Frankie Curry's death is believed to have resulted, primarily, from threats he had made to other loyalists.
It is unlikely to be connected to the murder earlier this week of the solicitor Ms Rosemary Nelson, according to local sources.
Curry had emerged as a leading dissident figure and was linked to several figures who are suspected of being responsible for sectarian killings in the past year.
His paramilitary involvement began in his late teens, growing up on Belfast's Shankill Road. His path into terrorism was virtually predestined as he was a nephew of the North's most prominent loyalist, the former Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) leader, Mr Gusty Spence.
However, he was not admitted to the UVF as he was regarded as unstable.
Curry was jailed for arms offences in the late 1970s when he was a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). On his release he appears to have had a dispute with the UDA and joined the smallest loyalist group, the Red Hand Commando (RHC), who are largely based in east Belfast and north Down.
He was again imprisoned on firearms offences in the 1980s and served seven years. On his release he rejoined the RHC. In September 1995 the organisation's head, Billy Elliott, was involved in the murder of a north Belfast woman, Margaret Wright, for which a death "warrant" on him was issued by the UVF. Curry obliged the larger loyalist organisation by killing Elliott and assumed control of the Red Hand Commando, then with a membership of a few dozen.
He moved to Bangor and was further involved in internal disputes with other loyalists, particularly other Red Hand and UDA figures who were heavily involved in drug-dealing. Curry shot dead a UDA drug-dealer, William "Wassy" Paul, in Bangor last summer.
Paul was originally from the Shankill Road and although his involvement in drugs was well known he was still a popular figure. Curry is said to have assumed control of Paul's drug-dealing network.
Soon after the killing Curry was forced to leave Bangor after friends of Paul threatened his life. He moved to an address between north Belfast and Portadown, where he appeared to be safe among other dissident loyalists and drug-dealers. He continued to have close links with UDA figures who are heavily involved in drug-dealing.
Curry appears to have been moved out of the Red Hand Commando about three years ago, under threat.
In Portadown, he became associated with the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), which was led by Billy Wright. Curry figured prominently at a number of events staged by Wright and members of the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party. At this stage Curry was again engaged in a dispute with the mainline paramilitaries in the UVF and had to avoid his home in the Shankill because of threats against him.
The loyalist dissidents, like their republican counterparts, particularly dislike the former paramilitaries who support the ceasefires and the Belfast Agreement, and Curry is believed to have been involved in relaunching a campaign of sectarian attacks to try to embarrass the political figures associated with the mainline loyalist organisations.
He strongly denied being involved in the Red Hand Defenders, the group which emerged in November last year claiming responsibility for the murder of a Catholic man, Mr Brian Service, in north Belfast. In an interview with the Belfast Sunday Life newspaper on November 22nd he said he was not involved in the RHD and was being set up for assassination. "They are building a case against me, spreading rumours about me, in order to shoot me," he said. However, police and loyalist sources insist he was responsible for setting up the group and that he was intent on destabilising the loyalist ceasefire.
The Red Hand Defenders (the name is an amalgam of the two paramilitary organisations that Curry belonged to - the Red Hand Commando and the Ulster Defence Association) claimed responsibility for Tuesday's murder of the prominent Catholic solicitor Ms Rosemary Nelson in Co Armagh.
According to sources in Belfast yesterday Curry was probably not killed because of the Nelson attack. It was thought more likely that he simply had run into loyalists on the Shankill Road with whom he had a long-standing dispute.