Editing Billy Wright (loyalist) (section)

==Mid-Ulster UVF commander==
{{Main|UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade}}
In the late 1980s, after a five-year absence from the organisation, Wright resumed his UVF activities. This was in consequence of the November 1985 [[Anglo-Irish Agreement]] which angered unionists because it gave the [[Irish Government]] an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government.<ref name="dillon62">{{harvnb|Dillon |1999 |p=62}}</ref> There were frequent raids by the RUC and British Army on his home in Portadown's Corcrain estate.<ref name="dillon63">{{harvnb|Dillon |1999 |p=63}}</ref> Although he was arrested repeatedly on suspicion of murder and conspiracy, he never faced any charges.<ref name="news"/>

Wright rapidly ascended to a position of prominence within the UVF ranks, eventually assuming leadership of the local Portadown unit. He became commander of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade in the early 1990s, having taken over from his mentor [[Robin Jackson|Robin "the Jackal" Jackson]], who had been the leader since July 1975 and one of Wright's instructors in the use of weaponry. Jackson was implicated in the [[Dublin and Monaghan bombings|1974 Dublin car bombings]], the Miami Showband killings and a series of sectarian attacks.<ref name="dowling">{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/day-of-the-jackal-has-finally-drawn-to-a-close-441236.html  |title=Day of 'The Jackal' has finally drawn to a close |newspaper=[[Irish Independent]] |location=Dublin |last=Dowling |first=Kevin |date=4 June 1998 |access-date=15 May 2011}}</ref> Founded in 1972 by its first commander [[Billy Hanna]], the Mid-Ulster Brigade operated mainly around the Portadown and [[Lurgan]] areas. It was a self-contained, semi-autonomous unit which maintained a considerable distance from the Brigade Staff in Belfast. Holding the rank of brigadier, Wright directed up to 20 sectarian killings, according to the Northern Ireland security forces, although he was never convicted in connection with any of them.<ref name="guardian.co.uk" />

In March 1991, the Mid-Ulster UVF killed three Catholic civilians in the [[Craigavon mobile shop killings|Craigavon mobile shop shootings]]. The gunman shot two teenage girls in the head, then forced a male customer to lie on the pavement and shot him also. Loyalist sources later told the ''[[Sunday World]]'' newspaper the attack had been ordered and planned in Portadown by Billy Wright and [[Mark Fulton (loyalist)|Mark Fulton]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/breen/arts2011/sep18_Eileen_Duffy_murder_evidence_destroyed__SBreen_Sunday-World.php|title=No justice for mobile shop murder families after evidence is destroyed|work=[[Sunday World]]|date=22 September 2011|access-date=5 January 2018|archive-date=10 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410044009/http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/breen/arts2011/sep18_Eileen_Duffy_murder_evidence_destroyed__SBreen_Sunday-World.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>

While most of Wright's unit's victims were Catholic civilians, some were republican paramilitaries. On 3 March 1991, the Mid-Ulster UVF shot dead three Provisional IRA men, along with a middle-aged civilian, in an [[1991 Cappagh killings|ambush outside Boyle's Bar]] in [[Cappagh, County Tyrone|Cappagh]], [[County Tyrone]]. Wright was widely blamed by nationalists and much of the press for having led this attack. According to Paul Larkin in his book ''A Very British Jihad: collusion, conspiracy and cover-up in Northern Ireland'', UVF members at Cappagh claimed they had to drag Wright into the car as he became so frenzied once he started shooting that he didn't want to stop.<ref name="saor"/><ref name="larkin231">{{harvnb|Larkin |2004 |p=231}}</ref> British journalist [[Peter Taylor (journalist)|Peter Taylor]], however, stated in his book ''Loyalists'' that reliable UVF sources told him Wright was not involved.<ref name="taylor214">{{harvnb|Taylor |1999 |p=214}}</ref> The RUC arrested Wright after the shootings. During the interrogation he provided the RUC with an alibi which placed him in [[Dungannon]] when the Cappagh attack occurred, and the RUC confirmed this.<ref name="saor"/><ref name="larkin231"/> Wright considered Cappagh to have been a successful UVF operation. ''The Guardian'' newspaper quoted him as saying, "I would look back and say that Cappagh was probably our best".<ref name="saor"/><ref name="larkin231"/> The Cappagh attack surprised the [[Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade]], as it had been carried out in a village which was an IRA stronghold, a departure from the usual arbitrary killings of Catholic civilians.<ref name="herald"/><ref name="taylor214"/> Wright boasted that he and his Mid-Ulster unit had "put the East Tyrone Brigade of the IRA on the run" and "decimated" them.<ref name="saor"/><ref name="larkin231"/> But according to authors [[Henry McDonald (writer)|Henry McDonald]] and Jim Cusack in their book "UVF: The Endgame", the UVF leadership insists Wright was not behind the Cappagh killings, instead it was UVF units from outside Portadown and that the UVF leadership even encouraged the "King Rat" myth for the media to help the heat to be taken off the units who were actually responsible for the attack. Furthermore, they state the Mid-Ulster UVF is not just the Portadown unit, but that it is made up of units from [[Dungannon]], south Londonderry, [[Armagh City]], [[Cookstown]], [[Lurgan]] and smaller rural units from mid-Ulster.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Henry |last2=Cusack |first2=Jim |title=UVF: The Endgame |date=12 December 2012 |publisher=[[Poolbeg Press]] |isbn=978-1842233269 |pages=268–269 |edition=Update |url=https://www.amazon.com/UVF-Endgame-Henry-McDonald-ebook/dp/B00ANB8KPI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X7RETTGP306E&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HCWfk1HnV6Y8zpocdLNc4w.YkkFnziLznz4oK3JsdwHEQQauCMyznLyviRKGcNNjl4&dib_tag=se&keywords=uvf+endgame&qid=1718757915&sprefix=uvf+endgame%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-1 |access-date=19 June 2024}}</ref>

