Scappaticci is believed to have assumed his role as IRA intelligence officer in 1976. The ICU, also known as the nutting squad, was established in late 1978. This coincided with the British army’s launch of the Force Research Unit (FRU), designed to handle IRA informants. Richard O’Rawe chronicles in his book, Stakeknife’s Dirty War, presented to the public last year, that the FRU functioned from 1980 to 1995. It reportedly oversaw more than 100 agents, including Scappaticci. The ICU’s objective was to maintain IRA’s internal order and weed out spies; death was the penalty for betrayal. Scappaticci served under the command of John Joe McGee.
Terrified informants were led to believe that they would be spared if they confessed their knowledge to the British security forces by Scappaticci. His chilling words were,“they think they’re going home, but they don’t”.
Who exactly was Freddie Scappaticci?
Scappaticci’s ancestors were Italian immigrants, his grandfather Bernardo and grandmother Maria moved from Central Italy to Belfast in the late 19th century. Born on January 12th, 1946, Freddie Scappaticci was the third oldest of five siblings, raising in Belfast’s Markets area.
Scappaticci acquired a reputation as a violent bully from his early years despite his smaller figure. Post the communal unrest in Belfast of August 1969, he was among the “69ers” joining the group. After being arrested during internment in 1971, he was imprisoned for four years. He was released in January 1974 and began a successful career as a bricklayer. According to some sources, his alleged involvement in a tax fraud led him to become an informant, potentially preventing an eight-year jail term.
On Friday morning, an independent report will be issued detailing the actions of the British army’s leading IRA agent during the conflict period. The Stakeknife report, referring to high-ranking double agent Freddie Scappaticci of the Belfast IRA, has taken seven years to compile and cost around £40 million.
The results of Operation Kenova, set to be revealed at 11 am in a Belfast-based hotel, probed into potential oversights by Northern Ireland’s police in terms of allegedly neglecting investigations into up to 18 murders in order to safeguard Scappaticci. A former Belfast stonemason, Scappaticci held the reputation of being British military intelligence’s most prized asset.
The activities of Stakeknife, within the confines of the Provisional IRA, were examined by Kenova. The investigation scrutinised various criminal acts including murder and torture, and the involvement of security agencies, such as MI5.
Scappaticci, implicated in 18 murders, passed away last year at 77 years of age. Due to a government policy regarding delicate intelligence matters of “neither confirm nor deny” (NCND), he will remain unnamed in the report.
According to sources at The Irish Times, the report is anticipated to conclude that numerous lives would have been spared during the Troubles if state forces had actioned intelligence.
In February, the North’s Public Prosecution Service declared that five retired British servicemen and seven presumed IRA members, scrutinised during the inquiry, will evade prosecution due to “insufficient evidence to offer a reasonable likelihood of conviction”.
The PA news agency has suggested that the 200-page document will demand apologies from both the UK Government and the IRA towards surviving victims and families of the deceased.
The report is also predicted to propose a revision of the UK Government’s approach of neither verifying nor denying confidential details associated with intelligence matters.
Initially led by Jon Boutcher, Operation Kenova saw him vacate the position to assume the role of chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).