An Irish-American taxi-driver, who has campaigned for IRA prisoners, has taken British actor and comedian Stephen Fry on a tour of New York as part of a TV series which starts tonight.

John McDonagh, the former head of Noraid in Manhattan, took Fry to visit a social club in Middle Village, Queens – an area with strong Mafia connections – where he discussed catching Osama bin Laden with customers.

Fry was shown the bullet-holes in the door from a gun attack on the club three months before his visit. He heard how one customer had been shot in the head.

Later, McDonagh talked to Fry about the Irish peace process and his work for IRA prisoners. In a six-part BBC series, Stephen Fry in America, the actor visits every state in the US in his London black taxi.

McDonagh, whose mother is from Co Donegal and whose father is from Co Tyrone, presents the weekly WBAI radio programme, Radio Free Eireann, from Wall Street. He has campaigned against the Iraq war and is a founder member of 'Cabbies against Bush'.

"Before I met Stephen, I read about how Prince Charles was at his 50th birthday party and how there was talk of him being knighted. I didn't know what to expect but he was a very nice guy, very down to earth, and we got on well," McDonagh said.

"I spent the day with him and escorted him around New York. My brother is working on a construction site in Times Square and I took Stephen to the top of a sky-scraper there on the workers' lift.

"We had lunch together and then we went to 'the Club' which is near my home in Queens.

"I had to tell Stephen not to directly ask the guys there if they had been in the Mafia because nobody admits to anything.

"I introduced him to an 83-year-old who was the oldest guy to be arrested in New York as a book-maker a few years ago. I also introduced him to 'Mikey Bigtime' who became known as 'Mikey Primetime' after he got a part in The Sopranos.

"Stephen heard complaints that so many Italian Americans are arrested. Somebody said that if Osama bin Laden had a vowel stuck onto the end of his name, the authorities would have no trouble finding him."

At the end of the day, McDonagh presented Fry with a gift: "I had a 1798 United Irishman poster and Robert Emmet's speech from the dock in my yellow cab. I gave them to Stephen as a 'republican first-aid kit' and he accepted very graciously."

McDonagh said that while he had expressed disappointment with the political settlement in the North and told Fry he "hadn't become involved to put the DUP in power", the actor voiced his own strong support for the peace deal.