The brother of Joe "Bananas" Hanlon has broken a 35-year silence to talk about the unsolved murder of his younger sibling.
At the time of his murder, 23-year-old Joe Hanlon was becoming a well known face in the city's underworld. Having previously worked for Glasgow crime boss Tam "The Licensee" McGraw, he had joined forces with his two pals Paul Ferris, 28, and Bobby Glover, 31 - and they would meet regularly at the Cottage Bar in the city's east end to socialise and discuss business. Before his death, Ferris, a former enforcer for Glasgow crime boss Arthur Thompson Snr, had often described the two men as his best and closest friends.
Early Life and Work
Prior to joining forces with Glover and Ferris, Hanlon had worked as a doorman at the Caravel - a pub owned by McGraw in Glasgow's tough Barlanark housing estate. Paul Hanlon recalled his brother's time as a bouncer at the notorious drinking spot, which was nicknamed the El Paso by locals.
He added: "Joe was on the door. He could handle himself. Everybody from the scheme went there. They were full of this and that. A lot of things went on in the Caravel."
Though he lived in Glasgow's east end, Joe Hanlon had been brought up by his parents in the north west of the city in Maryhill where they ran a fruit shop. Paul said both he, his younger brother, and his sister Lorraine had a good upbringing and never wanted for anything.
He added: "We were never skint. Joe was just a normal boy, loving just like any other brother. A right good laugh. Our dad was quite strict with us believe it or not."
Drug Dealing Incident
In an interview last week, reformed criminal Billy McKay claimed that Hanlon had once put a gun in his mouth while they sat together in a car - over a drug dealing issue. He said Hanlon was just starting to make a name for himself before he went on to start his own crew with Ferris.
McKay was selling "jellies" - temazepam in gel capsules - in vast quantities to gangland bosses like Arthur Thomson snr and Tam McGraw as demand for the drug exploded across Glasgow among addicts. However, McGraw tried to drive down the price he was paying for the drugs and sent two of the henchmen including Hanlon to negotiate a fresh price.
McKay said: "Joe Bananas put a gun in my mouth and he said he wanted the temazepam for 30 pence. They were being sold on the street for £1.50 and I was dealing them in the hundreds of thousands at a time so it was a lot of money at stake. I had a gun in my mouth so I said 'no bother.' He took the gun out of my mouth"
It was eventually agreed that they would pay McKay 35 pence for the drugs and he was able to leave the car unscathed.
The Murder and Aftermath
Paul Hanlon was talking about the unsolved murder of his brother in an interview with Glasgow photographer Brian Anderson for his Naked City YouTube channel. Paul has named the man he believes lured his brother to his death and admits he has never sought justice for his young brother but only revenge.
Joe Hanlon's body and that of close friend and associate Bobby Glover was both found in Hanlon's Ford Orion car outside the Cottage Bar in Darleith Street in Glasgow's east end in September 1991. Both had been shot and fatally wounded in the head and chest. Their bodies were found on the same day as the funeral of convicted drug dealer Arthur "Fat Boy" Thompson, who had been shot dead outside his home the previous month.
The double murder was seen as revenge by the victim's father Glasgow crime boss Arthur Thompson Snr who suspected both Hanlon and Glover of being involved in his son's death. Paul Ferris, who died last month, and was a close friend of Hanlon and Glover had already been charged with the murder and was in prison at the time. He was cleared the following year at the High Court in Glasgow of killing Arthur Jnr following a trial lasting three months.
