George Harrison

Who was George Harrison?

George Harrison was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

Born in Shammer, Kilkelly, County Mayo, in western Ireland, Harrison emigrated to the United States to facilitate arms transfers to the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland. He, Tom Falvey, Michael Flannery, Pat Mullin, and Danny Gormley comprised the North American branch of an arms-running network that is estimated to have provided more than 2,500 weapons and perhaps a million rounds of ammunition to the IRA.

In 1981, the gun-runners were arrested in an FBI sting code-named "Operation Bushmill". All five were acquitted in a criminal trial held in New York City, which lasted from December 1980 to June 1981. Their acquittal was widely attributed to the unconventional efforts of Harrison's personal attorney, Frank Durkan; the men admitted to their activities, but claimed that they believed the operations had Central Intelligence Agency sanction.