ATTENTION-seeking hoods were last night warned sharing films of their terrifying firebombings could backfire — as cops ramp up their investigation.
Former top cop Greame Pearson’s comments come as we pinpoint the bitter battle hotspots in both Glasgow and Edinburgh in our interactive map below.
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A storage unit in Musselburgh was later torchedCredit: PA
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A garage was set ablaze in Portobello in Edinburgh
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The warring mobs are taunting their enemies with online videos
The senior ex-detective told how the thugs use chilling montages of their dead-of-night raids as a new way to “throw down the gauntlet” to police and underworld rivals.
Homes and businesses linked to caged cocaine kingpin Mark Richardson and the Daniel clan have been torched while the carnage was filmed for regular posts on social media.
In one menacing clip, there is a warning: “This is a message to anyone associated with Mark Richardson.
“We are only just getting started. We are coming for all of yous.”
Last night former crime-fighter Mr Pearson said the horror footage has led cops to “ramp up” their efforts to catch the maniacs leading to the fresh wave of arrests which emerged on Friday.
And he believes video sharing is now a key tactic for thugs looking to intimidate rivals and show their determination to seize control of drugs markets.
Mr Pearson, the former head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: “Video is a relatively new development in terms of criminality in Scotland.
“Previously you didn’t have video and not much on social media.
“It reflects the campaign. It’s about indicating there isn’t going to be a lot of forgiveness.
“They are going to keep going until they have achieved whatever it is they decide they want to achieve.
“They are trying to suggest that no matter what you do, we are going to go about our business.
“The other thing is – and I’m sure the criminals involved will have anticipated this – but that kind of activity will ramp up the police response.
“Not only have they thrown down the gauntlet to their enemies, they have thrown down the gauntlet to the police.”
A fugitive hood known as Miami is thought to be leading the strikes on Richardson’s empire in retaliation over a £500,000 fake cash cocaine con.
Associates of Richardson’s allies in the Daniel clan have also come under siege.
Masked yobs from a group called Tamo Junto have claimed responsibility for the strikes in the Glasgow and Edinburgh areas.
They included an attack last week on the Edinburgh home of Richardson’s gangland pal, David McMillan.
The 54-year-old, who also has ties to the besieged Daniel crime family, had his plush £1.15 million pad in Edinburgh torched while children were asleep inside.
In another video, the gang used the voice of Scots Tories leader and ex crime reporter Russell Findlay over a clip showing burning buildings and motors.
The maniacs also threatened to “exterminate” anyone connected to the Daniels and Richardson.
In another post, the underworld attackers warned enemies to get out the country.
It read: “Every associate, every business will be targeted. Leave Scotland immediately.”
Crime gangs monitoring trials to snoop on rivals
Exclusive – By Graham Mann
SEASONED crime gangs sent underlings to court cases in an effort to gather info on rivals and stay one step ahead of the law, a former top cop claims.
Graeme Pearson told how cronies will be ordered to sit on the public benches in Scotland’s high courts as part of an intel-gathering exercise.
The policing expert said gangs learn fast and soak up valuable details revealed in criminal cases to their advantage.
He said: “Bear in mind that criminal groups are always aware that prosecutions are part of their lifestyle, they also monitor these trials and go and listen to the evidence.
“Then they can get to know about what each gang is up to.
“They get to hear things that they otherwise wouldn’t know about
“So there has been a lot of undesirable openness from their view points about what has been going on over the last few years.
“That all feeds into this animosity that has come about.
“With each trial that goes through the High Court criminals learn a new trick, a new chapter to the book on how to go about their business.
“What we’ve got now is 21st Century, learned experience being applied to criminal activity.
“As is always the case, criminals move far quicker than the authorities when it comes to learning.
“The internet, internet banking and the movement of funds around the world is something that they have all learned from previous generations and now apply very effectively to the current environment of drugs and the importation of drugs.
“But it applies across the whole range of criminal activity.”
Mr Pearson reckons the chaos can be traced to detectives’ bust of the EncroChat encrypted phone network that exposed top-table mob figures. Many were thrown in jail where they have brushed shoulders with bitter enemies.
Revelations in messages between dealers, killers and henchmen lifted the lid on their illicit activities and exposed comments about rivals.
It helped cops expose conspiracies and shed light on secretive deals, with the potential to reignite long-standing gang rivalries.
Mr Pearson said: “One of the influences which has brought about where we are now is EncroChat.
“EncroChat not only has exposed who the players are in organised crime but the conversations between them.
“These conversations became public. Things that criminals didn’t say to each other, but said to their own parties, became visible. And some of these comments wouldn’t have been particularly pleasant. The number of arrests due to EncroChat across the country is in the hundreds now.
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As the gangland turf war headed west, another warning was issued to associates of Mark Richardson and the Daniels clan
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A carpet factory linked to Craig “Rob Roy” Gallagher on fire
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Properties across Glasgow have been allegedly targetted
“Many of these are folk who thought they were untouchable. They are now sitting in jail close to each other and that has cranked up sensitivity and awareness.
“What happens within prisons spills out into the community in terms of jealousies and paybacks”.
We told how the mayhem kicked off on March 6 when a beauty salon was allegedly torched in Leith, Edinburgh.
A storage unit was set ablaze in Musselburgh days later. Shots were fired at properties in the city’s Pilton and Niddrie while cops are probing other alleged fires.
Encrochat-style sting key to snare Dubai hoods – expert
By Graham Mann
A BREAKTHROUGH on a par with the Encrochat sting could be the key to snaring hoods hiding out in Dubai.
The cross-border take down of the encrypted phone network saw hundreds of criminals snared across Europe thanks to cops at home and abroad.
And Greame Pearson hopes similar cooperation between national authorities will one day curtail the abilities of hoods to pull the strings on Scottish crime plots while living a lavish lifestyle in the UAE.
He said: “What I’d like to see in relation to Dubai is a similar turn of events to Encrochat.
“I’d like to think that state machines at the political level would get behind that shade, that protection and seize every asset that they have.
“That’s the only thing that keeps them in Dubai – they don’t live there for free.
“They need to have a fair degree of access to bank accounts and to money.
“What’s needed is a way to get behind that protection and remove it as quickly as possible.
“It can’t be good from a Dubai point of view either, that living amongst them criminals are unable to live in the UK.”
Attacks have since moved west, with homes and businesses firebombed in Kirkintilloch, Stepps, Riddrie, Robroyston and Milton.
Hood Steven ‘Bonzo’ Daniel’s mum’s home was among pads torched. It is understood Dubai-based ‘Miami’ — who can not be named for legal reasons — has the backing of top-table mobsters with sources claiming caged gangster James ‘The Don’ White has had a hand in the weeks of violence.
The 48-year-old is in isolation at Addiewell nick, in West Lothian, amid suspicions he is still orchestrating organised crime from behind bars.
On Friday, it emerged a boy of 16 was among six people arrested over five alleged attempted murders linked to the turf war.
It brought the total number of arrests to 20 as police continued their fightback against the violence.
Detective Chief Superintendent David Ferry said: “The arrests over the past week highlight the ongoing work that officers have been doing to target those responsible for these attacks.
“While we believe these incidents are linked to rival groups who are targeting each other, I want to make it clear this violence will not be tolerated.”
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