Gangster faces fight to keep hold of empire

WEARING a blue Puffa jacket, gaunt and unshaven, infamous mob boss Jamie Daniel looked a worried man.

The camera-shy gangster has run his feared criminal empire with ruthless efficiency, raking in millions from drug dealing, protection rackets and stolen cars.

But now the 51-year-old is dogged by gangland rumours he is suffering from throat cancer - and fighting to keep a hold of his underworld organisation.

Apparently hampered by illness, Daniel has seen key lieutenants jailed and police choke his ability to operate.

His criminal network has also come under increasing pressure, with thousands of pounds worth of debt not being settled.

This ironic twist of fate comes after years of Daniel and his henchmen terrorising communities across the country.

Thousands of lives have been destroyed by the hood's evil drugs and crime trade - but now that pain has come full circle as his health is said to be in danger.

And despite battling fiercely to hide his identity, our investigation team found the drugs kingpin wandering the streets of the leafy Glasgow suburb where he lives.

An underworld insider revealed: "The word is he has throat cancer. Just looking at him, you can see he's in a bad way.

"I imagine only his closest confidantes know what is really going on, but it's having an effect on everything.

"Daniel has certainly taken his eye off the ball - and the cops are making the most of putting the squeeze on him."

Last month we told how a series of raids had put major pressure on the activities of Daniel and his cronies.

Cops nabbed one associate with an alleged £20,000 haul of heroin, speed and cannabis.

And another three henchmen were caught with an alleged £14,000 of drugs cash.

Detectives also found almost £2million of amphetamines - believed to belong to the Daniel family - after a fire.

And this week, in a desperate bid to reassert their authority, a five-strong team connected to the Daniel mob targeted the home of a loudmouthed rival.

It is understood that Brian Ferguson, 28, an associate of the notorious Lyons crime clan, was only saved by the armoured front door on his £150,000 house in Cumbernauld.

Heavily armed assailants had arrived at the property in the early hours of Tuesday claiming to be police officers. But he refused to let them in and the hoods were forced to flee when a neighbour called the police.

Ferguson later insisted he knew nothing about what happened and denied that he associated with gangsters.

But our insider said: "He'd been mouthing off in a bar about Daniel and his team.

"Ferguson is close with the Lyons clan and, from the amount of guys sent round to his house, it looks like the heavies wanted to KIDNAP him for information.

"Jamie is getting increasingly erratic and ordering teams out without a second thought. It is only a matter of time before someone ends up dead."

Daniel has lived for over a year in a £400,000 house in upmarket Jordanhill - where signs on lamp-posts boast that it is a Neighbourhood Watch anti-crime area.

To dodge asset-strippers, his property is in his partner's name, and he has tried to blend in seamlessly to the posh suburb.

He has two young children to the woman he lives with. One neighbour - who tipped us off - said the ruthless crimelord is seen most mornings walking his dog.

Our source revealed: "He probably feels safe strolling about here. No one knows him. He just looks like an ordinary character."

Another neighbour told how Daniel has done all he can to keep a low profile.

She said: "He lives virtually anonymously. The curtains are drawn most of the time.

"There's little that makes his house stand out from any other property in the street.

"There was a problem with cars parking in the street. He tried to solve that by building a wall and making some spaces behind it. Some locals were not happy with the wall.

"It certainly wasn't the sign of someone trying to cause trouble. But Daniel isn't the sort of guy you want to fall out with over something petty."

Daniel's gangland career reads like a script from a mob movie.

Brought up in the Jungle area of Glasgow's tough Possilpark district, he and brothers David, Norman and Ronnie moved quickly through the criminal ranks.

From shoplifting and loan sharking, they graduated to protection, drug smuggling and gun-running. But Jamie came unstuck in 1983 after he was caught importing heroin through London's Heathrow Airport. He was handed a four-year jail term.

His nephew Robert, 33, is currently serving eight years after being caught with 1.5 kilos of heroin.

Another brother William, 59, served time for killing Special Police Constable George Gates, 50, in 1969.

It is thought Strathclyde Police have spent millions trying to nail Daniel and his gang.

Their operation is run from a string of scrap yards dotted around the city and they are known to have links to violent crime gangs in Liverpool, Manchester and London.

In recent years the Daniels have been involved in a blood-soaked turf war in the north of Glasgow with the Lyons family.

Henchmen Raymond Anderson, 47, and James McDonald, 35, were jailed for 35 years each for murdering Michael Lyons in December 2006.

The hired assassins calmly walked into Applerow Motors in the city's Lambhill area and launched a bloody assault with Heckler and Koch A2 assault rifles.

Three minutes of CARNAGE left Lyons, 20, dead, his cousin Steven, 26, hit in the leg and Robert Pickett wounded in the stomach.

Last night another of Daniel's neighbours said he's rarely seen in the same car twice.

She said: "He changes cars like my hubby changes his SOCKS. One day he's in a BMW, the next a Renault, and so on.

"At first I had presumed that he worked in the motor trade. But now that I know who he really is, it makes my blood run cold."

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