Bookmakers ledgers are said to show he bet �?�15,000 in one race alone.

Shoukri had no visible signs of income. He's now back behind bars facing charges of blackmail, intimidation and money-laundering. When senior loyalists leave jail, they've never needed to look for a job.

An endless flow of cash has been available from criminality to finance lifestyles beyond the wildest dreams of law-abiding, working-class Protestants.

For years, the police turned a blind eye because these loyalist figures were also informers. The new political and security situation means the authorities want loyalists to clean up their act.

So while not completely abandoning all the rackets and drugdealing, the UDA's ruling inner council is on a respectability quest.

It wants to "tone down" cruder activities.

It's on the brink of expelling Shoukri and his brother Ihab who is facing UDA membership charges.

With an Egyptian father, the Shoukris' matinée idol looks, expensive suits, and fast cars make them the last of the 'brigadiers of bling'.

De facto UDA leader Jackie McDonald, himself a convicted extortionist, is now close to Northern Ireland Office thinking. The limited development of the community sector in loyalist areas meant only a fraction of the jobs available to ex-IRA prisoners in nationalist districts existed across the peaceline.

Recent multi-million pound government investment in deprived Protestant areas means there will soon be a range of jobs available for loyalist ex-prisoners. The IRA owns hundreds of legitimate businesses, so there is an employment network available for ex-republican prisoners.

Loyalists never had the brains to set up legitimate businesses. Their criminality is substantially more amateur than republicans. Extortion, drug-dealing and selling counterfeit goods requires only a small number of ?employees'.

McDonald is keen for all ex-prisoners to secure jobs of any description - as painters, joiners, plasterers or whatever. But he still allows 'softer' criminality - money-lending to single parents at high interest rates and the sale of smuggled or counterfeit cigarettes.

Drug-dealing depends on the attitude of the area's brigadier. Ex-prisoners aren't allowed to sell any drugs in places like Lisburn, Co Antrim; dope is tolerated in west Belfast; and anything goes in north Belfast.

In the 1990s, UDA ex-prisoners openly sold drugs outside Kentucky Fried Chicken on the Shankill. Such in-yer-face activity isn't tolerated now. Jackie McDonald thinks if the UDA plays ball with the official plan, it could be legalised soon. However, the sale of counterfeit CDs, perfume and designer sportswear remains acceptable.

The Shoukri brothers have greater ambitions. Belfast High Court has heard that Andre Shoukri was receiving £200 a week for allowing Bonaparte's Bar on the Cavehill Road to remain open. He was also allegedly receiving up to £400 a week from the bar's gaming machines.

Two Christmases ago, a wedding reception was held in the Bonaparte. Shoukri and another suspected UDA member demanded £2,000 for a "good turn" during the reception but accepted £1,000 as the bar hadn't made enough profit to cover the first demand.

In January 2005, he allegedly demanded a further £1,000 as the bar had a "good Christmas and new year". Two months later, he suggested buying the bar.

The husband of the woman who ran the bar was summoned to a meeting where a gun was put to his head by a UDA suspect. The next day the couple handed over £4,000 along with the bar keys and cheque books.

Shoukri denies the charges. The couple are in a witness protection scheme.

The UVF likes to portray itself as classier than the UDA, but there's little difference between them. ExUVF prisoners have been involved in drugs and sell counterfeit or smuggled cigarettes from ice-cream vans.

Former LVF prisoners will import and sell "any drug you want", says a source. They operate in MidUlster, north Belfast, and several housing estates in Co Down and Co Antrim.

Ex-UDA prisoners openly ran brothels in the past, recruiting girls from the Shankill and other working-class areas. Former loyalist prisoners are still involved in this activity, although in discreet apartments scattered across the city centre and middle-class districts.

Former loyalist prisoners have also links with retired 'bent' police officers and Catholic criminals. Until recently, it seems for senior loyalist ex-prisoners, anything goes.