u/Vivid-Worldliness-63

5-0

After Upper Ormeau UFF killers Joseph Bratty and Raymond Elder organised a machine gun spray job (helped by the state) on a small bookmakers in the tiny ghetto of the Lower Ormeau Road, killing 5 local people, to warn against any support for the IRA, the Orange Order , a protestant Supremacist Organisation did their annual march through the area and some were photographed taunting locals with five fingers up in the air, shouting "Five-Nil" like a football game, none of the people killed, including a 15 year old, had anything to do with the IRA

The "Unit" was responsible for several atrocities, including beating a woman who recently moved in to death after locals complained about stereo noise

"Bratty and Raymond Elder were shot dead by the IRA on 31 July 1994, in an act seen as one of a number of "revenge attacks" immediately prior to the IRA ceasefire. The pair had been drinking in the Kimberley Inn off the Ormeau Road unaware that the IRA had been informed of their whereabouts. A nearby IRA unit dispatched an assassination squad that lay in wait, hidden in a white van parked right in front of Bratt's car.^([15]) On the loyalist group entering the Ormeau Road from Deramore Avenue, Elder was ordered to check out the van but failed to spot anyone inside. Seconds later three gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and a pistol, emerged from the van and shot repeatedly at their targets. Elder was killed close to the car almost opposite South Parade while Bratty managed to run across the Ormeau Road before being shot dead, 18 bullets in his body.^([16])^([17])^([18])^([19]) The getaway car was pursued by a Royal Ulster Constabulary vehicle that was in the area but the chase stopped when the police vehicle was impeded by a crowd of republicans.^([15])^([20]) Bratty was 33 years old at the time of his death.^([21]) He left behind a widow and three children. His son was given honorary membership of the Paisley Imperial Blues flute band, the leading UDA-aligned flute band in Scotland, immediately following his father's death.^([22])

In late July 2024, a UDA shrine to Bratty and Elder was removed from a garden of remembrance in Annadale Flats to the British Army.

IRA 2 UFF 0

IRA 2 - UFF 0

Contemporaneous graffiti celebrating the killings of Bratty and Elder, still extant in 2017. Lower Ormeau Road, IRA 2 UFF 0

The killing of Bratty was greeted with relief, even by those opposed to violence

Even in a political whirlwind of murder and paranoia in 1970s Belfast, one sadistic going thug gained a reputation for extreme and sadistic sectarian violence that would shock hardened killers.

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankill_Butchers

"Cut-throat killings

On 24–25 November 1975, using the city's sectarian geography to identify likely targets, Murphy roamed the areas nearest the Catholic New Lodge in the hope of finding someone likely to be Catholic to abduct. Francis Crossin^([5]) (34), a Catholic man and father of two, was walking down Library Street towards the city centre at approximately 12:40 am when four of the Butchers, in Moore's taxi, spotted him. As the taxi pulled alongside Crossin, Murphy jumped out and hit him on the right side of the head with a wheel brace to disorient him. He was dragged into the taxi by Benjamin Edwards and Archie Waller, two of Murphy's gang. As the taxi returned to the safety of the nearby Shankill area, Crossin suffered a ferocious beating. He was subjected to a high level of violence, including a beer glass being shoved into his head. Murphy repeatedly told Crossin: "I'm going to kill you, you bastard", before the taxi stopped at an entry off Wimbledon Street. Crossin was dragged into an alleyway and Murphy, brandishing a butcher's knife, cut his throat almost through to the spine. The gang dispersed. Crossin, whose body was found the next morning by an elderly woman, was the first of three Catholics to be killed by Murphy in this "horrific and brutal manner".^([6]) "Slaughter in back alley" was the headline in the city's major afternoon newspaper that day.^([7]) A relative of Crossin said that his family was unable to have an open coffin at his wake because the body was so badly mutilated.^([8])

The Lawnbrook Social Club (1979)

