of civilians were among the dead.

There is a connection to our district. The IRA had two primary sources for weapons—Libya and the United States. And there were at least two notable prosecutions here that involved alleged gun running for the IRA. In 1990, the FBI used a Stinger missile to lure four suspected IRA members in a sting operation. One of those arrested—Joseph McColgan— commented: ″I’m just a poor Irishman here on holiday, and I was entrapped by certain people here.″  They were later convicted at a trial presided over by Judge Gonzalez. 

The Troubles ended, at least officially, with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, creating a framework for political power-sharing and ending decades of violence. 

A year later, however, "the Florida Four" were accused of smuggling guns to the IRA. At a trial before Judge Ferguson, one of the men testified that “militant Irish-Americans” pushed him to buy weapons because they feared the peace deal would leave defenseless Catholics to face armed Protestant paramilitaries and police. The three men who went to trial were convicted of gun smuggling but acquitted of providing material support and conspiracy to murder. 

 

Postscript: Most of you know that David has a wonderful podcast called “For the Defense,” where he talks with defense lawyers about their cases. In writing this post, I realized that our district’s history—although somewhat alive on the internet—might be lost to time. I wonder if a voluntary bar association would be interested in doing a podcast with the judges and lawyers involved in these and other notable cases and creating an oral history of our district.