The IRA tried to kill Wright on five occasions. On 23 October 1992 they planted a bomb under his car on West Street, Portadown. Wright found the bomb, which had fallen off, after being told a man was seen crouching beside the car.<ref name="IRA threats">{{cite web |title=The Billy Wright Inquiry - Report |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/collusion/docs/wright_140910.pdf |website=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] |publisher=[[The Stationery Office]] |pages=55–56 |date=2010}}</ref> In June 1994, RUC officers visited Wright to warn him that someone had been seen tampering with his car. The officers were with him while he searched his car, but found nothing. Wright then sat in the car and started it, which detonated a bomb planted in the engine and set the car on fire. He escaped with minor injuries. The North Armagh Brigade of the IRA claimed responsibility.<ref name="IRA threats"/>

As part of the [[Northern Ireland peace process]], the IRA called a ceasefire in July 1994. This was followed by the [[Combined Loyalist Military Command]] (CLMC) calling a ceasefire on 13 October 1994. Wright was initially caught up in the euphoria, calling it "the happiest day of my life".<ref name="uvf323">{{harvnb|Cusack |McDonald |1997 |p=323}}</ref> However he became skeptical of the IRA's ceasefire,<ref name="news">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-11112737|title=Who was Billy Wright?|work=BBC News|date=14 September 2010}}</ref> and soon he publicly disagreed with the UVF leadership calling their ceasefire. Wright "detested what he saw as concessions to [Irish] nationalists enshrined in the tentative peace process, and accused the leaders of unionism and loyalism of betraying the cause".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Billy Wright Inquiry - Report |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/collusion/docs/wright_140910.pdf |website=[[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] |publisher=[[The Stationery Office]] |page=50 |date=2010}}</ref> He eventually denounced the peace process as a sell-out.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Coogan|first=Tim Pat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4_vCgAAQBAJ&q=Billy+Wright+%22sell-out%22&pg=PA706|title=The IRA|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2002|isbn=978-0-312-29416-8|pages=708|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=McKittrick|first=David|date=15 September 2010|title='King Rat': the assassin too violent for his loyalist comrades|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/king-rat-the-assassin-too-violent-for-his-loyalist-comrades-2079478.html|access-date=1 August 2020|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>

Journalist [[Susan McKay]], writing in ''[[The Guardian]]'', was one of the first to report that Wright at this time ran a lucrative [[protection racket]] and was one of the most significant [[drug dealer]]s in the Portadown area, primarily in [[ecstasy (drug)|ecstasy]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/weekend/story/0,3605,596079,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Death of a reporter | date=17 November 2001 | access-date=26 April 2010 | first=Susan | last=McKay}}</ref><ref name="news"/><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4JGT_I_vZrwC&q=billy+wright+drugs&pg=PA456 | title=Voices from the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland| isbn=9780571253203| last1=Moloney| first1=Ed| date=31 March 2010| publisher=Faber & Faber}}</ref>

===King Rat===
Wright's unit called themselves the "Brat pack". The nickname "King Rat" was first given to Wright by the Mid-Ulster [[Ulster Defence Association]] (UDA) commander [[Robert John Kerr]] as a form of pub bantering. According to journalist and author Paul Larkin, Kerr sat inside a pub and jokingly bestowed a nickname on each patron as they entered. When Wright walked through the door, Kerr gave him the [[sobriquet]] of "King Rat".<ref name="saor">[http://www.fadooda.com/index.php?itemid=50 "Death of a Journalist". ''Cic Saor''. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2011]</ref><ref name="larkin227">{{harvnb|Larkin |2004 |p=227}}</ref> ''Sunday World'' journalists [[Martin O'Hagan]] and Jim Campbell<ref name="news" /> picked up on it and satirically named them the "rat pack"; they also used the name "King Rat" to identify Wright. Much to Wright's annoyance, the name became popular with the media. In response, Wright had the newspaper's offices bombed and issued a death threat to O'Hagan and anyone who worked for the paper.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/weekend/story/0,3605,596068,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Faith, hate and murder | date=17 November 2001 | access-date=26 April 2010 | first=Susan | last=McKay}}</ref>

In an interview with Martin Dillon, he blamed the police raids, republican death threats and the "King Rat" nickname as factors which eventually caused the break-up of his marriage.<ref name="dillon63"/> He nevertheless maintained cordial relations with his ex-wife, Thelma, whom he described as a "good Christian".<ref name="dillon63"/>