Jim Gray liked to dine at Aldens in east Belfast, one of the city's plushest
restaurants. A mile from Stormont, regulars include senior judges, police
officers, and British government ministers.
Gray's big red BMW would pull up outside and in he would strut, flicking his
bleached blonde hair, wearing white slacks, a Hawaiian shirt, and a powder
pink sweater draped over his shoulders.
The UDA's former East Belfast brigadier believed he was untouchable, and who
could blame him? He had got away with so much for so long.
Since his murder last week by former colleagues, Gray has been portrayed as
the devil incarnate in cartoon garb. Yet had he been killed by republicans,
or rival loyalists, a mere seven months earlier, he would have received a
full paramilitary funeral, with dozens of sympathy notices – and not a
pitiful two – in the Belfast Telegraph.
For over a decade, Gray wasn't the isolated figure the authorities and the
UDA would now have us believe. If he was a monster, he was one of their
making. He was allowed to remain at the heart of the UDA leadership while
up to his neck in thuggery and racketeering.
Cynics suspect he was stopped only when his agenda no longer coincided with
that of those who had either encouraged, or turned a blind eye, to his
activities.
A former loyalist prisoner, who supports Gray's murder, says: "It's a
win-win situation all round. The authorities have got rid of someone who had
outlived his usefulness as a tout and who was so unstable he could spill the
beans on a lot of very dirty stuff over the years.
"The UDA are rid of someone who had become an embarrassment because he
wouldn't clean up his act. And the lucrative drugs' racket Gray left behind
is now up for grabs."
Several loyalist sources have told the Sunday Tribune that from the early
1990s Gray was a Special Branch informer, thus giving the authorities
control of East Belfast UDA.
"There was rarely a shot fired," says a source. "Gray wasn't interested in
the war, he only wanted to make money and have a good time. East Belfast
was militarily inactive. Look at the hit rate of South-East Antrim or North
Antrim and Londonderry? East Belfast was a joke. Letting Gray ponce about
the place, selling drugs suited the cops."
But the fortunes of Gray (47), known as Doris Day because of his flowery
attire, changed last year when Jackie McDonald, the UDA's South Belfast
brigadier and most influential member of its ruling Inner Council, decided
the organisation's image must improve.
"The thrust now is for members to get legitimate jobs," says a source.
"There's also a big move into community work. The UDA leadership wants to
turn around Protestant estates and to secure official funding.
"Jackie McDonald is a reformer. His agenda dovetails with the Northern
Ireland Office's. He was the driving force behind Johnny Adair's expulsion
from the UDA. He was very unhappy with Jim Gray's antics."
McDonald, who has played golf with President McAleese's husband Martin at
the K Club, was jailed for extortion in the 1980s. He met Tony Blair's
chief-of-staff, Jonathan Powell, earlier this year, reportedly asking for
£70m investment in loyalist areas as part of an initiative to end UDA
activity.
Formed in 1971, the UDA wasn't outlawed until 1991. "Jackie thinks if the
UDA cleans up its act, the ban will be lifted," says a source.
The UDA is divided into six brigades – North, South, East and West Belfast;
South-East Antrim; and North Antrim and Derry. This federal structure -
compared to the highly centralised IRA and UVF – has traditionally given UDA
brigadiers immense freedom.
But the crudeness of Gray's drug-dealing proved fatal. "If he had been less
in-yer-face, he'd be alive today," says a former colleague.
The UDA, like all loyalist paramilitary organisations, is institutionally
involved in drugs but is now trying a less blatant approach. It's attempting
to move away from direct drugs' involvement and towards "taxing" dealers
operating in loyalist areas.
Gray was expelled by the UDA in March. Eight days later, the man who had
eluded the law for so long, was arrested and charged with money laundering.
The timing gave the impression of a co-ordinated move against him.
Gray was on bail when he was shot dead outside his father's house on Monday.
Rumours were rampant about his role as an informer. Police Service of
Northern Ireland Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, says Gray was not under
police protection when killed.
However, loyalist sources insist the former brigadier believed he was being
"looked after". One said: "He'd never have come back to live in east
Belfast if his handlers hadn't told him they'd protect him. He was stupid
enough to believe them."
The UDA is the largest loyalist paramilitary group with over 2,000 members,
although only a tiny fraction are hard-core operators. Like other loyalist
groups, it has been a tool of the security services. Many of its weapons
came from South Africa, supervised by British Army double agent Brian
Nelson.
Even some unionist politicians were amazed at the inaction against loyalist
criminality. One told the Sunday Tribune: "The UDA sold drugs to the kids
outside Kentucky Fried Chicken on the Shankill. I rang the cops about very
open drug dealing and was told 'we'll look into it'. Nothing was ever done."
The UDA ran brothels, he says: "They recruited wee girls from the Shankill
and other working-class areas. It was small-scale. The UDA would have liked
to run a bigger operation and bring in foreign women but they weren't
organised enough."
Jim Gray ran buses from one of his two Belfast bars to raves in Banbridge,
Co Down. On the journey, his cronies sold teenagers ecstasy. His own son,
Jonathan (19) died of an overdose while holidaying with his father in
Thailand in 2002.
None of this behaviour made Gray an outcast. Months after Jonathan's death,
Gray was on a UDA delegation meeting the then Northern Secretary, Dr John
Reid.
In line with its current respectability quest, the UDA leadership is keen to
move away from flamboyance. A recently introduced rule says new brigadiers
must serve a three-month probationary period before permanent appointment.
Gray, who was separated from his wife, had a string of girlfriends whom,
loyalist sources claim, provided cover for his homosexuality. One of his
alleged gay lovers, who had UDA links, is a suspect in his murder.
"In the end, Gray was shagging anything, male or female. He would have sex
with a girl in the toilet of a club, then be at it with a wee lad," says a
former friend. His ex-colleagues taunted him about an (untrue) rumour that
he had Aids. He retaliated by calling their wives whores and bitches on the
street.
Although not as intense as pre-1994, loyalists are still involved in petrol
and pipe bomb attacks on Catholics and random killings such as that of north
Belfast school-boy, Thomas Devlin, in August. With the IRA campaign against
the British state over, and the Union secure, the only reason for continuing
loyalist violence seems to be pure sectarian hatred.
Founded in 1912, the UVF is often regarded as the most 'respectable'
loyalist group but it's just as brutal as the others. It has several
hundred members and is particularly strong in Belfast.
It was behind recent rioting with gunmen firing on police. The British
government says it no longer recognised its ceasefire. "The UVF was
asserting its primacy in loyalist areas, showing it's not an organisation of
armchair generals and fireside soldiers," says a loyalist source.
"But this could actually be paving the way for the UVF eventually winding
down." Its political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party, holds its annual
conference next weekend.
The UVF has been involved in a feud with the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer
Force (LVF) in which four men have died. It's due to personality clashes and
rows over crime. No deal has been reached but loyalist sources see the
absence of killings since mid-August as positive.
The LVF was formed in 1996 by former UVF Mid-Ulster commander Billy Wright
who was shot dead by the INLA the following year. It has about 50 members
but enjoys extensive criminal contacts.
Jim Gray's murder mightn't be the last change in UDA ranks. Loyalist
sources predict North Belfast commander, Andre Shoukri (27), will eventually
be deposed. With an Egyptian father and Northern mother, Shoukri has matinee
idol looks, a penchant for expensive suits, a gambling habit, and a tendency
to flaunt his ill-gotten gains.
Not as crude nor ostentatious as Gray, he still seems out of place in these
more humdrum times. Gray's funeral was a stark reminder to 'the Egyptian'
that he should tread very carefully indeed.
