A cousin of murdered Real IRA chief Joe O'Connor has been injured in a paramilitary-style attack – the second time he has been targeted in the last 26 months.
Francisco Notarantonio, who is in his late teens, was shot in the leg at a house on Whitecliff Parade in Ballymur-phy, west Belfast, three days ago.
Last night (Tuesday) it remained unclear which organisation was behind the shooting of a member of the high-profile family.
It is understood that two masked men wearing monkey hats burst into the house at around 3pm on Sunday and shot the victim once in the thigh. He was upstairs at the time of the attack.
The teenager was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where his condition was last night described as comfortable.
In March 2001 Mr Notarantonio – whose grandfather of the same name was shot dead by the UFF in 1987 – was viciously beaten by a masked gang in an attack which his family blamed on the Provisional IRA.
The 17-year-old was dragged from a house in Ballymurphy and taken to an entry where he was battered with hammers. He suffered a broken ankle, serious hand injuries and cuts and bruises to his body.
At the time his mother accused the Provisionals of a campaign of intimidation against the family after the murder of O'Connor five months earlier.
However, she declined to talk to the Irish News about the latest attack on her son, saying she was too upset.
O'Connor, leader of the Real IRA in west Belfast, was gunned down outside his mother's house on Whitecliff Parade on October 13 2000.
He was killed at the same place where his grandfather Francisco Notarantonio was murdered 13 years previously.
It has been claimed that Mr Notarant-onio was killed on the orders of a British military intelligence group, the Force Research Unit, to protect a high-ranking mole within the Provisional IRA known as 'Stakeknife'. These allegations are being probed by Metropolitan police commissioner Sir John Stevens as part of his investigation into security force collusion with paramilitaries.
Shortly after O'Connor's death his family, including widow Nicola, who was pregnant with their fourth child at the time of the killing, insisted that the Provisionals were responsible – a claim denied by mainstream republicans.
Security sources have also linked the group to the murder and last October, at the inquest into O'Connor's death, Inspector Sean McVea officially confirmed that view.
"It is believed the murder was carried out by the Provisional IRA. It is believed (O'Connor) had a falling out with various members of the Provisional IRA," Mr McVea said at the time.
But the Police Service of Northern Ireland's handling of the investigation has also been criticised after it emerged that names of alleged suspects had been given to police but no-one was ever questioned over the killing.
At the inquest the coroner for greater Belfast, John Leckey, said that if "people pluck up the courage to contact the police and give names" information should be acted upon.
"I have expressed concern about what I have been told about the subsequent investigation," he said.
"The family is entitled to an explanation. If it was my son or nephew murdered I would feel aggrieved. A murder can never be justified."
Since then a senior police officer has met the O'Connor family to address concerns about the investigation.
