Gang feud ended with 'resolution of differences' between rivals - police

Police have revealed that a violent gangland feud spanning six months came to an end through dozens of arrests and a "resolution of differences" between rival groups.

The trouble began in Edinburgh last March and led to a series of fire-raisings and attempted murders across the central belt, totalling 84 separate incidents.

A brief resurgence of gang-related violence earlier this year saw another spate of incidents and more arrests.

An update to the Scottish Police Authority in the name of Chief Constable Jo Farrell described "a deeply concerning war between rivals" which had eventually come to an end for multiple reasons.

It said the feud covered "the length and breadth of the country" before there was "a clear and obvious downturn in activity."

The report said: "The cause of that downturn was without question multi-factorial, including the resolution of differences within the serious and organised crime community.

"However, the impact of Police Scotland and partners' efforts to co-ordinate, disrupt and detect offenders cannot be overstated."

According to media reports, the feud began after a fallout between Ross McGill, the former head of Rangers Football Club's ultras fan group the Union Bears, and convicted Edinburgh drug dealer Mark Richardson - who is currently in prison.

The force said it responded to 84 incidents of violence and disorder, arrested 64 people and executed 55 search and arrest warrants.

Seven firearms and "assorted weapons" were recovered, and over 90 safeguarding plans were put in place to protect vulnerable people caught up in the feud.

Of the Operation Portaledge cases which have come to court, several have resulted in lengthy jail sentences.

Arran Reid was imprisoned for eight years and four months after admitting carrying out a machete attack on an Edinburgh businessman linked to Richardson.

Four men were jailed or detained for a total of 25 years over a series of fire-raising attacks in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The judge Lord Mulholland told them: "Gangsterism is never acceptable in a civilised society."

And a man who petrol bombed a beauty salon in Edinburgh at the start of the feud was jailed for seven years and four months.

The report noted that gang-related violence flared again in January and February this year, leading to 10 more incidents.

The force said it arrested five people over the second outbreak of violence and the investigation was ongoing.

Ross McGill was one of four Scottish men arrested by police in Dubai last September, but his current whereabouts are unclear.

Some of the attacks investigated by Operation Portaledge targeted members of the Daniels crime group, rivals of another gang, the Lyons, for more than two decades.

In May last year, two senior members of the Lyons crime group were shot dead in Fuengirola on the Costa Del Sol.

Eddie Lyons Jnr and his associate Ross Monaghan were gunned down in front of friends and customers in a beachfront bar.

Police Scotland maintained there was nothing to suggest the murders were linked to the feud under investigation by Operation Portaledge, or that they had been planned in Scotland.

A Liverpool man, Michael Riley, 44, has been extradited to Spain and is waiting to stand trial over the shootings.

Another prisoner now in Spanish custody is Steven Lyons, the head of the Lyons crime group.

Lyons was arrested in Bali in March, deported to the Netherlands and extradited to Spain last month.

Spain's national police force said he was sought in connection with drug trafficking, money laundering and an alleged murder in 2024.