Firebombings, cocaine scams & a crazed football ultra – astonishing inside story of Brit crime war rocking Costa del Sol

The Sun

3 days ago

WITH its two-for-one cocktail deals, karaoke nights and football screens plastered over every wall, Monaghans wouldn't stand out from any other Irish bar found up and down the Costa del Sol.
That was until a chilling bloodbath played out on Saturday evening, as two of Britain's most notorious gangsters were brutally executed in full public view by a masked hitman.
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Holidaymakers enjoying a stroll in the sunny beach paradise of Fuengirola, Spain, watched on in horror as the gunman stormed into the pub and ambushed owner Ross Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46.
The shocking scenes are believed to be the latest escalation of a brutal feud between two leading Scottish crime families - the Daniels and the Lyons - that insiders now fear could turn into all-out-war.
The last few months have seen cars, homes, and businesses across the country torched in a wave of attacks that, until now, had not seen any deaths.
No suspects have been arrested so far, but it's thought the double assasination was ordered by members of the Daniel mob and allies of caged Edinburgh cocaine kingpin Mark Richardson.
And with retaliation a near certainty, it is feared that allies of the murdered pair are already flying out to seek retribution.
As one onlooker who witnessed the horrific scenes in Spain over the weekend told The Sun: 'I've already heard that there are people coming over on the plane this morning from Scotland to enact revenge.
'They weren't hiding who they were - using their real names, no bodyguards. So it's almost as if they've gotten complacent.
'You can see a darkness - something bad behind their eyes.'
Both Monaghan and Lyons Jnr were top members of Glasgow's Lyons mob, two-decades long rivals of the Daniels.
Monaghan fled Scotland for Spain after a failed attempt on his life outside a Glasgow primary school in 2017.
Horror moment Scots gangster Ross Monaghan is shot dead by hitman at Spanish pub as staff & punters flee in terror
But both the Daniels and Richardson gangs have over the last few months faced attacks ordered by a new mobster on the block, known as 'Miami', determined to establish himself as a force to be feared.
Meanwhile, Spain-based Lyons associates have acted as middle men and recruited foot soldiers on the ground.
The bloody feud began with a drug deal gone wrong involving Ross 'Miami' McGill, a Rangers ultra turned organised crime boss, currently living a life of luxury in Dubai.
McGill was a long-time ringleader of the Union Bears, the club's most hardcore group of fans.
Dozens of snaps show the Scotsman leading chants from the stands of the Ibrox stadium and he was even given a send-off by then-manager Steven Gerrard when he stepped away from the leadership role in 2021.
By then, however, McGill was on the police's radar and soon moved to Dubai after skipping court on drug-dealing allegations.
It is from there that he is believed to have been directing a wave of attacks across those who crossed him.
'When EncroChat was cracked, many senior members of organised crime were detained in prisons up and down the country,' explains Graeme Pearson, former director of the Scottish Crime and Drug Agency.
EncroChat was a communications tool widely used by organised crime to talk in secret.
Its infiltration by police and crime agencies led to hundreds of arrests across the UK and Europe.
'The next generation of would-be gangsters stepped into that void and decided that they were going to be the top kids going forward,' Graeme says.
'It left something of a vacuum at a top level for somebody like McGill to step into the frame.'
'All hell broke loose'
He continues: 'All hell broke loose in February. It became evident there'd been a fallout, allegedly about the theft of half a million pounds worth of drugs.
'Ross McGill came onto the scene, but being a new face, the gang took advantage of him, and he was paid with counterfeit money.'
Having been done over for £500,000, the mobster is said to have wasted little time before enacting revenge.
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In McGill's crosshairs were allies of Edinburgh-based cocaine kingpin Mark Richardson, currently being held in isolation at HMP Low Moss.
Calling themselves Tamu Junto (TMJ) - Portuguese for 'We're in this together' - the footsoldiers targeted homes and businesses belonging to those linked to Richardson and the Daniels.
