Jamie Daniel, who rose from Glasgow's Possilpark to lead what was described as Scotland's richest crime family, has been the subject of renewed attention following accounts of his life and criminal activities. He was once compared to Harold Shand, the fictional London crime boss in the 1980 film The Long Good Friday, played by Bob Hoskins.
Early criminal career and rise to power
As a young man, Daniel was involved in shoplifting, loan-sharking, stealing car wheels, and scrap metal. One of his early income sources was melting down aluminium beer barrels stolen from outside pubs. In 1983, at age 25, he was jailed for four years in England for heroin smuggling.
Undeterred, he went on to build an international criminal empire involving stolen cars, firearms, and major drug smuggling, and forged links with gangs in London, Manchester, and Liverpool. His dominance remained largely unknown until January 2003, when the Sunday Mail named him as Scotland's leading criminal figure, ahead of Tam McGraw and the McGovern brothers.
Feuds and violent reputation
At the time, his criminal empire was said to be worth £16 million a year. His family was engaged in a feud with the Lyons family from the neighbouring Milton housing estate over control of Glasgow's drugs trade. He earned a reputation as someone not to be crossed; two doormen who attacked a family member at a Glasgow nightclub later had their cars blown up.
In 2000, he was linked to the murder of drug dealer Frank McPhie, who was shot in the head by a sniper outside his home in Maryhill. McPhie had allegedly attacked a member of Daniel's family weeks earlier. The murder remains unsolved.
Legal troubles and death
Daniel avoided conviction for most of his career, but in 2010 he was involved in a road rage incident with a student driver near his home in Jordanhill. He chased the driver, tried to grab him, and battered the car with a metal pole. He admitted breach of the peace and two charges of assaulting a fellow prisoner while on remand in Barlinnie prison, and was jailed for a year, serving six months.
He died in 2016 after a four-year battle with cancer. At his funeral, Elvis Presley's 'In the Ghetto' was played as 600 mourners attended. The civil celebrant described him as a scrap metal dealer who enjoyed bungee jumping, hunting, jet skiing, playing pool, and supporting Rangers. She said he was a loving family man with 10 children and 10 grandchildren, adding: "He was someone who liked to be in control and was usually two steps ahead of everyone else. You either loved him or hated him. But Jamie liked it that way."
Posthumous accounts and legacy
In August 2019, a Channel Five documentary called Daniel one of the country's most feared criminals. It had been postponed from the previous year due to the trial of six Lyons gang members accused of attempting to murder Daniel's nephew Steven "Bonzo" Daniel. In the programme, former Detective Inspector David Moran said Daniel "had the reputation of being one or two steps ahead of the police and pretty much untouchable".
In July, it was reported that a top London crime gang called in Daniel to resolve a debt owed by a Glasgow drug dealer, known as Brave Alan, who owed £200,000 from a cannabis deal. The dealer paid up the same night after being summoned to a Chinese restaurant where Daniel was eating. The story was related to the Daily Record by Andrew Pritchard, a Londoner who smuggled drugs for nearly 30 years and now has a book, 'Empire of Dirt'. Pritchard said the incident forged a friendship between Daniel and the London enforcer Psycho Nick that lasted until Daniel's death. He added: "Jamie was a big guy in Glasgow. He was a very serious man but you knew what strength he had. Jamie Daniel came in through our network. One of the local firms in London was connected to him. When they had an issue up in Scotland he was their man to go to."
