Tam “the licensee” McGraw was one of Glasgow’s most notorious underworld figures who was said to have made a £30 million fortune from a life of crime spanning almost four decades.
His grandson, Rhys McGraw, 20, was jailed for 30 months after being convicted earlier this month of a knife attack following a jury trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court. The charge alleged that he punched his victim Michael Newman on the head and then struck him repeatedly on the head and body with a knife in the city’s Killermont Street near Buchanan Bus Station.
McGraw has since lodged an appeal against both sentence and conviction though no date has been set for the hearing. His late father William was the son of Tam and Margaret McGraw.
But who was his gangster grandfather Tam McGraw and how did the crime boss build a £30m empire?
View 4 ImagesTam McGraw(Image: Brian Anderson)
For decades, Tam “The Licensee” McGraw was one of the most feared and talked-about figures in Glasgow’s world of organised crime, with his name becoming synonymous with organised crime across the city. By the time he died suddenly from a heart attack in 2007, aged 55, McGraw was said to have amassed a staggering £30million fortune and had spent almost four decades at the centre of Scotland’s gangland landscape.
McGraw was just 18 when he married childhood sweetheart Margaret at a Glasgow register office in 1971. The newlyweds soon left Glasgow for London in an effort to escape increasing police attention, taking jobs on buses and in factories.
It was during his spell in the UK capital that McGraw was said to have learned how to bypass security alarms and break into safes.
Get Daily Record Premium for just £1 per month in exclusive offer to celebrate the World Cup. Click HERE.
Back in Glasgow, McGraw was said to have assembled the notorious Barlanark team, made up entirely of men who lived in or came from the city’s Barlanark housing estate. The gang allegedly carried out post office robberies across Scotland, while also targeting off-sales, warehouses and shops in thefts involving everything from sweets to whisky.
However, how the nickname that followed McGraw throughout his life came about still remains unclear. Some believed it came from the Caravel Bar in Barlanark, which he and Margaret ran for more than a decade before it closed and was demolished in 1996.
Others claimed it referred to allegations that he had a “licence” from police to commit crime in return for information on other criminals. Throughout his criminal career, McGraw rarely stood trial and, when he did appear in court, he was usually cleared or charges were dropped.
By the early 1980s, McGraw was said to have moved into Glasgow’s lucrative ice cream van trade, becoming embroiled in the city’s infamous Ice Cream Wars. The violent dispute saw assaults, shootings and vehicles vandalised before reaching its devastating climax in 1984 when six members of the Doyle family died after their home in Ruchazie was set ablaze.
View 4 ImagesAndrew Doyle being helped from house by firemen(Image: Daily Record )
The intended target was said to have been 18-year-old Andrew Doyle, who had resisted attempts to take over his run. Former Barlanark team member Thomas “TC” Campbell and Joe Steele were convicted and jailed for life before both were cleared by the appeal court in 2004 after spending almost 20 years behind bars.
McGraw was questioned by police over the murders amid claims he had ordered the attack. However, he never stood trial.
McGraw was also said to have become involved in Glasgow’s growing drugs trade around this time. Following the death of Arthur Thompson Snr in 1993, he was widely reported to have become the city’s leading underworld figure.
Five years later, he was cleared of drugs importation charges following a 55-day trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. By the early 2000s, McGraw was said to have transformed himself into one of Glasgow’s wealthiest businessmen.
His interests reportedly stretched across security firms, taxi companies and property in Scotland, Ireland and Spain, helping build a fortune estimated at £30million.
Between September 2002 and March 2003, two of McGraw’s closest associates, Gordon Ross and Billy McPhee, were murdered.
McGraw’s reign came to an end in July 2007 when he collapsed at his home in Mount Vernon. He later died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary after suffering a heart attack at the age of 55.
View 4 ImagesDaily Record front page after Tam McGraw’s death in 2007
The years after his death were marked by further heartbreak for the McGraw family. His younger brother Francis was murdered at his home in Springboig in 2013, with the man responsible being handed a life sentence the following year.
Also in 2013, the body of his son, William McGraw, was found at his flat in Uddingston. There were no suspicious circumstances surrounding William’s death.
In 2013, McGraw was also portrayed in the film The Wee Man about Glasgow gangster Paul Ferris, with John Hannah playing the feared gangland figure in McGraw.
It was also later revealed that Margaret later sold her late husband’s taxi firm interests for £1.4million. Known as “The Jeweller” because of her love of jewellery, she died from cancer in 2018, more than a decade after losing her husband.
Article continues below
Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.