Glasgow's Godfather: The Astonishing Inside Story of Walter Norval, the City's First Crime Boss

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After his arrest he hired legendary lawyer Joe Beltrami to defend him and received a three-year sentence for assault. The Blue Angels have alleged links to organised crime. [31] The club became associated with Glasgow crime boss Walter Norval after Norval's daughter Rita married Blue Angels member William Gunn. [32] Gunn was sentenced to five years in prison for threatening a witness in Norval's November 1977 armed robbery trial. [33] Blue Angels bikers served as pallbearers at Norval's funeral in August 2014. [34] The Blue Angels were reportedly involved in a biker war with the Tayside chapter of the Satans Slaves in 2011. [35] He was returning to face his fellow gang members - to give evidence against them. Phil began to tug nervously on his beard. He admitted all the charges he was facing and started to outline his evidence against his former gang.

He had admitted possessing cannabis worth #15 in his flat at Guthrie Street, Maryhill on May 28 last year. The Crown accepted his plea of not guilty to being concerned in the supply of amphetamine. He was willing to plead guilty to his crimes but was clear he was never going to take the blame for other criminals' activities or their crimes. Instead the trial went ahead in the neighbouring South Court with supergrass Henry as the star witness.Pubs were where the money was. Drugs had become too risky. His young daughter had died and his son had gone down for dealing.

Finally, and crucially, we had a statement identifying a car linked with Walter Norval that had been seen after a robbery.When I came out of the jail I realised we had been stupid before, that we really should be going after the cash, while still guarding our districts." Former police chief and Labour MSP Graeme Pearson led the Strathclyde Police Serious Crime Squad team that caught Norval in 1977. We had partial identities of robbers. We also had forensic evidence - fingerprints, paint, hairs and fibres linked to different scenes. But what we needed was a suspect.

He said: "I controlled the hard cases from those areas. We were after money. There were smarter people taking over at that time. She knew he blamed them and the man for his son’s murder and she wanted to hear the truth from the crime boss.The same guns were fired in some occasions to frighten the witnesses and it must have been a terrifying experience. But the difference with Norval was he had a lethal combination of brutality and brains, and he led squads of armed raiders who would hit hospital payrolls, wages depots and banks.