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  • He Was the IRA's Executioner - Did Britain Protect a Killer?

    He Was the IRA's Executioner - Did Britain Protect a Killer?
    2026/10/28
    He Was the IRA's Executioner - Did Britain Protect a Killer?

    A cold August recording captures a man who may have been both the IRA's feared Internal Security boss and a paid British agent - a man allegedly paid about £80,000 a year and called "the golden egg." If he ran the Nutting Squad that interrogated and executed suspected informers, how many lives were lost because of what he revealed or concealed?

    In this episode, we chart the life and alleged double role of Freddie Scappaticci, from his January 12, 1946 birth in the Markets area of Belfast to the car park tape at the Culloden Hotel on August 26, 1993, and the findings of Operation Kenova: did his handlers value intelligence over innocent lives?

    Person: Freddie Scappaticci
    Date: January 12, 1946 (birth) and August 26, 1993 (Culloden Hotel recording)
    Location: Markets area of Belfast; Culloden Hotel car park, Cultra, County Down
    Event: Operation Kenova launched October 2015 concluded strong evidence of very serious criminality
    Topic: Alleged codename "Stakeknife" and role in IRA Internal Security Unit ("Nutting Squad")

    - Scappaticci was recorded speaking at the Culloden Hotel car park on August 26, 1993 without knowing the microphone was running.
    - By 1980 he held a senior position in the IRA's Internal Security Unit, the "Nutting Squad."
    - Reporting in May 2003 identified him as Stakeknife and reported a reported salary of approximately £80,000 a year.
    - Operation Kenova, launched in October 2015, concluded there was strong evidence of very serious criminality and found identifiable lives saved numbered in the high single figures to low double figures.
    - A senior British military figure, Sir John Wilsey, described Stakeknife as "the golden egg."

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 分
  • Stakeknife: The Man Who Executed Informers While Feeding British Intelligence

    Stakeknife: The Man Who Executed Informers While Feeding British Intelligence
    2026/10/27
    Stakeknife: The Man Who Executed Informers While Feeding British Intelligence

    A recording of a man in a hotel car park on 26 August 1993 would later help confirm that Freddie Scappaticci lived two lives - as an IRA Internal Security Unit leader and as an agent for British military intelligence - and a 2025 report concluded more lives were probably lost than saved. How did a single informer become the man who hunted and executed other informers?

    In this episode, we tell the story laid out in the transcript: Scappaticci’s upbringing in Belfast, his rise to run the Nutting Squad inside the IRA, the Culloden Hotel tape, allegations he was Stakeknife handled by the Force Research Unit, and the unresolved accounting of lives and responsibility that followed. What does the evidence in this record say about who gained and who paid the price?

    Person: Frederick Scappaticci
    Date of birth: 12 January 1946
    Event: Recording made in hotel car park on 26 August 1993
    Report: Investigation published in December 2025 concluded more lives probably lost than saved
    Payment: Alleged £80,000 per year to Scappaticci reported by The Guardian in 2003

    - Scappaticci was fined for riotous assembly in 1970 and interned at Long Kesh in 1971 under Operation Demetrius.
    - By the late 1970s he had risen to a senior position in the IRA’s Internal Security Unit, known internally as the Nutting Squad.
    - The Nutting Squad’s executions typically involved a single shot to the head following interrogation without legal oversight.
    - A former operative, Martin Ingram, publicly alleged Scappaticci was Stakeknife and that the FRU handled him directly.
    - The Culloden Hotel recording from 26 August 1993 resurfaced about a decade later and became key evidence in later investigations.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • The Man Who Fed Killers: Britain's Secret IRA Mole Revealed

    The Man Who Fed Killers: Britain's Secret IRA Mole Revealed
    2026/10/26
    The Man Who Fed Killers: Britain's Secret IRA Mole Revealed

    Fear and fascination meet in a single recording: a man in a car park in 1993 spoke openly about IRA operations while unknowingly being taped - and that man was later identified by investigators as Stakeknife, the highest-placed British agent inside the IRA. How did a trusted Internal Security Unit member, who hunted, interrogated and executed suspected informants, remain an agent for decades, and what did that protection cost in human lives?

    In this episode, we tell the documented story of Freddie Scappaticci, tracing his path from a Markets-born bricklayer to a senior figure in the IRA’s Internal Security Unit and to the agent codenamed Stakeknife, and we explore the findings of Operation Kenova and the Irish government’s 2026 confirmation: did more people die because of him than were saved?

