Scotland’s bloody gang wars have claimed the lives of crime family members and footsoldiers throught the decades. Our new series looks at the hoods who died in terror after turf wars turned into deadly vendettas on the city streets.
17:11, 01 May 2026Updated 12:04, 03 May 2026
Michael Lyons(Image: Daily Record)
Gang war victim Michael Lyons was a young family garage worker who was gunned down in a broad daylight hit. The 21-year-old was the nephew of David Lyons and Eddie Lyons Snr – at the time, the leader of the crime family.
He was also the cousin of Steven Lyons, the current head of the criminal organisation who was arrested in Bali in March. While Michael came from the crime family, those who knew him suggested he was not a central figure.
His death, however, was a pivotal moment in the multi-decade feud between the Lyons and Daniel crime families. On the afternoon of December 6 2006, two men in a blue Mazda pulled up outside Applerow Motors in Lambhill, in the north of Glasgow.
Raymond Anderson and James McDonald put on old man face masks before stepping out of the car. What happened next was later likened by defence lawyer Donald Findlay KC to “a scene from The Godfather”.
Dressed in trench coats, the pair walked into the garage, off the busy Balmore Road, and opened fire. The owner, David Lyons, took cover but his Michael was shot dead.
Steven Lyons, also David’s nephew, was injured along with his associate Robert Pickett, who lost a kidney.
The hitmen were enforcers for the Daniel crime clan, believed by police to be led by Jamie Daniel.
The Daniels were locked in a bitter battle with the Lyons family, who were based in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.
Following the incident, David told the High Court in Glasgow how he had spotted the gunmen coming in through his garage entrance. When he spotted the men he shouted a warning to his nephews.
David said he and Michael ran inside the garage pursued by one gunman who was firing at them.
Steven and Robert escaped in a car while being chased by the second gunman who was also firing. David said he saw the hatchback’s rear window “explode”.
He heard Michael scream and saw him fall to the ground near a Renault Clio.
He told the court: “I went to pick Michael up but I saw the gun still pointing at us. I had to run.”
Eventually, when the gunmen fled, David went back to Michael who looked “ghastly”.
He added: “There was no colour in him. I knew there was no hope. Looking at him I was sure he was dead.”
Steven was lying at the side of his car with a gunshot wound to his leg while Robert was sitting on a chair holding his stomach as he was being tended to by garage employees.
David said that after the shootings he received a “ransom note” through the post which demanded the repayment of a £25,000 drug debt at a drop off point.
The note said: “The boys owe me £25,000 and I want what’s owed to me. It’s for drugs.
“They all know what it’s about as they have got to pay the piper. The money doesn’t matter to me as it’s got to be paid to the piper.”
He said he did not pay the money and handed the letter to the police.
Anderson and McDonald were sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 35 years in 2008 for the murder. These were, at the time, the longest jail sentences in Scottish legal history.
Detectives believe Michael was not the intended target of the shooting, but instead became an unintended victim caught up in a cycle of retaliation that has stretched back decades.
A bloody gangland feud which had largely been conducted in the shadows was now headline news.
The conflict between the Lyons and Daniel families has since become one of Scotland’s most entrenched gang rivalries, rooted in disputes over drugs, territory and influence. Since emerging in the early 2000s, the feud has been marked by shootings, firebombings and targeted attacks, at times spilling beyond Scotland to other parts of Europe.
Despite repeated police crackdowns and high-profile arrests, the violence has proven difficult to extinguish. Tit-for-tat reprisals have continued, often drawing in younger associates and relatives of established figures.
Michael’s death has often been cited as an example of how individuals on the periphery of gang activity can become victims of violence intended for others.
Friends and relatives described him as a young man whose life was cut short, adding to a growing toll of deaths connected to the rivalry.
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