A few days later, on 30 November 1975, an internal feud led to the deaths of two members of a rival UVF company on the Shankill and to that of Archibald Waller, who had been involved in the Crossin murder. On 14 October of that year, Waller had killed Stewart Robinson in a punishment shooting gone wrong.^([9]) With the sanction of the UVF Brigade Staff, he in turn was gunned down by one of Robinson's comrades in the UVF team based in the Windsor Bar, a quarter of a mile from the Brown Bear pub. Enraged, Murphy had the gunman, former loyalist prisoner Noel "Nogi" Shaw, brought before a kangaroo court in the Lawnbrook Club, one of his Shankill drinking dens. After pistol whipping Shaw, Murphy shot him in front of his whole unit of about twenty men and returned to finish his drink at the bar. John Murphy and William Moore put Shaw's body in a laundry basket, and Moore dumped it half a mile away.^([10])

Murphy's other cut-throat victims were Thomas Quinn (55) and Francis Rice (24). Both were abducted late at night, on the weekend, in the same area as Crossin. Quinn was murdered in the Glencairn district of the Upper Shankill in the early hours of 7 February 1976 and Rice a few streets from Murphy's home at about 1:30 am on 22 February 1976, after a butcher's knife had been collected from a loyalist club. Quinn's body was not found until mid-evening, after a phone call to a Belfast newspaper, while Rice's was found about six hours after his murder. Murphy's main accomplices on both occasions were Moore and Bates, while Edwards was party to the killing of Quinn. Another man and two women, whom Dillon did not name, were accessories to Murphy in the murder of Rice.^([11])

Documentary on Lennie Murphy and Butcher gang

State collusion without a doubt

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Jo5HRQZ1Q&pp=ygUcU2hhbmtpbGwgYnV0Y2hlciBkb2N1bWVudGFyeQ%3D%3D

"

https://preview.redd.it/byi2hr0hcyvg1.jpg?width=179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c74036d425e2dbd04a28ceefdda02a8505a5933c

Kevin Conway Jnr (26) was murdered in Belfast in January 2024, an act believed to be retaliation by dissident republicans for his role in a 2019 attack on the home of prominent Lurgan republican Colin Duffy. Conway was linked to "The Firm," a crime gang involved in drug dealing, and targeted Duffy following a long-standing feud. 

https://preview.redd.it/sbip3t0hcyvg1.png?width=128&format=png&auto=webp&s=fca735c93c56e6c9fcba09910de16d4ce45dcb09

Key Details on the Conflict

• Targeting Colin Duffy: Kevin Conway Jnr is suspected of leading a 2019 attack on Colin Duffy's home, which was seen as revenge for the 1998 murder of his father, Kevin Conway Snr.
• The Murder of Conway Jnr: Kevin Conway Jnr was shot in his home in West Belfast in January 2024, with reports suggesting it was a "payback" hit for the attack on Duffy's house.
• "The Firm": Conway was considered an enforcer for "The Firm," a group described as a cross-community drug gang, which has targeted republican figures.
• Retaliation Marker: The murder of Conway is seen as a message from republican dissidents to gangs targeting them.
• Conway Snr Murder: Kevin Conway Snr was abducted and killed by the IRA in 1998, with the case leading to charges against a man in 2013

"Man denies murdering father of four shot in alleyway

Image source,PSNI

Image caption,

Shane Whitla was shot dead in an alleyway near his home in Lurgan in 2023

• Published 16 May 2025

A 30-year old man has pleaded not guilty to the January 2023 murder of father-of-four Shane Whitla.

Mr Whitla, who was 39, was shot dead in an alleyway in the Woodville Street area of Lurgan.

Jake Joseph O'Brien, whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry and who is formerly of Church Walk in Lurgan, appeared at Belfast Crown Court where he was arraigned on two charges arising from the fatal shooting.

As well as Mr Whitla's murder, Mr O'Brien is accused of possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life on the same date.

After being asked how he pleaded to the second charge, O'Brien again replied "not guilty".

Mr O'Brien's barrister told the judge the defence would be seeking a number of expert reports ahead of the trial.

These, he said, included instructing a medical expert, a firearms expert and "potentially" an imagery expert.

A co-defendant appeared in court last September and was charged with murdering Mr Whitla and possessing firearms and ammunition with intent.

Joshua Adam Cotter, 32, from Glenalina Road in Belfast, entered "not guilty" pleas to both charges.

A third man who was charged with Mr Whitla's murder was later shot dead.

Kevin Conway, 26, of Deeny Walk in Lurgan was killed at a bail address in the Greenan area of Andersonstown in west Belfast on 9 January.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9wcp3uF4UCU&t=00s&pp=ygULT25oIHByb2JsZW0%3D