A convicted IRA gunman, Joseph Doherty, gained notoriety in the USA through his continuous frustration, until February 1992, of British attempts to extradite him. New York named a street corner after him, and American public figures referred to him as a "prisoner of conscience". Providing details of the internal workings and operations of the Provisional IRA, this book traces Doherty's story. It follows the legal events and offers evidence of how Margaret Thatcher's direct intervention ironically turned an IRA killer into a hero. Martin Dillon is the author of "The Shankill Butchers" and "The Dirty War".