him in Italy. From there he journeyed on to Germany, where he met the late Frank Ryan who had also been released, by negotiations, during which, it is claimed, the Irish Government were exceptionally cooperative and helpful - at least, their representative was. My first encounter, with the FBI came shortly afterwards and the Agents were very keen on trying to find out how Russell had managed to leave the USA. They told me they had many conflicting stories apparently only obtained to prove local Clan-na-Gael activities in New York city, claiming that Russel was taken off the ship at Gibraltar and murdered. As a matter of fact, some of them spoke to me and refused to believe the truth. They insisted that their side of the story was correct and that they had ample proof of it directly from Ireland. Not very long afterwards a very good friend of mine, Gerald O'Reilly received a letter hand written letter – a hand-writing I knew very well - namely, from Frank Ryan. In it Frank stated that "John” had died four months ago, sure we would know it was Sean Russell because his friends in the Army Council always referred to him as John. I dictated a reply to that letter, and nothing further was heard for quite some time ......
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