CRIME boss Steven Lyons has emerged from hiding to mend his shattered friendship with underworld assassin Billy Paterson — and save the Lyons gang tearing itself apart.
Worried Lyons jetted back to Scotland from Spain after his best pal Paterson was caged for killing rival hood Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll.
The hitman’s 22-year sentence infuriated his associates, who were convinced he would walk free.
And despite Lyons’ return from the Costa del Sol — where he fled after a deadly gangland shooting at a garage — it is thought caged Paterson still has not seen him.
A source said: “Steven and Billy were as close as brothers, but there’s a lot of anger. The Lyons crew were brainwashed into thinking Billy would walk free and everything would return to normal.
“But it was a complete fairytale and reality hit hard when he got jailed.
“One of Billy’s relatives is openly bad-mouthing and blaming the Lyons for what happened.
“Steven is trying to find a way of repairing the damage — but the fact that he’s not visited Billy in prison says it all.
“It may be that he’s been told he’s not welcome.”
We found Lyons, 34, in Cumbernauld last week as he visited associates.
He fled to Spain after he was wounded in the bloodbath garage attack in 2006.
Hitmen from the rival Daniel gang shot him at his uncle David’s Applerow
Motors MOT station in Lambhill, Glasgow.
Doctors removed part of a bullet from his back and his leg was in plaster for 12 weeks.
His cousin Michael Lyons, 21, was killed, while family enforcer Robert Pickett was also injured.
It was the most shocking eruption of violence in a decade-long war between the rival crime clans.
Killers Raymond Anderson, 53, and James McDonald, 41, who used stolen British Army guns for the hit, were later caged for 30 years.
And Steven Lyons was last seen in Scotland when he returned from Spain in 2008 to give evidence at their trial.
He was joined in Spain by Paterson, 35, after the gunman blasted feared Daniel mob enforcer Carroll outside an Asda supermarket in Robroyston, Glasgow, in 2010.
Lyons and on-the-run Paterson partied together in Marbella and mixed with wealthy crime bosses from around the world.
We told last month how Lyons forged an alliance with Irish godfather Christy
Kinahan, known as the ‘Dapper Don’ and one of Europe’s most powerful gangsters.
He is also in a relationship with the daughter of Ricky Hayes, a major Glasgow crook who is based on the Costa del Sol.
The source said: “Steven was not only physically injured in the MOT shooting, he was also very badly shaken up.
“Some people say his bottle went when he decided to go to Spain, but he made some very useful, high-level contacts out there.
“When Gerbil was killed by Paterson it took the pressure off, but he still felt a lot safer in Spain than in Scotland.”
Paterson was eventually forced to go underground after police in Scotland launched a high-profile campaign to snare him.
He finally gave himself up and agreed to return to the UK to face the charges.
We revealed how he only handed himself in because he had secretly fathered a child during almost five years on the run.
He bragged to cops that he would beat the rap — and his Lyons gang cronies expected him to walk free.
But he was caged at the High Court in Glasgow for at least 22 years after he was convicted of executing Carroll, 29.
Fellow Lyons associate Ross Monaghan, 33, previously stood trial for the killing but the 2012 case against him collapsed.
A change in double jeopardy laws means Monaghan, of Pennilee, Glasgow, could be retried if new evidence emerges.
Sources claim he is also unhappy with the Lyons clan because of Paterson’s jailing — and the risk that he could join him behind bars in the future. The pair have been friends since childhood and as teenagers were both members of
the Club Boys gang, whose HQ was Chirnsyde youth club, run by Lyons’ dad Eddie Lyons Snr, 57.
Since Paterson was jailed, campaigning local councillor Billy McAllister has called for a public inquiry into how it became a breeding ground for one of Scotland’s most dangerous crime gangs.
The club in Glasgow’s Milton was backed by police, Glasgow City Council and the Labour Party.
Another source revealed: “Eddie Snr was a father figure to many of these young boys, including Billy.
“Many of these kids were vulnerable and became ultra-loyal to the Lyons, even doing time for them for drugs and violence. From an early age they were drawn into a life of increasingly serious crime.
“But it was always them who took the fall — not the Lyons.
“Billy won’t see his child grow up and will be almost 70 before he can apply for parole, while Steven is a free man.
“He doesn’t deserve any sympathy, but he is paying a huge price for the Lyons gang’s war with the Daniels. There’s a lot of bitterness, resentment and confusion.
“Monaghan is also angry as he’s living constantly with the threat he could be tried again.
“It seems likely that the damage is irreparable and the Lyons mob will split for good.
“If that happens, Steven will probably return to Spain.”
DECADE OF VIOLENCE
STEVEN Lyons was aged just 20 when a gunman opened fire at him outside a pub.
He was not hit in the attack at Mallon’s bar in Lambhill, Glasgow — but they were the first shots in what became a decade-long war between the Lyons and Daniel gangs.
The feud began when stolen Daniel cocaine fell into the hands of the Lyons’ Club Boys gang.
What followed were years of tit-for-tat beatings, slashings, fire attacks and shootings which ended with the 2010 assassination of Daniel enforcer Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll, 29, outside a supermarket in Robroyston.
Carroll had sparked revulsion when he desecrated the grave of Steven’s brother Garry who died of cancer aged eight.
LYONS MOB: A WHO’S WHO
STEVEN LYONS
Fled to Spain after he was wounded by Daniel mob gunmen and made contacts with major Scots and Irish gangsters.
EDDIE LYONS Snr
Crime boss ran the Chirnsyde youth club where teenage members of the Club Boys gang were groomed for life as crooks.
EDDIE LYONS Jnr
Eddie’s eldest son was shot through his front door by Daniel gang hitman in 2006, before survived a second gun attack.
BILLY PATERSON
Loyal Lyons footsoldier is serving 22 years for the murder of Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll and was previously jailed for drug dealing.
ROSS MONAGHAN
Club Boy was cleared of killing Carroll in 2012 but fears a possible re-trial following a change in double jeopardy laws.
ANDREW GALLACHER
Jailed for four years in 2004 for dealing heroin for the Lyons mob and survived being shot by Carroll two years later.
JOHNNY LYONS
Drug dealing brother of Eddie Snr was first member of the gang to be shot during decade-long feud with the Daniel mob.
PAUL LYONS
Nephew Eddie Snr is serving 12 years for killing an innocent dad in a road rage attack while high on drink and drugs.
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