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Ex-UDA boss Adrian Price links up with notorious nephew and Dublin gangster ‘Mr Big’ in feud

Former UDA boss buries the hatchet with his nephew to take on lethal East Belfast UVF gang

Steven Moore

Yesterday at 09:30

EX-UDA boss Adrian Price has teamed up with his notorious crime nephew Ian ‘Buttons’ Price and are planning to use his links to a Dublin gangster to come out top in the feud.

Adrian Price is the man at the centre of a so-called drugs feud between loyalist gangs with links to both the south-east Antrim UDA and the east Belfast UVF.

Dozens of people have fled their homes under threat in Newtownards and other parts of North Down which has seen several arson attacks, petrol bombs and even shots fired during the feud which has been rumbling on since March now.

Price is living in east Belfast under the protection of a notorious crime boss who has also fallen out with east Belfast UVF.

His nephew Ian Price is a notorious career criminal with over 170 convictions and at the age of just 13-years-old he was the youngest victim of a paramilitary-style punishment attack.

The pair had fallen out for several years over a dispute over drugs in the loyalist feud which saw the murder of Geordie Gilmore and Colin Horner.

Indeed, Adrian and Ian were on opposing sides during a previous feud and Adrian was accused of threatening his nephew but the pair have reportedly buried the hatchet.

Sources say the pair are prepared to challenge east Belfast UVF as the dominant drugs gang in Bangor, Newtownards and the rest of north Down.

“Aidy and Ian Price are back together after deciding they were stronger together – blood is thicker than water and all that,” said a source close to Adrian Price.

“Ian has become very close with a woman who is part of the cartel that works for Mr Big. He’s been hanging out with senior members of the Hennessy Cartel from Blanchardstown.

“When Ian went on the run to Spain he used is contacts with the Dublin gang to hide out.

“Him and Aidy made up months ago and that’s what angered the South East Antrim UDA leadership even more.

“They hate Ian Price with a passion so when Aidy got back with him they were furious but Ian has the links with the Dublin boys and both the UDA and the UVF know that.

“Aidy and Ian will be in control of Newtownards, Bangor and the rest of north Down.”

Adrian Price was one of a number of people convicted in connection with the murder of Colin Horner in Bangor in 2019 after admitting a charge of withholding information.

Horner had been a supporter of former UDA commander Geordie Gilmore who was murdered in 2017 in Carrickfergus after a year-long feud with the leadership of SEA.

Ian Price was a close associate of Horner but he famously went on the run to Spain three years ago to avoid going to prison after he threatened people with a gun at a party.

He even gave a two-fingers-to-the-authorities interview from his Spanish bolthole to this paper, bragging they would never catch him.

Price had been due to present himself at Maghaberry in February 2020 after the Court of Appeal quashed a previous sentence he served for offences committed in 2017.

However he had other ideas and instead he got on a plane to the sun – even sending postcards to the detective who’s job it was to find him.

“Lockdown in Maghaberry or lockdown in Marbella? Not exactly a difficult choice, I’m living it up, having a great time here,” he told us.

Price pleaded guilty to a series of offences including possession of a gun and a machete following an incident at a house in Bangor and also admitted a series of drug offences.

Sentenced to two-and-a-half years, Price spent only a number of weeks behind bars as he had been on remand in custody for eight months.

Within a month of his release the Public Prosecution Service appealed the sentence and it was quashed and a fresh five-year sentence was imposed.

“Double jeopardy! I wasn’t going to serve two sentences for the one crime, I’d done my time, so I got on a plane,” he told us at the time.

He also told us he had been stitched up for the original offence by SEA.

“Look, I know there is no DNA evidence that links me to the gun, I was set up by those ba**ardsds in the SEA, that’s in the past, nothing I can do about that, in the meantime I’ll have another beer thank you and enjoy the sun in Marbella!”

But he did eventually return and served the rest of his sentence, but we can reveal he has become involved with a Dublin drug gang which works for one of Ireland’s most significant gangsters who goes by the name of ‘Mr Big’.

Mr Big, whose name is known but can’t be published for legal reasons, is regarded in the Dublin criminal underworld as one of the most significant and ruthless figures in the drug trade.

He’s also no stranger to drug feuds or coming across the border to commit violence having been named as the chief suspect in ordering the murder of rival Dublin gangster Robbie Lawlor who was shot in north Belfast in 2020.

Sources have told the Sunday World Ian Price is extremely close to ‘Mr Big’ and when he went on the run three years ago it was his links to the growing Dublin crime family that put him up in Spain.

Two months ago we revealed how Price’s supporters in the Real UFF claimed he has the backing of ‘Mr Big’.

They claimed ‘Mr Big’ has been supplying Price’s gang with guns and drugs for the last two years.

Last week we reported how cops have been bugging the homes of Adrian Price’s crew and have heard them talking about having the back-up of Mr Big.

Ian Price was just 13-years-old when a four-man punishment squad left him with broken arms, broken fingers, cuts and bruising.

He was beaten with baseball bats while he was playing outside his home and was told to get out of Northern Ireland within 24 hours.

The then Secretary of State Mo Mowlam described the attack as “barbaric”.