Billy McAllister claims his warnings about the rise of the Lyons family as a crime gang more than 25 years ago were dismissed.
04:30, 24 Apr 2026Updated 07:08, 24 Apr 2026
Billy McAllister Ex SNP councillor (Image: DAILY RECORD)
The man who first exposed the Lyons crime clan has slammed the Scottish authorities for ignoring his warnings and claims the Spanish Police have shown this year what should have been done.
Billy McAllister was speaking out following the arrest of gang leader Steven Lyons in Bali and subsequent deportation to the Netherlands.
Lyons is is now facing extradition to Spain, where he is wanted on money-laundering charges linked to an alleged international network of drug trafficking and organised crime.
Billy claims the failure of the authorities to listen to him more than 25 years ago resulted in the Lyons rise from a street corner gang to the top of the criminal tree both at home and abroad.
Earlier this month Spain’s Guardia Civil boasted of smashing and dismantling the Lyons crime gang but Billy says police in Scotland could have done that years ago – if he had been listened to.
Steven Lyons (C) is escorted by police officers at the Bali Police headquarters(Image: MADE NAGI/EPA/Shutterstock)
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Record’s Criminal Record, the former Glasgow City councillor added:”The Spanish police have been what, three years at it? Three years. And we’ve had nearly thirty years here.
“The Spanish police operated the same way, went in, got the intelligence. But the difference is they worked on it. They got evidence. And look what’s happened. They got him in Bali. They’ve got a couple of his cronies and now it’s all imploding.”
Chirnsyde Community Centre December 2006(Image: Sunday Mail)
In 2000 Billy first exposed the Lyons family’s involvement in the running of the public funded Chirnsyde Community Initiative in Milton, Glasgow.
It’s estimated that the centre received more than £1.4 million in taxpayers money before it was finally closed down.
He claims his complaints that the community centre was a cover for organised crime were dismissed for years by both the police and Glasgow City Council.
Billy said: “We thought going to the police was the right thing to do.
“Low and behold it was the worst thing we could have done.
“At that time the police had an office in the community centre and were working out of it.”
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Billy says that he and his three other activists who spoke out against the Lyons were described by the authorities as the “four Bampots” and troublemakers in a bid to discredit them.
The 73 year old added: “No one was really taking charge of whether the money was being spent properly.
“They spent more times coming after us – the four Bampots – to discredit us and give us a hard time.
“The Lyons were seen as heroes doing good community work and we were portrayed as the villains”
Over the years Billy and the activists were threatened and attacked over their opposition to the Lyons with Billy’s car being firebombed on one occasion.
He added:”But we just kept going we believed that what we were doing was right.
“I was in my surgery one night when people came with machetes and knives.
“I had a police handler who came and got me out.
“Nothing ever came of it and no one was arrested.”
On one occasion Billy had a knife pulled out on him during an election campaign and three workers assaulted at a polling station.
He added:”Two senior police officers told me at the time that they were looking to challenge this and really get on top of it.
“They said the cancer had been too long on the go and was going to be very difficult to cut it out.”
Billy McAllister Ex SNP councillor on Criminal Record Podcast(Image: DAILY RECORD)
Billy claims the former Strathclyde Police ignored the information about the Lyons he was bringing from local people for years.
He added:”They never took any heed.
“If you don’t do something, things have got a tendency to grow, you know, and just grow wild and just get out of control and that’s what’s happened here.”
In 2006 Lyons family member Michael Lyons was shot dead in a Glasgow garage by two associates of the rival Daniel family, Raymond Anderson and James McDonald.
The victim’s cousin Steven Lyons was seriously injured by the gunmen as was Lyons associate Robert Pickett.
As a result of the fatal shooting Glasgow City Council finally shut down Chirnsyde and evicted members of the Lyons family a few days later.
However Billy is not certain we have seen the end of the Lyons gang
He added:”Prison is not the answer to cutting the head off a snake.
“You’ve got to dismantle right in there and say, no, this is unacceptable.
“There’s people lying in prison who are still earning millions of pounds a year.
“The Lyons been the scourge of our community. They’ve destroyed all the good things that’s been happening in the community. And I would like to think that would be the end of them.”
Earlier this month footage was released by Spanish Police showing armed police raids on homes linked to the Lyons in Malaga and Barcelona.
Large amounts of cash, Rolex watches and cryptocurrency wallets were seized as well as a £90,000 block of cocaine.
The Spaniards confirmed the earlier arrest of Steven Lyons wife Amanda at Dubai’s international airport describing her as an “active member of the criminal organisation.”
They have also described the Lyons as a violent international criminal organisation, dedicated to drug trafficking, money laundering, and violent crime.
The Spanish investigation into the Lyons involves Police Scotland, the National Crime Agency, and law enforcement in Holland and Turkey.
Billy won election to Glasgow City Council in 2006 as a local councillor in Milton by vowing to evict the Lyons crime gang from Chirnsyde.
He says the Lyons murderous feud with the Daniel family which has seen four assassinations at home and abroad could also have been avoided if the police had listened to him at the time
The violent rivalry was reignited in March this year when Daniel family members and associates were targeted in a series of fire bombings and machete attacks in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Two major figures in the Lyons gang, Eddie Lyons jnr and Ross Monaghan were murdered last May in a bar owned by Monaghan in Fuengirola on the Costa Del Sol.
A man has been extradited from Liverpool to stand trial.
Police Scotland have been contacted for comment
The Lyons first came to the attention of the public in 2006 when family member Michael Lyons was shot dead at an MOT station on the north side of Glasgow where he worked.
Cousin Steven Lyons was seriously injured after being caught in the crossfire.
It then emerged that the Lyons had been the subject of complaints from local residents in the nearby Milton area of Glasgow over their role in a local community centre which had received around £1.4 million in public funds.
It was alleged that the centre was a front for organised crime and that the police had failed to act allowing the Lyons to flourish as a crime gang.
It also emerged that the fatal shooting was linked to a feud with a neighbouring crime gang, the Daniel’s over some stolen cocaine and control of the drugs trade in the north side of the city.
The garage murder prompted Glasgow City Council to finally act and evict Lyons family members from the centre.
However it was not the end but only the beginning of the Lyons ascent up the criminal ladder.
Steven Lyons moved abroad first to Spain and then Dubai where he is said to have made connections with other organised crime groups across Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.
This appeared to give the Lyons the edge over their Daniel rivals
In 2010 with the murder of Daniel enforcer Kevin “Gerbil “Carroll outside a Glasgow supermarket the Lyons appeared to have got their revenge for the 2006 garage shooting.
Last year there was a further escalation of the feud when members and associates of the Daniel family were targeted in a series of firebombings and machete attacks across Scotland appearing to cement the Lyons growing power.
However the arrest of more than 60 suspects by Police Scotland and the expulsion of Steven Lyons and associates from Dubai became a turning point for the Lyons
The murder in a bar in Costa Del Sol of Lyons gang members, Eddie Lyons jnr and Ross Monaghan was linked to the Daniel family and appeared to weaken the Lyons family.
Eddie Lyons Jnr (Image: Mike Gibbons)
By now Spanish police had secretly joined forces with Police Scotland and other international law enforcement bodies resulting in the recent arrests of high ranking Lyons gang members at home and abroad including Steven Lyons.
Lyons was stopped coming off a plane in Bali last month and has since been deported to the Netherlands where he is facing extradition to Spain to stand trial on money laundering charges.
The Spanish police say they have “smashed” the Lyons gang and it remains to see if the crime group will ever recover.