Crimelord: The Licensee: The True Story of Tam McGraw

by David Leslie (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $42.93

  Crimelord is the gripping life story of elusive multimillionaire gangster Tam McGraw. A notorious criminal kingpin, McGraw has risen from extreme poverty in the East End of Glasgow to become one of Scotland's wealthiest men. When hash started to flood into Scotland from the late 1980s onwards, suspicion centred on McGraw, leader of the infamous Barlanark Team. After a two-year surveillance operation, police discovered the drug had been hidden in buses carrying young footballers and deprived Glasgow families on free holidays abroad. It was a scam reminiscent of the movie The Italian Job, only this time Scots kids had been sitting on hash worth over GBP40 million. Police claimed McGraw was the financier and mastermind but in 1998 a jury declared him innocent while other suspects were jailed. As McGraw refuses to discuss his life publicly, his remarkable tale is told through friends, fellow crooks and the occasional rival. It is an outrageous, often hilarious, true gangster story.

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $7.59

  As a young man, McGraw moved to London with his young wife, where he survived a horrific factory accident. With the compensation, they returned to Glasgow and bought into the lucrative ice cream business, but it wasn't long before they became caught up in the city's ice cream wars, in which rival owners used guns and violence to seize control of the trade in huge housing schemes. Events culminated in six members of the same family being burned alive in 1984 and McGraw was one of a number of suspects arrested. After being cleared of this crime, McGraw continued to sell ice cream by day, while by night he formed and led the infamous Barlanark Team, a gang of robbers who caused havoc in central Scotland for some 15 years. Their exploits were both daring and comical, but when police discovered that hash was being hidden in buses taking young footballers and deprived Glasgow families on free holidays abroad, McGraw was put under surveillance for two years. The trail led from Morocco, through Gibraltar, Spain and EuroDisney to a Glasgow garage next to a police depot. The racket netted 40 million and it was claimed that McGraw was the financier, mastermind and director. But, in 1998, a jury declared him innocent while other suspects were jailed. As McGraw refuses to discuss his life publicly, his remarkable story is told in Crimelord through friends and fellow crooks.