Gerry Adams has been named by an influential American magazine as a former IRA commander who personally passed ‘ death sentences ’ on its enemies . Adams , 64 , has long denied belonging to the terror group . But the New Yorker magazine has published a damning 15,000-word assessment of allegations against him . Scroll down for video . New Yorker magazine has accused Gerry Adams , pictured , of being a former IRA commander . It claims that Adams himself issued the order to ‘ disappear ’ mother-of-ten Jean McConville who was dragged screaming from her Belfast home by a masked gang in 1972 after she was suspected of being a British Army informer . Last year Adams was arrested by police investigating Mrs McConville ’ s murder . He has always denied any involvement and was released without charge . The article names Adams as having been a senior member of the IRA and the military commander responsible for the Belfast Brigade . None of the claims is new but their collation by the magazine – in a devastating essay entitled ‘ Where the bodies are buried ’ with another headline saying Adams ‘ authorised murder ’ – is seen as a sign that the Sinn Fein president can no longer regard himself as the ‘ acceptable face ’ of Irish Republicanism in America . The magazine claimed that Gerry Adams , pictured , joined the IRA in the 1960s and passed 'death sentences ' Patrick Radden Keefe , the author of the New Yorker essay , wrote : ‘ It is believed that Adams joined [ the IRA ] as a teenager , in the mid-Sixties . Several former IRA volunteers confirmed to me that Adams was a member of the group. ’ He said Adams had presided over a meeting of IRA bombers in Belfast to plot the 1973 bombing campaign in London . The article also said Adams dispatched an IRA member to New York to procure Armalite assault rifles for use against the British Army , having them smuggled back aboard the QEII ocean liner .
Sinn Fein magazine has printed 15,000-word profile on Gerry Adams . The New Yorker leader has long denied being a former IRA member . The magazine said Adams issued the order to 'disappear ' a mother of ten . They also allege he was at a planning meeting for a London terror strike .