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According to Martin Dillon, it appears that Smyth had spent some time in the Maze. On page 264 of his book The Shankill Butchers, he mentions a conversation inside the Maze where Jim Craig had allegedly told Smyth to "keep your fucking mouth shut". I cannot find any mention of his imprisonment. Is it possible he was interned?--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 07:49, 28 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The story also appears in Dillon's The Trigger Men (pp. 87-88) in slightly more detail but I left it out because of a major contradiction that left me doubting he was talking about the same person. Dillon states that a conference was held in the Maze at which a variety of paramilitary leaders from both sides were invited by the British government to discuss ways to reduce or end sectarian killings in Belfast. Those who were not in prison at the time were given immunity in order that they could come in to attend the conference and Dillon doesn't mention which of these two categories Smyth was in. He claims that Smyth made a comment during the conference to the effect that a three year old Catholic child or 70 year old Catholic woman were legitimate targets and that Craig told him to "keep his views to himself" (apparently The Trigger Men including the family version of Craig's response). This was my big issue however - Dillon states that Craig knew Smyth had effectively signed his own death warrant with his outburst and sure enough "within three weeks of the conference the Provisional IRA had killed him". Clearly that doesn't add up as, if the conference was 1972, Smyth had another four years to run before being killed. A remark like that might well have sealed his fate but Dillon specifies three weeks which, assuming it is the same Sammy Smyth, is just plain wrong. I left the whole incident out because of this claim as it was all getting too confusing. Keresaspa (talk) 02:00, 29 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I was confused as well seeing as there was nothing to indicate Smyth's imprisonment and whilst the three weeks could well have been Dillon's typo (and he does have a plethora of these in his books: Sommerville for Somerville, etc) for three years, I agree it's best to leave the info out until the ambiguity is cleared up. I'm sure Smyth was told on more than one occasion to "keep his fucking mouth shut" and not just by Craig!!--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 06:15, 29 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Judging by some of the extremist pronouncements he came out with I suspect it was probably a daily occurrence :D Keresaspa (talk) 18:04, 29 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
John McMichael wouldn't have tolerated him nor would Jackie McDonald. Smyth's crass comments after the Dublin and Monaghan bombings were obscene. I hope for his immortal soul he was only using a figure of speech and didn't actually laugh when he saw the news footage of the victims - mostly young women from the country working in civil service and heading home for the weekend.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 18:37, 29 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
