network in America. In 1981, Meo notified the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force about Harrison's attempt to smuggle a large cache of arms into Ireland from his home in New York. Subsequently, in June, Harrison and four other Irish gunrunners (Thomas Falvey from County Kerry, Michael Flannery from County Tipperary, Pat Mullin from County Galway, and Danny Gormley from County Leitrim) were arrested by the FBI as part of a sting operation but acquitted at their trial in 1982. The men were charged with attempting to smuggle a consignment of arms to Ireland which included a flamethrower and a 20mm anti-tank rifle. Their acquittal was widely attributed to the unconventional efforts of Harrison's personal attorney, Frank Durkan; the men did not deny their activities but claimed that they believed the operation had been sanctioned by the Central Intelligence Agency. Despite the men's acquittal, the arrest of Harrison halted nearly all of the guns being smuggled out of the country. Holland wrote that "there can be no doubt that with the arrest of Harrison, his gunrunning career ended and the IRA's most vital source of weapons was blocked", which was already in decline in the late 1970s; by 1980, the IRA was already importing a large number of weapons from mainland Europe and the Middle East. Megahey was arrested by the FBI in 1982 after a successful sting operation, where he was trying to purchase surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) for the IRA, and sentenced to seven years in prison. Another devastating blow to any major IRA gunrunning attempt came in September 1984, when the FBI warned the Republic of Ireland that a major IRA arms shipment was underway from the United States, and that the weaponry would be transferred to an Irish fishing trawler in the Atlantic. Subsequently, Irish authorities discovered that the arms ship was a vessel named Marita Ann, allegedly after a tip-off from Sean O'Callaghan, the Garda Síochána informer within the IRA. Three Irish Naval Service ships confronted the vessel off the coast of County Kerry, and prevented its escape by firing warning shots. A team of naval personnel and Garda officers boarded the ship, arresting the crew of five and confiscating seven tons of military equipment, as well as medications, training manuals, and communications equipment. The weapons had allegedly been donated by the South Boston Winter Hill Irish Mob. Andrew J. Wilson in his book Irish America and