https://www.thefreelibrary.com/MOB+WIFE+FUNERAL.-a0146927061. In 1966 he had been involved in a high-value theft of clothes from a shop in Glasgow and was sentenced to four years in prison. [7] Paul Ferris was charged with Arthur Thompson Jr's murder and tried in 1992 but was found not guilty and released. Thompson himself had been known for punishing enemies or bad debtors by nailing their hands and feet to the floor crucifixion-style. We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments. Campbell, convicted of the 1984 Ice Cream Murders when six members of the Doyle family died in a blaze in Ruchazie, Glasgow, has, like Ferris, long accused McGraw of building his criminal empire. Thompson in turn was accused of the culpable homicide of Goldie and Welsh. In October 2016, the gang is believed to have murdered up to 6 people in the Brentwood area of New York including two teenage girls. The violence was on a much, much higher level. Rita Thompson, 72, who had throat cancer, died on Tuesday. Arthur Thompson, Rita Thompson.Circa, Glasgow. 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 would also carry out hits for the Krays in London and they would do the same in return in Glasgow. Thompson received a not proven verdict, despite the eyewitness accounts of Joe and his brother. This photo license is intended for editorial use only. Join Facebook to connect with Rita Thompson and others you may know. ), added to the myth of the occasion by telling the world that her good old Da was determined not to leave the world until he know that his 'lassies' could look after themselves. ANNENBERG--Leonore. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. He is said to run his empire from a luxury yacht. Results will return exact matches only.Any images with overlay of text may not produce accurate results.Details of larger images will search for their corresponding detail. So the person in charge would have to have been something very special, and Arthur was certainly that.. It was started in California when large groups of people from El Salvador fled the country during its civil war. Secret reports on Thompson from the late 1960s made public for the first time by the Scottish Government in 2010 present a chilling portrait of the man. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can Legend has it that the crime boss later viewed the bodies and shot both men in the chest with another gun. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Thompson survived - just - and two men have since appeared in court in connection with the attack, which police are treating as attempted murder. It was now all about drugs and there Wattie drew the line. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. He might have observed the criminal code but never the marital one. Arthur was charged with their murders, but he was set free because no witnesses came forward to testify. Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. In August 1991, Arthur Jr, 31, was shot dead outside the family home while on weekend leave from prison. Glasgow veterinary hospital forced to close after fire reopens its doors. Comments have been closed on this article. One police file said: The overall picture of Thompson is that of aviolent, vicious and active criminal who will stop at nothing to uphold his position in the underworld as a hard man and to gain his own ends.. When he was sent to Inverness after one escapade, a 21-inch metal cosh was found inside his pillow. No one man had dominated organised crime in the city quite like Arthur Thompson and no one man ever would. We found 1021 people named Rita S Thompson. It was at this point he even joked about speaking with cotton wool in his mouth. Two weeks later Joe learned of Thompsons plans to blow up both his and Johns homes in Glasgow. The judges in all four cases have to be constantly guarded by armed police. At an identification parade, he refused to identify the IRA suspect. In his 2009 autobiography, legendary Scottish football commentator Archie Macpherson revealed he was paid up to 500 a time in the early 1980s to host events organised by Thompson. Registered in England and Wales as company number 01056394. He was seen as the rising star of the Glasgow underworld and a man who could take over from Arthur Snr. One of its founders claims that the Mungiki began as a local militia in the 1980s. At an identification parade he refused to identify the IRA suspect. Legend has it that the crime boss later viewed the bodies and shot both men in the chest with another gun. At one time, he had at least 20 pubs in Glasgow paying him 4000 each week. Thompsons name was enough to strike fear into anyone who crossed him. It was clear to everyone in the citys underworld what type of message was being sent out with the double murder. The Thompson Gang was finished at this point, and