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Crimelord The Licensee: The True Story of Tam McGraw
By
David Leslie
As a young man, McGraw moved to London with his young wife, where he survived a horrific factory accident. With the compensation, they returned to Glasgow and bought into the lucrative ice cream business, but it wasn't long before they became caught up in the city's ice cream wars, in which rival owners used guns and violence to seize control of the trade in huge housing schemes. Events culminated in six members of the same family being burned alive in 1984 and McGraw was one of a number of suspects arrested. After being cleared of this crime, McGraw continued to sell ice cream by day, while by night he formed and led the infamous Barlanark Team, a gang of robbers who caused havoc in central Scotland for some 15 years. Their exploits were both daring and comical, but when police discovered that hash was being hidden in buses taking young footballers and deprived Glasgow families on free holidays abroad, McGraw was put under surveillance for two years. The trail led from Morocco, through Gibraltar, Spain and EuroDisney to a Glasgow garage next to a police depot. The racket netted 40 million and it was claimed that McGraw was the financier, mastermind and director. But, in 1998, a jury declared him innocent while other suspects were jailed. As McGraw refuses to discuss his life publicly, his remarkable story is told in "Crimelord" through friends and fellow crooks.
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