During the course of the melee a Shankill Protestant Boys member managed to gouge out Greggs eye, although it is also claimed that Gregg lost his eye due to a fight with republicans at the same parade. Gary Fisher became brigadier following the murder in 2003 of his predecessor John 'Grug' Gregg, but he is known to be looking for a way out of the organisation. Much of this activity was inspired by Gregg's personal hatred of Catholics. [20] This followed in summer 2002 when a community centre was taken over for this purpose although Gregg's UDA objected and daubed the building with the word "tout". One of those was alleged Carrickfergus UDA commander Clifford Irons who was charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine. [12] As the oldest member, English usually chaired the meetings of this Inner Council, although he often struggled to control UDA West Belfast Brigade brigadier Johnny Adair. FEARS of a new loyalist feud have emerged after a fanatical UDA faction accused a UVF chief of touting to cops. The shootings raised some anger on the Shankill, where the three were well-liked figures, and Adair sought to exploit this as a method of getting rid of Gregg. Despite his reputation for gangsterism, Greggs failed attack on Gerry Adams had afforded him legendary status and, under the direction of Jackie McDonald, the remaining UDA brigadiers concluded that Adair had to be removed. Gregg, at the time the head of the UDA commando in Rathcoole, was in charge of a three-man hit team that pulled up alongside Adams car near Belfast City Hall and opened fire injuring Adams and his three fellow passengers, who nonetheless escaped to seek treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. His 2IC (second-in-command) was also dismissed after being given a sickening . However, some communities in Northern Ireland still live in fear of violent loyalist paramilitary gangs and risk brutal consequences for doing or saying anything that gang members perceive as offensive. [30] This briefly occurred in late August when one of Adair's allies took command of the brigade, although this proved short-lived. They have a number of supply lines. [20], Although the UDA was officially on ceasefire, the South East Antrim Brigade remained active in late 1998 and early 1999, undertaking a series of pipe bomb attacks on Catholic properties. [13], Along with Jackie McDonald and Billy McFarland, fellow brigadiers on the UDA's Inner Council, Gregg was lacking in enthusiasm for the Belfast Agreement when it appeared in 1998. During the course of the melee a Shankill Protestant Boys member managed to gouge out Gregg's eye. [66], In July 2021, Doug Beattie, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, told the BBC that the South East Antrim UDA had threatened to kill him twice. DCI John Caldwell: The New IRA threat after Omagh shooting, The Firm: Inside Lurgan and Portadowns cross-community crime gang. "The vast majority of it comes in from down south, from one of the well-known crime gangs down there. A volley of shots was fired over his coffin by UDA gunmen outside his Rathcoole home. games. It is claimed they control "100%" of an illegal drugs network in south-east Antrim, Northern Ireland. Dissident groups and LVF-linked mobsters have also moved in to claim a slice of the action. Close pal Clifford 'Trigger' Irons is currently out on bail awaiting trial on drugs charges. [22] Around this time Gregg spearheaded an initiative to significantly increase recruitment into the South East Antrim Brigade. [1], On 14 March 1984, he severely wounded Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams in an attack supposedly ordered as a response to the earlier killings of Ulster Unionist Party politicians Robert Bradford and Edgar Graham. Gregg was jailed for 18 years; however, he only served half his sentence and was released in 1993. The UVF man who is accused of touting - who we can't identify for legal reasons - went around the Rathcoole estate and other loyalist areas close by demanding cash payments from alleged drug dealers recently. Sources describe the UVF man, who has no convictions, as being well known for running off to tell tales to the terror group's Shankill boss Bunter Graham on a regular basis. "They will extort, they will assault, they will hold back their community in order to sustain their own business," he said. Sources in South East Antrim have told us Fisher has been trying to engineer an exit strategy with enough money to sustain a life away from the UDA. The south Belfast, south-east Antrim and east Belfast brigadiers . [5], Gregg was sentenced to 18 years in prison; however, he only served nine years before he was released in 1993. "Drugs is the big one. Following his release from prison, Gregg returned to Rathcoole where he again became an important figure, taking a central role in the illegal drug trade, with his Rathcoole stronghold a centre of narcotics.Sometime after the Combined Loyalist Military Command of 1994 he succeeded Joe English, who had emerged as a leading figure in the Ulster Democratic Party, as brigadier of the South-East Antrim UDA. Often called 'the Egyptian', Shoukri became known as 'the blingadier' for his extravagant lifestyle. A UDA/UFF South-East Antrim Brigade mural in Newtownabbey On 6 January 2010, the UDA announced that it had put its weapons "verifiably beyond use". [39] A new interim leadership was appointed in their stead although the brigade effectively divided between those who supported the wider UDA leadership and those who remained loyal to Fisher. Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation, Gregg was considered a hawk in loyalist circles. Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation, Gregg was considered a "hawk" in some loyalist circles. From the 1990s until he was shot dead in 2003 by rival associates, Gregg served as brigadier of the UDA's South East Antrim Brigade. Brawls between the two had been frequent and tensions had been growing between the UDA and UVF leading to a drink-fuelled pitched battle between the two groups at the train station. It used the name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) to claim responsibility for attacks and, because the two claimed to be separate organisations, the UDA was able to . [2] Since 2007 the South East Antrim Brigade has operated independently of the UDA following a fall-out. By September 2002, Adair had even circulated stories to contacts in the media that Gregg was under death threat from the UDA. In 1984, Gregg seriously wounded Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt. Many of them were innocent - but had to pay up anyway. On 4 September Langhammers car was blown up outside his Whiteabbey home by Greggs men, although Langhammer himself was asleep at the time and no one was injured. Tensions between the terror groups is already high, with the UVF trying to muscle in and exploit tensions within Fisher's gang to increase their authority in the Rathcoole estate. However, this proved short-lived. 2023 BBC. Brawls between the two had been frequent and tensions had been growing between the UDA and UVF, leading to a drink-fuelled pitched battle between the two groups at the train station. And one-time trusted lieutenant Colin Simms is in disgrace after being linked with the murder in Carrick a year ago of Glenn Quinn. [31] Carson was described by UDA sources as a "dear friend" of Gregg's and a junior member of the South-East Antrim Brigade. Following the conclusion of the feud with Adair the UDA reconstituted its ceasefire in what they christened the Gregg initiative. The new Irish Sea Border: What does it mean? And now it's emerged the UVF heavy has also given a separate list of UDA-linked dealers to the cops. Carrick's drug trade is now a mish-mash of conflicting independent criminal gangs. "[11] In 2000 he helped to ensure that a proposal before the Inner Council to initiate the decommissioning of weapons was rejected. Tommy Lyttle suspected that Craig had helped the IRA kill South Belfast UDA Brigadier, John McMichael in December 1987 not long after McMichael had aired complaints within the UDA hierarchy and in Craig's earshot, about Craig's dubious business dealings. The Reaper is coming for you. [26], Adair ignored the expulsion, erecting "West Belfast UDA - Business as Usual" banners on the Shankill Road, whilst continuing his struggles with the remaining brigadiers, Gregg in particular. A UDA member originally from the Woodvale Road had moved to Rathcoole where he had been beaten up after it emerged that he was a friend of Joe English, the former brigadier who had been exiled from the estate by Gregg for his anti-drugs stance. 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[18] English would soon re-emerge as part of the Ulster Democratic Party. Four men were convicted of his murder. The main target proved to be Danny O'Connor, a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) representative on initially Larne Borough Council and then the Northern Ireland Assembly, whose home and office were attacked at least 12 times by Gregg's men between 2000 and 2002. [22], Gregg initially remained aloof from the struggle and instead concentrated on his anti-Catholic campaign. As the band prepared to take the train home that evening they met members of the Shankill Protestant Boys, another band in town for the parade that was affiliated to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Free. [5] The Guardian has identified it as "one of the most dangerous factions". Under Gregg, the South East Antrim Brigade was linked to the killing of UVF member Mark Quail during Adair's feud with the UVF in 2000[25][26] although according to the BBC the killing was not directly connected to Adair's issues with the UVF but rather stemmed from a pub dispute in north Belfast between members of the two paramilitary groups. Ann Ogilbys brutal murder: Forgotten victims of the Troubles, Kriss Donald The Brutal Racist Killing of an Innocent Schoolboy. "The UDA in Rathcoole couldn't figure out why all the UVF dealers were being left alone while their guys were getting caught left, right and centre. [16], Having witnessed demographic shifts in Glengormley and Crumlin, traditionally loyalist majority towns that had come to have nationalist majorities on account of loyalists moving out of Belfast, he determined that the same thing would not happen in Carrickfergus and Larne and so launched a campaign of pipe bomb and arson attacks on Catholic