Wright drew media attention during the Drumcree standoffs of 1995 and 1996, when he supported the Protestant Orange Order's demand to march their traditional route through the Catholic district of Portadown.

[13] The conflict known as the Troubles had been raging across Northern Ireland for about five years by this stage, and many young men such as Wright were swept up in the maelstrom of violence as the Provisional IRA ramped up its bombing campaign and sectarian killings of Catholics by loyalists continued to escalate.

[17] According to author and journalist Martin Dillon, Wright had been inspired by the violent deaths of UVF men Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, both of whom were blown up after planting a bomb on board The Miami Showband's minibus.

The popular Irish cabaret band had been returning from a performance in Banbridge in the early hours of 31 July 1975 when they were ambushed at Buskhill, County Down by armed men from the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade at a bogus military checkpoint.

[30] As a consequence of his religious conversion, Wright eschewed the highlife favoured by many of his loyalist contemporaries such as Johnny Adair and Stephen McKeag, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.

[36] Angela Wright later claimed that her brother had foreseen the September 11 attacks when he told her that as she was living in New York she was abiding in a "city of sin"; he then went on to predict that the World Trade Center towers would be destroyed from the air.

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.

[49][50] 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 dealers in the Portadown area, primarily in ecstasy.

[53] 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.

[55] A further problem arose when Wright, who by that time was a popular loyalist figure across Northern Ireland, travelled to the Shankill Road in Belfast in late 1995 to try to overturn a ban preventing an Orange Order parade entering a neighbouring Catholic area.

[58] That same year Wright was ordered to attend a meeting called by the Brigade Staff at "the Eagle", their headquarters above a chip shop (bearing the same name) on the Shankill Road, to answer charges of alleged drug dealing and being a police informer.

Wright and the Mid-Ulster Brigade attracted considerable attention from the global media as they made a show of strength and defended the Orangemen's right to march their traditional route.

[61] Wright even held a meeting with one of the central figures in the operation, UUP leader David Trimble,[62] and he was often seen in the company of Harold Gracey, Grand Master of the Portadown District Orange Lodge.

[15] Journalist David McKittrick in the Belfast Telegraph described Wright as having been heavily tattooed, who walked with a "characteristic strut that radiated restrained menace"; and had a "bullet head, close-cropped with small ears and deep-set, piercing eyes".

[68] On 9 July 1996, at the height of the Drumcree standoff, the dead body of Catholic taxi driver, Michael McGoldrick, was found in his cab in a remote lane at Aghagallon, near Lurgan, a day after having picked up a fare in the town.

[74] Wright expressed the following sentiments regarding the CLMC death threat in an interview with journalist Emer Woodful in late August 1996: My heart goes out to my family at a time like this.

Wright ignored an order to leave Northern Ireland by 1 September 1996, and hours before the deadline attended a Royal Black Preceptory march and a celebration at a club in Portadown's Corcrain estate, receiving a hero's welcome at both events.

[78] Ignoring the threat, Wright, in a public show of defiance, formed the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), taking members mainly from the officially-disbanded Portadown unit of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade.

[73][79] According to writers John Robert Gold and George Revill, Wright's "mythical stature" amongst loyalists "provided him with the status necessary to form the LVF" in the traditional UVF stronghold of Portadown.

[81] Wright's hardline stance won the support of a number of leading loyalists, including UVF colleague Jackie Mahood, Frankie Curry of the Red Hand Commandos and Alex Kerr of the UDA.

[83] In a somewhat similar vein, Wright also enjoyed close relations with a Bolton-based cell of activists belonging to the neo-Nazi organisation Combat 18 and had members of this group staying in Portadown during the build-up to the Drumcree stand-off in 1997.

Peeling away a pre-cut section of wire fence, they climbed onto the roof of A wing and dropped into the forecourt where the Renault van containing Wright had just started to move forward towards the exit gates.

[93] The van was ordered to stop by the armed INLA men, however, the driver, John Park, thinking that he and the other officer were about to be taken hostage, intended to accelerate through the partially opened gates in a bid to escape.

[95] After McWilliams ordered Sterritt to "fuck up and sit in his seat" and Green to get out of the way, the two men instantly dropped to the floor to protect themselves; however, Wright stood up and kicked out at his assailant who began firing at point blank range.

After screaming "they shot Billy", Green made an attempt to resuscitate Wright, but to no avail; he was taken to the prison hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 10.53 a.m.[99] None of the others inside the van were hurt.

[100] Four masked and armed LVF men maintained a vigil beside Wright's body which was displayed in an open coffin prior to his paramilitary funeral which took place in Portadown on 30 December.

Thousands of mourners were in attendance as the hearse containing Wright's coffin moved through the crowded streets, flanked by a guard of honour and preceded by women bearing floral wreaths.

On 19 January 1998 the UDA's South Belfast Brigade shot dead Catholic taxi driver Larry Brennan outside his company offices in the Lower Ormeau Road.

The Cory Inquiry concluded that "whatever criticism might properly be made regarding the reprehensible life and crimes of Billy Wright, it is apparent that he met his death bravely", and described his killing as "brutal and cowardly".

[70] Equally dismissive of the allegations of collusion, Willie Gallagher of the Republican Socialist Movement offered the suggestion that had the INLA not killed Wright, he would have been released from prison shortly afterwards.