Arthur died in his bed in 1993. There was a massive turnout for young Arthurs funeral that afternoon with key members of the citys underworld there to pay their respects to both the victim and more importantly his father. By the early 1980's Thompson - now in his 50's - was all-powerful in Glasgow and beyond. The Thompson Gang was soon the most feared group in Scotland and rivals were terrified of Arthur due to his sadistic nature. Another local hard man, Paul Ferris, was charged with Fat Boy's murder, but cleared after Scotland's longest criminal trial. Perhaps a more fitting coda from the band might have been, I fought the law and the law won. Another measure of his influence came after his son Arthur Thompson Jr was jailed for 11 years in 1985 for drug dealing. But the damage to his family's already tattered reputation, not to mention the violent implications for Glasgow's underworld, look set to last for some time to come. They just pay someone a couple of grand to go and hurt people for them.. At the tender age of nineteen, he had become the crime bosss feared enforcer, collecting debts on his behalf. One theory is that McPhee had tried to muscle in on the drug trade controlled by former Irish terrorists. He was killed by a single shot from a high-powered .22 rifle. Arthur also enjoyed hobnobbing with celebrities. In a bravura performance from the witness box, he denied he was Glasgows Godfather and criticised the police. Thompson later gave a personal undertaking to a senior police officer that he would not harm the two officers. He was a very violent, ruthless, clever criminal and a real nasty piece of work. A Gannett Company. The grim find was made by the pubs manager who was passing at the time on his way to open up. contact the editor here. Beatings and slashings were routinely inflicted on anyone who failed to pay up. After a few years of relatively low-key activity, the gang escalated its violent activity in 2007. Honey Boo Boo star Alana Thompson's boyfriend Dralin . Thompson was supported loyally in his criminal enterprises by his wife the diminutive Rita who bore him four children. He drove his car directly at their van and forced it off the road. Copyright 2018 Global Image Works, LLC. He was a very violent, ruthless, clever criminal and a real nasty piece of work. READ MORE:The Glasgow Crime Story of Eleni Pachou who was murdered in her work Di Maggio's. The young cop rose through the ranks to become head of the Strathclyde Police Serious Crime Squad and retired at the rank of Detective Superintendent in 1992. They could. Rita Thompson Obituary. As his power and wealth grew, so did his influence. It is always difficult saying goodbye to someone we love and cherish. In 1970 the then governor of Craiginches prison in Aberdeen describe Thompson as a thug of the worst kind who along with another inmate was running warring factions inside and outside of prison. A leading prosecution witness, in prison at the time, is provided with a constant police escort and kept in solitary confinement. There was a time when Billy Thompson, youngest member of Glasgow's most infamous criminal clan, could rely on his family's reputation to protect him wherever he went. In the early 1960s, Thompson became close allies of notorious London gangsters The Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie so much so, they are reputed to have come up to Glasgow to seek his advice on a plan to take over The Beatles from their manager Brian Epstein. Billy Thompson has now been taken off the critical list and looks set to make a full recovery. While some American readers may know about MS-13 as they apparently operate in 42 states, the gang was relatively unknown outside of the Americas until recently. Friends of Thompson say he was never the same after young Arthurs death. She received three years in prison for the attack. [8] He died in his father's arms. Norval's daughter, Rita Gunn, is charged with conspiring to damage the court but acquitted. Earlier this year, pitched battles broke out in Chinese restaurants between the Wo Sing Wo Triad and their rivals, the Tai Huen Chair or Big Circle Gang. He was also cleared of attempting to murder Arthur Thompson Snr by repeatedly driving a car at him and threatening to murder another man William Gillen by shooting him in the leg. As his power and wealth grew, so did his influence. He was buried in the family plot at Riddrie Cemetery beside Arthur Jnr and daughter, Margaret, who suffered a drugs overdose in 1989. If that was true then young Arthurs decision to take the night air was to prove fatal. [5] 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 depravity is veneered with conformity and deadly quietness, and he is difficult to undermine when he is on the alert. His death was to prove the beginning of the end for the Thompson family fiefdom. But when I was