Sunday Business Post
09 October 2005
By Colm Heatley
Jim Gray, the former head of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in east Belfast, had been an isolated and vulnerable figure long before two UDA gunmen shot him dead at his father’s home in Belfast last Tuesday night.
His murder raises serious questions about the continued recognition of the UDA ceasefire and raises the possibility of more murders by the group. So far, it has not been involved in the loyalist feud between the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
Gray, a flamboyant figure who dressed garishly - earning himself the nickname Doris Day - sported a year-round tan and liked to flaunt the wealth he had amassed from criminality. He was one of the most visible loyalist kingpins of recent times.
He took over as head of the east Belfast UDA in 1995, and used the position to build a criminal empire which surpassed the UDA’s traditional rackets in terms of sophistication and profit.
Surrounding himself with an entourage of young UDA men, Gray quickly became known as the head of the ‘Spice Boys’, an image which he cultivated through his lavish lifestyle. Frequent foreign holidays, meals at top restaurants, fast cars and chunky gold jewellery were his weaknesses.
Gray’s apparent bisexuality was always a source of rumour and was at odds with the UDA’s macho image. He had a son, Jonathan, who died aged 19 in a drug-related incident in Thailand some years ago while on holiday with his father.
Gray never gained reliable allies within the UDA, a fact highlighted by the arrest of a cousin, a former girlfriend and a former gay lover in connection with his murder this week.
By last Christmas, his criminal dealings and high profile had become an embarrassment to the UDA, and at the end of March, he was ousted as the organisation’s east Belfast brigadier.
It wasn’t Gray’s gangsterism that irked the UDA, but his refusal to share his criminal wealth and the unwanted attention he drew from the Assets Recovery Agency, which focused on the group as a whole.
More politicised elements within the UDA also wanted him ousted to gain political respectability.
However, his murder was primarily about settling old scores and sending out a signal to other loyalists that the UDA will kill to protect its interests.
Following his dismissal from the UDA, Gray tried to flee Ireland, but was arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and charged with money-laundering offences in April.
Gray’s criminal empire ranged from property investments to drugs, prostitution and traditional racketeering. After he was charged with money-laundering, loyalists across the North feared he would turn supergrass in return for a lesser sentence.
While there was always the possibility he would establish a rival criminal syndicate while on bail, it was the suspicion that Gray was working with the police which sealed his fate.
“I was very surprised that he wanted bail. The safest place for him was jail,” said an east Belfast UDA member.
“When he got bail, most people assumed he had cut a deal with the police, so when he got out, it was like signing his own death warrant.”
Unionist politicians, including UUP leader Reg Empey, have criticised the decision to grant bail to Gray. The bail conditions ordered him to live at his father’s home in a staunchly loyalist estate, making him an easy target for his enemies.
Ultimately, it appears his friends may have betrayed him.
In recent years, a long line of senior loyalists has made bail, despite facing serious charges, including the UDA’s north Belfast leader, Andre ‘The Egyptian’ Shoukri.
There is little chance of a retaliatory strike against the UDA leadership. Gray’s murder has been welcomed by the rank-and-file of the organisation and by his numerous enemies from the various loyalist groups, particularly the LVF and UVF.
In September 2002, he narrowly escaped death when a gunman shot him in the face at a house in east Belfast in retaliation for his role in the murder of LVF leader Stephen Warnock a few days earlier.
Bizarrely, he was visiting Warnock’s home, illustrating a misplaced sense of invulnerability.
Gray’s assassination has unified the UDA, an organisation led by individual leaders who run their branches of the organisation like personal fiefdoms. But it does not solve its problems.
Its north Belfast leader, Shoukri, is a colourful figure in the mould of Gray. For months, the UDA has been threatening to oust him, but that would almost certainly result in another loyalist feud with devastating consequences.
None of the UDA’s leaders is safe. Years of criminality and feuding have left the organisation in tatters, with alliances formed only out of expediency and regularly dissolved out of greed and jealousy.
Gray’s murder throws into focus the UDA’s ceasefire and shows that, within the loyalist community, the paramilitaries are literally still calling the shots.
The murder illustrates both the volatility and the ruthlessness of the UDA, the North’s largest paramilitary group.
Gray’s murder is the latest instance of an increasing, and unchallenged, militancy within the organisation in recent weeks.
Last week, the UDA said it would “fight any attempt to create a united Ireland and will not be giving up any guns in any circumstances’‘. A fortnight ago, the group said it “would not stand idly by while Protestant communities are oppressed’‘.
Those statements came after its involvement in last month’s riots in Belfast.
However, it escaped sanction from Peter Hain, the North’s secretary of state.
Gray’s murder is not unusual in the UDA’s culture: virtually all its murdered leaders, including one of its founders, Tommy Heron, were killed by former associates, not republicans.
Hain now faces a choice of either acting decisively against the UDA or ignoring its recent activity altogether.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands