Pubdate: Thursday February 5, 1998 Source: The Guardian, London Author: John Arlidge Contact: DEAD IN THE STREET, A 'HARD LADDIE' OF DRUG WARS A 24-year-old man murdered in a drive-by shooting was the victim of a heroin-related gangland feud only three weeks after he survived being shot in the head at point-blank range, police said last night Underworld sources said John Simpson had angered so many Glasgow gangsters that they were practically "queuing up" to kill him in the city, which has the United Kingdom's highest level of heroin abuse and the most deaths connected to the drug. The murder ended a period of relative calm after two years of vicious bloodletting among gangsters in the south-east of Glasgow and in neighbouring Paisley. Police fear his death could prompt a new series of killings, as rivals vie for control of extortion rackets and the lucrative heroin and temazepam drugs trade. Police recently closed the files on four unsolved murders because they could not convict the killers for the specific crimes. But they are satisfied the men are now in prison for other serious offences, including murder. Simpson, who was gunned down by a number of men in a car as he walked near his home on the Pollok housing estate, had infuriated one underworld leader by threatening his monopoly on the local heroin supply. Sources said he was "on the wrong end" of a drugs deal that had broken down. Senior officers are confident that arrests will be made soon. Last night a warrant was issued for the arrest of an unnamed man. One underworld figure said last night: "Simpson fancied himself as a hard laddie and was always throwing his weight around with drugs, knives and guns. "If you do that round here, it is not long before someone bigger than you starts throwing his weight back. "Simpson had caused so much bother it had been decided he should go. The word was out. A number of people would have been willing to do it." Detectives are certain that Simpson's death is drugs-related but are unclear who killed him and why - partly because he was so widely targeted. One officer said: "From what we are hearing, it could be any number of people for any number of reasons. He was such a bad lad that it is hard to know what leads to follow, because there are so many." In the attack on Simpson, one of the men blasted him in the chest four times with a shotgun. He suffered massive injuries and died soon afterwards in the Southern General Hospital. Only three weeks earlier he had survived another assassination attempt. On New Year's Day - just one week after he had been released from Barlinnie prison, where he was serving a sentence for attempted murder - three men armed with shotguns burst into his aunt's house in the Priesthill district of Glasgow, where he was staying. A gun was held to his head and he was shot at point-blank range. Despite considerable loss of blood, he survived, and surgeons successfully removed the bullet from his skull. He refused to tell police who had shot him, and was discharged soon afterwards. On the streets of Pollok, local people fear the latest killing will spark tit-for-tat violence. One woman, who asked not to be named, said: "That's the big worry. Perhaps they'll get the wrong house next time. You're sitting in watching the telly and someone is getting shot in their bed down the street. It's terrifying."