The Fultons were founder members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) which Wright had formed in 1996 after he and his Portadown unit were stood down by the UVF Brigade Staff in Belfast on 2 August 1996. This came about after the unauthorised killing of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick by gunmen from the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade during the Drumcree standoff when the UVF were on ceasefire. The killing has been reported as the first to be carried out by the LVF although the unit remained within the UVF when it was carried out and were stood down by the Belfast-based Brigade Staff as a result of the attack. Wright took most of the members of his expelled unit with him.