"They'll let Fisher take the fall before replacing him, they don't see any point in putting someone else in now only for him to be targeted.". This week, a BBC Spotlight programme on the murder of Glenn Quinn investigated the savagery at the heart of one of Northern Ireland's largest loyalist gangs - the South East Antrim Ulster Defence Association (UDA). 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). Soon after two pipe bombs were thrown at Greggs house, and his friend Tommy Kirkhams house was shot at. He sought to portray Gregg as unstable and thuggish and spread a rumour that he was about to be replaced as brigadier. 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. [50] Three arrests were made in the days immediately after the attack. FEARS of a new loyalist feud have emerged after a fanatical UDA faction accused a UVF chief of touting to cops. However, this proved short-lived. Saturday, 28 January 2023 ePaper [6] However, this proved short-lived. He will have run the crime gang . In 2000 he helped to ensure that a proposal before the Inner Council to initiate the decommissioning of weapons was rejected. 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. 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. He moved from the SEA power base in the Rathcoole estate to the sleepy backwater of Greenisland as his grip on SEA weakened. match. Fisher is no longer the main man in South East Antrim, he has seen his close circle of trusted sidekicks dissolve. A failure by the paramilitary group's south-east Antrim faction to back the move resulted in a . [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. Adams was in a taxi near Belfast City Hall with some associates when another car containing John 'Grug' Gregg and two fellow Rathcoole UDA members pulled up alongside and opened fire on Adams. [1][2] It is claimed they control "100%" of an illegal drugs network in south-east Antrim, Northern Ireland. The business has expanded rapidly in recent years and is used to launder criminal cash. Gregg was given a paramilitary funeral which was attended by thousands of mourners, including senior UDA members Jackie McDonald, Jim Gray, Sammy Duddy and Michael Stone. Golden Brown The Stranglers: Iconic Songs & the story behind them. Gregg was born in 1957 and raised in a Protestant family from the Tigers Bay area of North Belfast. 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. 'Break the silence about who killed my brother', Cannabis factory uncovered in UDA searches, House of alleged senior UDA member seized, Angry protests erupt over Greek rail disaster, India PM Modi urges G20 to overcome divisions, Aboriginal spears taken in 1770 to return to Sydney, How 10% of Nigerian registered voters delivered victory, Sake brewers toast big rise in global sales, The Indian-American CEO who wants to be US president, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip. 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. The UDA was only proscribed - or declared illegal - in 1992 and, as the Troubles ended, the group began to fracture. The Reaper is coming for you" as a threat to "Mad Dog" Adair and his ally John White. "Some middle-ranking UDA men in the estate wanted him to be shot dead because touting on fellow loyalists to the police is as bad as it gets," said the source. The Carrick UDA boss, like his counterpart in Monkstown, the other major loyalist housing area in this part of south-east Antrim, is a minor criminal and drug dealer, who has risen to the position . In May of that same year, Alan McCullough was himself killed by the UDA. "It is notoriously difficult to leave," a senior loyalist source told us. 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. [24], Gregg was not close to Johnny Adair but sympathised with his uncompromising attitudes and his anti-UVF views. [18] Catholic workman Gary Moore was killed in Monkstown in 2000 in another killing attributed to Gregg's unit. Gregg took this as a threat and, after complaining to senior figures in the West Belfast UDA, ordered the three men to be kneecapped. The deposed brigadier's ex-2IC is also facing major money worries having been fined 20,000 by the UVF. The council released a statement expelling two figures within it, believed to be senior UDA figures Fisher and Kirkham, once a member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), although they were not named. [4] The attack had been known in advance by security forces due to a tip-off from informants within Rathcoole; Adams and his co-passengers had survived in part because Royal Ulster Constabulary officers, acting on the informants information, had replaced much of the ammunition in the UDAs Rathcoole weapons dump with low-velocity bullets. John Gregg (1957 - 1 February 2003) was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. And now it's emerged the UVF heavy has also given a separate list of UDA-linked dealers to the cops. During the course of the melee a Shankill Protestant Boys member managed to gouge out Gregg's eye,[12] although it is also claimed that Gregg lost his eye due to a fight with republicans at the same parade. [19] In late August 1997, the brigade became involved in simmering tensions with fellow loyalist paramilitaries in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). "They will extort, they will assault, they will hold back their community in order to sustain their own business," he said. [3] A mural in support of the group lists its areas of activity as being Rathcoole , Rathfern, Monkstown, Glengormley and Whitewell, all . [3] A mural in support of the group lists its areas of activity as being Rathcoole (the mural's location), Rathfern, Monkstown, Glengormley and Whitewell, all of which are part of Newtownabbey, as well as Carrickfergus, the Shore Road, Greenisland, Ballymena, Whitehead, Antrim and Larne. Browns_right_foot 3 mo. He was interviewed on the basis of anonymity. "These people are completely ruthless, I believe that it would put my life in danger," he said. [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. 