DEAD IN THE STREET, A 'HARD LADDIE' OF DRUG WARS

A 24-year-old man murdered in a drive-by shooting was the victim of a
heroin-related gangland feud only three weeks after he survived being shot
in the head at point-blank range, police said last night

Underworld sources said John Simpson had angered so many Glasgow gangsters
that they were practically "queuing up" to kill him in the city, which has
the United Kingdom's highest level of heroin abuse and the most deaths
connected to the drug.

The murder ended a period of relative calm after two years of vicious
bloodletting among gangsters in the south-east of Glasgow and in
neighbouring Paisley.

Police fear his death could prompt a new series of killings, as rivals vie
for control of extortion rackets and the lucrative heroin and temazepam
drugs trade.

Police recently closed the files on four unsolved murders because they
could not convict the killers for the specific crimes. But they are
satisfied the men are now in prison for other serious offences, including
murder.

Simpson, who was gunned down by a number of men in a car as he walked near
his home on the Pollok housing estate, had infuriated one underworld leader
by threatening his monopoly on the local heroin supply. Sources said he was
"on the wrong end" of a drugs deal that had broken down.

Senior officers are confident that arrests will be made soon. Last night a
warrant was issued for the arrest of an unnamed man.

One underworld figure said last night: "Simpson fancied himself as a hard
laddie and was always throwing his weight around with drugs, knives and guns.

"If you do that round here, it is not long before someone bigger than you
starts throwing his weight back.

"Simpson had caused so much bother it had been decided he should go. The
word was out. A number of people would have been willing to do it."

Detectives are certain that Simpson's death is drugs-related but are
unclear who killed him and why - partly because he was so widely targeted.
One officer said: "From what we are hearing, it could be any number of
people for any number of reasons. He was such a bad lad that it is hard to
know what leads to follow, because there are so many."

In the attack on Simpson, one of the men blasted him in the chest four
times with a shotgun. He suffered massive injuries and died soon afterwards
in the Southern General Hospital.

Only three weeks earlier he had survived another assassination attempt. On
New Year's Day - just one week after he had been released from Barlinnie
prison, where he was serving a sentence for attempted murder - three men
armed with shotguns burst into his aunt's house in the Priesthill district
of Glasgow, where he was staying. A gun was held to his head and he was
shot at point-blank range.

Despite considerable loss of blood, he survived, and surgeons successfully
removed the bullet from his skull. He refused to tell police who had shot
him, and was discharged soon afterwards.

On the streets of Pollok, local people fear the latest killing will spark
tit-for-tat violence. One woman, who asked not to be named, said: "That's
the big worry. Perhaps they'll get the wrong house next time. You're
sitting in watching the telly and someone is getting shot in their bed down
the street. It's terrifying."