SCOTLAND’S streets have witnessed some brutal and bloody gang wars between
rival crooks.
We told yesterday how the country’s deadliest underworld feud was the
decade-long clash between the Daniel and Lyons crime clans in Glasgow.
Stolen Daniel clan cocaine being sold by the Lyons in 2001 unleashed a wave of
violence, including two fatal shootings.
On day three of our guide to organised crime in 21st century Scotland,
Investigations Editor RUSSELL FINDLAY examines four other major gang wars
that terrorised communities across the country...
Nisbet v Murdoch
THIS bitter turf war launched a reign of terror that led to mass riots and
street protests — and even a plea for peace from churches.
It gripped the town of Craigneuk, Lanarkshire, as the violence escalated over
two years.
The Murdochs, who also ran protection rackets, had warned the Nisbets for
dealing on “their” patch.
But the Nisbet clan, headed by 65-year-old millionaire James Nisbet was
undaunted — so the Murdochs called in the Longmire family for back-up.
Police were virtually powerless to put an end to the violent feud, which saw a
hand grenade attack, multiple shootings and the attempted murder of two
children.
In 1994, Alan Murdoch — who was later jailed for dealing heroin — survived
being hit with a burst of 9mm bullets.
But innocent bystander Douglas Bryce, 21, was caught in the crossfire and bled
to death outside his mum’s house.
The killing led to a mass riot which was followed by a 500-strong group of
outraged residents protesting about the terror on their streets.
Billy Longmire, below right, was one of three men who stood trial for murder
but they were acquitted.
He and one of his co-accused were also cleared of shooting Alan and William
Murdoch, a six-year-old boy, a girl of 14 and a family friend.
Their trial heard that William had escaped a hand grenade attack and that John
Murdoch was paralysed after being shot three times in 1993.
Longmire survived FOUR attempts on his life and was later jailed for dealing
heroin.
The Murdochs, followed by the Longmires, were eventually forced from Craigneuk
and the gang war finally ended.
Richardson v Kelbie
GLASGOW’S gritty crime scene grabs headlines — but genteel Edinburgh is also
home to a massive drugs market.
And police in the city fear a long-running feud between Mark Richardson and
Robert Kelbie could explode at any time.
Former Hibs casual Richardson, 37, made millions as cocaine king of Scotland’s
capital. But a run-in with Celtic captain Scott Brown was the catalyst for a
war with Kelbie.
Richardson attacked former boyhood pal Brown outside Citrus nightclub in 2009.
That prompted Brown’s friend Kelbie, 31, to hunt down Richardson — who was no
match for the ex-boxer.
Weeks later, Richardson was arrested following a two-year police probe into
his gang, which peddled 75 per cent of Edinburgh’s coke.
As he began a 10-year sentence, his brother Dale Richardson was allegedly
attacked by Kelbie in a club.
Days later, a gunman blasted Kelbie in the back outside Bannatyne’s gym.
The next day, Richardson’s drug-dealer dad Mark Sr was attacked by a mob
wielding baseball bats — killing the family’s pet dog.
Kelbie was then arrested for allegedly spitting in the face of Richardson’s
hairdresser girlfriend Stephanie Dignan, daughter of millionaire Steven
Dignan. When Richardson’s prison sentence was reduced on appeal, Kelbie
branded him a “grass” on Facebook.
In February 2012, Dignan crony Gordon Archibald was slashed ¬— but suspected
knifeman James “Jasper” McCann walked free.
Months later Richardson, right, was slashed in Glenochil jail by an associate
who had been threatened with violence to carry out the attack.
In November 2013, a masked gunman used an AK47 to unleash a volley of shots on
Kelbie’s home. Earlier this year, one of Kelbie’s relatives was also slashed
behind bars.
And now Richardson is back on the streets.
A washed-up ex-Hibs casual in the boxing scene failed to broker a truce.
So far there have been no convictions for any of the tit-for-tat violence as
neither side will speak to cops.
A source said: “It’s been going on for over five years, causing serious damage
to a lot of people. There’s too much bad blood. People are watching and
waiting.”
Daniels v Somalis
SOMALI gangsters hit the headlines when crack dealer Mohammed Abdi was hunted down and shot dead in Edinburgh.
Hussein Ali, 26, Mohamud Mohamud, 30, and Cadil Huseen, 23, were each jailed for at least 25 years for the 2013 murder.
Abdi’s machine-gun slaying in the capital’s Duddingston area revealed the extreme violence between rival Somali crooks.
But we can reveal that they have also clashed with native Scottish gangsters.
The Scottish Sun has spoken to a gang member who described how his mob went up against Glasgow’s Daniel crime clan. And when they began to sell crack in the Daniel mob’s Possil heartland, violence flared.
Depending on who to believe, either the Somalis backed down or they did a deal with the rival gang, led by scrapyard boss Jamie Daniel, 57.
The Somali said: “There were a few shootings but no one got badly hurt.
“We ended up sitting down with them and agreeing that we would only deal crack while the white boys stuck to brown (heroin) and pills (ecstasy).”
But a source close to the Daniels said: “The Somalis aren’t in this area now because they were getting too much heat from the young Daniel boys.
“Guns are not the sole preserve of Somalis and they must have realised there were easier places for them to deal in.”
In Canada — which has 50 unsolved Somali gang killings — cops believe colleagues here need to reach out to young Africans.
Sgt Christopher Laush, who heads a unit battling gangs in Toronto, said: “Scottish and Somali gangs might hate each other but when it comes to making money, they will work together.”
Boyd v Rennie
IF criminal nicknames are supposed to inspire fear, Stewart ‘Specky’ Boyd and his gang — Robert ‘Piggy’ Pickett, George ‘Goofy’ Docherty and Stewart Gillespie — should have had a re-think.
But Boyd was in fact one of the most dangerous criminals in Scotland’s history.
And his war against the Rennie family in Paisley in the 1990s claimed many lives and contaminated local politics.
Boyd’s gang was linked to a security firm in the town’s Ferguslie Park which was backed with almost £200,000 of taxpayers’ money and had Labour Party figures on its board.
In November 1995, three Rennie brothers received a visit from Gillespie,
Pickett and Docherty. Gillespie pointed at one and told Pickett to “shoot the fat b******” — but the gun was a dud.
Soon after a bloodbath ensued and all three Rennies were almost killed in the violence.
In May 1996, 26-year-old Mark Rennie was shot in the back as he tried to run away.
His attackers stood laughing over him as he lay dying.
Gillespie, 37, was jailed for the murder and the three attempted murders six months earlier. Alongside him in the dock were Pickett, 31, and Docherty,
36, who were also convicted for the earlier attacks on the three brothers.
Pickett got 12 years while Docherty got seven.
Intimidation surrounding the trial led to the creation of Scotland’s first witness protection unit.
Missing from the dock was Boyd who’d done a runner to Spain. He returned and stood trial for murder the following year but was cleared.
Meanwhile, then MP Irene Adams accused the security firm of being a protection racket and front for drug dealing and money laundering.
There were few tears shed at the demise of Boyd, Docherty and Gillespie. Boyd died in a car crash in Spain in 2003, Docherty was run down and murdered by a mob in 2006 and Gillespie was stabbed to death in 2012.
Pickett was shot in 2006 after he joined forces with the Lyons as they waged war with the Daniels. Boyd was later linked to nine unsolved murders.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jqecsKtfan14fpdomaWnn5l6sLqMrZ%2BeZaOpv6ax06xm