Gangland thug John Kennedy was a hitman who called himself a “one-man band”.
The 41-year-old was convicted yesterday for the fatal shooting of Kenny Reilly along with three others.
Morton Eadie, his son Darren Eadie, Ross Fisher and Kennedy were all sentenced to minimum terms of imprisonment totalling 94 years for the shooting of Kenny Reilly in Maryhill, in Glasgow in 2018.
For years, drug user Kennedy was prepared to do dirty work for whoever was willing to pay.
Sources say that his fast and loose attitude towards violence was incongruous with his slight frame.
At one point, the gun-for-hire had become so isolated, he armed himself with a “tool” – a street name for a gun – whenever he left his home.
One insider said: “Kennedy is not a physical threat to anyone.
“He is not the kind of guy you would back to win a fight.
“But he is the type that would shoot or stab you in the back the first chance he got.
“People aren’t scared of him – but they are wary. He’s been a drug user and that would lead him to saying and doing things he couldn’t remember, which resulted in a lot of fall-outs.
“There was a period of time when it was well-known that he was walking about with a tool.”
He was a friend of killer Hugh “Shug” Baird, who committed suicide while on remand in 2018.
Baird was waiting to go on trial for murdering his girlfriend Jennifer Morgan.
He stabbed her 27 times during a frenzied attack in her own home.
Her daughter was found crying in the front garden of the property.
Kennedy, 41, described himself as a “one-man band” who was “on no-one’s side”, sources claim.
But his independent streak has led to him being attacked while he awaited trial in Glasgow’s Barlinnie.
The beatings resulted in him going under the protection of the Daniel crime family.
Alexander Sutherland, son of late gangster Jamie Daniel, was a defence witness for Kennedy amid claims he shot Jamie Campbell.
Sutherland claimed that enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll confessed to him that he’d shot Campbell in 2006. Carroll was murdered in 2010.
The prosecution urged the jury not to treat Sutherland as a trustworthy witness. However, Kennedy was yesterday acquitted of the killing.
The source added: “Kennedy wasn’t anyone’s pal. He liked calling himself a one-man band. Everyone knew who he was but he was always on the outside.
“He wanted people to know that he wasn’t part of any crime group, that he did things for himself.
“He tried to impose himself in prison but he has been battered three times before he went to court.”
Morton Eadie, 56, of Glasgow’s Maryhill, was once one of the most feared men in the city.
He had links to people involved in the drugs trade and was a suspected of being involved in the gangland murder of Frank McPhie.
McPhie, who also lived in Maryhill, was shot in the head outside his home in May 2000.
In 1992, McPhie was jailed for eight years for his part in a £200,000 drug deal and was twice sent to prison for five years, in 1978 and 1986.
McPhie was cleared of the killing of Christopher McGrory, 25, in 1998.
A year earlier, McPhie and another man were charged with murdering William Toye in his cell at Perth Prison. The verdict on both was not proven.
No one has ever been convicted of killing McPhie, who was chased into his street before being shot by
a sniper.
A source said: “Morton was a main player in Glasgow for years. He was one of the suspects in the McPhie shooting.
“The police could never prove his involvement but people involved in crime knew he had a part in it.”
Sources say Eadie tried to steer his son Darren, 30, away from crime. Eadie Jr had ambitions to be a lawyer when he was a school but got “mixed-up in the wrong crowd”.
An insider said: “Morton said to Darren, ‘If you want to be a lawyer, you’ll need to get away from all
the idiots’.
“The police will be delighted to eventually get Morton. He has been on their radar for decades. But now he’s going to be spending years in prison with his son.”
Sources say the vehicle used in the murder of Reilly was stolen by Fisher and it was unlikely he knew it would be used in a murder.
One source said: “He’s a car thief. He wouldn’t ask what it’s getting used for when he sells it on to someone.
"This sentence will send a message to anyone stealing a car and selling it to those involved in organised crime.”
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