Ross Monaghan: From Glasgow street thug to running with global cartel bosses

Scottish Sun

8 hours ago

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EIGHT years ago Ross Monaghan was lucky to escape after an attempt on his life in broad daylight.
But last weekend, the Lyons senior gang member was shot dead along with Eddie Lyons Jnr in a brutal hit in Fuengirola, Costa del Sol.
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Ross Monaghan was shot dead along with Eddie Lyons Jnr in the Costa del Sol
Credit: Alan MacGregor Ewing - The Sun Glasgow
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The pair were shot in a horror gangland bloodbath at Monaghan's Irish bar in Fuengirola
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A masked gunman shot Lyons Jnr dead outside the pub before turning his attention to Monaghan
Credit: Les Gallagher - The Sun Glasgow
Monaghan had a £250,000 price tag on his head over a feud with the Spanish drugs cartel linked to the south of England, it's been claimed.
Sources say threats had been made in the months leading up to Saturday's double execution, but it wasn't the first time that someone had tried to kill Monaghan.
In January 2017, it was just like any other day in the Glasgow area of Penilee as parents took their children to school.
But little did they know there was a gunman lying in wait with a kids buggy which had a firearm in it.
The gunman honed in on target Monaghan and fired two shots, one hitting him in the shoulder, the other missing.
Monaghan was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time and quickly fled to Spain following the attack.
Mark Richardson and Martyn Fitzsimmons were both tried then cleared of the gangland hit on Monaghan at the time.
Monaghan had previously been cleared of killing Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
The Gerbil was a feared Daniels clan enforcer known for extreme violence to anyone who got in his way or crossed him.
Carroll's earliest brush with the law came in 2004 when he was charged with attempted murder.
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He was accused of shooting John Madden, a pal of Eddie Lyons Snr, with an AK-47 but the case later collapsed.
Carroll, who was from Milton, then made the headlines in 2006 when he was hit in the stomach in a drive by shooting.
Four years later, Carroll and associate Ross Sherlock were hit at 10pm one evening as they stood talking to others at the roadside in Bishopbriggs next to their BMW X5 - a favourite set of wheels for criminals at the time.
Nobody has been charged with that crime which left Carroll fighting for his life in Glasgow Royal Infirmary under the guard of armed police.
The Gerbil was then shot dead in the Asda car park in Robroyston in January 2010 in an attack that took just 25 seconds.
A car pulled up just before 1.30pm, two gunmen got out and fired 13 shots into the back of The Gerbil's Audi A3 as stunned shoppers looked on.
Monaghan was arrested in July that year and put on trial for the gangland hit but he denied all charges against him and lodged a special defence of incrimination against eight people.
The trial collapsed due to insufficient evidence.
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The Gerbil was shot dead in the Asda car park in Robroyston in January 2010
Credit: Universal News and Sport (Europe)
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Monaghan was arrested in July that year and put on trial for the gangland hit but he denied all charges
Credit: PA:Press Association
Eddie Lyons Jnr, Stephen Lyons and Ross Monaghan all grew up in Milton.
In 2000, the Lyons family had infiltrated a publicly funded community centre in the area.
They took control of the Chirnsyde Community Initiative which received over £1.4million in taxpayer funding and turned out to be a front for organised crime and laid the groundwork for a bloody feud with the rival Daniel Crime Clan.
Eddie's father ended up in the dock after he admitted racking up more than a quarter of a million pounds in mortgage frauds by giving lenders fake income details.
In April 2016, Eddie Jnr and Monaghan later appeared before the same court but were cleared of a vicious street attack on three men outside a bar in East Dunbartonshire which took place in April 2016.
But the trial collapsed when two of the alleged victims said they had no memory of what happened to them.
After the attempt on his life outside the school in Penilee, Monaghan fled to Spain and he struck up a relationship with the Irish Kinahan crime cartel.
Monaghan is said to have been instrumental in building an alliance between the Lyons family and the world's most wanted gang when he boldly approached godfather Daniel Kinahan several years ago.
He formed a relationship with the global mob boss that has prevailed ever since, giving the Lyons extra power and control over Scotland's illegal drug trade.
Former top cop Graeme Pearson said: 'Monaghan started out as a young man trying to make his way in his business and would have to be trusted to do that.
'He was part of a group which became known for extreme violence. Monaghan going on trial for murder and being acquitted through lack of evidence proved his bottle to the gang.
'Then he was shot at and survived. He earned his stripes in that world.
"And it all becomes part of a growing criminal CV. But people like Monaghan make enemies everywhere.'
Pearson says he tried to warn of the threat posed by super cartels 20 years ago.
He said: 'The South Americans realised their relationship with America was breaking down. Their drugs and money were being seized and they started looking for another business plan.
'Europe was ready and waiting for cocaine. The nation states had lowered their borders, so moving between them became very easy.
'The only problem was getting the product in. It started with West Africa, then Spain and then the Dutch ports.
'Gangs from all over Europe, which had previously been involved with other types of drugs, sex trafficking and theft, all became interested.
'Glasgow gangs were involved in shoplifting jewellery and gold and had contacts in other countries who were willing to buy and sell. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the authorities to pay much attention.'
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Monaghan boldly approached godfather Daniel Kinahan several years ago
Credit: The Sun
Monaghan's links with the Kinahan cartel
Irish Sun crime editor Stephen Breen, who wrote the book Kinahan Assassins along with colleague John Hand, knows all about the Irish crime cartel.
He revealed that Ross Monaghan came up while the pair were doing research for their book.
Stephen said: 'Ross Monaghan had cropped up in terms of someone who had connections to Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh.
'He's now serving time for drug trafficking but it shows you the Kinahan reach, the tentacles are spread far and wide.
'We were doing research for the book and his name came up in terms of having meetings around 2016-2017 with the Kinahan organisation.
'The Kinahan organisation had a branch in the UK, and the CEO of that branch was Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh.
'He was meeting individuals from Glasgow, from Liverpool, from Birmingham, from London and it was all about the wholesale trafficking of drugs into the UK.
He added: 'You always have organised crime groups calling on their associates, calling on their resources and their contacts across Europe for help if a gangland war takes place.
'It's very possible that this could happen on this occasion although the Kinahans have been fairly decimated by the investigations of the Irish authorities and targeting those who were prepared to take up the gun on their behalf.'
Last Saturday, Monaghan was watching the Champions League final with Eddie Lyons Jnr in his own bar in Fuengirola when the pair were shot in a horror gangland bloodbath.
A masked gunman blasted Lyons Jnr dead outside the pub before turning his attention to Monaghan, who was shot several times as he tried to scramble for cover.
Terrified customers and staff hid under tables and chairs and it's believed Monaghan may have had a £250,000 price tag in his head over a feud with a Spanish drugs cartel linked to the south of England.
Spanish cops were able to ID executed Monaghan and Eddie Jnr as they 'knew them well'.
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay remembers watching Monaghan in court as he tried to dupe jurors into believing he was a 'smart, besuited and respectable young man'.
The ex-crime reporter said: 'This was a complete fiction. He was a dangerous drug-dealing, gangland thug.
'It's usually the case in this world that foot soldiers end up in prison or dead.
'You would think the penny might drop that those ordering and directing the drugs and violence are often left counting the money.
'The Spanish authorities and Scottish counterparts should be asking themselves how on earth a drug-dealing thug and known member of a major international drugs gang appeared to have the ownership of a prominent business which quite literally had his name above the door?
'A guy like that should never have had the ability to put his name on assets for which the only source of their funding has been drugs."