REPORTEDLY DIES OF CANCER
after claims he was allowed to commit crimes in return for helping police with information and was linked to a string of legitimate businesses ranging from taxi firms to ice-cream vans and security companies.
McGraw was a central figure in Glasgow’s Ice Cream Wars in the early 80s and ran his crime empire from the former Caravel pub in the Barlanark area of Glasgow.
Over the years, he built a reputation as an untouchable crime lord and saw not proven verdicts delivered for attempted prosecutions for drug smuggling in 1998 and the attempted murder of a policeman 20 years earlier.
In his autobiography, Ferris claimed McGraw was backed by corrupt police officers and received confiscated drugs which he then sold on the streets.
In 2002, McGraw was stabbed in daylight not far from his house but suffered only minor injuries because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
In 2007, he collapsed and died aged 55 at the home he shared with Margaret. She continued to live there afterwards.
Just a few months before their big day, our sister paper the Sunday Mail revealed how McMinimee and Margaret had been snared flogging cocaine to their investigators.
The couple tied the knot 19 months after McGraw’s death in a £50,000 Valentine’s Day wedding at Bothwell Bridge Hotel in Lanarkshire. They honeymooned in the Caribbean but the marriage ended in 2012.
Margaret spoke out about the “nightmare” relationship at the time, saying she had paid her husband £50,000 to get out of the marriage.
The body of the McGraws’ son William – nicknamed Winky – was discovered at his flat in 2013.
Worried pals of the 41-yearold raised the alarm with police after they hadn’t heard from him for several days.
The death certificate showed he died from drug and alcohol intoxication.
William’s son Connor, 23, is understood to have moved into the £500,000 family home with gran Margaret after his dad’s death.
Just three months after William’s death there was further tragedy for the family when McGraw’s brother was murdered in his own front room.
Thomas Main, 41, stabbed his “best pal” Francis, 55, more than 40 times in his flat in Glasgow’s Springboig area in October 2013. Main, who was out on bail at the time, never revealed a motive for the attack and was told he must serve at least 17 years and six months in prison. Official documents lodged after McGraw’s death detailed The Licensee had just £621 in his bank account when he died. Underworld sources believed that McGraw had already salted away his ill-gotten gains into property and secret accounts in Britain and abroad. The only other item mentioned was a life insurance policy worth £33,508.94 with an English firm. McGraw left no will but Margaret, the executor of his estate, obtained a confirmation document to claim both sums of money. An underworld source told the Record at the time: “The rings on Margaret’s fingers are probably worth more.
“Margaret is very savvy when it comes to money and masterminded much of the business side of things.”
Connor shared images on social media in recent years of a high-spec Volkswagen and Mercedes cars with “Con” and “Mags” private registration plates outside the family home.
It was revealed last October that Margaret had offloaded a taxi firm’s shares, valued at £1.4million, to controversial tycoon Steven Malcolm.
She relinquished her 400 shares in Glasgow Private Hire, who are one of the biggest and most successful in Scotland to the multi-millionaire businessman.
Margaret has two sisters, two brothers and a string of nieces and nephews on her and McGraw’s sides of the family.
UNDERWORLD SOURCE