Fran O’Toole Died on Verge of Mass Recognition on Occult Holy Day as Did Two Graffiti Artist Friends
“‘We were lined up outside our minibus, facing this field. I stood where I’m standing now. One of the soldiers jokingly said something like, “Bet you’d rather be tucked up at home in bed than out here”, and Fran, always the quick-wit, replied, “Bet you’d rather be anywhere else but lying in a ditch.” When I think back on it now, it is difficult to understand how men could be so casual and jocular knowing full well the carnage, savagery and slaughter they were about to unleash.’”
Stephen Travers and Neil Fetherstonhaugh, ‘The Miami Showband Massacre: A Survivor’s Search for Truth’, 2007
Fran O’Toole as rising star-lead singer of the Miami Showband, was murdered as he was about to achieve recognition:
Documentary Screenshot of Newspaper Article after Miami Showband Massacre. Source: Fair Use.
The Miami Showband massacre, brutal as it was, reserved its most savage sadism for the killing of lead singer, the ingenious and baby faced heartthrob, Fran O’Toole. Not the original singer:
“[…b]y The early 1970s the band had found a charismatic new singer called Fran O’Toole”
Narrator, ‘The Miami Showband: The Day the Music Died’ BBC-RTE Documentary, 2005 via YouTube
…and it was a widely held opinion that he was:
“…really something special, [meaning] everybody was a Fran fan including myself because this guy is different, a different class altogether.”
Ibid. Fr. Brian D’Arcy, CP OBE – BBC Broadcaster – Chaplain to the Showbusiness Industry in Ireland
…due to the widely held opinion that:
“He was photogenic, he looked well on television, he sounded terrific on records. He had everything.”
Ibid.
…as a result he was highly popular with people of all types across Ireland:
Tea-Lady serving [Cropped]. Source: Public Domain. Available from: Wikicommons [ Archived here ]
“…you go in the [dance] halls and the tea-ladies were running up to give Fran an extra sticky bun or something you know, he just attracted people to him.”
Ibid. Brian Maguire, Former Miami Showband Road Manager
Sticky Bun. Source: CC BY-SA 2.0. Available from Attribution: Flickr Stu_Spivack [ Archived here ]
…and it appears it was not just the tea ladies for:
“Fran appealed a lot to the young audience because he was a good looking guy, great voice, nice personality and…the …women really loved him, I was jealous he he he …”
Ibid. Des McAlea
However his bandmates, who clearly adored him, were not the only ones jealous of his good looks, charisma and talent.
Not all envy was so playful:
“Robin the Jackal had hatred for the lead singer, [and] shot [him] 22 times in the face with dumdum rounds, they explode on impact…”
Brian Black- Ulster TV Report ‘Miami Showband massacre, ambushed and executed by the UVF pretending to be an army checkpoint, July 31st 1975’, Northern Ireland Conflict Videos
So why was such rage and overkill directed at the lead singer?
Well, such people as Robin the Jackal, and others involved in targeting accomplished, attractive and able people, such as the stalkers, gangstalkers, murderers, mass murderers, serial killers and architects of genocide appear to bear the traits of narcissism and are:
“…aggressive without provocation [due to] the need to maintain a superior image to themselves and others–[meaning they are] willing to go to extreme lengths to protect or avenge it–even murder. people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are in love with an idealized, grandiose image of themselves that they have developed to avoid deep feelings of insecurity. But propping up and protecting these delusions of grandeur takes a lot of work”
‘The Hidden Danger of the Homicidal Narcissist’, Psychology Today [ Archived here ] [Added Emphasis]
…and when it comes to killing:
“Narcissistic killers are a chilling subset of criminals who combine extreme self-centeredness with a willingness to take human life. These individuals often display traits of narcissistic personality disorder, including an inflated sense of self-importance, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. Their narcissism can fuel their violent acts, as they may view victims as mere objects to be used for their own gratification or ego boost.
Some narcissistic killers seek notoriety and public attention through their crimes, craving the spotlight even as they commit heinous acts. […]When narcissists face perceived slights or criticism, they may lash out in narcissistic rage. This intense anger can sometimes escalate to violence or other criminal acts. Narcissistic rage stems from deep-seated insecurity and fear of exposure.
