As the man at the heart of the IRA’s ‘nutting squad’, he did not think twice about putting a bullet in the back of the heads of suspected traitors.
But Freddie Scappaticci – much to the fury of the men who would go to any lengths to secure the end of British rule in Northern Ireland – was the biggest traitor of all to the militant Republican cause.
Because he was also Stakeknife, the top spy for the British Army who informed on his terrorist comrades for 22 years – whilst being allowed to continue his murderous IRA role.
Scappaticci, who was outed in 2003 and died last year aged 73, is linked to the kidnap, murder and torture of as many as 50 people.
His life could have been very different had footballing trial stints with Nottingham Forest and Manchester City when he was aged 14 been successful. Instead, he returned to Belfast after just three weeks because he was feeling homesick.
After he was unmasked, Scappaticci lived under state protection with a new identity in Guildford, Surrey, where he was known as Frank to neighbours.
A BBC News camera crew approached him shortly before he left his home in West Belfast, but were told to ‘get yourselves off’. He added that if they didn’t leave, he would ‘do’ them.
In 2018, Scappaticci admitted possessing extreme pornography, including acts involving animals.
Today, the long-awaited report into Stakeknife’s activities was published.
The £40million investigation, known as Operation Kenova, has also looked at the role played by the Army and MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency.
As the man in charge of the IRA’s ‘nutting squad’, he did not think twice about putting a bullet in the back of the heads of suspected traitors. But Freddie Scappaticci – much to the fury of the men who would go to any lengths to secure the end of British rule in Northern Ireland – was the biggest traitor of all to the militant Republican cause. Above: Scappaticci (circled) at an IRA funeral in 1988 with pallbearer Gerry Adams (far right)
Scappaticci, better known by his codename Stakeknife, headed the ‘nutting squad’ – the IRA’s notorious internal security unit. He died in April and is pictured in 2003
The ‘nutting squad’ specialised in interrogating anyone suspected of aiding the security services during the Troubles.
Scappaticci, whose ancestors had emigrated from Italy to work in Northern Ireland’s mills in the 19th century, was described by one of the most senior British officers who served in the Province as ‘the jewel in the crown… the golden egg’.
‘Scap’, as he was known to many, specialised in extracting admissions of guilt by IRA operatives using extreme violence.
These confessions were often taped and then the recordings were played to relatives to convince them that their loved one had been ‘guilty’.
All of this played out amidst a conflict that lasted from 1969 until 1997.
During the trial of Sinn Fein’s former publicity director Danny Morrison in 1991, Scappaticci’s ruthlessness was revealed in horrifying detail.
Belfast Crown Court heard how police informer Alexander Lynch was interrogated by two IRA teams.
Scappaticci pictured at the 1987 funeral of IRA man Larry Marley
As the IRA’s brutal enforcer, Scappaticci had the power of life and death over fellow paramilitaries accused of being informers. Pictured: Scappaticci in 1974
Scappaticci, who died last April in his 70s, denied being Stakeknife but it is now generally accepted that he was
The Daily Mail’s reports on Stakeknife when he was unmasked in 2003
He testified that a man called Scappaticci had warned him that if he did not admit to being an informer he would ‘weake up in South Armagh and he’d be able to talk to me the way he wanted, hung upside down in a cattle shed.’
He added that Scappaticci said it didn’t matter about me screaming because no one would be able to hear’.
Lynch admitted everything to his captors and only survived to recount his ordeal because the Army and police burst into the building.
The nutting squad is known to have been responsible for more than 40 killings, along with countless abductions, beatings and torture sessions.
Victims had cigarettes stubbed out on their bodies, branded with hot pokers and had the soles of their feet beaten.
Even if they confessed, their lives were often still snuffed out. The trademark killing method was a single gunshot to the back of the head.
Scappaticci and his men would then leave the body where it could be found, so it would act as a warning to others suspected of treachery.
The killing chief was recruited to act as a spy in the early 1970s. It was seen at the time as a brilliant coup in the fight to overcome the IRA’s activities.
Scappaticci is believed to have lived for some time near Worplesdon Road in Guildford, Surrey
It was later claimed that he was ‘turned’ by an undercover British soldier after he was imprisoned following the introduction of internment without trial by UK authorities in 1971.
He agreed to betray his comrades’ cause after being subjected to an IRA punishment beating.
In the years that he secretly worked for Britain, he is said to have earned at least £1million.
He penetrated the IRA’s command structure and relayed invaluable information to his handlers.
As a result, intelligence chiefs had files on all of the IRA’s leading protagonists.
He is believed to have had close connections with both Gerry Adams, who was then the chief of Sinn Fein, as well as the late Martin McGuinness, the then Provisional IRA commander.
His information is said to have led to the Death on the Rock killings of three IRA members by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1988.
His nuggets of intelligence were handed to the Army’s secretive Force Research Unit.
However, allegations of state collusion with Loyalist death squads emerged.
Police have examined claims that innocent Roman Catholics may have been killed to prevent Scappaticci’s real identity from being revealed.
The alleged activities of Stakeknife are under investigation in Operation Kenova led by former Bedfordshire chief constable, Jon Boutcher (pictured). In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Boutcher said his team were made aware last week of the passing of Scappaticci
Questions have also been asked about how Scappaticci was allowed to commit serious crimes to ensure that he maintained his fearsome reputation among Republicans.
Families of those who were abducted and killed by the nutting squad claim that his British handlers could have saved their loved ones but failed to intervene.
Loyalist paramilitaries had planned to execute Scappaticci in October 1987. But the FRU was alerted and is said to have instead engineered an alternative target.
The British gave the name of an innocent Roman Catholic, retired taxi driver Francisco Notarantonio, claiming he was an IRA operative.
The Loyalists believed the lie and murdered him in front of his grandchildren.
When his cover was blown in 2003, Scappaticci – who consistently denied he was a spy – fled Belfast in the knowledge that the IRA wanted to kill him.
He gave a now-infamous press conference where he insisted that he wasn’t Stakeknife.
‘My statement basically is that I am Freddie Scappaticci. I am sitting here today with my solicitor. I am telling you I am not guilty of any of these allegations,’ he said.
Operation Kenova has been led by Jon Boutcher, who is now the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
His investigation took seven years to examine Stakeknife’s activities.
