Sean John McCann aka Sean Gerard McCann

Sean John McCann
Wikipedia

A Canadian citizen, Sean Gerard McCann (also Sean John McCann) was one of four members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army arrested by the FBI, with help from the BATF,following a two-month investigation that culminated in the attempted purchase of a Stinger missile in January 1990.  McCann, 33 years old at the time of his arrest, was living in a trailer park in the southern portion of Palm Beach.

Continue Reading... Labels: IRA, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Labourers' union officials quit public housing board

3 March 1995
The Toronto Star
Jack Lakey

The board of directors in charge of government-funded housing operated by a big Metro union have resigned over allegations of nepotism and conflict of interest.

A Saturday Star story outlined how the son and son-in-law of Michael J. Reilly, former boss of Labourers' Local 183, got high-paying work with no job competition at the union's social housing projects. Local 183 runs four social housing projects built with government funds, which are overseen by a six-member non-profit property management board composed of union officials.

Continue Reading... Labels: Hugh Orde, Michael J. Reilly, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann

Metro union target of investigation

28 February 1995
The Toronto Star
Jack Lakey

The Ministry of Housing is probing allegations that the former boss of a Metro union used provincially funded housing projects to provide jobs to family members.

Trevor Studden, the ministry's central region manager, said the government began an investigation yesterday into social housing operated by Labourers' International, Local 183.

"We are asking questions even as we speak," Studden said in an interview yesterday.

Continue Reading... Labels: Michael J. Reilly, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann

Keeping the union jobs all in the family

25 February 1995
The Toronto Star
Jack Lakey

Family members of a powerful Metro union boss with close ties to the NDP received plum jobs at the union's provincially funded housing projects, contrary to government policy.

Michael J. Reilly, business manager of Labourers' Local 183, ruled the union with blustery Irish charm and an iron will until he retired Feb. 9. As chairperson of the union's non-profit housing program, Reilly was instrumental in securing at least $44 million in provincial government loan guarantees to build two social housing developments. Reilly signed the application papers for both.

Continue Reading... Labels: IRA, Michael J. Reilly, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

U.S. union to oversee troubled Metro local

10 January 1995
The Toronto Star
Jack Lakey


The head office of the Labourers' International Union of North America will be stepping in to "supervise" the day-to-day operations of its powerful Local 183 in Metro.

The union's headquarters in Washington, D.C., has also dispatched a special auditor to Metro to examine Local 183's books after numerous allegations of financial irregularities.

A union official in Washington yesterday confirmed that the measures were taken after charges of financial wrongdoing were filed against the boss of Local 183, business manager Michael J. Reilly.

Continue Reading... Labels: Michael J. Reilly, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann

Ex-Metro resident jailed in missile plot

9 June 1991
The Toronto Star
Michael Tenszen

A former Toronto resident who fled Ireland to "get away from the aggression" has been sentenced to four years and three months in a U.S. prison for trying to buy an anti-aircraft missile to destroy a British helicopter.

But Seamus Moley, 31 - known in Toronto as Hugh Nolan - is "pretty pleased" with his sentence, said his lawyer, Bruce Zimet of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "He was convicted of only two charges - there were many more against him and he could have spent 28 years in prison," Zimet said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Continue Reading... Labels: IRA, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Three Convicted Of Conspiring To Buy Missile For IRA

11 December 1990
The Associated Press
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Three Irishmen were convicted Tuesday of conspiring to buy a Stinger missile for the Irish Republican Army after a trial that prompted criticism from jurors of federal sting operations.

Kevin McKinley of Riviera Beach, Seamus Moley of Toronto, and Joseph McColgan of Dundalk, Ireland, were found guilty of two of five charges in U.S. District Court.

They were convicted of a conspiracy count that they attempted to obtain military weapons to use against British forces in Northern Ireland and attempting to obtain a Stinger surface-to-air missile.

Continue Reading... Labels: IRA, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Ulster activist cries over death bids

4 December 1990
The Toronto Star
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

Defence lawyers hope the testimony of the former British MP will help U.S. jurors understand how the defendants could be lured into the alleged arms deal with undercover federal agents.