The combination of narcissism and violent tendencies creates a dangerous mix. These killers often lack remorse for their actions and may continue their crimes until caught[…]
Some narcissistic killers even derive pleasure from causing pain. They may see suffering as a form of power or control. This twisted perspective fuels their violent acts […as…] narcissistic killers often have fragile self-esteem. Their grandiose external persona masks deep-seated insecurities. Violence becomes a way to assert dominance and boost their ego.
Perceived slights or criticism can trigger extreme rage in these individuals. They may lash out violently to protect their fragile self-image. This hair-trigger temper makes them unpredictable and dangerous.
Some narcissistic killers crave notoriety. They view their crimes as a path to fame or recognition. This warped desire for attention drives them to commit increasingly shocking acts.[…]
Narcissistic killers often seek out vulnerable individuals. They may target those who are isolated, emotionally fragile, or seeking approval…focus[sing] on successful or attractive people. By destroying those they envy, they attempt to boost their own self-image.
Victims are often carefully selected based on physical appearance, social status, or personal qualities the killer wishes to possess.“
Unmasking Narcissist Killers: The Dark Side of Extreme Self-Centeredness [ Archived here ] [Added Emphasis]
…and with the Miami and Fran:
“While many of the other showbands attracted a mixed audience, the Miami had a massive female fanbase. With cherubic lead-singer Fran O’Toole fronting the band, it was always going to prove a particular favourite with the ladies.[…]
‘Fran was very good-looking,’ Stephen remembers with a smile. ‘He always had women around him, but the attention never fazed him. He couldn’t have been less interested, married as he was.to Valerie. In fact, it went right over his head. He was always polite and very approachable, but that’s as far as it went for Fran. He just loved playing the songs. He was the perennial performer; born to be on the stage.’”
Stephen Travers and Neil Fetherstonhaugh, ‘The Miami Showband Massacre: A Survivor’s Search for Truth’, 2007
And while many of the other showbands played a cabaret rendition of the current UK chart hits, O’Toole wrote his own material performed both by the Miami Showband and alone by himself in solo renditions at the piano, meaning that pop music in Ireland had, after ‘finding its feet’ by copying the work of others, finally ‘come of age’ and was successfully ready to take its place on the world stage.
“the undoubted star of the show was Fran O’ Toole, the handsome lead singer. The quality and range of his voice is still obvious today, and in the occasional archive footage that exists it is easy to discern the unique quality that set him apart from other front men. If fate had not interrupted he would have gone on to even bigger things than the Miami…‘There are many versatile musicians who can cover a multitude of styles, but the important ones are those who will leave their own instantly recognisable footprint. These are the people who, when they play their instrument or sing their songs, you know immediately who they are. Fran O’Toole was one of those people. He had a very distinctive voice and a particularly impressive aura… he said, “You know, they’re grooming me for America … the management…wanted to promote him as a solo performer in the US, playing the hugely lucrative hotel cabaret circuit.”
Ibid.
This would have meant that the eyes of the world would have been on Ireland not only for the sectarian violence, but for its homegrown autonomous culture with journalists asking the kind of questions which were asked of musicians globally.
However in the nature of his voice as an uncontrolled narrative, would have enabled a conduit via which the Miami Showband’s peaceful mixed faiths:
“Decca Records, the Miami’s record company… confirmed what Fran had told Stephen about his upcoming solo career: ‘Decca had planned to launch Fran O’Toole as a solo singer/songwriter on a new label at the start of September.”
Ibid.
In a time during which high level collusion Fran O’Toole as a budding global superstar threatened the attempt to control every aspect of the political manoeuvring.
Whether through song lyrics, interviews or merely through the demonstration of the peaceful co-existence of Protestant and Catholic within the Showband and their followers’ culture, Fran O’Toole’s example provided a template for the transcendence of sectarian division.
