A feud between Glasgow's Lyons and Daniels crime families reignited in March 2025, sparking a series of fire bombings and attempted murders across Edinburgh and Glasgow. Police recorded 84 separate incidents in total.
The resurgence in violence was linked to a long-running dispute between the two crime clans. It began after an alleged fallout between Ross McGill, the former head of Rangers ultras fan group the Union Bears, and convicted Edinburgh drug baron Mark Richardson. McGill has strong links to the Lyons crime clan, while Richardson is connected to the Daniel family.
Operation Portaledge investigation
Operation Portaledge, a major ongoing police investigation into organised crime across the country, was launched by officers in March last year to target the outbreak of rival attacks. The investigation remains ongoing.
Hundreds of DNA samples found by crime scene investigators have helped identify gang members behind the vicious attacks.
Timeline of the gang war
The violence began on 6 March 2025, when a beauty salon in Albert Street, Edinburgh, was torched in the early hours. On 20 and 21 March, reports emerged of shots being fired in the Niddrie and Pilton areas of Edinburgh.
On 8 April, a carpet business linked to the Daniel family was torched in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow. Four days later, on 12 April, a 72-year-old and a 12-year-old boy were attacked at a house in Egilsay Crescent in Glasgow's Milton, shortly after midnight.
On 20 May, two men in their forties were seriously assaulted at a garage in East Kilbride, also linked to the Daniel family. Two days later, businessman David McMillan was attacked outside his home in Craiglockhart, Edinburgh; his property had been firebombed twice in April.
Fatal shootings and arrests
On 31 May, Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr, both members of the rival Lyons crime family, were shot dead at Monaghan's bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol. Michael Riley, 44, was arrested in Liverpool and later extradited back to Spain.
On 17 June, Spanish police said Monaghan and Lyons Jnr were targeted by a professional killer from the Glasgow-based Daniel crime group. On 4 July, hundreds of mourners attended a joint funeral for the two men at Bishopbriggs Crematorium in East Dunbartonshire.
On 9 February 2026, Logan Carlin, 24, was jailed for seven years and four months for setting fire to the beauty salon. On 7 April, a garage in Glasgow where a member of the Lyons crime family was shot dead in 2006 was targeted in a firebomb attack.
Police declare end to violence
On 13 July, Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell claimed the violence was at an end following more than 60 arrests and a "resolution of differences" between rival groups.
However, in August, police investigated a fresh spate of incidents, including several fire attacks. In one, a car was crashed into a house on the south-side of Glasgow. Two members of the Daniel family were also targeted in their homes in the city but escaped uninjured.
