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. 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. They in no way reflect my own opinions and I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies or factual errors. Sources have told us the crime boss is a man under intense pressure. 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 . He is currently recovering at his mother's home in the Rathcoole estate after last week's beating. John Gregg (1957 - 1 February 2003) was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. [56] Two men from the Newtownards area were arrested in connection with the killing. Wikizero - Ulster Volunteer Force . Four men were convicted of his murder. [22] Around this time Gregg spearheaded an initiative to significantly increase recruitment into the South East Antrim Brigade. 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. [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. 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. [69] The decommissioning was completed five weeks before a government amnesty deadline beyond which any weapons found could have been used as evidence for a prosecution. "[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. 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. New IRA powerbase just 20 miles away so why didnt intelligence flag possible attack? [6] However, this proved short-lived. UDA feud erupts. He moved from the SEA power base in the Rathcoole estate to the sleepy backwater of Greenisland as his grip on SEA weakened. When asked by the BBC in prison if he regretted anything about the shooting, his reply was: UDA mural in Greggs Rathcoole stronghold. At the service on 6 February, UVF/RHC representatives joined the UDA leadership in a show of anti-Adair solidarity. He was in attendance along with ex-Labour NI Secretary of State Peter Mandelson and former MI6 operatives. South East Antrim Brigade mural in Ballymena honouring Gregg. Gregg served as brigadier of the UDA's South East Antrim Brigade. From the 1990s until his shooting death in 2003 by rival associates, Gregg served as brigadier of the UDAs South East Antrim Brigade. The business has expanded rapidly in recent years and is used to launder criminal cash. [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. "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. Gregg when explaining his family background, revealed that his father, regarded as a quiet man, had trust in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army but joined the loyalist vigilante groups set up around the start of the Troubles ostensibly to protect the Protestant community from attacks by republicans. The Sunday World understands he is desperate for an exit strategy that will take him out of the firing line. [28] Soon after two pipe bombs were thrown at Gregg's house, and his friend Tommy Kirkham's house was shot at. South East Antrim UDA crime boss Gary Fisher is facing an internal revolt with even his closest lieutenants saying his time is up. "And if they are a defender of anything, it is their own criminal interests.". Gregg took this as a threat and, after complaining to senior figures in the West Belfast UDA, ordered the three men to be kneecapped. Such was the ferocity of the attack the victim urinated himself while pleading for his life. In the later 1980s Snoddy took ill with cancer and many of his duties as brigadier were filled by his ally Joe English. On 6 January 2010, the UDA announced that it had put its weapons "verifiably beyond use". Police confirmed that they were treating it as part of the existing feud. [54] Two men were subsequently charged with the murder. All four were arrested earlier this week during a police and . The gang is a standalone faction of the UDA. The UDA South East Antrim Brigade was previously one of the six brigades of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and are heavily involved in the drug trade. In late August 1997 this band was one of a number of similar flute bands to travel to Derry for the annual Apprentice Boys of Derry march through the city centre. He told author Ian S. Wood that he had only supported the Combined Loyalist Military Command ceasefire in an effort to ensure the release of imprisoned friends. Much of this activity was inspired by Gregg's personal hatred of Catholics. A senior police source once described him as a man driven by pure and absolute bigotry. [18] Catholic workman Gary Moore was killed in Monkstown in 2000 in another killing attributed to Gregg's unit. In 1984, Gregg seriously wounded Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt. A mural in support of the group lists its areas of activity as being Rathcoole (the mural's location), Rathfern, Monkstown, Glengormley . However, this proved short-lived. 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. [4] A newer mural in the Cloughfern area of Newtownabbey and flags have updated the areas to include Ballycarry, Ballyclare, the rural hinterland of Ballymena called 'Braidside' and despite not being in County Antrim, the town of Newtownards. [35] Members of Adair's C Company shot and killed Gregg the following month. He later became part of the UDA South East Antrim Brigade. The organisation is now in the grip of a committee of senior paramilitary veterans with Fisher forced to toe the line. . [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. The UDA structure was divided into six geographical areas during the late 1980s (Londonderry, South-East Antrim, North Belfast, East Belfast, West Belfast and South Belfast). [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. The UVF were seen to be trying to exploit the friction within the UDA and even erected new billboards of UVF gunmen and both groups flooded the estate with their own paramilitary flags in the run-up to the Twelfth. [9] Gregg's fearsome reputation earned him the nickname "the Reaper" and he bore a tattoo of the Grim Reaper on his back as a tribute. I know some comes in from Europe. In 1984, Gregg seriously wounded Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams in an assassination attempt. [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. By September 2002, Adair had even circulated stories to contacts in the media that Gregg was under death threat from the UDA. [37] In response to the criticism from the rest of the UDA leadership, Fisher withdrew the South East Antrim brigade from the UDA and reconstituted it as a separate movement. What makes a serial killer and why are we fascinated by them? [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. The south Belfast, south-east Antrim and east Belfast brigadiers . It is claimed they control "100%" of an illegal drugs network in south-east Antrim, Northern Ireland. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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 . 