October 22, 2006
My partner, Rick Sorvano, and I have the job of finding out who murdered 55 year old Patrick McGafferty. We spent several hours on Saturday afternoon going door to door around the neighborhood with no real success. One old lady that had glasses as thick as pop bottles claimed she MIGHT have seen a man wearing a hooded black cloak enter the home three doors down the street. Not much help there but it's in the file.
Our CSI team, led by Jeff Mallard, are still collecting data at the crime scene. Hopefully, they will have more information in a few days. Dr. Garret Macy said that the single shot to the back of the head appears to have been the cause of death, but he'll be doing a full autopsy on Monday.
I held a short press conference giving them that information. Then after the press conference, I called Lisa Cohen, the New York City director of the FBI. I asked her what they might have on Patrick McGafferty. She said that he is a known underground lobbyist supporting the Irish Republican Army (IRA) here in the United States. I asked if it could possibly been something initiated by what's often referred to as the Fenian Brotherhood, an underground organization of Irish Catholics. She promised to check that out for me.
I did finally interview Molly McGafferty, Patrick's daughter, again in the 5th precinct. She claims that she has no idea who might have murdered her father. She's pretty bitter, of course, and I asked her to please let us handle the investigation. I'm not sure she's accepting that.
Although the shot to the back of the head is typical of Mafia gangland assassinations, I just don't see a link yet that might support that.