Richard O'Rawe

Northern Heist


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      NORTHERN

      HEIST

      Richard O’Rawe is the author of the best-selling book Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-Block Hunger Strike (2005), Afterlives: The Hunger Strike and the Secret Offer that Changed Irish History (2010), and In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story (2017).

      NORTHERN

      HEIST

      RICHARD O'RAWE

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      First published in 2018 by

      Merrion Press

      An imprint of Irish Academic Press

      10 George’s Street

      Newbridge

      Co. Kildare

      Ireland

       www.merrionpress.ie

      © Richard O’Rawe, 2018

      9781785371936 (Paper)

      9781785371943 (Kindle)

      9781785371950 (Epub)

      9781785371967 (PDF)

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      An entry can be found on request

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      An entry can be found on request

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Interior design by www.jminfotechindia.com

      Typeset in Sabon LT Std 11.5/15 pt

      Cover design by Jeffers & Sons, Belfast

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      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I had almost finished Northern Heist in 2012, but it still wasn’t right, so I shelved it to begin work on another book, In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story, which was published in October 2017. Not long afterwards, at the prompting of my daughter, Berni, I rewrote and finished the first draft of Northern Heist. I can’t thank Berni enough for her encouragement.

      I would like to thank the Northern Ireland Arts Council for the help they gave me in writing this book.

      I am indebted to David Torrens of No Alibis bookshop, Eoin McNamee and Malachi O’Doherty.

      A big thanks to Conor Graham of Merrion Press, who saw the value in the book. I would also like to thank his staff, especially Fiona Dunne.

      I would like to express my appreciation to a wonderful editor, Maria McGuinness.

      I am much obliged to Peter O’Connell Media for the sterling work they carried out in publicising this book.

      To my literary agent, Jonathan Williams, I convey my deepest gratefulness.

      My family, as ever, were unreservedly supportive. To my wife Bernadette, daughters Stephanie and Berni, and son Conchúr, I send my love and warmest gratitude.

      CONTENTS

       ONE

       TWO

       THREE

       FOUR

       FIVE

       SIX

       SEVEN

       EIGHT

       NINE

       TEN

       ELEVEN

       TWELVE

       THIRTEEN

       FOURTEEN

       FIFTEEN

       SIXTEEN

       SEVENTEEN

       EIGHTEEN

       NINETEEN

       TWENTY

       TWENTY-ONE

       TWENTY-TWO

       TWENTY-THREE

       TWENTY-FOUR

       TWENTY-FIVE

       TWENTY-SIX

       TWENTY-SEVEN

       TWENTY-EIGHT

       TWENTY-NINE

       THIRTY

       EPILOGUE

      ONE

      They say lazyboneitis is in the blood. It isn’t in James ‘Ructions’ O’Hare’s blood. Not when it comes to robbing banks.

      At RJ’s gym, on Belfast’s Boucher Road, Ructions watches his childhood friend, Billy Kelly, set down dumbbells on the weight bench and inspect his bulging biceps. He likes what he sees.

      A female fitness trainer yells at her aerobics class, exhorting the masochistic