Gabriel Megahey, now 82, received notice from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on June 20 that his parole is being revoked. Megahey, who served as the IRA’s top commander in the US and Canada, was convicted in 1983 for conspiring to acquire surface-to-air missiles to attack British helicopters during Northern Ireland’s Troubles, reports the New York Post.
He spent five years in federal prison before being released in 1988, but remained in the US under a provision later reinforced by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The notice, which Megahey shared with the Irish Echo, states: “DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to unlawfully remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.”
Megahey settled in New York in 1975 and raised a family. A father of six, grandfather of 14, and great-grandfather of five, he has more recently lived in Delaware. His conviction came from a plot that federal prosecutors said aimed to use the US as a staging ground for terrorism.
US Attorney John Dearie at the time described Megahey as “the most culpable of these defendants.”
Despite his prison sentence, Megahey was allowed to remain in the country along with four other IRA figures, following political developments that saw the US take a more lenient stance toward some former militants.
Though he declined to comment directly to The NY Post, Megahey reportedly told Our Town NY he had no second thoughts about his past: “Not a one. I’d do it all again. But I wouldn’t get caught next time.”
