Who鈥檚 Who in the story of the Daniels and the Lyons
Warning: contains details of graphic violence.
The feud between the Glasgow criminal families of the Daniels and the Lyons is one of the city’s biggest crime stories. To this day, people are wary of speaking out against the shocking violence, torture, and murders. The story goes that it was the theft of a stash of drugs or a dispute over territory which led to the start of the feud more than 20 years ago. What followed was a seemingly endless spiral of violence that drew in family members, criminal associates, a police mole and even ordinary Glaswegians going about their daily lives.
Here's a guide to who was who in the crime war that shook Glasgow:
JAMIE DANIEL
When Jamie Daniel was born in 1957, Glasgow was already in the grip of serious gang violence. Daniel chose to pursue a life of crime, and at the height of his influence he was reportedly worth £9m – making him one of the wealthiest criminals Glasgow had ever seen.
'one of the wealthiest criminals Glasgow had ever seen'
He diversified the family business, blazing a trail in the heroin trade by developing his own wholesale approach and buying the product direct from Pakistan. He drew in customers from miles around and his native Possil became known as “The Jungle” with dealers at every other door. Policing was said to be a “whack-a-mole” situation.
Unusually, Jamie Daniel didn't live an outlandish gangster life - no fancy cars or mansions for him - and he wasn’t part of the nightclub scene. But he was ruthless when it came to rivals and was linked to the murder of Frank McPhie – known as The Ice Man – who was shot dead by a sniper as he walked to his front door. He was undeterred when he was handed down a four year jail term in 1983 for heroin smuggling.
KEVIN 鈥楪ERBIL鈥� CARROLL
Every top crime family needs an enforcer - and no man terrorised rival gangs more than the Daniels’ henchman Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll. Once described in court as ‘a maniac,’ among the tools of Gerbil’s trade were two Glock pistols which he called ‘Ollie’ and ‘Mr Green.’ He had his own crew and employed gruesome torture methods to get what he wanted, involving boiling water, blow torches and “alien abductions” where victims would be found semi-clothed, unable or unwilling to say what had happened to them.
Gerbil was more than happy to take on the dirty work of the Daniel family and, other than his own liking for violence, had many other reasons to oblige. First off, he was living with Jamie Daniel’s daughter, Kelly, and had two children with her. Second, he had reportedly been bullied by Eddie Lyons’s sons – Steven and Eddie Jr – at school.
Gerbil’s ‘no rules’ approach put a target on his back, and he further inflamed the Daniels-Lyons feud when he used a vehicle and chain to pull over the headstone which marked the grave of Eddie Lyon’s young son who had died of cancer.
Such a move was so completely beyond the normal rules of gang warfare, that it turned tit for tat skirmishes into all-out war between the Daniels and the Lyons
After Gerbil was badly injured in a drive by shooting, there was a revenge attack on the Lyons family garage in the Lambhill area of Glasgow in which one man was shot dead and two others badly injured. Gerbil was suspected of planning the attack from hospital and became more of target - not only for rival gangsters but also for the police who were tracking him - something that didn’t always go to plan as you can hear here.
But eventually Gerbil 's life choices caught up with him and the outcome was catastrophic, you can hear more about that by listening here.
EDDIE LYONS SENIOR
Eddie was known as a “Jack the Lad” character and reportedly started out by selling pirated video tapes.
Believed to be operating from his home base in Milton, right next door to Possil, Lyons took over a local community centre that some residents believed was a front for crime. Although a report into the running of the centre didn’t find any evidence of criminal activity, it was said to be home to a gang of youths known as the ‘Club Boys’ and there were reports of violent and brutal behaviour. The centre was eventually closed in the wake of the attack on the Lyons family garage mentioned above, which left an innocent man dead.
STEVEN LYONS
Eddie’s son was seriously injured in the attack on the family garage. He survived and reportedly flew to Spain where police say he spent his time expanding the Lyons empire, connecting with criminal groups like Ireland’s infamous Kinahan family, although he does not have any convictions for drug dealing.
Find out more about the reach of the Lyons family by listening here.
Numerous lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by the criminal activities of the Daniel and Lyons crime groups. Today, the intensity of the feud has died down. But there are key players who will be released from prison in the coming years, perhaps with scores to settle. It remains to be seen whether strides forward in tackling criminal behaviour can keep a lid on it. Measures have been introduced such as taking a public health approach to knife crime, which have helped the city leave behind its violent past. There are high hopes never to return to those days.
If you’ve been affected by anything in the article or the podcast, you can go to 麻豆社 Action Line.
