Thug involved in killing linked to crime clan run by infamous brothers

The thug who lured Gary More to his death was a key figure in a crime clan allegedly run by two brothers wanted by police.

Neil Anderson was closely linked to Gillespie brothers James and Barry, who detectives believe head a multi-million pound drug and gun empire.

And his conviction over the death of Mr More, who was gunned down on his own doorstep, has caused a rift between his close associates and those loyal to the pair.

Insiders say that Anderson, 45, has already been told to put an end to a family member“bad mouthing”the brothers and convicted cocaine baron Mark

Richardson, an alleged Gillespie henchman.

Anderson was jailed for a minimum of 21 years and nine months at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday after being found guilty over the role he played in Mr More being gunned down.

He lured the victim out of his house in Airdrie so that a gunman could shoot him 11 times on his doorstep in September 2018.

Underworld sources say that Anderson was acting on the orders of others senior to him within the drug gang allegedly run by the Gillespies.

A source said:“anderson is well known in the drug industry.

“There were times when he had big debts to pay, but he always managed to get them cleared. He wasn’t known for being violent, so people were shocked that he would have been involved in something like this.

“His close friends are blaming other people higher up than him for Gary’s death.

“They are unhappy and have let it be known to others, including men in the prison system. They have been bad mouthing Richardson and the Gillespies.

“Neil got a call telling him to put an end to it or someone would get hurt. He said he would try ,but can only do so much.”

Fugitives James and Barry Gillespie, originally from Rutherglen, have previously been described as the“pablo Escobar brothers”by police in Brazil and are at the top of the South American country’s most wanted criminals’list.

Last year, it was claimed that they were using false identities to run a“drug trafficking scheme” to Europe from a hideout in Fortaleza on the north-east coast of the country. A reward of £10,000 was put up by Police Scotland for information leading to the capture of James and Barry.

Detective Sgt Michael Lochrie, the Scottish police officer leading the hunt for the men, described the pair as“very dangerous”and urged the public not to approach them.

The Gillespies – known simply as The Brothers – are wanted in connection with alleged involvement in serious and organised crime, including the attempted murder of Robert Allen in 2015.