Valhalla's Wake: The Ira, MI6, and the Assassination of a Young American

by John Loftus

Recounts the 1984 Valhalla international espionage scandal involving the IRA, CIA, Mafia, and British SAS

Genres: Nonfiction, Espionage

236 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

It is possible that John Loftus may know more intelligence secrets than anyone alive. As a Justice Department prosecutor, Loftus once held some of the highest security clearances in the world, with special access to NATO Cosmic, CIA codeword, and Top Secret Nuclear files. As a private attorney, he works without charge to help hundreds of intelligence agents obtain lawful permission to declassify and publish the hidden secrets of our times. He is the author of four history books, three of which have been made into films, two were international best sellers, and one was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2002, the SHOWTIME channel will begin filming “SECRET WARS,” the pilot of a television series based on Loftus’ life story, starring Jon Voight and Aidan Quinn.

As a young U.S. Army officer, John Loftus helped train Israelis on a covert operation that turned the tide of battle in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. During the Carter and Reagan Administrations, he investigated CIA cases and Nazi War Criminals for the Attorney General of the United States. In 1982, his “60 Minutes” expose of Nazis on the US government payroll won the Emmy Award for outstanding investigative journalism.

Born in Boston, Loftus now lives in St. Petersburg where he volunteers as the first Irish Catholic President of the Florida Holocaust Museum, the fifth largest in the world. Their goal is to end racism in our children’s lifetime. After recovering from colon cancer, he is now completing his fifth book, a look at the Middle East through the life of Jonathan Pollard. Before his illness, he had been rated among the funniest and most inspiring speakers on the international and college lecture circuits. Now he’s back with a totally different lecture that could not be more timely.

(source: https://web.archive.org/web/200308010...)

Reviews

[Mark Mills · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a fascinating story of drug running, arms smuggling, crime in Boston and the IRA. The problem is that the conclusion is 100% incorrect. Whitey Bulger, who actually killed John McIntyre, is not even mentioned once. Is it disinformation? Was Loftus mislead and if so why did he fall for it? I am left filled with questions.

[The other Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. The McIntyres appear to be an interesting family, and it's easy to see how John McIntyre grew up feeling some pressure to live up to his parents' war-time exploits.

The biggest problem with this book was that is was co-authored by McIntyre's mother, who paints her son as a saintly and adventurous young man, instead of the drug smuggler who used his proceeds to buy guns for the IRA that he was. The disconnect between how she paints him and what he actually does is pretty jarring.