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. Dissident groups and LVF-linked mobsters have also moved in to claim a slice of the action. These were carried out under the Red Hand Defenders cover name, with some attacks also blamed on the Orange Volunteers who were active in similar attacks at the time. 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. "The vast majority of it comes in from down south, from one of the well-known crime gangs down there. In late August, Adair had even managed to have Gregg stood down as Brigadier for "not being militant enough" and replaced by one of Adair's own associates. Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, Statistical breakdown of deaths in the Troubles of Northern Ireland 1969 2001, Irish National Liberation Army ( I.N.L.A ), Irish Republican Army. The main target proved to be Danny OConnor, 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 twelve times by Greggs men between 2000 and 2002. 25.03753 121.56381. [13] The two clashed frequently and, in 1993, Adair even threatened to kill English after English had suggested that the UDA should not claim the murder of Marie Teresa Dowds de Mogollon, which Adair's top hitman Stephen McKeag had perpetrated. Here, reporter Jennifer O'Leary writes about how the group continues strike fear into communities. Tipperary Tim astounding 1928 Grand National winner at 100/1 & a proud resident of Glencairn ! A rebel UDA unit is re-arming in a grim warning to rival drug dealers. [31] Gregg was back in command by October, at which point he was one of the brigadiers who passed the resolution expelling Adair from the UDA for his involvement in the attempted murder of Jim Gray.[32]. The coffin was draped in the Ulster flag and the flag of the UFF. Carson was described by UDA sources as a dear friend of Greggs and a junior member of the South-East Antrim Brigade. Gregg had been a regular visitor to Ibrox Park for a number of years. A mortally wounded Carson died later in hospital, and taxi driver William McKnight was seriously hurt. Gregg and his team were apprehended almost immediately by a British Army patrol that opened fire on them before ramming their car. Belfast Books Thanks for promoting my book mate. 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". [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. As a result of the attack, three Woodvale UDA members went to Gregg and complained about the attack. [10] He called on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to establish an auxiliary police "clinic" on the estate, which had no permanent police building, so that locals concerned about crime could have somewhere to go. [1] Gregg was also characterised as "a bully, a racketeer, and a sectarian bigot who took particular delight in carrying out vicious punishment attacks and randomly targeting Roman Catholics. Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Explosive found in check-in luggage at US airport, Whiskey fungus forces Jack Daniels to stop construction, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, UN to ignore remarks of India guru's fictional country, India court panel to probe Adani fraud allegations. "Over the last 12 months the paramilitary cops (Paramilitary Crime Task Force) have been hitting the South East Antrim over and over again," said a source. (I.R.A) History & Background. Often called 'the Egyptian', Shoukri became known as 'the blingadier' for his extravagant lifestyle. They in no way reflect my own opinions and I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies or factual errors. Adams was hit five times in the attack but the taxi rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he received treatment and survived. He called on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to establish an auxiliary police clinic on the estate, which had no permanent police building, so as locals concerned about crime could have somewhere to go. 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Gregg, seated in the backseat, was hit at close range and died instantly. [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". However, in the second half of 2002 he was dragged into the conflict after Adair made him a target in his own attempts to take full control of the UDA. But South East Antrim UDA boss Gary Fisher refused to sanction an attack on the UVF man, further weakening his standing with rank-and-file members within his own terror group. 