"I think that the powers that be know exactly which individuals are involved. Masked gunmen immediately opened fire on the occupants with automatic weapons. 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At the service on 6 February, UVF/RHC representatives joined the UDA leadership in a show of anti-Adair solidarity. "The former brigadier was summoned to a UVF leadership meeting on the Shankill to talk about the missing money, but he cried off sick," said a UVF source. To the rest of us, an attack on a UDA brigadier is an attack on the whole organisation. [53] Gilmore died the following day, with the incident described as part of an ongoing feud in the town. [14] Throughout 1999 his brigade continued to be active, undertaking a pipe bomb campaign against Catholic homes whilst on 12 May members of his brigade shot and wounded a Catholic builder in Carrickfergus under the cover name "Protestant Liberation Force". The Belfast Telegraph called the move "a familiar loyalist pattern of events. In October 2002, Gregg was one of the brigadiers who passed the resolution expelling Adair from the UDA for his involvement in the non-fatal shooting of Jim Gray. They have a number of supply lines. [23] Trevor Lowry (aged 49) was beaten to death in Glengormley by UDA members under Gregg's command on 11 April 2001 after he was mistaken for a Catholic. His organisation has come under intense scrutiny from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force and he is known to be anxious to get out of the crime business before he is scooped. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Afterwards a lone piper led the cortege to Carnmoney Cemetery where he was buried. In late 2001, Greggs reign of terror in Rathcoole, where drug dealing, knee-capping and savage beatings were the norm, was challenged by local British Labour Party Councillor Mark Langhammer, who also objected to Greggs close links to neo-Nazi groups in Great Britain. Will the Windsor Framework be enough for the DUP? His 2IC (second-in-command) was also dismissed after being given a sickening baseball bat beating by other masked UVF members. [21] Gregg, who was noted for his sectarian beliefs, insisted that such attacks were necessary in order to prevent the "greening" of places such as Carrickfergus and Antrim, a process he claimed had already happened in Glengormley where the Catholic population had experienced significant growth. That same night Jackie McDonalds forces invaded the lower Shankill and ran those members of C Company that had remained loyal to Adair, who was still in prison, out of the city. I know some comes in from Europe. "He'll take the hit, he's like a deer in the headlights, there's nowhere for him to go. The gang's boss in the Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast was another expelled. Members of this brigade were believed to be behind the killings of Catholic postman Danny McColgan, Protestant teenager Gavin Brett and Trevor Lowry (the latter kicked to death in the mistaken belief he was a Catholic), and a spate of pipe bomb attacks on the homes of Catholics. Members of the Cloughfern Young Conquerors dressed in uniform accompanied the coffin. 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. A DEPOSED UVF boss is suspected of stealing more than 250,000 from the terror gang over the past five years. [18], Despite the continuing activity of his brigade, and his own earlier maiming, Gregg shared the reluctance of other brigadiers about what he saw as a coming war between the UVF and West Belfast brigadier Johnny Adair. e 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. match. 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. Gregg's movements were known to C Company member Alan McCullough who, receiving instruction from Adair (then in HMP Maghaberry), arranged for a hit team to kill Gregg and his associate as the taxi took them from the port of Belfast. A bomb attack on Adairs house on 8 January 2003 was blamed on Gregg by White, although Adair himself was returned to prison two days later after a dossier detailing his drug-dealing and racketeering activities was shown to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy. Old tensions resurfaced however, and after Adairs men fought with UVF supporters at the Shankills Rex Bar, Adair launched a pogrom of the lower Shankill, forcing out all UVF members and their families and initiating a loyalist feud.[22]. [2] Since 2007 the South East Antrim Brigade has operated independently of the UDA following a fall-out. 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. Law enforcement agencies see the loosening of Fisher's control as an opportunity. The new Irish Sea Border: What does it mean? Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. [73] . Cloughfern Young Conquerors, a flute band attached to the brigade, had been to Derry for the annual Apprentice Boys of Derry march through the city centre when at the train station they met members of the Shankill Protestant Boys, a UVF-affiliated band. A large portion of the cash was taken from a UVF-controlled taxi firm in which he holds a silent 25 per cent share. 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. Formed in 1971 from a number of loyalist vigilante groups, the UDA's stated aims were to protect unionist communities from attacks by republican paramilitaries, but it went on to kill hundreds of people during the Troubles using a cover name - the Ulster Freedom Fighters. 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. [6] His deputy Rab Carson was killed in the same attack, with both men having just returned from Scotland where they were attending a Rangers F.C. the UDA commander or Brigadier in South-East Antrim, a figure who kept a very low . "Several UDA men told their bosses they wanted him shot dead while others wanted his knees done but they've been ordered by Fisher to leave him alone, for now. [24], Gregg was not close to Johnny Adair but sympathised with his uncompromising attitudes and his anti-UVF views. 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). The UDA South East Antrim Brigade is one of the six brigades of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). 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. Nowadays, pockets of the town remain on edge since the murder of a local man, Glenn Quinn, by the South East Antrim UDA. Soon after two pipe bombs were thrown at Greggs house, and his friend Tommy Kirkhams house was shot at. At the service on 6 February, UVF/RHC representatives joined the UDA leadership in a show of anti-Adair solidarity. He cited former UFF chief Johnny Adair as one of the few to have got out with the skin on his back. A taxi driver by trade, he was lured to a meeting in the Monkstown estate in Newtownabbey by his supposed best friend - the former UVF commander in Mount Vernon - who was also expelled. [18] English would soon re-emerge as part of the Ulster Democratic Party. His role in the murder was covered up for years by his father's best friend - the deposed UVF South East Antrim commander. The same year, Geordie Gilmore was also shot dead in broad daylight. [5], Gregg was sentenced to 18 years in prison; however, he only served nine years before he was released in 1993. 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. Tensions in South East Antrim between the UDA and the UVF were already high after a summer of incidents and disagreements. [29] 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. [60], On 4 January police investigated SEA UDA graffiti sprayed on eleven properties. 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