McAlskey, who attracted worldwide attention to her cause in the early 1970s, related to the 12-member jury a long list of what she said were human rights abuses committed by the British to maintain control of Northern Ireland.

Among them is an active "shoot to kill" policy, she said.

Continue Reading... Labels: IRA, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Judge Dismisses Charges Against 1 In Missile Plot Case

5 October 1990
Sun Sentinel
Warren Richey

A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday dismissed all charges against one of four defendants in an alleged plot to smuggle a Stinger anti-aircraft missile to Northern Ireland to shoot down British Army helicopters.

As a result of the judge`s action, Sean McCann, 34, of Toronto, was expected to be immediately released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he had been held on the arms smuggling charges for almost 10 months.

Continue Reading... Labels: Hugh Orde, IRA, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Sting In Doubt Evidence Against Ira Suspect Weakens

30 July 1990
Sun Sentinel
Lisa Ocker

An Irish-born Canadian charged in a terrorist plot to buy a Stinger missile has been imprisoned since January on evidence a magistrate now says will not likely pass a judge`s scrutiny, let alone a jury`s.

The strongest evidence against Sean McCann -- an allegation that he followed undercover agents on Jan. 9 after they met suspected Irish Republican Army members in North Palm Beach to negotiate the missile sale -- no longer exists. Prosecutors have conceded that agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and U.S. Customs Service made a mistake in identifying McCann.

Continue Reading... Labels: Hugh Orde, IRA, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Judge Sets Bail At $200,000 For Ira Suspect In Arms Case

28 July 1990
Sun Sentinel
Lisa Ocker

A federal judge has set $200,000 bail for one of four men suspected of being Irish Republican Army members who were arrested in January on charges of trying to buy a surface-to-air missile.

In an order issued this week, U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez affirmed U.S. Magistrate Ann Vitunac`s recommendation that bail be set for Sean McCann, 35.

Continue Reading... Labels: Hugh Orde, IRA, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Ira Suspect Linked To Blast Agents Say Man Admits Thatcher Plot

17 January 1990
Sun Sentinel
Lisa Ocker

One of four suspected Irish Republican Army members, charged with trying to buy a surface-to-air missile in Palm Beach County, claimed responsibility for a 1984 assassination attempt against British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, documents filed on Tuesday show.

Kevin Joseph McKinley, 33, an Irish-born Riviera Beach resident, made the claim last month during negotiations to buy the Stinger missile from undercover agents posing as arms dealers, officials said.

The agents detailed the conversation in papers filed in conjunction with the first appearance of McKinley and the other men before a federal magistrate in West Palm Beach.

Continue Reading... Labels: Brighton bomb, IRA, Margaret Thatcher, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

IRA suspect `One of Brighton bombers'

17 January 1990
Daily Mail
Michael McDonough

An IRA suspect arrested in America is said to have admitted being involved in the Brighton bombing.

Kevin McKinley, one of four men accused of trying to buy an anti-aircraft Stinger missile, claimed he was part of a terrorist cell which narrowly failed to kill Mrs Thatcher during the Tory conference in 1984.

Court documents in West Palm Beach, Florida, say he claimed that `his group was responsible for many bombings without being caught and was responsible for an attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher at Brighton'. The attack on the Grand Hotel killed five people.

Continue Reading... Labels: Brighton bomb, IRA, Margaret Thatcher, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Sean McCann, Stinger missiles

Affidavit: IRA Suspect Claimed Link to Thatcher Bombing

16 January 1990
The Associated Press
Brian Murphy

A suspected Irish Republican Army terrorist bragged "his people" had connections to a 1984 plot to kill British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, according to documents released Tuesday.

The statement was attributed to Kevin McKinley, 33, one of four suspected IRA members arrested after they allegedly bought an anti-aircraft Stinger missile and other weapons from federal undercover agents last week.

The men told undercover agents they planned to use the missile against British troops in Northern Ireland.

Continue Reading... Labels: Brighton bomb, IRA, Margaret Thatcher, Sean Gerard McCann, Sean John McCann, Stinger missiles