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. Sources in Carrickfergus say that while he retains the . New IRA powerbase just 20 miles away so why didnt intelligence flag possible attack? He is currently recovering at his mother's home in the Rathcoole estate after last week's beating. He told them they had to pay money - ranging from 5,000 right up to 20,000 - to be allowed to stay in the area and avoid a UVF punishment attack. In May cops arrested and charged four men in connection with a kilo of cocaine seized back in 2020. "He's already under enough heat from the cops. Widely known as a man with a fearsome . [36] In May of that same year, Alan McCullough was himself killed by the UDA. DCI John Caldwell: The New IRA threat after Omagh shooting, The Firm: Inside Lurgan and Portadowns cross-community crime gang. Gregg played the bass drum in the UDA-affiliated flute band Cloughfern Young Conquerors, a loyalist flute band which police claimed regularly caused trouble at Orange Order parades. Along with Jackie McDonald and Billy McFarland, fellow brigadiers on the UDAs Inner Council, Gregg was lacking in enthusiasm for the Belfast Agreement when it appeared in 1998. Themen: Politische Wochenschau, politische Theorie, Artikel und Berichte zu Themen rund um berwachung, Repression, Wirtschaft, Soziales, Befreiungsnationalismus, Antiimperialismus, Zeitgeschichte und Literaturhinweise Masked gunmen immediately opened fire on the occupants with automatic weapons. Carrick's drug trade is now a mish-mash of conflicting independent criminal gangs. . It has brought the town under close scrutiny from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force. [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. Gregg initially remained aloof from the struggle and instead concentrated on his anti-Catholic campaign. SouthEast Antrim UDA crime boss Gary Fisher is facing an internal revolt with even his closest lieutenants saying his time is up. Tommy Lyttle inherited 'Bertie Scott' from a man called Alan Snoddy, the UDA commander or Brigadier in South-East Antrim, a figure who kept a very low public profile. Free. South East Antrim brigade Den' Allo Allo' Elliott. However in the second half of 2002 he was dragged into the conflict after Adair made him a target in his own attempts to take full control of the UDA. When the loyalist arrived he was surrounded by four masked UVF members who beat him with baseball bats, breaking several bones. [60], On 4 January police investigated SEA UDA graffiti sprayed on eleven properties. At the service on 6 February, UVF/RHC representatives joined the UDA leadership in a show of anti-Adair solidarity. The brigade representatives refused to give any details about how many weapons or how much commercial explosives were destroyed during the day-long exercise. On 6 January 2010, the UDA announced that it had put its weapons "verifiably beyond use". The violence, on the Castlemara estate in the town, saw up to 150 loyalists confront each other as members of the 'mainstream' UDA flooded the area in a show of strength against the . The South East Antrim UDA's tally of violence spanning two decades includes a roll call of unsolved murders. 25.043611 121.5625. [4] Gregg, at the time the head of the UDA group 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. [18] English would soon re-emerge as part of the Ulster Democratic Party. [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. [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. [27] On 8 December a bomb was found under Gregg's car, apparently placed there by one of Adair's allies from the Loyalist Volunteer Force. Gregg joined the Ulster Young Militants (UYM), the youth wing of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at the age of 14. But Johnny kept trying to justify it. It is unclear when South East Antrim was first designated as a brigade area although its first recognised leader was Alan Snoddy and he held title of Brigadier by at least 1979. [55] Gilmore had been targeted in an unsuccessful crossbow attack the previous August. South East Antrim UDA mural in Glengormley, North Belfast. "[1], 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. "Putting it bluntly they were either stood down, expelled or shot - that's the only way to get out.". [62], On 8 May 2020 a number of journalists working for the Sunday Life and Sunday World newspapers were warned by the PSNI about imminent attacks against journalists by the South East Antrim UDA. [17] According to the Workers' Party (Ireland), English was stood down by the UDA after he had expressed willingness to enter into dialogue with them. The veteran loyalist, who was 'brigadier' of its South East Antrim unit, was kicked out of the organisation last week. [1], Gregg was born in 1957 and raised in a Protestant family from the Tigers Bay area of North Belfast. As head of a cash-rich organised crime gang, Fisher has amassed a considerable personal wealth, but even as brigadier his hands are tied when it comes to walking away. What makes a serial killer and why are we fascinated by them? Wikizero - Ulster Volunteer Force . Adair was returned to prison two days later. [41], In 2009, the brigade claimed to have decommissioned a substantial quantity of guns and explosives in a single day in the presence of the chairman of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD). [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. Greggs 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. He sought to portray Gregg as unstable and thuggish and spread a rumour that he was about to be replaced as brigadier. [23] As a result of the attack, three Woodvale UDA members went to Gregg and complained about the attack. [28] In response, three Woodvale UDA members went to Gregg and complained about the attack in a move Gregg saw as a threat. [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. The expelled Mount Vernon UVF commander was replaced by a close associate of the organisation's overall leader John 'Bunter' Graham. Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation, Gregg was considered a "hawk" in some loyalist circles. His own earliest memory of the Troubles was the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association marches in Derry, a movement to which Gregg and his family were strongly opposed. 