Overdose kills thug cleared of acid attack
A GANGSTER who was cleared of a doorstep acid attack has died of a suspected drug overdose.
Alexander Porter, 48, – an associate with the Lyons crime gang – was found within his home in Morar Drive, Paisley, on Saturday.
Sources have told the Record that the death is drug-related.
A police spokeswoman said: “A post-mortem examination will take place in due course to establish the exact cause of death.
However, is it not being treated as suspicious.”
Alexander’s brother Steven Porter, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, took to Facebook to pay tribute to him.
He said: “Life is short and we should make the most of it and forget about our disagreements and differences,
“Will miss you brother, RIP Alexander Miller Porter.”
His death comes amid a wave of heightened violence between the rival Daniel and Lyons crime gangs in Glasgow.
Last month, Porter and Lyons gang hardman, William “Basil” Burns, were cleared of attempting to murder Daniel syndicate henchman Ross Sherlock near St Helen’s Primary School in Bishopbriggs, in September 2015.
Sherlock, who was a close associate of slain Daniel gangland enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, had been shot at three times with a handgun by a man wearing a fluorescent jacket.
Porter and Burns were cleared after Judge Lord Matthews ruled there was “insufficient evidence”.
The following week, Porter appeared on trial alongside Basil at the High Court in Glasgow accused of a doorstep acid attack on journalist Russell Findlay.
Notorious criminal Burns, 56, was convicted of hurling sulphuric acid into the 44-year-old’s faces on the doorstep of his Glasgow home in December 2015.
Porter – who faced the same charge – had a not proven verdict returned.
The news of Porter’s death comes as the horrific facial injuries suffered by another gangland figure emerged.
Steven “Bonzo” Daniel – the nephew of late crime clan boss Jamie Daniel – was targeted in May in a machete attack.
It was the latest incident in a wave of violence between the Lyons and Daniel gangs.
Bonzo, 37, was left barely recognisable following the attempt on his life.
A photograph in our sister paper the Sunday Mail showed the true extent of the horrific wounds he suffered.