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. On 8 February 2010, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the Brigade had completed decommissioning. The gang's boss in the Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast was another expelled. [38], Gregg was married with one son and two stepdaughters. A man described in court as the commander of the UDA in South East Antrim is one of four men charged with conspiring to supply cocaine. John Gregg (1957 1 February 2003) was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. 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. Saturday, 28 January 2023 ePaper "Some had to take out loans to buy their safety from this thug and then it turns out he's touting on the UDA's dealers to the cops at the same time.". [6] The Irish News described the brigade as 'powerful' and at one time being 'the most bloody and murderous gang operating within the paramilitary organisation'. . Gregg joined the Ulster Young Militants (UYM), the youth wing of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at the age of 14. Amongst the Brigade's most notorious attacks during the Troubles was the attempted killing of Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams in 1984. 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. FEARS of a new loyalist feud have emerged after a fanatical UDA faction accused a UVF chief of touting to cops. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. 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. Home. He has since told pals that he has no intention of leaving Rathcoole, where he grew up, but loyalist insiders say that he will have no option but to go. A DEPOSED UVF boss is suspected of stealing more than 250,000 from the terror gang over the past five years. [59], On 3 January 2019 police reported a baby in a pram narrowly escaped injury after homes were attacked in Co Down by South East Antrim UDA members. November 22 2014 04:33 PM. [48] Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton described the incident as a "power trip" by the brigade, and suggested that it was an attempt by the group to assert their dominance over the local community. 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. 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. "It was very tragic, on the day of the funeral, to have a large police presence around the church," he said. John Gregg (UDA) The man who shot Gerry Adam? Old tensions resurfaced however, and after Adair's men fought with UVF supporters at the Shankill's Rex Bar, Adair launched a pogrom of the lower Shankill, forcing out all UVF members and their families and initiating a loyalist feud. It's very difficult to deal with the issue of their control, because of the fear that they just instil into people.". 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. The internal clean-up of the UVF's South East Antrim unit came after its leaders promised to morph into an old boys organisation during a meeting with senior government officials. "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.". Gregg was born in 1957 and raised in a Protestant family from the Tigers Bay area of North Belfast. 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. Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. He was interviewed on the basis of anonymity. The [14] Later in the year, English was forced to confront Adair about rumours that Adair was considering attending an Inner Council meeting armed in order to eliminate the other five brigadiers and assume sole control of the UDA. The killing of Mr Horner, gunned down in front of his three-year-old son Oscar in the Bangor carpark of Sainsbury supermarket, was linked at the time to the South East Antrim UDA feud which claimed the life of his friend, Carrickfergus loyalist Geordie Gilmore, two months earlier. fifty skinheads appeared from nowhere, many of them wearing Chelsea and Rangers football scarves and covered in Loyalist and swastika tattoos. 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. 2023 BBC. [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. Free. Golden Brown The Stranglers: Iconic Songs & the story behind them. [25], By September 2002, Adair had even circulated stories to contacts in the media that Gregg was under death threat from the UDA. 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. [19] In late August 1997, the brigade became involved in simmering tensions with fellow loyalist paramilitaries in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Representing the UVF was John 'Bunter' Graham and the organisation's 1st Battalion commander Harry Stockman. About Us; Staff; Camps; Scuba. Widely known as a man with a fearsome reputation, Gregg was considered a "hawk" in some loyalist circles. [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). Dissident groups and LVF-linked mobsters have also moved in to claim a slice of the action. There is a belief in the organisation that the Task Force is building a case against Fisher and senior figures in SEA are content to leave him in place. The veteran loyalist, who was 'brigadier' of its South East Antrim unit, was kicked out of the organisation last week. A mortally-wounded Carson died later in hospital, and taxi driver William McKnight was seriously hurt. Greggs killing proved to be the undoing of Adair. The new Irish Sea Border: What does it mean? Adair was returned to prison two days later. [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. In May of that same year, Alan McCullough was himself killed by the UDA. The South East Antrim UDA's tally of violence spanning two decades includes a roll call of unsolved murders. He's crossed a line and there are figures in the UDA who won't forget.". 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 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. 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). Scuba Certification; Private Scuba Lessons; Scuba Refresher for Certified Divers; Try Scuba Diving; Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) The juxtaposition of this initiative with the name of Gregg was condemned by the mother of a Catholic who had been killed by members of the South-East Antrim Brigade in 2000 as she argued "it's sickening to call it the Gregg initiative when he was a ruthless terrorist.Everyone goes on about Johnny Adair but they're all as bad as each other". Read about our approach to external linking. 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. 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. 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. [31], On 1 February 2003, along with another UDA member, Robert "Rab" Carson, Gregg was shot dead on Nelson Street, in the old Sailortown district near the Belfast docks, while travelling in a taxi after returning from Glasgow where he regularly went to Rangers F.C. [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. 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