Alfredo "Freddy" Scappaticci is the son of an immigrant Italian family. One branch of the family moved to Belfast while others went to Liverpool, writes Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor.
The man who was to become the British army's most valuable agent within the ranks of the IRA originally lived in the Markets area of Belfast before moving to the west of the city where he lived at a number of addresses.
He is thought to have been involved with the IRA from the earliest days of the Troubles, when he was in his 20s. He was interned in 1971 and held at Long Kesh and was said to have become a close associate of Mr Gerry Adams at that time and of Mr Brian Keenan, the former IRA chief of staff.
However, he is reported to have become an agent for the British army in the late 1970s, before he was recruited to the notorious "Nutting Squad" which screened IRA recruits and meted out traditional paramilitary discipline to "touts" or informers.
One source told The Irish Times yesterday that he became number two to John Joe Magee, who headed the IRA's internal security at the time and who later suffered from cancer.
His rise continued throughout the 1980s and he operated on both sides of the Border, dealing with suspected informers while an informer himself. He is said to have provided the highest- grade intelligence reports for the British army and to three prime ministers, beginning with Mrs Thatcher.
Now in his mid-50s, he is said to have been less active within the IRA, especially since the calling of the first IRA cessation in August 1994.
If verified, his role as chief Provisional disciplinarian meant that British forces were aware for years of the calibre of new IRA volunteers.