Jamie 'Iceman' Stevenson, who has been dubbed the Scottish Tony Soprano, has been finally brought to justice following a long criminal career of global drug smuggling.
A notorious crime boss jailed over a £100million cocaine importation plot ordered a firebomb attack on his own home and was once accused of trying to murder his best man.
The gangster originally rose up through the Glasgow underworld in the 1990s and became close friends with McGovern, whose family ran the so-called McGovernment mob in the north of the city.Stevenson pictured Alicante's four-star Melia Hotel after being caught in a surveillance sting targeting another criminalIn July 1992, Stevenson - then a senior figure in the gang - performed the role of best man at McGovern's wedding, before six years later McGovern would return the favour.
Investigations revealed Connor's tag, LivingSilver, had been in regular contact with Stevenson who used 'BigTasty' as his handle on the platform. Connor was jailed for three years after a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court earlier this year for his role in the fire attacks.Stevenson was charged over the incidents but his not guilty pleas to conspiring with Connor to target the properties was accepted by prosecutors as part of a mid-trial plea deal at the High Court in Glasgow.
But when photographs from the Alicante bar arrived in Scotland, investigators were stunned to see the man Bisland had been meeting was Stevenson, then one of the UK's most wanted criminals. On June 12, 2020, police arrested Stevenson as he met with associates outside the grand Sherbrooke Castle Hotel in Pollokshields.
Stevenson pleaded guilty mid-trial at the High Court in Glasgow in August to two charges - directing a serious criminal offence of importation of cocaine, and being involved in organised crime through production and supply of etizolam, known as street valium.Prosecutors said his huge trafficking operation spanned the UK, Spain, Ecuador and the luxury Nurai Island Resort in Abu Dhabi.
Stevenson, known in underworld circles as 'The Iceman', was also involved in the production and supply of street valiumA pill press that was seized as part of a major police operation targeting drug smugglersHe was arrested for the first time at the Sherbrooke Castle Hotel in Pollokshields - and tried to run away thinking it was a gangland hit
They contained cocaine with a purity of 73%, weighing almost a tonne and with a street value of £76 million. 'Messages show you discussing 1kg blocks and discussing the appearance of legitimacy and the need to start sending dummy loads, and 18 consignments of bananas, of cocaine with purity not less than 73%.'
Sentencing Bowes, the judge said: 'You had significant involvement in etizolam. You took delivery of 500,000 tablets'.During mitigation, Thomas Ross KC, defending Stevenson, said: 'He knew exactly what he was doing and appreciates Your Lordship must pass a sentence that deters others.' Police Scotland described the gang as 'top-tier', while the NCA said their trial had been 'long-awaited'.
Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Ferry, Police Scotland's head of organised crime, pledged to create a 'hostile environment' for gangsters.
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