Arthur Thompson (September 1931 – 13 March 1993) was a Scottish gangster who was active in Glasgow from the 1950s and took charge of organised crime in the city for over thirty years.
Thompson crime family
Born in September 1931 in the industrial area of Springburn, Glasgow, Arthur Thompson began his career as a money lender, and was said to crucify those who did not repay their debts, by nailing them to floors or doors. Protection rackets soon followed, and he was also involved in bank robberies and heists for a time. Thompson then went on to invest his money into legitimate businesses, which grew more and more over the years, making him a very wealthy man. By the 1980s, the Thompson family had entered the drug trade, led by Thompson's son Arthur Jr. It was rumoured that, by the 1990s, Thompson was earning some £100,000 a week as a loan shark (usurer).
Thompson was one of the most feared criminals in Scotland. In 1966, he narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded under his car; his mother-in-law, in the passenger seat, was killed. Shortly afterwards, he spotted two men he suspected of the attack, Patrick Welsh and James Goldie, members of the rival Welsh family Blackhill gang. He forced their van off the road by driving his own car directly at it – the van hit a lamp post and both men were killed. Thompson was charged with murder but not prosecuted as the police could find no witnesses who would testify. "The Ponderosa". and remanded to HM Prison Barlinnie. On the day of Thompson Jr's funeral a car was found containing the bodies of two friends of Ferris, Robert Glover and Joe Hanlon, who were also suspected of involvement in his death and had been killed by gunshots to the back of the head and the anus.
Over 300 witnesses, including Thompson Sr, were called to give evidence at a trial which lasted fifty four days and cost £4.1 million, at the time the longest
Death
Thompson died at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary on 13 March 1993 from a heart attack at the age of 61. He was buried in Riddrie Park Cemetery in the family plot together with his mother-in-law and his son Arthur Jnr.
Other children
Thompson's daughter, Margaret, died from a drug overdose in 1989.
Thompson is survived by Tracey Thompson, his last remaining child.