Zander Sutherland, the son of late gangland kingpin Jamie Daniel, has been released from prison after serving more than a decade behind bars, according to an underworld source cited by the Record.
Sutherland, 37, was jailed for thirteen-and-a-half years in 2015 for heading a £2.5 million heroin dealing network. While he was in prison, his father Jamie Daniel died from cancer in 2016, leaving his eldest son Francis 'Fraggle' Green, 43, to run the family's criminal empire.
Decline of the Daniel Clan's Heroin Empire
The source said the Daniel clan has not maintained its grip on the heroin market over the last ten years. "When Jamie Daniel was alive their network sold most of the heroin in Scotland but their operation is nowhere near that scale nowadays," the source said.
"Fraggle done his best but couldn't sustain what Jamie had built up. It was Zander who had been groomed to take over from Jamie and he was already running a lot of their business on the streets before he got the jail. Zander had been selling heroin in Possil from a very young age, and it is all he knows really. People in their family have just been counting down the days until he was released."
Sutherland's Criminal History
Sutherland was first imprisoned for three years and six months in 2010 at the age of 20 after being caught selling heroin in Possil. A police sting found he was running the operation from waste ground in the area and using two teenagers to deliver drugs on their bikes.
He was jailed again in 2015 after being found to be the 'director' of a £2.4 million heroin operation delivering drugs between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The judge said they had never encountered anyone with access to such quantities of "unadulterated heroin." Sutherland admitted his involvement before trial, and his eight co-accused had their not guilty pleas accepted.
Recent Threats and Movements
The Crown and Prosecution Service said after his conviction: "it is the head of the octopus, not its tentacles, which makes the real difference." Sutherland hired two Estonian murderers in 2017 for protection in jail amid a family feud with the Lyons mob.
He went on the run in Norway while on home leave from HMP Castle Huntly in April 2024 and received an additional ten months on his sentence. He was caught by Norwegian authorities and extradited back to Scotland. It has been reported that Ross McGill's Tamo Junto gang had put money on Sutherland's head.
The source said Sutherland has been lying low recently but is making moves behind the scenes that indicate he is ready to put the family 'back on the map.' He has been spending time in Liverpool, mingling with connections his father built who have access to large quantities of drugs. The source added that Sutherland "stood tall and took the rap in 2015 so other people didn't have to go to jail and he has earned the chance to have a wee bit of a breather." The general feeling in criminal circles is that once Zander is ready, the Daniel family will be firmly back on the map.
