Scotland is braced for a wave of revenge attacks after two major gangland kingpins were gunned down in a planned assassination on the Costa del Sol.
Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr – senior figures from the feared Lyons clan – were shot dead by a masked gunman as they were watching Saturday’s Champions League final at Monaghan’s Irish pub in Fuengirola.
After executing Lyons Jnr, 46, on the street outside, the killer ran in and cornered Monaghan, 43, before shooting him in the chest and stomach at close range.
Monaghan – who is believed to have owned the pub – attempted to escape by running to the bathroom. But horrific CCTV shows him stumbling as he turns to face his killer, who calmly pulls the trigger four times.
The assassinations are feared to be the latest chapter in a bloody feud between the Lyons family and their bitter rivals, the Daniels, which has been ongoing for two decades.
Ross Monaghan (left) and Eddie Lyons Jnr were shot dead by a masked gunman while they were watching Saturday’s Champions League final at Monaghan’s Irish pub in Fuengirola
Video broadcast on Spanish TV shows the gunman(centre) storm through the bar and take aim at Monaghan
The assassin (left) marches into Monaghan’s as a bystander (right) tries desperately to flee
The Lyons, from the Milton housing scheme in North Glasgow, sparked the original war after allegedly stealing a £20,000 cocaine stash belonging to the Daniels, from nearby Possil, during a party.
Five years later, gunmen James McDonald and Raymond Anderson walked into Applerow Motors in Lambhill, north Glasgow – owned by David Lyons – and opened fire in retaliation.
David’s nephew Michael Lyons, 21, was killed, while Steven Lyons – Eddie Jnr’s brother – was shot in the leg and back. Robert Pickett was left in a coma and lost a kidney.
Scores of tit for tat shootings and killings have happened in the years since.
Monaghan himself was a suspect in the 2010 murder of Daniels member Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll in the car park of a Glasgow Asda. He was charged over the shooting but the case was later dropped.
In August 2017, Monaghan and Lyons Jr were cleared of being involved in a brutal street attack on three men outside the Campsie bar in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire.
Monaghan later fled to Spain after being shot in the shoulder while dropping his child off at a Glasgow primary school that same year.
Spanish police confirmed yesterday that they had yet to make any arrests over the murders of Monaghan and Lyons Jnr.
The shootings come at a tense time in Edinburgh and Glasgow, which are in the midst of a months-long gang war that has seen more than a dozen firebombings, beatings and shootings.
The recent wave of firebombings and shootings in Scotland are thought to be targeting the empire of Mark Richardson – an associate of the Daniels family.
Ross McGill – a Scottish gangster who is currently based in Dubai
McGill is a former Rangers ultra who once headed up the Union Bears, the club’s most hardcore group of fans. He was even given a send-off by then-manager Steven Gerrard when he gave up the leadership role in 2021
Edinburgh and Glasgow have been in the grip of a gang war that has seen numerous shooting and firebombings
The attacks are thought to be targeting the empire of jailed drug dealer Mark Richardson, an associate of the Daniels. Pictured is a threat made against them on social media
Police have not made any arrests at the time of writing
A photo of the outside of the Irish bar, which is said to be owned by Ross Monaghan
The war has even made its way onto social media, where one video showed a series of attacks on targets associated with Richardson to the tune of Martha Reeves’ and the Vandellas hit ‘Nowhere to run’.
Reports suggest the feud erupted after Richardson’s associates stole a £500,000 stash of cocaine from a Dubai-based kingpin known as Ross ‘Miami’ McGill.
The Lyons are now said to be supporting McGill in his war on Richardson.
McGill is a former Rangers ultra who once headed up the Union Bears, the club’s most hardcore group of fans. He was even given a send-off by then-manager Steven Gerrard when he gave up the leadership role in 2021.
Numerous reports have suggested the Costa del Sol shootings are linked to the ongoing unrest in Scotland.
But this has been denied by police, who said there is ‘no intelligence to suggest’ a double shooting in Spain is linked to the recent attacks.
A Police Scotland spokesperson added: ‘Police Scotland is supporting Spanish police where requested, however, at this time we have no officers deployed within Spain.
‘There is currently no intelligence to suggest the deaths of these two men in Spain are linked to the recent criminal attacks in Scotland being investigated as part of Operation Portaledge.
‘Any misinformation or speculation linking the events in Spain are not helpful to the ongoing investigations in either country.
‘There is also nothing to suggest that the shooting in Fuengirola was planned from within Scotland.’
Monaghan himself was a suspect in the 2010 murder of Daniels member Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll outside an Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow. He was charged but the case was later dropped
Carroll was gunned down in front of horrified lunchtime shoppers in the car park of Asda, Robroyston, in January 2010
Monaghans Fuengirola describes itself online as a place ‘where you can relax and spend the day enjoying great home cooked meals on a sunny terrace and watch live sporting events.’
It also bills itself as a ‘family friendly sports bar and restaurant located in Torreblanca, Fuengirola opposite one of the area’s most popular beaches.’
Torreblanca is to the east of Fuengirola town centre and a stone’s throw from an area called Los Boliches.
Saturday night’s gun murders follow the fatal shooting nearly six weeks ago of a 32-year-old British man in nearby Calahonda a 15-minute drive from the Irish bar towards Marbella.
He was shot dead around 8pm on April 21 in a professional hit as he headed back to his car after finishing a football match with friends.
The killers fled in a getaway car that was later torched. Police are investigating the brutal assassination as a drug-related gang shooting but have yet to make any arrests.
The victim has not been named but was known to come from Liverpool.
Reports at the time described the incident as the fourth shooting so far that month on the Costa del Sol, where rival gangs have increasingly used extreme violence to settle scores and a number of international mafias are known to have a base.
Four days before the Calahonda shooting a 34-year-old man was rushed to the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella after being shot outside a nightclub in the famous Costa del Sol resort.
