Ex-Glasgow enforcer Paul Ferris insists he’s no longer a threat to hoods as former patch gripped by wave of gangland violence
He revealed criminals would call him up asking for advice long after he’d left the city and crime behind
FORMER gangster Paul Ferris last night revealed he’s no longer “a threat” to the underworld - but admits he still keeps an eye on his old turf.
The hardman, 54, told the Scottish Sun on Sunday keeps up to speed with what’s happening on the patch where he earned his reputation as a feared enforcer.
But - revealing criminals called him up for advice even after he went straight - the former gun runner said he’s pleased to be out of the criminal rat race even though some people find it hard to let him shed his former image.
Speaking as he launched his new book Unfinished Business, he said: “I take notice of what goes on in Glasgow.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to get out of it. I don’t pose any material threat. I don’t pose any physical threat to the people going about doing what they think they should be doing.”
The business consultant also told how he left his life of crime behind after spending almost five years behind bars reading secret files MI5 had gathered on him - and realised it was time to “forget about it”.
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He also revealed his honest and open relationship with son Dean, 21, who helps with his books and is always with him through “challenging times”.
We sat down with Paul, 54, after he launched his explosive new book Unfinished Business in Newcastle last week.
The ex-hood had no plans for another book out of respect for dear friend and co-writer Reg McKay who died of cancer in 2009 aged 56.
But he teamed up with authors Steve Wraith, who he now looks at as a mentor, and Stuart Wheatman for his latest work - which contains explosive claims about police corruption - after Steve came up with the idea of making it a tribute to Reg.
Paul said: “The tribute to Reg is there, it’s everlasting.”
In a candid interview, he revealed how even after walking away from crime and moving out of Glasgow he was still called upon for advice.
He told The Scottish Sun on Sunday: “They did, but they never used a phone. It’s just circumstances where they know you’ve got combat experience and how do you deal with certain things.
“And usually it was members of a family that just wanted to get a few quid.”
Paul was caged at the Old Bailey for ten years in 1995 after being found guilty of conspiracy to deal in firearms and having explosives.
He was snared after a painstaking joint operation between MI5, Strathclyde Police and the South East Regional Crime Squad.
Cops uncovered an arsenal of weapons, including detonators, powerful Mac-10 machine guns and silencers. He was jailed for ten years.
And he has now revealed the real reason he decided to go straight while locked up for the gun charges before his release on January 21, 2002.
He said: “The process never involved the 21st of January 2002 when the doors opened and a voice came out the clouds and says this is what you’re going to do - like a divine intervention.
“I had four years and eight months of looking through MI5 briefings, MI5 security documentation about me under surveillance and I knew if you came to the attention of these people then forget it, forget about it, that’s it.
“So I had four years and eight months to think about it. I done all my courses, enhanced thinking skills, drugs courses, substance abuse and just got on with it.”
The business consultant opened up about his tight bond with son Dean as he revealed what makes him tick nowadays.
Paul doesn’t attempt to hide his past from his kids, quite the opposite.
And Dean - who was six weeks old when his dad was jailed on the firearm charges - is very close to his dad and played an integral role in the creation of Unfinished Business.
NOVEL NOTES
Paul had no plans to write another book until Newcastle author and former doorman Steve Wraith convinced him to pick the pen back up.
The 54-year-old old says he stopped writing for two reasons: because he ran out of material and for respect for his close confidant and late co-author Reg McKay who died in 2009 aged 56.
But after meeting Steve in 2012 while The Wee Man was being filmed and later striking up a working relationship with the Geordie boxing promoter and writer, Unfinished Business was under way a few years later.
Ferris said: “I stopped writing because I did run out of stuff with Reg on the basis that the first one was accidental, the other ones were enjoyment.
“Steve asked why’s it taken you so long to write another book? I don’t think there’s any timescale to books. If it happens it happens.
“But when you get to a position where I didn’t want to write another one out of respect for Reg, I thought right Steve why would we do another book?
“He said a tribute to Reg. I thought, I’m in.”
Steve, who has also penned a book with a close associate of Paul’s Stephen Sayers, said: “The print run almost sold out without any publicity at all and that’s testament to Paul.
“We’re a small publisher but we specialise in particular areas and former criminals is one of them.
“And ultimately from our perspective Paul’s story is something people want to listen to and want to hear.
“They want to hear about the truth and Paul speaks the truth.”
The retired crime figure told us: “He needs to know who his dad is. I’ve got my boy who’s went through the whole system. He’s never been in trouble. He’d faint if anything happened.
“And I’m showing him a different way of life. But he’s still got to read about his dad. It’s my duty to sit down with him and say there’s a bundle of material before you were born.”
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And speaking about the effect of past news articles, he said: “I used to take all the mirrors out the room, out the house, just in case that guy they’re writing about happens to look in it and go ‘oh for f**k sake, it is him’.
“Me and Dean have had lengthy conversations, there has been challenging times, letters coming through from HMRC and other various agencies to pay things.
“I say to Dean I’d rather go through and look through this and look at: “how do we manage this” rather than you coming up and visiting me (in prison) for me taking a risk. It’s not going to happen.
“So that’s a quantum leap for me, from my background. And that’s where I think is the driving force, your family.”
Paul was recruited by Arthur Thompson Snr at 19 when he became an enforcer for the Glasgow “Godfather’s” crime empire.
In one of Scotland’s most famous ever criminal trials he was cleared of murdering Thompson’s son Arty, shooting another man in the legs and dealing coke, smack and ecstasy.
Now fully reformed, Paul also told how he has to accept how some people will never believe he’s changed and he’ll always tussle with the the gangster image.
He said: “I think 16 years later, I’ll probably spend another 16 years and another 16 years because there are people In Scotland, more importantly in Glasgow, that can’t see me as somebody who has changed.
“They need the bad guy to point the finger at and say there he’s there. It does motivate me.
“I’ve paid my dues, I’ve paid my taxes and I’ve still got to pay a bit so if I’d done anything wrong I wouldn’t have had the properties.”
BOOK BATTLES
The convicted gun-runner - who’s now a business advisor and has penned several books - now fights his battles with the pen.
Unfinished Business carries claims of shocking cop corruption and transcripts of audio tapes created by Paul and former gangland pal Russell Stirton, 57, during discussions with police officers.
The bombshell tapes allegedly capture coppers talking about fitting up Ferris and threatening to kill Stirton.
They give a stunning insight into the alleged action of certain officers who tried to bring him down.
Ferris said: “It’s a war of words. People back in the day settled disputes with pistols, and knives and swords. I’ll do it with words.
“Where does it stop? It stops when we wrote the book. That’s when it stopped.
“And this (Unfinished Business) has got the same trend as The Ferris Conspiracy, it’s got the hallmarks written all over it. It’ll go and run and run and run.”
He added: “I’ve got no reason to threaten police officers at all. I’ve threatened drug dealers, threatened people who’ve threatened me with guns.
“If that’s the police and they’ve got a warrant card, I don’t care. I don’t get frightened. They were just bullies to me with a badge. I’ve done enough running. Time for me to stand and fight.”
And asked if there has been any comeback from the claims in the book he said: “All they need to do is read the book and if there’s anything in it, take us to court and get it over and done with because the public need to know and the quicker we get to there the better.
“And if they don’t want to do anything their silence is still deafening.”
Underworld tit-for-tats have erupted in Glasgow recently with shootings and stabbings escalating in the last two years.
In the space of just a few weeks, slain gangster Billy Bates’ nephew Billy Joe, 28, was battered to death in a savage street attack in the north of the city last month.
Days later, three men were ambushed and stabbed by tooled-up yobs in vans and motors in three separate attacks over one weekend.
Then last week, drug dealer-turned puppy farmer Scott Bennett was blasted in the face in the car park of a vets in Rutherglen.
But does Paul take any notice of what goes on in gangland Glasgow these days and has anything changed since he was a player?
He told us: “I take notice of what goes on in Glasgow because I left it before it didn’t go off the scale.
“I think if you go back and you had an opportunity to ask one of the gang members from the 30s, they’d say to you it was much worse back then.
“So it’s always changing, it’s always evolving but it’s something which people obviously know the level of what’s going on.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to get out of it. I don’t pose any material threat. I don’t pose any physical threat to the people going about doing what they think they should be doing.
“It’s not for me to comment on what they’re doing because I wouldn’t have it back in the day people saying you shouldn’t be doing that.”
MOST READ IN GANGS
He added: “I’m not in that department anymore so what have I learnt, it might be a personal thing, it’s put myself forward towards the academics: criminology, sociology, how do we do it. Somebody’s went on the journey and not read the brochure.
“I’ve learnt that I had to learn the rules of the game, find out how to play it then play it better than anybody else. That’s it because your life’s at risk, your liberty’s at risk and if you don’t get it right you’re going to lose your life or your liberty.
“I think that covers the fact that I’ve probably learnt in a single life multiple lifetime events and that’s a reality.”
To buy Unfinished Business, visit mojorisinpublishing.com.
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