    Person: Freddie Scappaticci
    Codename: Stakeknife
    Recording date: 26 August 1993
    Birth date: 12 January 1946
    Investigation: Operation Kenova

    - Scappaticci was recorded speaking about IRA operations on 26 August 1993 in a car park outside the Culloden Hotel in Cultra, County Down.
    - He was born in the Markets district of Belfast on 12 January 1946 and worked as a bricklayer with six children.
    - By approximately 1980 he held a senior position in the IRA Internal Security Unit, known as the Nutting Squad.
    - Records examined by investigators indicate Scappaticci admitted participation in the 1989 interrogation and killing of Joe Fenton.
    - The Irish government in January 2026 confirmed Operation Kenova’s finding that there was "solid evidence of very serious criminality" linked to Scappaticci.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 分
  • She Buried Their Secrets: The Tin Box in Weimar Garden

    She Buried Their Secrets: The Tin Box in Weimar Garden
    2026/10/25
    She Buried Their Secrets: The Tin Box in Weimar Garden

    Beneath a strawberry bed in Weimar, a tin box holds more than seven hundred pages of handwritten carbon copies sealed in 1944 by a twenty-four-year-old SS secretary - documents that recorded the secret decisions of Fascist Italy and that the world's greatest intelligence services tried for decades to recover. Who was the young woman who buried them, and whose side was she really on?

    In this episode, we follow the life and career of Hildegard Beetz, later known as Hilde Purwin, from her birth in 1919 through her work for the Sicherheitsdienst and her role with Galeazzo Ciano, tracing how a secretary became indispensable to intelligence operations and why her buried tin box mattered to postwar debriefs and Cold War files. What did those diaries and the tin box reveal about loyalty, secrecy, and the hidden currents of wartime diplomacy?

    Person: Hildegard Gertrud Burkhardt (later Hildegard Beetz, known as Hilde Purwin)
    Date: Born 16 September 1919; tin box buried in 1944; Rome events in 1943
    Location: Weimar (tin box buried in garden); Rome and Berlin (career postings); Allmannshausen and Verona (Ciano transfers)
    Topic: Secret diaries of Galeazzo Ciano and handwritten carbon copies recording Fascist Italy's decisions
    Organization: Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Amt VI (Foreign Political Intelligence of the SS)

    - Tin box contained more than 700 pages of handwritten carbon copies sealed and hidden in 1944.
    - Hildegard was 24 years old when she buried the documents and had been recruited by the SD in autumn 1939 at age 20.
    - She was born 16 September 1919 in Obernissa near Erfurt and moved to Weimar after her father's death in 1933.
    - By July 1940 she was transferred to Amt VI in Berlin and by 1941 was serving in Rome as secretary to Guido Zimmer and later to Helmut Looss and Herbert Kappler.
    - On 27 August 1943 an SD operation flew Galeazzo Ciano and his family to Munich; Hildegard Beetz was later smuggled onto the flight to Verona as an interpreter.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    25 分
  • She Buried the Tin: The Young Spy Who Hid Ciano's Secrets

    She Buried the Tin: The Young Spy Who Hid Ciano's Secrets
    2026/10/24
    She Buried the Tin: The Young Spy Who Hid Ciano's Secrets

    Buried beneath a strawberry patch in Weimar in early 1945 was a tin box no intelligence service knew existed, containing over seven hundred carbon-copy pages of Galeazzo Ciano’s secret diaries. How did a twenty-five-year-old German secretary, working undercover as "Felizitas," end up hiding documents that would reach Washington and reshape the historical record?

    In this episode, we trace Hildegard Beetz's path from a Thuringian village to Berlin and Rome, her recruitment by the German Security Service, and her assignment to gain access to Ciano in Verona - then ask what she risked and why she chose to bury those papers rather than hand them over.

    Person: Hildegard Gertrud Burkhardt (later Beetz)
    Date of birth: September 16, 1919
    Event: Burial of tin box with over 700 carbon-copy diary pages in early 1945
    Location: Weimar, under a strawberry patch beside an apple tree
    Assignment cover name: Felizitas

    - She was recruited by the German Security Service (SD) in September or October 1939 at age 20.
    - By July 1941 she was posted to Rome as a secretary to Guido Zimmer and returned in July 1942 under Helmut Looss.
    - On July 24, 1943, Galeazzo Ciano voted against Mussolini in the Fascist Grand Council, ending Mussolini's government.
    - Ciano was extracted by the Germans on August 27, 1943 and held at a villa in Allmannshausen before transfer to Verona.
    - The tin contained over 700 carbon-copy sheets of Ciano’s diaries that were later microfilmed by American intelligence.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • The Archduke Who Became Vasyl: Murdered in a Kyiv Prisonyard

    The Archduke Who Became Vasyl: Murdered in a Kyiv Prisonyard
    2026/10/23
    The Archduke Who Became Vasyl: Murdered in a Kyiv Prisonyard

    A Habsburg archduke lived and died under a Ukrainian name, buried unmarked in a Kyiv prison yard after being taken by Soviet MGB agents following a March 1947 noise complaint in Vienna. How did Wilhelm Franz of Austria - who became Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, wore a vyshyvanka, wrote Ukrainian poetry and commanded some 4,000 troops - end up dead in Soviet custody without a trial?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence from his 1895 birth on Lošinj through his transformation after a teenage trip into Hutsul villages, his service with a largely Ukrainian lancer regiment, exile, poetry and political ties, to the March 1947 arrest triggered by a birthday-party complaint - and ask what in his life made him a Soviet target.