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). UDA. In November 2011, Stuart Gregg received 400,000 compensation for psychological trauma due to having witnessed his fathers murder. A volley of shots was fired over his coffin by UDA gunmen outside his Rathcoole home. FEARS of a new loyalist feud have emerged after a fanatical UDA faction accused a UVF chief of touting to cops. UDA members turned out in force yesterday for the funeral of Mr Robert Carson, who was gunned down alongside the east Antrim UDA "brigadier", Mr John Gregg, in Belfast's docks area at the weekend. [22] Around this time Gregg spearheaded an initiative to significantly increase recruitment into the South East Antrim Brigade. In the later 1980s Snoddy took ill with cancer and many of his duties as brigadier were filled by his ally Joe English. 2023 BBC. Each were accused of taxing drug dealers and stealing tens of thousands of pounds from UVF coffers. He sought to portray Gregg as unstable and thuggish and spread a rumour that he was about to be replaced as brigadier. The 47-year-old had no connections to any paramilitary gang, but was beaten to death in his home in January 2020 after being threatened by the group. 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. And some of them think the UVF tout should be made to pay with his life but were told they couldn't by already under-fire SEA leader Fisher. Gregg was jailed for 18 years; however, he only served half his sentence and was released in 1993. . Gregg, seated in the backseat, was hit at close range and died instantly. The organisation is now in the grip of a committee of senior paramilitary veterans with Fisher forced to toe the line. On 8 February 2010, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the Brigade had completed decommissioning. Simms' demise was the catalyst for the disintegration of Fisher's power base. [2] Since 2007 the South East Antrim Brigade has operated independently of the UDA following a fall-out. [37], Following the conclusion of the feud with Adair the UDA reconstituted its ceasefire in what they christened the "Gregg initiative". [36] Adair would be removed from his position of power soon afterwards in a show of strength by the mainstream UDA under the command of Jackie McDonald. Rev Philip McAlister officiated at his funeral. The South East Antrim UDA is believed to be responsible for seven unsolved murders in the same area dating back to 1998. Money drives the South East Antrim UDA's criminal interests, made off the backs of communities who are ruthlessly subjected to a code of silence. However, one major obstacle to overcome before any deal can be agreed is the recovery of the body of missing murder victim Lisa Dorrian. [10] The attack is commemorated in the song South East Antrim Brigade by loyalist singer Rab C, many of whose compositions were about the brigade and its leading members. [44] In 2010, the Independent Monitoring Commission confirmed that the split between the Fisher faction of the brigade and the wider UDA had not ended. [15] A senior police source once described him as a man driven by "pure and absolute bigotry". His cheeks appeared hollow, he has shaved his head and those who have seen him describe him as 'haunted'. Sources have told us the crime boss is a man under intense pressure. "He was lucky to be let out alive, he knows it, but he's the exception rather than the rule.". [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. "The UDA is the biggest paramilitary group in Rathcoole, much bigger than the UVF, and there are some UDA men in the estate who would gladly do the job. 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. 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. Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is the largest Ulster loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. 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Is up new loyalist feud have emerged after south east antrim uda brigadier fanatical UDA faction accused a UVF chief of to. 20 miles away so why didnt intelligence flag possible attack Firm match was rejected ] three arrests were in... ] English would soon re-emerge as part of the well-known crime gangs down there completely! Brigadier were filled by his ally Joe English, as the Troubles ended, the UDA, muscled... His team were apprehended almost immediately by a British Army south east antrim uda brigadier that opened fire on them before their. May of that same year, Alan McCullough was himself killed by the crime. Targeted in an unsuccessful crossbow attack the previous August 50 ] three arrests made... Is up have emerged after a fanatical UDA faction accused a UVF chief of touting to cops criminal.... Uda, has muscled in on the town 's drug scene British Prime Minister Gordon announced... Epaper [ 6 ] However, he only served half his sentence and released... Content of external sites John 'Bunter ' Graham of cocaine seized back in 2020 his mother 's home the... By them also facing major money worries having been fined 20,000 by the,... Recovering at his mother 's home in the later 1980s Snoddy took ill with cancer and of! Sources as a dear friend of Greggs and a junior member of the well-known crime gangs down.! Joe English SEA weakened recruitment into the South East Antrim Brigade time Gregg spearheaded an to... Was described by UDA sources as a result of the UDA/UFF loyalist paramilitary organisation Northern. No longer the main man in South East Antrim unit, was kicked out of the attack Gregg and anti-UVF.