This idea runs counter to the strategic tension in use in Ireland through collusion:
“The strategy of tension is a method of social control involving a series of covert attacks upon a population, intended to promote stress and fear amongst them. The purpose is, by inducing a mistrust of one another and of the world at large, to increase child-like dependence upon perceived authority figures […] The methods used are most obviously illegal and violent i.e. assassinations, kidnapping, paramilitary operations but also include propaganda, economic sanctions, support of civil unrest, fake grassroots movements, promotion of disruptive memes or technologies and the escalation of formerly peaceful protests by use of agents provocateurs.”
Daniele Ganser (May 2014) Journal of 9/11 Studies, ‘Strategy of Tension’, WikiSpooks [ Archived here ]
His easy charm, friendly demeanour, good looks and humble gentleness may have been more appealing to the younger generation that the violent rhetoric provided by the blustering leaders of the political wings of the paramilitaries in their unwavering stance of sectarian division, stirring up hatred based on their clinging to the memories of historical injustices.
The establishment had learned from experience just how powerful the voices of artists could be, and also that the notions of social harmony espoused by such figures far outshone, in the comparatively unpolluted minds of the youth, the ideology of sectarian hatred which taught intolerance and encouraged the paramilitaries in attacks which often killed and injured entirely innocent and apolitical people and thus which acted as de facto recruiting sergeants for extremism, always ratcheting up the agenda of hatred.
And while the music and threatened elevated media presence of Fran O’Toole as an Irish superstar in America, offered no political agenda such as was offered by the opposing sects and their leaders, he did however still innocently carry a message that was against the apparent covert interests of the state in fomenting hatred, and that was the through the spread of idea that people could exist in harmony, a truth he and the Showbands demonstrated until 31st of July 1975, every Saturday night at dancehalls across the entire island of Ireland.
So as well as the wiping out of the Showband phenomenon, his assassination appears to fit in with the UK policy of waging war on autonomous culture under General Sir Frank Kitson OBE in which:
“the British attempted to lay the ground for depriving the Nationalists of the management of social, cultural or recreational activities.”
Roger Faligot, ‘Britain’s Military Strategy in lreland’, 1983, ‘Control of Population’, Pg 123 [ Archived here ]
Ireland was in the second half of the 20th century a developing nation, a severely economically deprived country with many living in slum conditions.
Photograph of Falls Road, Belfast. 1970. Source: CC BY-SA 4.0, Attribution: Jeanne Griffin. Available from: Wikicommons [ Archived here ]
Lacking the mainland UK’s advantages, Ireland was still a mostly rural country, with a sparse, mainly agricultural economy, thus with very little for the youth, or anyone else (apart from tourists), to do:
Charles family holiday to Ireland. Source: CC BY-SA 4.0, Attribution: Geoff Charles. Available from: Wikicommons [ Archived here ]
…and was even in the supposedly many ‘privileged’ Loyalist areas deprived almost to the level of a third world state.
The Shankill road, Belfast during the troubles. 1970. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0, Attribution: Fribbler. Available from: Wikicommons [ Archived here ]
…at a time at which many people had little to live for, or identify meaning that pretty much the only thing left to do, apart from going to church, or the pub was joining either the paramilitary or the sectarian youth wings and engaging in marching, protests and stone throwing.
…as I saw the slums, deprivation and military occupation for myself when visiting family from both sides of the sectarian divide, during a visit to both sides of the border, in the late ’70s/ early ’80s, during the worst years of the so-called ‘Troubles’.
And while many protestants benefited, including by often holding the best jobs and housing they were and remain very often deprived in comparison to those on the UK mainland, often shared the grinding poverty experienced by the Catholics, suffering from poor quality of life, residing in slums and tenements.
This is why just as whites joined blacks on the anti apartheid marches in South Africa:
Photograph of the anti apartheid marches in South Africa. Source: Public Domain.