The shameless group have even been posting sinister, slick videos set to music proudly showing off the trail of destruction they've left.
One clip made in April showed the aftermath of a firebomb attack on a garage linked to the son of the late Jamie Daniel, while a house in Edinburgh was also torched.
In the video, they warn: 'We are urging everyone in Scotland on the streets and those incarcerated to join us in the fight against Mark Richardson and the Daniels family.
'These rats have been thieving for a long time.
'It's time for people to stand together as one and remove this vermin from the streets.'
Earlier in May, the home owned by Kelly 'Bo' Green, daughter of late crime kingpin Jamie Daniel and ex-partner of slain gangster Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll was torched, leaving scorch marks around the exterior.
Even more shockingly, a 12-year-old boy and 72-year-old woman were battered after being found in a property linked to the Daniel family.
A trio of thugs armed with knives and machetes also stormed a car repair firm in East Kilbride run by convicted heroin dealer Robert Daniel, 50.
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It is believed that the Lyons mobsters based in the Costa del Sol proved crucial in helping McGill identify targets and recruit foot soldiers for his war of revenge, with boss Steven Lyons, 44, thought to live there.
'The TMJ is a very new development. The authorities haven't recognised it yet,' says Pearson.
'But there is a street acceptance that they operate at the behest of McGill.
'So when McGill erupted onto the scene, it seemed a marriage of convenience for the Lyons family to connect up with the new kid on the block.'
There is currently no extradition treaty between the UK and Dubai.
As such, thugs like McGill are essentially untouchable, able to live a life of luxury with their ill-gotten millions.
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The vicious mob recently refuted reports that McGill had called for the violence to be halted.
'We have terrorised you since March and we will continue to do so,' they said in a post on social media only the day before Monaghan and Lyons were shot.
'Despite false claims in the media, TMJ will continue to target anyone associated with the Daniel family or Mark Richardson.
'We aren't going away - we will continue to target you.
'We have no rules, we have no limits.
'We are coming for you.'
It's thought that more than 100 mafia-like groups could be operating on the Costa del Sol, which is less than an hour's drive away from the port of Algeciras, one of Europe's main points of entry for cocaine.
The expiration of an extradition agreement between the UK and Spain in 1978 made the region especially popular among British gangsters.
Charlie Wilson, part of the Great Train Robbery, was one of them - before he was shot dead in 1990 at his villa in Marbella.
There was also the crook and nightclub owner Ronnie Knight, and Krays associate Freddie Foreman.
Meanwhile, plenty of lesser-known Brit gangsters have met a grizzly end on this part of the Spanish coastline.
That includes Scott Bradfield, whose limbs were found crammed into a suitcase back in 2002, and 39-year-old Sean Hercules from Leeds, who died following a shootout with police in 2018.
Wave of violence
Police Scotland have so far made more than 40 arrests as part of Operation Portaledge, which was launched in response to the escalating violence.
Scotland's top cop Jo Farrell said the force is determined to create 'a hostile environment' for gangsters involved in the violence.
Underworld figures have claimed that McGill rejected an offer of peace talks with top mob boss Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel, 45.
An insider said: 'Bonzo has reached out a few times looking to call for peace.
'But the Dubai guy has made it clear he is not interested.'
McGill and the Lyon clan also have a trick up their sleeve - an alliance formed between the slain Monaghan and the notorious Kinahan crime cartel from Ireland.
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It is believed that Monaghan was key in building the friendship after he boldly approached arch-boss Daniel Kinahan several years ago.
As allies of the slain gangsters plot revenge, their alliance with the Irish gangsters could prove crucial in gaining an upper hand against their Scottish rivals once and for all.
Meanwhile, the ambitious McGill is also likely to not let Saturday's dramatic violence deter him from waging war on his rivals.
And with carnage all but guaranteed, the Costa del Sol may find itself the sunny backdrop to a very bloody game of revenge.