Frank Durkan, 76; lawyer for figures involved in Northern Ireland politics

Frank Durkan, 76, a lawyer and activist who defended Irish Americans entangled with the law because of their involvement in the politics of Northern Ireland, died Thursday at a hospital in Greenwich, Conn., after suffering from lung failure, his daughter Mary Louise Martin said.

Known as a fierce defender, Durkan counted among his most famous clients a man named George Harrison, who for many years was the main gunrunner of the Irish Republican Army in the United States.

Durkan’s quick wit was on display during Harrison’s trial in 1982. When the prosecutor charged that Harrison had run guns for the last six months, Durkan told the court his client was insulted. “Mr. Harrison has been running guns for the last 25 years at least,” Durkan said.

Harrison and four co-defendants, who had been caught with dozens of machine guns and other weapons, were found not guilty after Durkan convinced the jury that the CIA was the true culprit behind the scheme.

Durkan was a nephew of William O’Dwyer, a former New York mayor. He was born Francis Patrick Durkan in Bohola in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1930 and moved to New York in 1947.

He graduated from Columbia University in 1951 and went on to get a law degree from New York Law School.

Other clients included Desmond Mackin, whom the British wanted extradited to face charges of shooting a soldier. Durkan convinced a federal magistrate in the 1981 case that the shooting was a political act -- meaning Mackin couldn’t be extradited because the agreement between the United States and the British had a political exemption.