Police are appealing for help over unsolved gangland shootings. Four underworld assassinations and six other firearms incidents have yet to be solved. Six of the incidents are linked to the tit-for-tat drug war between the rival Lyons and Daniel families.
Gangster Frank McPhie – who was cleared of two murders – was executed by a sniper outside his home in Guthrie Street, in Glasgow’s Maryhill, on May 10, 2000. The 51-year-old, an associate of Glasgow crime boss Arthur Thompson, was jailed for robbery in 1978 and 1986, and over a £200,000 drug bust in 1992.
McPhie was shot from the eighth floor of a nearby building, amid a feud with the Daniel crime clan. Nobody has ever gone on trial or been convicted over his death. Gang boss Tony McGovern, said to have made millions from heroin dealing, survived a shooting at his home in Kenmure Crescent, in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow on June 21, 2000, reports the Daily Record.
READ MORE - Edinburgh mum heartbroken after husband's 'funny turn' was actually MND
Despite wearing a bullet-proof vest, the 35-year-old was killed outside the New Morven bar in Balornock, Glasgow, just a few weeks later, on September 16. On October 6, 2008, George Redmond, 42, was repeatedly shot in the back outside Glasgow pub The Waldorf, by a hitman believed to be from Belfast.
The assassin fired nine shots from a stolen Porsche Cayenne, killing Redmond and injuring his friend, John Maguire, who spent eight days in hospital. Before he was targeted, Redmond was linked to extortion, drug dealing and a string of violent attacks on rivals. The pair were nicknamed the Pulp Fiction Crew, after the Quentin Tarantino movie.
Detectives believed the killing was linked to a life-threatening knife attack Redmond carried out on David “Mincey” McKenzie in a pub in Glasgow’s Duke Street in 2006. Mincey – jailed for six years and eight months in 2013 for his involvement in transporting a £1million cocaine shipment – is one of Scotland’s most notorious underworld figures, with links to European and Northern Irish crime syndicates.
On January 13, 2010, Daniel mob enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, 29, was executed by two masked gunmen in a hail of 13 bullets in the car park of an Asda store in Robroyston, Glasgow. He had been responsible for a series of savage underworld kidnappings where he and his associates tortured rivals for their drugs, guns and cash.
They were nicknamed the Alien Abduction Gang because their victims told police they couldn’t remember anything. One of Gerbil’s killers was a lieutenant in the rival Lyons gang. William “Buff” Paterson, 42, was jailed for 22 years over the killing in 2015. Convicted cocaine dealer and key Lyons associate Ross Monaghan, 40, was cleared over Gerbil’s murder at a 2012 trial.
Daniel crime clan associate William Barclay was seriously injured in a March 2018 assassination attempt in Dykemuir Street, in Glasgow’s Springburn. Two men opened fire but missed, chased him down in a 4x4 and butchered him with a machete. The year before, he walked free on a not proven verdict over the May 2015 gangland attempted murder of Mark Bristow, who was paralysed after being knocked down then shot at point-blank range in Royston, Glasgow.
In February 2019, William’s brother Jamie was shot in the stomach and leg in the same Springburn street, after his motor was rammed by hitmen in a Transit van. Gangland shooting victim Brian Hughes, 25, was blasted in the back by a pint-sized balaclava-clad shotgun-wielding hitman on March 12, 2020, in Glasgow’s Maryhill. Fake fag kingpin Kamaran Khader, who headed a £28million cigarette smuggling ring, cheated death in a botched murder bid in Greenock on May 12, 2020.
Khader, 40, ducked for cover as a shooter opened fire and struck a parked car before fleeing. Scaffolder Brian McIlear was targeted in the street outside his home in Barony Drive, Baillieston, Glasgow, on January 14 this year. The 31-year-old, who was in a relationship with Mincey’s daughter Emma, 29, was left covered in blood after being shot. A police spokesman said: “If anyone has new information, we urge them to get in touch with us on 101 as any new details we receive will be fully considered.”
Detective Chief Inspector Brian Geddes, from Homicide Governance and Review, added: “Homicides are significant crimes which go to the heart of public confidence in policing and police legitimacy. The investigation of homicides is an area where the national police service has driven high standards of investigation and compassion. The ability to respond professionally and thoroughly, and provide answers for families is a core duty of policing.
“Each death is unique and a tragedy for the individual and their family, with every investigation presenting its own challenges. We understand how devastating it is for loved ones to never know why a homicide happened or who may have been responsible and therefore our undetected murder cases are never closed. We have a team who keep these inquiries under review to ensure all new lines of inquiry are progressed. This could be from new information or a new investigatory technique that emerges which may help identify a killer or a cause.”
READ NEXT:
Edinburgh man, 40, charged after two men die at block of flats in city
Edinburgh youth gangs went on Bonfire Night rampage throwing fireworks at locals
Mortified Scottish couple charged £13,000 by OVO Energy for bill in one night
Young Scottish mum has heart attack age just 31 after noticing two common symptoms
Footage shows DPD delivery driver launching parcel into garden and running off