with Thompson, I was safe and I could have had anything in the pub that I wanted that night.. Fraser, now dead, once recalled: Down south, we viewed Glasgow as the Wild West. Police have run up against a wall of silence, but believe the murder is linked to drugs. Thompson signed into a private clinic in the West End of Glasgow and told police the injury was caused by a broken drill bit. In time-honoured tradition, Thompson failed to speak out against the brothers and they were cleared of all charges. They don't succeed and the trial eventually goes ahead in the south court. Thompson received a not proven verdict, despite the eyewitness accounts of Joe and his brother. The truth about the slaying of Arthur 'Fat Boy' Thompson Junior, eldest son of the godfather of Glasgow's biggest criminal clan, outside his home in the Provanmill district in 1991, has been. Although Thompson wasnt a tall man, he was powerfully built with a chilling stare that could terrify both friend and foe alike. Menu Log In Sign Up The police breakthrough came, inevitably, from an informant and many of the gang were found in Norval's Maryhill airt and in the south side under the noses of the authorities, just yards from the Orkney Street police office. . inaccuracy or intrusion, then please *** Local Caption *** Scottish gangs. [11] Ferris claimed the younger Thompson had been shot by a hit man known only as "The Apprentice". For more than 30 years until his death in 1993 Thompson ruled Glasgows criminal underworld with an iron fist through his interests in extortion, money lending, illegal casinos, robbery, and drugs. gemini and scorpio parents gabi wilson net worth 2021. rita thompson glasgow. Supports are provided on site 24/7 including case workers from JHS and medical services provided by Ottawa Inner City Health (OICH) - a non-profit organization that provides health care to homeless and street involved people. Glasgow gangster Arthur Thompson, known as The Godfather, pictured with his wife Rita Thompson.Circa 1970. Again, Arthur survived and refused to make any statement to the police. Born in September 1931[1] in the industrial area of Springburn, Glasgow,[2] Arthur Thompson began his career as a money lender, and was said to crucify those who did not repay their debts, by nailing them to floors or doors. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. Tributes have been paid to Rita Rusk, once dubbed Scotland's first lady of hairdressing, after her death at the age of 75. Get the latest crime news direct to your inbox with the Glasgow Crime and Courts newsletter. Police are probing his links with a big dogfighting ring. It was just a way for the terrified owner to pay protection to Thompson. The car was deliberately placed on the funeral route. HP10 9TY. Norval's daughter, Rita Gunn, is charged with conspiring to damage the court but acquitted. He even threatened to bomb the homes of two off-duty police officers after they saw him kill two men in Royston Road, Glasgow, in May that year. READ MORE:The Glasgow crime story of the mysterious murder of wealthy Marion Gilchrist in 1908. Download Glasgow gangster Arthur Thompson with his wife Rita Thompson, c.1970 (b/w photo) from Bridgeman Images archive a library of millions of art, In August 2014 he died from pneumonia aged 85, cuing the high-profile exit at Maryhill Crematorium with musical accompaniment by the Clash. In 1969, Arthurs wife, Rita, stabbed the wife of Patrick Welsh in the chest. Three years later, Ferris was accused of the murder of the Fatboy who was shot three times outside of his home. He was friendly with another legendary London gangster too Mad Frankie Fraser. However, Rita never sang a note. A funeral mass will be held at 11 AM, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at St. Michaels Catholic Church, Galena where friends may gather after 10:30 AM until the time of mass. There was understandable media speculation that Ferris now had a price on his head. Rita M. Glasgow. View Rita Thompson results in Georgia (GA) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. McPherson wrote: It was straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie and was full of cockney hardmen. Thank you to whichever member of staff was responsible! As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Thompson in turn was accused of the culpable homicide of Goldie and Welsh. Arthur's son Billy became a heroin . Discover work experience, company details, and more. When fellow gang member Ronnie Biggs was asked shortly before his death in 2013 if Arthur was involved in the robbery, Biggs replied cryptically: I might be dying but Im not a grass.. By the Eighties, the Thompson clan had moved into the drug trade led by the Thompsons' eldest son, Arthur Jnr, known as Fat Boy, who operated out of Blackpool.
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