homes there (despite these towns having very small Catholic populations). "And if they are a defender of anything, it is their own criminal interests.". [46], In March 2014 the South East Antrim Brigade was widely reported as being behind a "rampage" in which up to 100 people, some of them wearing masks, attacked a number of residential properties in Larne. His gaunt appearance had people raising questions about his health. [42] The process was confirmed as complete by the IICD and came in the last 24 hours of the commission's existence. [37], In 2007, the UDA's inner council expelled the Brigadier in the South East Antrim area and his political adviser after a long-running stand-off between the mainstream UDA and the South East Antrim Brigade. Read about our approach to external linking. It's very difficult to deal with the issue of their control, because of the fear that they just instil into people.". In late August, Adair had even managed to have Gregg stood down as Brigadier for not being militant enough and replaced by one of Adairs own associates. UDA boss Gary Fisher plots his exit strategy. Police confirmed that they were treating it as part of the existing feud. This followed in summer 2002 when a community centre was taken over for this purpose although Greggs UDA objected and daubed the building with the word tout. Three men were acquitted of his murder. [65], On 25 November 2020 the Belfast Telegraph reported that the South East Antrim UDA had passed on a threat against one of their journalists. Members of the loyalist flute band, Cloughfern Young Conquerors dressed in uniform accompanied the coffin. [21] Nonetheless he was not keen to antagonise Adair and so, along with McFarland, McDonald and Jimbo Simpson, accepted his invitation to attend a "Loyalist Day of Culture" organised by Adair on the Lower Shankill on 19 August 2000. His role in the murder was covered up for years by his father's best friend - the deposed UVF South East Antrim commander. He will have run the crime gang . It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. Gregg, seated in the backseat, was hit at close range and died instantly. [11] Each geographical area was commanded by a UDA 'Brigadier' and sometimes also had a designated 'Military Commander', 'Intelligence Officer' and 'Quartermaster'. [19] In late August 1997, the brigade became involved in simmering tensions with fellow loyalist paramilitaries in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [1][2] It is claimed they control "100%" of an illegal drugs network in south-east Antrim, Northern Ireland. The views and opinions expressed in this documentary/ies and page are soley intended to educate and provide background information to those interested in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. When the taxi stopped at traffic lights close to the motorway, it was rammed by another taxi which had been hijacked earlier on the Shankill Road. [24] The shootings raised some anger on the Shankill, where the three were well-liked figures, and Adair sought to exploit this as a method of getting rid of Gregg. John Gregg (1957 - 1 February 2003) was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland.In 1984, Gregg seriously wounded Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt. [35] Members of Adair's C Company shot and killed Gregg the following month. "The South East Antrim UDA were part of the UDA inner council," explained Jim McDowell, a former editor of the Sunday World newspaper. As a result of the attack, three Woodvale UDA members went to Gregg and complained about the attack. He managed to avoid being beaten in return for tricking his ex-UVF 2IC friend into attending the Monkstown meeting during which he was attacked. Protestant Trevor Lowry (aged 49) was beaten to death in Glengormley by UDA members under Greggs command on 11 April 2001 after he was mistaken for a Catholic. It's believed he fears sparking a new intra-loyalist feud, piling even more pressure on the faction which has been facing a police crackdown. [4], Gregg and his team were apprehended almost immediately by a British Army patrol that opened fire on them before ramming their car. [43] The decommissioning was completed at the same time as that of the republican Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA). The ex-UVF leader has been warned to return the money, with a portion also invested in hot food takeaways and some hidden at safe houses in the Rathcoole estate. FEARS of a new loyalist feud have emerged after a fanatical UDA faction accused a UVF chief of touting to cops. [18] Catholic workman Gary Moore was killed in Monkstown in 2000 in another killing attributed to Gregg's unit. The veteran loyalist, who was 'brigadier' of its South East Antrim unit, was kicked out of the organisation last week. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. "[38] The dissident branch was also revealed to have contained an informer after Jon McDowell, Tommy Kirkham's assistant, told the Belfast Telegraph that he was an RUC Special Branch agent in November 2007. Gregg and his team were apprehended almost immediately by a British Army patrol that opened fire on them before ramming their car. 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