GLASGOW'S DRUG WAR OF SUCCESSION

GLASGOW underworld figures are fighting a war of succession over the city's
UKP300 million heroin trade, a conflict in which the last man standing will
inherit an empire.

Those caught in the escalating violence of the power struggle are now
regarded by Glasgow's criminal fraternity as "dead men walking". It is the
beginning of the end of a criminal era.

It emerged yesterday that UKP10,000-a-head is the promised fee for killing
the jailed gangster, Paul Ferris, and Thomas McGraw, the businessman known
as the "Licensee", who was cleared recently for his alleged part in an
international drug-smuggling operation.

One man who has an unknown price on his head is the jailed drug baron John
Healy, McGraw's brother-in-law.

The first sign that a turf war had begun came with a double shooting in the
East End and the gangland-style murder of an Irishman with known criminal
associates. Manus O'Donnell was tortured and executed before his body was
wrapped in a tarpaulin and dumped in East Kilbride where it was found on 22
November.

It had been suggested that O'Donnell's death was connected to the IRA, a
theory dismissed yesterday by criminals who claimed he was killed on the
orders of a leading underworld figure. He was murdered two weeks after an
assassination attempt in Ruchazie on two men with a known involvement in
crime.

In Govan on Wednesday, a man was found dead in a house. Police confirmed
last night that a man had been detained in connection with the death.

City detectives say they have no evidence to suggest a link between any
recent crimes in the city. A police spokesman also said that their
intelligence does not indicate that Glasgow is on the verge of a turf war.

The word on the street suggests otherwise. Insiders said yesterday the power
struggle, predicted in The Scotsman after Ferris was jailed earlier this
year on gun smuggling charges, was a reality.

However, whereas in the past such feuds were mostly fought by ambitious foot
soldiers, it now appears that the current violence has been ordered by the
city's leading crime figures, most of whom have dressed their criminal past
in the veneer of middle-class respectability.

The foundations of the truce brokered between them by Ferris prior to his
imprisonment have crumbled and Ferris and Healy are perceived to be an
expendable "old guard". The vacuum created by their imprisonment, allied to
McGraw's stated intention to leave for a new life abroad, means the city is
up for grabs.

Ferris, a one-time enforcer for the Thompson crime dynasty, is a spent
force - in jail, unable to influence or exert control without his personal
intervention.

McGraw, fearful for his life as a marked man, has denied he became the
city's leading gangster after Arthur Thompson, sen, died of natural causes
and his son, also Arthur, was executed, a killing for which Ferris was
charged and cleared.

However, McGraw does have a criminal past and until his arrest on the
alleged drug offences he was perceived to be a leading crime figure.

Healy, who earned almost UKP800,000 from drugs before his arrest, is
reckoned to be the major figure on the south side of the city. It is
understood he wants to expand his influence into other areas of the city,
especially the East End.

There are criminals on the edge of the power struggle who are watching and
waiting for their chance to exploit the weakening grip of the old guard.
They cannot be identified for legal reasons but are known to police. They
are:

* Two major players, both of whom live in some splendour in the city's most
exclusive suburb, who have formed an alliance.

* A family of brothers who have long coveted gaining access to the "real
money".

* A major dealer from outside the city whose empire is centred in Paisley,
but reaches as far north as Aberdeen.

The much-feared Paisley criminal was - almost literally - the last man
standing by virtue of winning the vicious shooting war which caused mayhem
in Scotland's largest town in the early 1990s.

He is viewed as the wild card, but as one insider said yesterday: "A good
bet to come up on the outside rail just before the finish."

Until now, his commitment to the north has distracted his attention from
Glasgow, but one criminal said: "Don't count him out." However, he may be
unwilling to become a combatant again in the now inevitable struggle for
Glasgow.

The criminal source said: "Our two boys from the leafy suburbs are still
favourites. They've got class, respectability and respect. They'll be hard
to beat. One of them was the boss who instigated the Paisley war to expand
the heroin trade in a town that was more a jellies [temazepam] market.
Together, they form a powerful alliance.

"However, the Brothers Grim will also be tough. They're still close to their
dungheap roots and haven't made the jump to the suburbs. They're well
feared, but still haven't got much depth in the squad."

Another insider said: "The contracts on Ferris and McGraw are a reality and
Healy is also targeted. Ferris is apparently writing a tell-all book, a
dangerous thing to do when it's allied to a waning influence over events on
the outside. That book idea alone could get him killed.

"McGraw is very anxious to disassociate himself from the city. He'd rather
be in Spain, to be honest. Glasgow is getting too rich for his blood.

"Healy is a major player who made a packet before his arrest and if his
influence is diminished while he is in jail, there is a huge market gap to
be filled."

Checked-by: Don Beck