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Jackie Thompson (loyalist)
John Albert Thompson (born 13 November 1963), commonly known as Fat Jackie, is a Belfast-born Northern Irish loyalist activist who was a senior member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Thompson was close to Johnny Adair during Adair's time as leader of the UDA West Belfast Brigade and remained one of the last of the "C Company" members to support Adair. Thompson was briefly brigadier in West Belfast in 2003 between Adair's imprisonment and his fall.Lister & Jordan, p. 28 Early years A native of Snugville Street in the middle section of the Shankill Road, Thompson's parents ran a sweet shop on the road and the young Jackie Thompson gained his nickname at an early age due to his habit of eating large quantities of his parents' stock. Thompson was a contemporary of Johnny Adair, Sam McCrory, Donald Hodgen and James and Herbie Millar, and along with them was part of a racist skinhead gang that congregated on the Lower Shankill Road and neighbouring Lower Oldpark area in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom and the second-largest in Ireland. It had a population of 345,418 . By the early 19th century, Belfast was a major port. It played an important role in the Industrial Revolution in Ireland, briefly becoming the biggest linen-producer in the world, earning it the nickname "Linenopolis". By the time it was granted city status in 1888, it was a major centre of Irish linen production, tobacco-processing and rope-making. Shipbuilding was also a key industry; the Harland and Wolff shipyard, which built the , was the world's largest shipyard. Industrialisation, and the resulting inward migration, made Belfast one of Ireland's biggest cities. Following the partition of Ireland in 1921, Belfast became the seat of government for Northern Ireland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Gillen
Brian "Ginger" Gillen (born 1956/1957) was alleged to be a volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and, later, named to the IRA Army Council. His solicitor was Patrick Finucane, who was shot dead by loyalists in 1989. In 1995 Gillen, as Officer Commanding of the IRA's Belfast Brigade, was a member of the IRA Executive and was critical of the strategy employed by Gerry Adams. In 1997, he was elected to the Army Council with the backing of Adams, after he backed the leadership over dissident republicans who wished to steer the IRA in a more hardline direction. In 2000, Gillen, along with Adams, Martin McGuinness, Pat Doherty and Brian Keenan were issued with a subpoena, in order to appear at Northern Ireland High Court as part of a civil action which was taken by relatives of the 29 Omagh bombing The Omagh bombing was a car bombing on 15 August 1998 in the town of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Real ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UDA South East Antrim Brigade
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. It is claimed they control "100%" of an illegal drugs network in south-east Antrim, Northern Ireland. A mural in support of the group lists its areas of activity as being Rathcoole (the mural's location), Rathfern, Monkstown, Glengormley and Whitewell, all of which are part of Newtownabbey, as well as Carrickfergus, the Shore Road, Greenisland, Ballymena, Whitehead, Antrim and Larne. 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. ''The Guardian'' has identified it as "one of the most dangerous factions". ''The Irish News'' described the brigade as 'powerful' and at one time being 'the most bloody and murderous gang operating with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whitewell Road
The Whitewell Road is an interface area in north Belfast and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, and historically the site of occasional clashes between nationalists and loyalists. The Whitewell Road and the surrounding area is a residential community in the Greencastle parish. The Whitewell area is considered a working class area. For much of its length the Whitewell Road runs parallel to the M2 and also provides a direct link between the A2 ( Shore Road) and the A6 (Antrim Road). The beginning of the White City residential estate on the upper Whitewell Road marks the boundary between the Nationalist and Loyalist communities there. A peace line runs the length of Serpentine Gardens. The road generally had a high level of community integration until 1997 when the Drumcree conflict polarised the two communities in the area and led to increased tension, violence and segregation. In 2012, as part of an effort to tackle sectarian divisions, the Catholic-run Greencastle CEP and the P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William "Winkie" Dodds
William "Winkie" Dodds (born 7 May 1959) is a Northern Irish loyalist activist. He was a leading member of the West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and for a number of years a close ally of Johnny Adair. Frequently serving as head of the West Belfast Brigade during Adair's spells in prison, Dodds later split from his old friend and is now no longer active in loyalist paramilitarism. Early years Dodds and Adair first came into contact when Adair was 12 and Dodds was 16. Dodds would demand money from the younger boy as Adair went round the doors of the Shankill Road delivering copies of the ''Belfast Telegraph''. The two soon became friends when Dodds began to hang around outside the Buffs Club with Adair and his gang. Like Adair, Dodds flirted with the white power skinhead scene and sometimes accompanied the others to skinhead discos in areas such as Rathcoole and Monkstown. In appearance Dodds was heavily built and had a tattoo of a pistol on his le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoukri Brothers
