A native of Belfast's Shankill Road and a nephew of Gusty Spence,[1] Curry became involved in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at an early age, claiming that he had helped conceal guns in the aftermath of the June 1966 murder of Catholic civilian Peter Ward by Spence, Robert Williamson and Hugh McClean in the Malvern Arms bar on the Shankill.

[2][3] Curry's reputation within the UVF soon grew and in 1972 at the age of 17, he was a central figure in the plot to break his uncle Gusty Spence out of the Maze Prison.

[4] Curry knew in advance the Springmartin Road location on which the event was to take place and had been told specially by the UVF leadership to drive Spence that day.

[9] During this spell he had an extra year added to his sentence after taking part in a prison protest that caused £1 million of damage to Crumlin Road gaol.

[7] On 28 August 1996, the UDA's South Belfast Brigadier Alex Kerr, and head of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade Billy Wright, were expelled from the Combined Loyalist Military Command and ordered to leave Northern Ireland after the pair had lent their support to a campaign against the Belfast Agreement in general and the Progressive Unionist Party and Ulster Democratic Party in particular.

[11] However Curry admired Wright and his Mid-Ulster UVF dissidents and had forged close links with the group, which would soon re-emerge as the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), in the run-up to the Drumcree conflict of 1996.

[8] McDonald and Cusack claimed that Curry shot and killed William "Wassy" Paul, a former UVF member, on 3 July 1998 in what police believed to be part of a feud over drugs.

[17] Curry also continued his links with the LVF and on 5 September 1998 a pipe bomb he manufactured was brought to Drumcree by Muriel Landree, a close ally of Billy Wright, before being lobbed by an unidentified rioter, resulting in the death of Constable Frankie O'Reilly, a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer.

[20] Curry returned to prison in early 1999, serving a short spell in Magilligan for failing to pay fines related to driving offences before being released on 15 March that same year.

[9] Curry's activity, and in particular his association with dissident elements within the UDA, had made him an unpopular figure with the leadership of that group whilst, despite his link to Gusty Spence and his history within the movement, the UVF had washed their hands of him.