Jim Gray was living on borrowed time ever since the Ulster Defence Association ruthlessly kicked him out to fend for himself, writes Alan Irwin.
The arrogant and bullying ex-terror boss's murder was predicted from the day he was stripped of control of his east Belfast stronghold. Former associates sickened by his vanity and lavish lifestyle funded by a drug dealing operation that raked in up to a quarter of a million pounds a week may have been plotting for months, security chiefs claimed today.
One source said: "This came from within the organisation. Jim had built up some serious enemies."
Gray (47), was one of six so-called brigadiers running Northern Ireland's largest loyalist terror grouping until he was toppled in March. With his bleach-blond hair, heavy gold jewellery and all-year-round tan, he rivalled Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair as the most striking UDA chief.
His looks earned him the derisory nickname Doris Day, while his men were branded the Spice Boys. But there was nothing funny about the violence he would inflict on anyone who crossed him.
On one occasion a wedding reception at a hotel near Belfast was disrupted by Gray and a mob of drunken loyalists. When the bride's father asked them to be quiet, the UDA chief ordered his henchmen to drag him outside where he was beaten savagely.
He was finally removed from control of the East Belfast unit after complaints reached leadership level. Since then he was arrested and charged as part of a major police probe into an alleged money laundering scam in the city.
Gray had just been released on bail, although detectives had feared he may be murdered as soon as he returned to the streets. "That was his biggest mistake. He was safer in jail," one of those who dealt with him said today.
But after surviving an earlier assassination attempt two and a half years ago, loyalists said Gray regarded himself as invincible. On that occasion, a gunman shot him in the face as he went to the home of a murdered rival at the height of a loyalist feud that claimed several lives.
The attack in September 2002 came soon after Adair and Gray fell out during the power struggle. Now Gray is dead and Adair is in exile in Lancashire where he was last heard of allegedly beating up his wife Gina.
One former drinking partner said those who served under Gray became fed up with his leadership style. He never tried to blend in with his fiercely working-class surroundings. While husbands and fathers trudged through east Belfast's backstreets to clock in for long hours at the shipyards, he acquired a taste for the jet-set lifestyle.
During his UDA heyday, Gray stayed at five-star hotels in Spain, the Canary Islands, London and Dublin. He also adored golf and many believe he had enough talent to turn professional had he not been bent on a life of gangsterism.
His appearance set him aside from the typical loyalist hardman. Even Adair, whose own fashion statements often provoked ridicule, took offence at some of Gray's outfits. "Jim would arrive at meetings in his pink jumpers and Johnny would go mad," one source said. "He'd be ranting, 'That's some image for our organisation'."
Despite his reign of thuggery and racketeering, police believe he never personally carried out any murders. "I don't think he ever killed anyone in his life," a security source who interrogated him insisted. "He was put up as a brigadier, a front-man. Jim was a criminal all right, but not a killer."
PA