Glasgow shootings spark fears of fresh gangland hostilities

AN OUTBREAK of violence in Glasgow has fuelled fears that the fragile peace in the city's underworld is on the brink of unravelling.

Detectives from Strathclyde Police are investigating a murder and three attempted murders over the past few days. They say the bloodshed may be the result of rival factions fighting for control of the booming drugs business.

At the centre of the allegations surrounding the latest round of tit for tat is Tam McGraw - one of the city's most notorious crime bosses. The former shoplifter has an estimated personal fortune of between pounds 10m and pounds 40m and is known as "the Licensee" because of claims that he is a police informer and therefore has a "licence" to operate without police interference.

Although he spends much of his time at his villa in Tenerife his name has been linked with some of the most violent episodes in recent gangland history, including the notorious Glasgow ice-cream murders.

Thomas "TC" Campbell and Joseph Steel were jailed in 1984 for the murder of six members of a family who died when their flat was fire- bombed in a battle for control of the city's ice-cream vans.

On Tuesday next week the two men begin an appeal against their convictions and sentences after their case was referred back to the High Court by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. The appeal is set against an atmosphere of increasing tension in the Glasgow underworld which has been rocked by four shootings in recent days.

The new cycle of violence began last Thursday when two men were seriously injured by gunmen who opened fire at the Royal Oak bar in Nitshill Road.

The men, John "the Joker" McCartney, 41, and Craig Devlin, 31, were shot as they drank with Mr McGraw. Both victims were known to police and may have been shot in revenge for the stabbing last year of another gangster in a dispute over drugs. This in turn was sparked by the death of Stewart "Specky" Boyd in a car crash in Spain last year. Mr McCartney, a council refuse collector from Renfrew, and Mr Devlin, a self-styled security expert, were known associates of Boyd who controlled drugs trafficking in south Glasgow.

Violence erupted again at the weekend centred on two pubs in the Govan area of the city. A 21-year-old man was shot in the legs on Saturday night at the Parkway bar on Paisley Road West.

Fifteen minutes later, Stephen Clark, a 39-year-old barman at the pub, was shot dead as he answered the door of his home on Finsbay Street, on the south side of Glasgow.

Both men were shot at close range with a handgun. Police say the shootings may be linked to a row between customers and staff at the Parkway and the nearby Howdens bar, where it is understood that a manager was stabbed recently after a brawl at the pub.

"One of the lines of inquiry we are working on is looking at previous incidents within the Parkway bar and the surrounding area, which would also include the Howdens bar," said Detective Superintendent Eddie McCusker of Strathclyde police.

With attention set to turn to the High Court for next week's appeal, there is speculation that the case has reopened Glasgow's old wounds.

Although Mr McGraw was a peripheral figure in the ice-cream wars he is a bitter rival of Campbell, who blames him for the arson attack murders for which Campbell was jailed.

With Mr McGraw's power base already apparently under attack, next week's eight- day hearing is likely to attract considerable attention from those hoping his standing in the underworld will be undermined.

Copyright 2004 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.