01/08/2026 04:59 - Internacionales
On the night of June 8, 2025, the calm of the Monaghans bar in Fuengirola, Spain, was shattered forever.
According to The Guardian, as customers finished watching the Nations League final, a masked man approached the table of Eddie Lyons Jr (46) and shot him at point-blank range. The gun jammed when aimed at the bar owner, Ross Monaghan (43), but the attacker chased him down and killed him inside the premises.
This double murder marked the climax of 25 years of a bloody rivalry between two organised crime families from Glasgow: the untouchable Lyons and their bitter enemies, the Daniels.
The conflict began in 2001, when a drug stash worth £20,000 belonging to the Daniels was stolen by associates of the Lyons. The Daniel clan patriarch, Jamie Daniel, a scrap dealer turned drug lord, did not tolerate the insult.
In 2006, violence escalated after the desecration of the grave of Eddie Lyons Sr.'s eight-year-old son. Weeks later, Daniel hitmen assassinated Michael Lyons (21) in a daylight ambush, resulting in the longest prison sentences in Scottish legal history: 32 and 35 years.
The feud included audacious attacks, such as the murder in January 2010 of Daniel enforcer Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll, shot 13 times in the parking lot of an Asda supermarket in Robroyston.
The decisive turn toward peace came from police intelligence. Between March and June 2020, officers from 13 European countries infiltrated EncroChat, an encrypted communication service used by high-level criminals.
This hack allowed law enforcement to watch in real time as bosses ordered drugs and murders. By 2023, the infiltration had led to 6,558 arrests worldwide, including more than 3,000 in the United Kingdom.
Former police superintendent Martin Gallagher described the arrest of Steven Lyons in Bali on March 31, 2026 and the murder of his brother in Spain as a 'decapitation' of the powerful Lyons clan. In less than a year, police arrested 64 people following 84 violent incidents and seized seven firearms.
Although organised crime does not disappear overnight, authorities have noted a 'clear and obvious decrease' in violence. Karyn McCluskey, pioneer of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit, pointed out that gangs are changing their methods to avoid police attention.
Recently, police found a cocaine stash worth £1.7 million in Moodiesburn. As former officer Graeme Pearson noted, the business is too lucrative to die, but peace on the streets is a vital step. The end of this war marks a hopeful chapter for the safety and tranquility of Glasgow's citizens, who can now breathe easier without fear of crossfire.
Alfredo S. Quiroga
