COPS have vowed to “bring to justice” violent gangs waging on the streets of Edinburgh as an explosive feud threatens to turn deadly.
We were the first to reveal how mobsters are orchestrating a “full-scale takeover” of cocaine kingpin Mark Richardson’s empire.
Gunshots seen in the window of a property in the Pilton area of Edinburgh[/caption]
In recent weeks, warring mobsters hell-bent on violence have carried out waves of attacks by foot soldiers said to be acting under orders from Dubai-based crime bosses.
Beauty salons, homes and businesses linked to Richardson – who remains locked up for his role in a £200million supergang – have been targeted in firebomb plots and shootings amid the worst explosion of gangland violence in recent memory.
In this Sun Club special, Crime Reporter Graham Mann explores the ‘spark’ behind the street battles, exploring the sinister reach of the violence and the key figures fighting it out for power.
Operation Escalade & Richardson’s demise
UNDER-siege crime boss Mark Richardson’s turn in fortunes can be traced back to a dramatic car chase that ended in him being caged over his role in a Scots supergang.
The 37-year-old was captured on camera by a police chopper as he tried to evade police who were closing in on the “most sophisticated” organised crime gang in the country.
Richardson had established himself as the most fearsome mob boss in Edinburgh – controlling the flow of drugs in the capital city while building links to other top tier hoods across the country.
But everything changed on December 16, 2016, when Richardson was on the radar of crimebusters working under Operation Escalade – launched two years before.
Mob boss Mark Richardson is in jail amid an attack on his criminal empire[/caption]
Richardson was spotted in Glasgow city centre getting into a black mini before realising he was being tailed by a helicopter circling overhead.
By then he was the subject of an arrest warrant for his role in the £200million drug mob headed up at the time by kingpin brothers James and Barry Gillespie.
Richardson wasted no time, flooring it through the city at break-neck speed and driving onto the opposite carriageway before ditching the motor at an Esso petrol station in Keppochill Road.
Astonishing aerial footage shows the desperate hood – a close associate of the Daniel crime clan – tried to outwit cops by jumping into another motor but it was all in vain.
He was quickly snared by specialist officers working in tandem with the chopper deployed as part of “targeted activity to apprehend Richardson”.
Details of his attempt to flee emerged several months after he had been caged along with eight other Gillespie hoods who were involved in an astonishing array of crime.
They were locked up in 2018 for a combined total of 87 years for a catalogue of “merciless” crimes including the torture of supergrass Robert Allan over a cocaine debt.
They had also amassed a haul of weapons, including a hand grenade.
Richardson was jailed for having a Glock handgun after originally being accused of trying to kill underworld figures linked to the Lyons gang, Ross Monaghan and Robert Kelbie.
He is understood to have struck a deal with the Crown that saw those charges dropped.
The other members of the gang sentenced alongside Richardson were David Sell, Anthony Woods, Barry O’Neill, Francis Mulligan, Michael Bowman, Gerard Docherty, Steven McArdle, and ex-Army veteran Martyn Fitzsimmons.
DEEP DIVE – OPERATION ESCALADE
THE decade-long fight to dismantle Scotland’s biggest drugs cartel swept up nearly 50 hoods linked to the notorious Gillespie organised crime gang – including Mark Richardson.
Police Scotland’s Operation Escalade was launched in 2014 as a crack team of sleuths and crimebusters began spinning an intricate web that would snare dozens of top table hoods working under kingpin brothers James and Barry.
They were raking in millions via crime connections in South America that tied Scotland’s most fearsome crooks to so-called narco-terrorists steeped in murder and mayhem.
Scots cops and international lawmen based around the globe have swept up dozens of hoods who were up to their eyeballs in violence, intimidation and even murder.
Eleven years on the whereabouts of James and Barry Gillespie, aged 47 and 51, remains a mystery amid fears they may have been murdered in a Brazilian bolthole.
Read our Sun Club crime special HERE as we peel back the layers of the Escalade blitz that crippled the country’s biggest ever drugs, guns and dirty money racket.
Richardson was caged for eight years and nine months in January that year – four months before details of the car chase came to light at another court hearing.
He then had 18 months added to his sentence for culpable and reckless conduct while fleeing cops after he pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
He was wanted on warrant as part of an organised crime probe in Edinburgh, as well as a recall to prison order and was staying in the Glasgow area while actively avoiding cops.
Richardson also hit headlines in 2010 after he was locked up for 10 years for a £2million cocaine and heroin haul.
We told how hood pal Steven ‘Bonzo’ Daniel – son of late Godfather Jamie Daniel – tried to take the rap for Richardson by telling cops he’d been driving — but was sent packing.
The friends were both close associates of slain Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll.
A source said: “They’re very tight and have mutual business interests.
“Bonzo was happy to take the blame as Mark’s missus was pregnant at the time. But police basically told him to bolt.”
The turf war erupts
Richardson, like most top table gangsters, has continued to have a big influence over his crew despite being behind bars.
He was seen as the top dog at Glenochil prison, near Alloa, but sometime in the last few months that all changed when hoods linked the the kingpin got involved in a drug deal that sparked mayhem.
It’s not clear exactly when the fuse was lit but we revealed claims hoods associated with Richardson pulled a fast one in dealings with a new, emerging gang boss based in Dubai.
It’s claimed they arranged a £500k deal to buy 16kg of cocaine from a Union Bears football ultra who is wanted by Scots cops over claims he’s involved in serious organised crime.
But they enraged the 31-year-old – who can’t be named for legal reasons – by using fake notes in the transaction that blew up dramatically in their faces.
The UAE mobster launched a revenge campaign that came to the public’s attention when a firebomb was chucked through the window of a beauty salon run by Richardson’s partner.
