Arthur Thompson Jnr, son of Glasgow crime boss Arthur Thompson Snr, was shot dead in August 1991 while on home leave from prison. The murder shocked Glasgow and reverberated through the city's criminal underworld.
Thompson Jnr, nicknamed Fat Boy by his detractors, had been sentenced to 11 years in prison for heroin dealing in 1985. He had been released that Saturday morning from Noranside Prison in Angus on a weekend parole as part of a training for freedom programme.
The shooting outside the Ponderosa
Young Arthur had enjoyed a celebratory dinner with his father and other family members at the popular Cafe India restaurant in Glasgow's Charing Cross. They then returned home for a nightcap. Around 10pm on August 17, 1991, Arthur left his parents' house to walk the short distance to his own home where he lived with his wife and daughter.
Out of the darkness stepped a mystery man who opened fire before escaping in a stolen car with two other men. Three shots at close range from a .22 pistol hit young Arthur. The first bullet grazed his cheek, the second smashed into his ribs and a lung, the third tore through his stomach and pierced his heart.
His father and younger brother Billy, alerted by the shots, found him dying on the pavement outside the family home known locally as the Ponderosa, after the ranch in the popular 70s cowboy series Bonanza. It was rumoured to be fitted out with secret passages, hiding spots, and its own underground tunnel. His bullet-ridden body was rushed to Glasgow Royal Infirmary but he died a few hours later.
The deaths of Hanlon and Glover
The subsequent police investigation centred on Paul Ferris and two friends and associates Joe Hanlon and Bobby Glover. Within a few weeks Ferris had been arrested, but Hanlon, 23, and Glover, 31, remained free. Both were found dead in the well of a Ford Orion car parked in Darleith Street outside the Cottage Bar in Shettleston on the morning of young Arthur's funeral on September 18.
Their bodies were discovered by the pub's manager who was passing on his way to open up. He recognised them immediately as both men and Ferris were regulars. Given the timing of the double murder, the killing of Hanlon and Glover was seen as an act of revenge by Arthur Snr. Ferris only escaped a similar fate because he was on remand at Barlinnie Prison awaiting trial. Had they lived, both Hanlon and Glover would likely have stood trial alongside Ferris as alleged accomplices in Arthur Thompson Jnr's murder.
There is little doubt that Arthur Thompson Snr ordered the killings and someone else did it as a favour to him. Thompson suspected both men of being involved in his son's murder and is said to have paid a hitman £20,000 to execute them. Legend has it that the crime boss later viewed their bodies and shot both men in the chest with another gun. Both bodies are thought to have been stored at business premises not far from the Cottage Bar then driven to Darleith Street around mid morning.
The trial and acquittal
A few days after the double murder, armed police raided the Ponderosa looking for evidence but nothing was found. Thirty years later no one has ever been charged with the murder or stood trial. There was a massive turnout for young Arthur's funeral that afternoon with key members of the city's underworld there to pay their respects to both the victim and more importantly his father. One of the mourners was former Great Train Robber Buster Edwards who was close friends with the crime boss.
The following March, Arthur Thompson's former enforcer and protégé Paul Ferris stood trial for his son's murder at the High Court in Glasgow. He walked free three months later having been found unanimously not guilty of the murder and other charges.
His defence counsel, the legendary Donald Findlay KC, recalled the trial and his relationship with Ferris. He said: "He was very courteous, he was intelligent. I had represented him before that. I was in a slight dilemma that I had also represented Arthur Thompson and members of his family. It was a celebrated case at the time because of the presence of Arthur Thompson who was widely regarded as the Godfather in this part of the world. He and members of his family gave evidence."
Mr Findlay added: "A lot of people took an interest in the trial because of what it was and who it was. There was the background that Glover and Hanlon were found shot in a car parked near a public house frequented by some well known persons. That was on the day of the funeral by chance. When people ask which cases do you remember, the Ferris trial would be one. It was the last of the true gangster trials and it was characters from a bygone era. After he was acquitted there was nothing like it really since."
