Gang of 22 This forced O'Malley's hand and he had to declare his intention to stand against Haughey. The vote failed by 55 votes to 22. Those who made up the Gang of 22 were: The name is a pun on the Gang of Four, a political faction in the People's Republic of China who were imprisoned after the death of Mao Zedong. In September 1991 four backbench Fianna Fáil TDs: Noel Dempsey, Liam Fitzgerald, M. J. Nolan and Seán Power (known as the Gang of Four) put down a motion of no-confidence in Haughey's leadership in Power's name. This prompted Albert Reynolds
Gang of Four were subjected to a show trial and convicted of anti-party activities. During the trial, Jiang Qing in particular was extremely defiant, protesting loudly and bursting into tears at some points. She was the only member of the Gang of Four who bothered to argue on her behalf. The defence's argument was that she obeyed the orders of Chairman Mao Zedong at all times. Zhang Chunqiao refused to admit any wrongdoing. Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen expressed repentance and confessed their alleged crimes. The prosecution separated political errors from actual crimes. Among the latter were the usurpation of state power and