Scots hood Ross ‘Miami' McGill ran designer side hustle with drug-dealing Mr Scotland bodybuilder
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ROSS 'Miami' McGill spruced up designer jackets for gangsters while running a dry-cleaning firm with a drug dealing Ex-Mr Scotland, we can reveal.
The former Union Bear chief turned Dubai-based mobster worked with John Barry McDuff before the muscle-bound crook was jailed for his role in a cocaine and steroids racket.
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Ross 'Miami' McGill spruced up designer jackets for gangsters
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Drug dealing ex-Mr Scotland John Barry McDuff
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The pair were involved in a dry cleaning firm in McGill's home town of East Kilbride
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The firm specialised in washing pricey Canada Goose coats and other flash gear favoured by hoodlums
The pair were involved in a dry cleaning firm in McGill's home town of East Kilbride - specialising in washing pricey Canada Goose coats and other flash gear favoured by hoodlums.
It was one of several businesses McGill had a hand in before fleeing Scotland after dodging a 2022 court case linked to the Encrochat sting that snared hundreds of criminals - including McDuff.
Our source said: 'McGill is wanted for Encrochat and was working with McDuff.
'He doesn't associate with him now though and hasn't spoken to him in a long time.
'Both went to Spain but drifted apart and McGill went off to do his own thing.
'McDuff went back to Scotland and got the jail thinking he was sweet but people he knew had already started getting jailed for in the Encrochat sting.
'McGill and McDuff owned a launderette together at one point.
'At that time McGill had only just got into drug dealing commercially but things escalated very quickly when they started working together.
'McGill had about six businesses running at the same time but all of a sudden he quits them all in a couple of days and then heads off to Spain.
'It doesn't take a genius to guess why he was in such a hurry to get out of Scotland.'
Hulk McDuff was caged for seven years last year for using the handle BIggie-Gla on an encrypted device to discuss the supply of coke, heroin and steroids.
GANG WAR: Coke kingpin Mark Richardson's brother battered at Oasis gig as TMJ issue sinister threat
The former Mr Scotland bodybuilder boasted with another hood known only as BurritoCastle about the vast sums of dirty cash they were raking in.
McDuff later admitted his involvement at the High Court in Glasgow after he was nicked over the conspiracy spanning the early months of the Covid pandemic between March to June 2020.
Prosecutors revealed during one hearing that an Encro user BurritoCastle stated to McDuff in April that year: 'We are different from the rest. We will make it bro. We have the biggest network combined in Glasgow 100%.'
McDuff replied: 'Defo brother we will do just fine.'
The pair also spoke about having enough cash to be 'sitting with 100 flats' before they went on to discuss trafficking cannabis.
At that time McDuff was working at a sports nutrition store in the city's west end while McGill was a co-director of a gym supplies firm FXR Direct, in Rutherglen.
It's understood the company raked in healthy profits amid a surge in demand for home workouts during lockdown.
Sprucing up hoods' designer clobber
ROSS 'Miami' McGill's dry cleaning operation shared a series of before and after snaps of designer clothes they had brought back to life.
The company's now defunct Facebook page shows a dirt-ridden Canada Goose parka worth over £1,000 when bought new that's been transformed thanks to Eklean's professional services.
And a pair of mud-caked Burberry trainers worth £650 looked as good as new after they were given the full treatment at McGill's former launderette in East Kilbride.
The company offered customers VIP membership for £60 per month which included one large laundry bag a week and 20 percent off ironing and other dry cleaning services.
Other flash garments included on the social media feed are a £1,000 plus Moncler puffer jacket, Prada shoes priced at arond £740, Balenciaga t-shirt and trainers worth up to £825 and a Stone Island jacket that's been 'refreshed and air-pressed' for a punter.
The final message posted on May 12, 2002 reveals the shop is closing on due to staffing issues.
It reads: 'EKlean has been closed due to lack of staff. Sadly our lease will not be taken over and the shop will remain closed.
'EKlean will be OPEN tomorrow allowing customers to come and collect ther [sic] garments.
'We would like to thank every single one of our old and new customers. Your were the best.'
One customer replied: 'So sad to hear this. Been taking dry cleaning and alterations there for years.'
The following year McGill and McDuff were both involved with two firms sharing the brand name EKlean which were incorporated at the same Rutherglen office over two days on February 24 and 25, 2021.
McGill took control of EKlean Dry Cleaners - later renamed Cloudblue - while McDuff is listed as the boss of EKlean Alterations.
They were based at St James Retail Park in Hairmyres at a unit that's now home to a sports massage business with no links to the duo. The company name remains on a sign detailing the businesses based there.
McGill terminated his role as director on March 6, 2022, before the firm was subject to compulsory strike off. It is one of seven firms McGill resigned from on the same date.
Official records show McDuff's EKLean Alterations arm has the drug dealer listed as manager before the firm was struck off on August 2, 2022.
An image of the shop front was posted on the firm's Facebook page in the days before it opened to the public.
We told how the gang war kicked off in March when McGill began targeting associates of caged kingpin Mark Richardson, 38, and members of the notorious Daniel crime family.
Former Union Bear chief blames Richardson associates for ripping him off by using fake cash in a cocaine deal.
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