The Next One Is for You

From New York Times reporter and Pulitzer finalist Ali Watkins, the long-buried story of how a group of Philadelphia gunrunners armed the IRA at the height of the Troubles—a true-crime saga that illuminates Irish America’s central role in the conflict and its legacy.

Northern Ireland, 1975. Violence has erupted on the streets of Belfast. After years as a sleepy, guerilla army, the IRA is clashing with Loyalist gangs and heavily armed British soldiers. But the Troubles have spilled beyond the small island: An ocean away, in the heart of Philadelphia’s Irish enclave, a teenage girl finds a letter in her mailbox. Inside is a bullet, and the message is clear: The next one is for you or your family.

As celebrated New York Times reporter Ali Watkins reveals in this exquisitely reported nonfiction thriller, the conflict in Northern Ireland might have gone very differently had it not been for a small, ragtag band of carpenters, family men, and fugitives in the United States. The Philadelphia Five, as they came to be known, supplied the Irish Republican Army at its moment of greatest need, bolstering the fight for a united Ireland but fueling the Troubles at an untold cost. This small group of Irish nationalists smuggled hundreds of rifles, rocket launchers, explosives, and armor-piercing bullets across the Atlantic Ocean and into Northern Ireland. Whether they were skimming money from innocuous-seeming charities, coolly slipping weapons into hidden compartments of vans and houses, or scouring local graveyards for the names of dead Irishmen to use on federal firearm forms, the gunrunners approached their mission—to unite Ireland under one flag, by any means necessary—with ruthless poise, even as European and American investigators closed in, members of their own movement began to turn on them, and bodies stacked up on all sides.

A gripping tale of crime, rebellion, and the hazy line between them, The Next One Is for You is the definitive account of America’s hand in the Troubles—a conflict whose resonance is still felt today, in the United States and Ireland alike.

• "The remarkable story of the Philly Five will serve for many as a riveting companion piece to Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing. But that doesn’t do it justice. In Ali Watkins’s capable hands, it stands proudly alongside that modern classic as its own gateway into the Troubles. A powerful, gritty, emotional read."
  Julian Sancton, author of Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
• "In the 1970s, a small circle of Philadelphia residents fueled brutal street warfare 3,000 miles from the Liberty Bell. Unflinching and meticulously reported, The Next One Is for You is a gripping tale of the Troubles, told for the first time from this side of the Atlantic."
  Tom O'Neill, author of Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
• “The Next One Is for You is nonfiction at its best: the intense, clear-eyed, and brilliantly reported story that takes the reader on a very human journey. In revealing how a flood of weapons from Philadelphia suddenly transformed the urban battlefields of Northern Ireland, Ali Watkins also brings to life two parallel subcultures: the Irish nationalists who left for the United States and those who stayed behind. Powerful and compelling, this book is a must.”
  James Risen, author of The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator’s Fight to Save Democracy
• “Ali Watkins is an intrepid guide to the intersection between violence, identity, and power. Now, she proves herself to be a riveting storyteller, to boot. The Next One Is for You is a masterpiece of investigative and true-crime reporting: a white-knuckle ride through 1970s Philadelphia and Belfast, two cities that will now be foreverlinked in American memory.”
  Mark Leibovich, author of This Town and Thank You for Your Servitude
• "An important, fascinating exploration of how American guns became central to the course of an Irish war."
  Toby Harnden, author of First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11 and Bandit Country: The IRA & South Armagh
• “A harrowing epic of crime and betrayal, a surprising story of the Irish diaspora, a masterful work history: Ali Watkins's The Next One Is For You chronicles the overlooked chapter of America's role in the Troubles, and is the next must-read for those interested in one of the world's oldest sectarian struggles.”
  Dan Slater, author of The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld
• “Written with the meticulousness of forensic investigation and the narrative intensity of a novel, The Next One Is for You is a definitive, sobering exploration of legacy, insurgency, and the Irish question. Ali Watkins masterfully unravels the covert history of how a small band of Irish Americans shaped the course of history.”
  Elaine Feeney, author of How to Build a Boat