Arthur Thompson (September 1931 – 13 March 1993) was a Scottish

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

who was active in

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from the 1950s and took charge of

organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

in the city for over thirty years.

Thompson crime family

Born in September 1931 in the industrial area of

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, Glasgow, Arthur Thompson began his career as a

money lender In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...

, and was said to

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those who did not repay their debts, by nailing them to floors or doors.

Protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

s soon followed, and he was also involved in bank robberies and heists for a time.Glasgow's gangsters - Arthur Thompson, the Godfather
Ron McKay,

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(30 May 2018) Thompson then went on to invest his money into legitimate businesses, which grew more and more over the years, making him a very wealthy man. By the 1980s, the Thompson family had entered the drug trade, led by Thompson's son Arthur Jr. It was rumoured that, by the 1990s, Thompson was earning some £100,000 a week as a

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

(

usurer Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is c ...

). Thompson was one of the most feared criminals in Scotland. In 1966, he narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded under his car; his mother-in-law, in the passenger seat, was killed. Shortly afterwards, he spotted two men he suspected of the attack, Patrick Welsh and James Goldie, members of the rival Welsh family Blackhill gang. He forced their van off the road by driving his own car directly at it – the van hit a lamp post and both men were killed. Thompson was charged with murder but not prosecuted as the police could find no witnesses who would testify. In 1969, Thompson's wife Rita forced her way into the Welsh home and stabbed Patrick Welsh's widow in the chest; she was jailed for three years. His grandchildren and great grandchildren have to remain anonymous for the safety of the family. Thompson also survived two further attempts on his life; he was shot in the groin outside his home – "The Ponderosa" in

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, named after a ranch in the Western television series '' Bonanza'' – in 1985. In 1988, Thompson suffered a broken leg after he was run over by a car and shot at, again outside his home.

The shooting of his son

On 18 August 1991 Thompson's son Arthur Jr (nicknamed "Fatboy") died after being shot three times outside the family home, "The Ponderosa". A former enforcer for the Thompson family, Paul Ferris, was arrested, charged with the murder and remanded to

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. On the day of Thompson Jr's funeral a car was found containing the bodies of two friends of Ferris, Robert Glover and Joe Hanlon, who were also suspected of involvement in his death and had been killed by gunshots to the back of the head and the anus. Their bodies had been dumped on the route of Fatboy's funeral procession, so that his

hearse A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately a ...

passed their dead bodies. There was to be further drama that day as there was also a bomb scare at the cemetery where Thompson Jr was due to be buried. Paul Ferris was charged with Arthur Thompson Jr's murder and tried in 1992 but was found not guilty and released. Over 300 witnesses, including Thompson Sr, were called to give evidence at a trial which lasted fifty four days and cost £4.1 million, at the time the longest and most expensive trial in Scottish legal history. Ferris claimed the younger Thompson had been shot by a

hit man Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may ...

known only as "The Apprentice". He was acquitted of all charges. ''The Last Godfather: The Life and Crimes of Arthur Thompson'', pp. 266—271.

Death

Thompson died at the

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on 13 March 1993 from a heart attack at the age of 61.

Other children

Thompson's daughter, Margaret, died from a drug overdose in 1989. His other son, Billy, was stabbed and seriously wounded from the family home in 2000, but survived. Billy had recently served a prison sentence for possessing a

harpoon gun A harpoon cannon is a whaling implement developed in the late 19th century and most used in the 20th century. It would be mounted on the bow of a whale catcher, where it could be easily aimed with a wide field of view at the target. Powered by ...

. He had been given two-and-a-half years, reduced on appeal to 18 months. Billy died on 4 March 2017 as a result of his drug addiction. Thompson is survived by Tracey Thompson, his last remaining child.

References

;Footnotes ;Sources Chasing Killers – Joe Jackson –

External links