Having been ordered to remain under the radar after the Culloden debacle, Freddie Scappaticci more or less complied with his puppet masters military directive.
Two years later, in 1995, he was formally demobbed and stood down from his role as an operative with the Force Research Unit and left 39th Brigade of the British Army for good. For services rendered to Her Majesty's Government Stakeknife was given a life long war pension and told he would enjoy the protection of the security services until death. Similar to the brilliant mathematician and code breaker Alan Turing who cracked the German enigma machine during the Second World War, Stakeknife would not be publicly recognised for his work, with both men becoming invisible to the naked eye. Both men, Alan Turing and Freddie Scappaticci, were told to quietly walk away and return to civilian life by the Ministry of Defence, Turing in 1945 and Scappaticci in 1995.
Getting accustomed to 'civvy street ' (civilian life) proved rather difficult for Stakeknife as it was devoid of danger and excitement. He found that most people live rather mediocre lives and he found the whole experience dull and boring. With the Provisional IRA ceasefire in August 1994 there was really no further use for him which meant that he had fallen between two stools, the IRA on one hand and the British Army on the other. This was copper fastened when the Provisional IRA war effectively ended with the permanent cessation in July 1997. The IRA had bombed their way to the conference table, avoided an unconditional surrender and would trade guns for government. The Provisional IRA, its military units and its combat soldiers left the battlefield as an undefeated Army. The baton was then handed over to its political wing to negotiate on behalf of those who had suffered and endured. On their shoulders would sit the spirits of heroes dead.
In 1997 Freddie Scappaticci was playing soccer at Andersonstown Leisure Centre, West Belfast, when a ghost from his past struck him like a bolt of lightning. He looked at one of the players and saw Anthony Braniff who he had helped execute in September 1981 in the face of his brother.
After the 5-a-side soccer match Scappaticci approached the man and told him he resembled Anthony Braniff. and he was told they were brothers. Scappaticci went on to say: "Your brother should never have ended up stretched out under a window", meaning he should never have ended up in a coffin under the living room window. He lied and emphasised that it was the IRA leadership that was responsible and that he was a mere 'messenger'. At that particular time there were early efforts made by the family to open an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, but those efforts were in their infancy. However, when Scappaticci was asked to help the family by the elder brother, surprisingly he agreed.
This was the beginning of a long and difficult process for the Braniff family who had not only suffered the lose of Anthony in 1981 at the hands of a British infiltrated unit, but had lost their father David Braniff in March 1989 as he knelt reciting the rosary at their home in Alliance Avenue, Ardoyne, North Belfast. A Loyalist death squad fired several shots into the praying man and escaped the scene.
Eventually, and after painstaking work from the brothers, a meeting was set up, but when Scappaticci was told that a representative of the IRA would attend the meeting also, he became extremely apprehensive and probably regretted the conversation earlier at Andersonstown Leisure Centre.
Stakeknife, it seems, was dropping his guard somewhat and becoming more and more careless.
Upon hearing that there would be an IRA presence at the forthcoming meeting Scappatticci immediately stipulated that he would not be entering any location with the IRA if on his own and under their conditions. Therefore, he told Braniff that he would attend the meeting in their family home and he himself would give a short notice prior to showing up at the meeting, thereby taking control away from the IRA. Scappatticci was proving that he knew all about the mechanics of the IRA and would not be walking into a prearranged trap.
Upon hearing that there would be an IRA presence at the forthcoming meeting Scappatticci immediately stipulated that he would not be entering any location with the IRA if on his own and under their conditions. Therefore, he told Braniff that he would attend the meeting in their family home and he himself would give a short notice prior to showing up at the meeting, thereby taking control away from the IRA. Scappatticci was proving that he knew all about the mechanics of the IRA and would not be walking into a prearranged trap.
Subsequently, once he had given an hour's notice Scapatticci arrived at the Braniff home and began to explain his role in Anthony Braniff's interrogation, claiming he had merely brought Anthony to a house in the Beechmount area of West Belfast and handed him over to the ISU. He named all four individuals involved in the interrogation of Anthony and kept distancing himself from any involvement in his execution. He only admitted to his involvement in the initial interrogation. When the senior IRA representative suddenly entered the Braniff home by the back door and stood menacingly over Scappaticci, telling him to carry on with his speech to the family, Stakeknife realised that his nemesis from Northern Command was in the room, and blurted out: "I claim the 5th Amendment" (the right to remain silent) and walked out.
The whole scenario left the Braniff brothers perplexed after this piece of high drama. However, it was not the end of the theatrical performance as more drama was about to ensue.
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| Seamus Kearney is a former Blanketman and author of No Greater Love - The Memoirs of Seamus Kearney. |
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