The Shoukri brothers are a pair of Northern Irish loyalist paramilitaries. Andre Khalef Shoukri was born in 1977, the son of a Coptic Christian Egyptian father and a Northern Irish mother. He was alleged to have taken over the north Belfast Ulster Defence Association (UDA) leadership. In July 2003 he received a two-year prison sentence for unlawful possession of a gun and received a nine-year sentence for various crimes in 2007. Ihab Shoukri, who was the older brother by three years, died in 2008. Early years The brothers were natives of the Westland estate, an Ulster loyalist area of Belfast that forms an interface area with the Irish republican "Little America" area, the two places being divided by the Cavehill Road. The brothers were educated at Lagan College, the first religiously integrated school in Northern Ireland, and at Boys' Model School, a secondary school in the north of the city.David Lister & Hugh Jordan, ''Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and 'C' Compan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Gray (UDA)
James Gray (1958 – 4 October 2005), known as Jim Gray, was a Northern Irish loyalist and the East Belfast brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the largest Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. He was often nicknamed "Doris Day" for his flamboyant clothing, jewellery, and dyed blond hair. Another media nickname for Gray was the "Brigadier of Bling". He was the owner of several bars in East Belfast. Early life Gray, the son of James and Elizabeth Gray, was born in 1958 and raised a Protestant in East Belfast. He had one sister, Elizabeth. He left school at age 15 and had ambitions of becoming a professional golfer, playing off a handicap of three. He briefly worked at the Short Brothers' factory but did not hold the job long as he was heavily involved in petty crime with the Tartan gangs prevalent in loyalist areas at the time. Ulster Defence Association According to an interview in the ''Sunday World'' with his ex-wife Anne Ted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extrajudicial Punishment
Extrajudicial punishment is a punishment for an alleged crime or offense which is carried out without legal process or supervision by a court or tribunal through a legal proceeding. Politically motivated Extrajudicial punishment is often a feature of political repression, politically repressive regimes, but even self-proclaimed or internationally recognized democracies have been known to use extrajudicial punishment under certain circumstances. Although the legal use of capital punishment is generally decreasing around the world, individuals or groups deemed threatening—or even simply "undesirable"—to a government may nevertheless be targeted for punishment by a regime or its representatives. Such actions typically happen quickly, with security forces acting on a covert basis, performed in such a way as to avoid a massive public outcry and/or international criticism that would reflect badly on the state. Sometimes, the killers are agents outside the government. Cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maze (HM Prison)
Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. It was situated at the former Royal Air Force station of Long Kesh, on the outskirts of Lisburn. This was in the townland of Maze, about southwest of Belfast. The prison and its inmates were involved in such events as the 1981 hunger strike. The prison was closed in 2000 and demolition began on 30 October 2006, but on 18 April 2013 it was announced by the Northern Ireland Executive that the remaining buildings would be redeveloped into a peace centre. Background Following the introduction of internment in 1971, Operation Demetrius was implemented by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and British Army with raids for 452 suspects on 9 August 1971. The RUC and army arrested 342 Irish nationalists, but key Provisional Irish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen McKeag
Stephen McKeag (1 April 1970 – 24 September 2000), nicknamed ''Top Gun'', was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and a Commander of the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) 'C' Company in the 1990s. He is responsible for many killings of Catholics and republicans. Although most of his operations took place from the Shankill Road in Belfast, McKeag was actually a native of the lower Oldpark Road in the north of the city. Early years As a youth, McKeag's first group affiliation was with the neo-nazi white power skinhead gangs that existed on the Shankill and which were co-opted into the UDA's youth wing Ulster Young Militants.McDonald & Cusack, p3 McKeag then later became a born-again Christian and married young to a woman named Alison.Lister & Jordan, p132 His active interest in Christianity would diminish as he became more involved in the UDA, whilst his marriage also broke up. Along with Adair and other younger figures, McKeag helped to fill the power vacuum left in the UD ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volunteer (Ulster Loyalist)
Volunteer, abbreviated Vol., is a title used by a number of Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisations to describe their members. Background The first loyalist paramilitary group to emerge in the period of the Troubles was the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), which first appeared in 1966, led by Gusty Spence. The UVF saw itself as the direct continuation of the Ulster Volunteers of 1913 (which was also called the UVF), formed to resist Irish Home Rule. Modern usage in loyalism The term is used by the modern UVF. It is also used by its youth wing, the Young Citizen Volunteers. Likewise, the Ulster Defence Association and Red Hand Commando CAIN. refer to their members as vol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC'', pp. 5, 17, 27, 93, 134, 271; Pen & Sword Books; following the partition of Ireland. At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers, with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve. The RUC policed Northern Ireland from the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence until after the turn of the 21st century, and played a major role in the Troubles between the 1960s and the 1990s. Due to the threat from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who saw the RUC as enforcing British rule, the force was heavily armed and militarised. Officers routinely carried submachine guns and assault rifles, travelled in armoured vehicles, and were based in heavily-fortified police stations.Weitzer, Ronald. ''Policin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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