It was the start of a weeks’ long campaign that included further torching of properties connected to associates Richardson.
He was earlier switched from Glenochil prison and moved to Low Moss amid underworld claims other hoods were being offered money to harm him.
This even included talk of an astonishing plot to smuggle a gun into prison and shoot Richardson dead.
Meanwhile more mobile phone clips emerged of further attacks including shots being fired at a house and Molotov cocktail being thrown into a family home.
And a montage of the various attacks was shared on social media that included a specific sinister threat aimed at Richardson.
It read: “This is to anyone associated with Mark Richardson.
“We are only just getting started. We are coming for all of you.”
The ‘Iceman’ connection
We can reveal a pal of jailed drugs boss Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson has allegedly had a hand in the wave of attacks.
Sources claimed Dubai-based Stephen Jamieson is among underworld figures behind an attempted takeover of Richardson’s empire.
One underworld source said: “One thing for sure is that this is being organised by someone high up the tree in an opposite gang.”
Stevenson was caged for 20 years for running a £100million cocaine plot but had four years cut on appeal last month.
Nowhere to hide
Elsewhere, a gangster who fled Scotland for Thailand to escape the ongoing turf war carnage was tracked down and savagely attacked, it’s been claimed.
A horrifying image has emerged of the man’s right cheek hanging open after a blade was swiped across his face in one the latest examples of ruthless mob violence.
Sources say he was recently tracked down in the South East Asian country by crimelords whose sinister reach spans the planet.
An insider revealed: “He is one of Richardson’s associates and he left the country to get out of the way until the dust settles.
“But this mob managed to find him and left him scarred for life after a guy slashed him across the face with a blade.
“They will stop at nothing to get the message across to Richardson and his crew that nobody is safe.”
Prison attacks
The murky underworld takeover’s sadistic reach showed little sign of letting up as footage later emerged of two caged hoods battering a fellow con behind bars in yet another act of savagery linked to the spiralling violence.
The two prisoners – understood to be acting on behalf of the gang behind the takeover of Richardson’s empire – recorded themselves battering another con inside a Scots nick.
They make no attempt to hide their identities as they lure their victim into a narrow jail cell before unleashing a torrent of punches and kicks.
The pair seem to revel in the moment as they force the stricken con to say ‘F*** the Daniels” – in an obvious swipe at Richardson’s known connections to the notorious north Glasgow mob.
The minute-long beating begins after one bearded thug stares into the mobile phone camera, perched on a desk seconds before their unwitting target walks in.
He then turns as the first blow comes from one seething maniac – knocking a drink from the unsuspecting victim’s hand as he yells in shock.
Britain’s ‘FBI’ ‘homing in’
Cops are now once again involved in a major investigation into crime gangs that has Richardson caught in the eye of the storm.
A top cop claimed officers are working to track down the hoods responsible for causing mayhem in Edinburgh.
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs told of efforts to trace the menacing mobsters who’ve been terrorising Richardson’s manor for weeks.
He said: “We’ve seen a number of violent incidents across Edinburgh.
“Folks living in these areas will see a far higher profile of uniformed police officers on the streets.”
It’s understood crimebusters from the ‘Britain’s FBI’, the National Crime Agency, are working with Police Scotland from the crime campus in Gartcosh, Lanarkshire.
Officers are also in talks with authorities in Ireland where a high-profile suspect linked to the Kinahan cartel was recently extradited from Dubai.
We told in November how an Interpol chief said there were “no safe havens” for Scots mob fugitives to hide out in.
Yaron Gottlieb, Interpol’s legal affairs director, pointed to the arrest of Irishman Sean McGovern, 37, who is alleged to be a key member of the Kinahan cartel which has links to Scots gangs.
He was nabbed in October last year in Dubai after Irish authorities requested an Interpol ‘Red Notice’, which UAE police then responded to.
Mr Gottlieb said: “This sends a loud signal to criminals around the world – there is no safe haven.
“You thought you were safe in the UAE but you’re not.”
Loyalists attempt fightback
Sources say Richardson loyalists are mounting a fightback but have so far failed to land a blow.
An insider said: “Richardson had been under the cosh for weeks with his associates constantly looking over their shoulders.
“But there has to be some kind of fightback but most of Richardson’s people are scared and in hiding because of who they are up against.
“There has been talk that some of Richardson’s mob have turned and given info because of the threats to their lives.
“It would take someone brave or mad to retaliate.”
Key ally turns his back
It comes amid claims Richardson’s mob have scattered – with some terrified associates providing info to the rival gang amid fears they could be murdered.
We revealed how Richardson has been abandoned by a powerful, long-standing ally amid an all-out war on the isolated cocaine kingpin, sources have claimed.
Martyn Fitzsimmons has turned his back on the under-siege mob boss, insiders say, as underworld rivals at home and abroad plot his demise over a fake notes con.
Fitzsimmons, 44, is said to be top dog at Low Moss prison where Richardson, 37, is holed up over security fears amid claims he’s a marked man.
The duo used to be close when they were at large as part of a so-called supergang linked to Scotland’s biggest crime syndicate.
Low Moss prison where Richardson and Fitzsimmons are serving sentences.[/caption]
But sources say fearsome hood ‘Fitzy’ no longer has Richardson’s back as enemies circle amid an ongoing turf war in Edinburgh.
An insider said: “Richardson is an increasingly isolated figure.
“There was a time when he could rely on Fitzy for back up – but that’s gone now.
“Fitzy is a terrifying guy who you would love as an ally but fear as an enemy.
“It’s that reputation that’s made him a powerful guy within Scotland’s organised crime circles.”
Richardson, meanwhile, remains under lock and key as the authorities work round the clock to identify those driving the biggest gangland turf war in recent years.
