North Belfast UDA brigadier Andre "The Egyptian" Shoukri has been jailed for six years for possession of a pistol and ammunition.
Shoukri claimed he was carrying to protect himself from loyalist rival Johnny Adair.
Shoukri (26) from Sunninghill Gardens, Belfast, showed no emotion at his conviction except to wave to supporters in the public gallery and to offer his wrists to be manacled in the city's Crown Court.
He was jailed for possessing the Walther 9mm pistol and 30 bullets under suspicious circumstances and was given concurrent two-year jail terms for having the weapons without a firearms certificate.
However, Shoukri was acquitted of the more serious charge of possessing the black pistol and ammo last September with intent to endanger life.
Lord Justice McCollum said while he was "sceptical" about Shoukri's evidence, and that the gun could have been loaded "in a comparatively short time", the prosecution failed to prove Shoukri intended to use the gun "for an imminent attack on some person".
"I am of the opinion that Mr Shoukri's bearing and demeanour is not that of apassive victim who would only be prepared to use such a weapon inself-defence," he said.
Shoukri was caught red-handed with the pistol and ammo in a knotted sock when police stopped the car he was being driven in as it left the loyalist Rathcoole estate on the outskirts of Belfast on September 21st last year.
While he denied all knowledge of the weapon initially, he later, in a prepared statement claimed he'd obtained it after hearing that his loyalist rival Adair, was gunning for him.
The court heard Shoukri had two previous Crown Court convictions, one forwounding and another for the blackmail of two Belfast coffee shops.
Shoukri's 29-year-old brother Ihab is awaiting trial over the murder last month of one of Johnny Adair's C Company lieutenants, Alan McCullough.