Associates of loyalist paramilitary chief Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair were ordered today to cut off all ties with him.
Amid fears of an escalating feud, up to 50 Ulster Defence Association men who once lived close to Adair in west Belfast were told to stay clear of him.
The warning followed a failed bomb attack on a rival UDA leader.
Tensions heightened dramatically after Mr John Gregg found a device under his car which police believe was planted in retaliation for a strike on Adair's closest friend, John White.
Adair claimed he had the support of the North Down company following his expulsion from the UDA in October for siding with a rival paramilitary grouping in a previous dispute which left three men dead.
But former associates met today and decided a unit based in North Down should come under the control of the leadership in neighbouring east Belfast.
The order is likely to affect up to 50 paramilitaries - many of whom once lived in Adair's stronghold in the Lower Shankill estate - who have now settled in parts of Co Down.
Mr White claimed the order would be ignored.
He said: "It's nonsense for them to issue a statement like that.
"The people of North Down will pay no attention to them whatsoever. There's large numbers of people associated with West Belfast and they still support us."
Mr Gregg was jailed in the 1980s for an assassination attempt on Sinn Féin leader Mr Gerry Adams.