…many protestants joined in with the Catholics when the civil right movement reached Ireland:
…including key members of the Protestant and even Unionist community:
“Through organisations such as the Credit Union, through business, professions or trade union work and through the 1965 University for Derry campaign in which several of them had been involved, committee members were widely known in the city. Thus the campaign they ran was not so much a purely political one, led by political activists, as a civic one, run in large part by prominent local business people and professionals. It was dedicated to the local and the civic: to Derry. At the beginning, it was by no means clear that this committee was launching a campaign for ‘civil rights’ as the term later came to be understood, particularly as its title did not include the term ‘civil tights’. The DCAC campaign was mounted and run with no input from the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and had virtually no contact with them.’* The committee appears to have deliberately avoided becoming part of a Northern Ireland campaign for civil rights and in these months there was just a Derry campaign supported by others throughout Northern Ireland. The DCAC, although founded after a NICRA-sponsored march, was far more the child of the 1965 university campaign and years of housing activism in Derry than a ‘civil rights’ organisation. This came through strongly in early meetings.
Page 20
The first action of the committee was to set about taking statements from those who had been injured by the RUC during the weekend of violence after 5 October. The first demonstration, which would be held
Page 21
two weeks after the 5 October march, was a sit-down protest which would, of its nature, be passive. When the DCAC announced that it would be holding this protest, it provoked the resignation of Campbell Austin. Austin was a liberal Unionist who had broken with the party in Derry over the university issue.!S For a very short time, his support had been retained by the DCAC because the committee, with its central concern for developing Derry, could claim direct descent from the university campaign. His exit from the committee, because he could not endorse civil disobedience, marks a break with that legacy. It also illustrates the limits of this particular brand of Protestant dissent.the Derry Citizens Action Committee… had two prominent Protestant members, Ivan Cooper and Claude Wilton, who were active in the Labour and Liberal parties respectively. These parties, although mixed, had always relied in Derry principally on Catholic voters for support.!? Cooper and Wilton represented a small liberal and anti-Unionist Protestant tradition which was marginal to Protestant politics in the city and was strongly connected to the Catholic community.
[…]
A short time later, the first serious sectarian clashes in Derry took place when loyalist crowds gathered at a shirt factory on the edge of the Fountain where the Protestant DCAC member Ivan Cooper worked as manager. The crowd attacked Catholic women workers as they left and two had to be treated in hospital. Although the RUC arrived on the scene it was felt they had not responded quickly enough.®* The following night a crowd of 150 people who had been at a civil rights meeting decided they would go down to ensure the workers got out safely. Clashes broke out with a loyalist crowd outside the factory and when the RUC appeared on the scene they appear to have ended the conflict by baton-charging the Catholic crowd.®’ These events tended to further erode Catholic faith in the RUC.”
…before the Troubles of the late 60s began and before the birth of the Provisional IRA, on the ill-fated marches, for they too either suffered from the poverty, or from friendships, relationships and through living alongside Catholics, knew them as friends, as family, as fellow human beings, so empathised with them.
However even sympathisers with what was effectively a system of Apartheid operating of British soil, themselves, merely due to their Protestant status came under fire, effectively acting as de-facto ‘human shields’ as a result of the centuries old colonial actions of the British state.
As a result culture, and especially music while particularly rich in Ireland with a huge population of musicians, the isolation from the rest of the world, combined with economic deprivation meant that while the west was enjoying the explosion of pop music which followed world war
the confiscation of assets, the treatment of the indigenous population of subservient making them tenants of their own land, and the murder of their leaders, the disparaging and disintegration of their culture the banning of indigenous from high status or income jobs, the banning of all from influential jobs or roles, the extraction of its natural resources and siphoning off to the state, the ridicule of the indigenous culture and killing of its leaders is a feature of the British State.
This apparent ritual assassination of leaders in the counterculture is repeated in my culture of graffiti art, my friends Robbo and Pavel 183 RIP who spoke out against the corruption in the art market and like Fran O’Toole were about to ‘make it’ and achieve a public platform, both mysteriously received fatal injuries on April 1st, April Fool’s Day, an occult Satanic festival:
“April 1 – All Fool’s Day, precisely 13 weeks since New Year’s Day!”
‘Summer Solstice – 13 weeks – When the sun reaches its northernmost point in its journey across the sky’, Occult Holidays and Sabbats [ Archived here ] [Added Emphasis]
Another coincidence?
THE MATHEMATICAL ODDS OF THESE ANOMALIES BEING COINCIDENTAL LESSEN WITH EACH CHAPTER…
READ ON THEN YOU DECIDE.