    Person: Wilhelm Franz of Austria (Vasyl Vyshyvanyi)
    Date of birth: February 10, 1895
    Event: Noise complaint at a Vienna birthday party, March 1947
    Age at death: 53
    Status of burial: Unmarked grave in a Kyiv prison courtyard

    - He commanded roughly 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers by 1916 in southern Ukraine through Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
    - He published a collection of Ukrainian poetry in 1921 and acquired an Austrian passport in the name Vasyl Vyshyvanyi in 1922.
    - He was born on Lošinj on February 10, 1895, youngest child of Archduke Karl Stephan.
    - He was detained by Romanian forces in June 1919 for three months before being released to join the Ukrainian People's Republic.
    - His arrest in March 1947 began when Austrian police handed Vasyl Vyshyvanyi to Soviet officers after a neighbor noise complaint at a birthday party.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 分
  • The Habsburg Who Became a Ukrainian - Disappeared Without a Grave

    The Habsburg Who Became a Ukrainian - Disappeared Without a Grave
    2026/10/22
    The Habsburg Who Became a Ukrainian - Disappeared Without a Grave

    He died alone in a Kyiv prison hospital at eleven o’clock on the night of August 18, 1948, with no family notified and no marked grave - a Habsburg archduke who had taken a Ukrainian name and life. How did Archduke Wilhelm Franz of Austria become Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, command four thousand soldiers, write Ukrainian poetry, and end up erased beneath a foreign soil?

    In this episode, we tell the story of the man born Wilhelm Franz of Austria who chose the name Vasyl Vyshyvanyi and the people of Ukraine, and the chain of events that led from the Habsburg courts to a Soviet prison hospital - what happened to him, and why the Soviets refused to account for his death.

    Person: Wilhelm Franz of Austria (also known as Vasyl Vyshyvanyi)
    Date of death: August 18, 1948 at 11:00 p.m.
    Birth date: February 10, 1895
    Place of birth: Lošinj, Austrian Littoral
    Event: Commanded Battle Group Archduke Wilhelm, about 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers

    - He was born on February 10, 1895 on the island of Lošinj in the Austrian Littoral.
    - As a cavalry officer he served with the Thirteenth Galicia Lancer Regiment on the Eastern Front during World War I.
    - His soldiers gave him a vyshyvanka, after which he adopted the name Vasyl Vyshyvanyi and learned Ukrainian.
    - In 1918 he led Battle Group Archduke Wilhelm of roughly 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers operating in southern Ukraine.
    - He died alone in a Kyiv prison hospital on the night of August 18, 1948; Austria received only a sentencing certificate from the Soviets.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • The Archduke Who Disappeared: Died in Kyiv's Cell Seventeen

    The Archduke Who Disappeared: Died in Kyiv's Cell Seventeen
    2026/10/21
    The Archduke Who Disappeared: Died in Kyiv's Cell Seventeen

    A solitary death in a Kyiv prison hospital at 11:00 on 18 August 1948 hid an archduke, a decorated World War I officer, and a published Ukrainian poet from the world that still wondered where he went. How did Wilhelm Habsburg-Lothringen - who adopted the Ukrainian name Vasyl Vyshyvanyi and lived as a beloved "prince" in villages - end up dying in Cell Seventeen with no lawyer, no family, and no witness?

    In this episode, we trace the documents and files held in the Central State Archive of Public Associations of Ukraine to tell the sequence from a March 1947 birthday party in occupied Vienna to arrest within five months and death within a year. What did the interrogations, verdict, and Moscow transfer order show about who decided he could never leave prison alive?

    Person: Wilhelm Habsburg-Lothringen (Vasyl Vyshyvanyi)
    Date of death: 18 August 1948, 11:00
    Birth date: 10 February 1895
    Birthplace: Lošinj, Adriatic
    Archive: Central State Archive of Public Associations of Ukraine

    - Arrest occurred within five months after a March 1947 birthday party in occupied Vienna.
    - He died in Cell Seventeen of a Kyiv prison hospital with no lawyer, no family, and no witness present.
    - Moscow issued a final transfer order two weeks before his death, according to archive documents.
    - Born 10 February 1895, he served in the Thirteenth Galicia Lancer Regiment by 1915 and led roughly 4,000 soldiers in 1918.
    - He adopted the Ukrainian name Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, refused Austrian citizenship in 1922, and lived in Paris by 1931 as a Ukrainian poet.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    25 分