Thomas McGraw

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Thomas "The Licensee" McGraw (b. 1953) is an organized crime figure involved in extortion, narcotics and drug trafficking in Glasgow, Scotland. One of the wealthiest businessmen in Glasgow, he owns numerous businesses including securities companies and taxi firms as well as properties throughout Scotland and Ireland with an estimated worth of £10 million. His drug trafficking activities are worth an estimated £14 million [1].

1 Early life & the Bar-l
2 Entry into organized crime
3 Recent years
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Early life & the Bar-l

Born in the ghetto of east end Glasgow, he became involved in criminal activity at an early age including petty theft such as shoplifting and burglary during the early 1960s. Although in and out of approved schools and borstals during his teenage years, he was eventually recruited into the small Bar-l gang, a group based around the Barlanark-area specializing in armed robbery.

He participated in the gangs eventual post office raids throughout Scotland, eventually becoming one of the most wanted criminal in the country. He and the others managed to evade British authorities for some time before he was arrested in a failed robbery of a social club outside Glasgow, as he loaded several crates of alcohol into his van.

He had attempted to flee once police arrived, evading two police cruisers during a brief high speed chase before his vehicle overturned, and was arrested while trying to flee on foot. However, given the circumstance of his arrest, there were speculations that McGraw may have been a police informant for the Serious Crime Squad supplying information on associates in exchange for police protection from his own illegal activities. Indeed, the charges were dropped and he was released the following morning after his arrest. Similarly, he was tried and acquitted for the attempted murder of a police officer in 1978.

[edit] Entry into organized crime

During the early 1980s, he began expanding his criminal operations becoming involved in narcotics such as heroin as he began purchasing nightclubs and pubs. According to Paul Ferris, another rival Glasgow organized crime figure and a rival, claimed in his autobiography The Ferris Conspiracy that McGraw became involved in dealing heroin due to his connections to corrupt police officers, receiving confiscated drugs which he sold on the streets (resulting in numerous cases of overdoses).

He was also indentified as a figure involved in the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars in 1984.

[edit] Recent years

In 1998, he was arrested for drug smuggling although, while several of his associates were arrested, he himself was once again acquitted.

In 2002, he was attacked by unidentified assailants less than a mile from his east end home and stabbed several times and suffered wounds to his arms, wrists and buttocks. Although protected by a bulletproof vest, he had only received only minor injuries.

During this time, with imported bodyguards from Ireland as well as surveillance by the Serious Crime Squad, McGraw was one of the most protected criminals in the city. He later reportedly held a meeting with Ferris, who had been feuding for some time over his allegations in his book, and agreed to pay him £2 million in compensation for his losses following McGraw's takeover of his territory while imprisoned.