GANGLAND godfather Arthur Thompson was considered a "consummate villain" by prison authorities who never expected him to leave his criminal past behind, official files revealed today.Documents previously kept from the public described the Glasgow hard man's time in jail at Aberdeen and Inverness in the 1960s.In one private letter, his wife pleads with the governor of Aberdeen prison to keep him in the north east over fears he will fall in with the wrong crowd if allowed to return to Barlinnie in GlasgowA long list of letters between authorities described Thompson's "subversive" activities, such as trying to stir up trouble by using other inmates and hiding an iron bar in his cell.A parole file from 1969 reads: "Thompson is one of the leading criminal lights in Glasgow with connections in London. A man one cannot take at face value."And it predicted: "Thompson will inevitably return to his lucrative club management and his position as a leader of the Glasgow criminal fraternity."
Thompson was born in 1930 and entered a life of crime at a young age on the streets of Glasgow. He died of a heart attack in 1993.
He was involved with well-known city gangsters and was briefly connected with the feared Kray Twins in London.
Attempts were made on his life and he was implicated in a number of serious violent crimes. He was found not guilty of culpable homicide in 1966.
That same year he stole clothes from a shop in Glasgow, leading to a four-year sentence in Aberdeen.
A Glasgow police file from the time stated: "The overall picture of Thompson is that of a violent, vicious and active criminal who will stop at nothing to uphold his position in the underworld as a hard man and to gain his own ends."In 1969, his wife, who was in Greenock Prison, wrote to the governor in Aberdeen asking for him to be kept there.She wrote: "He is Arthur Thompson (No. 660/67) he was told he may be sent to Barlinnie to be liberated and he doesn't want this as he fears he may get involved with the wrong type of people and he doesn't want that to happen."So would you please try and have him kept in Craiginches sir and oblige."
But the governor, Mr Williamson, warned that Thompson would "put the screw" on a number of locals in Aberdeen, urging that he should "seek protection" before being liberated from Barlinnie.In the previous year the governor described Thompson as a consummate villain, adding: "It is well known that Thompson and [NAME REMOVED] are thugs of the worst kind and run warring factions inside and outside of prison, with the blind hatred of their kind."His removal to a secure unit in Inverness had a "marked effect on the morale of the other prisoners", the governor added.Thompson regarded parole as a "political gimmick" and was turned down for release several times.The documents were among thousands of files opened to the public at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh.Scottish ministers decided in June last year to reduce restrictions on historical records under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Thompson was born in 1930 and entered a life of crime at a young age on the streets of Glasgow. He died of a heart attack in 1993.
He was involved with well-known city gangsters and was briefly connected with the feared Kray Twins in London.
Attempts were made on his life and he was implicated in a number of serious violent crimes. He was found not guilty of culpable homicide in 1966.
That same year he stole clothes from a shop in Glasgow, leading to a four-year sentence in Aberdeen.
A Glasgow police file from the time stated: "The overall picture of Thompson is that of a violent, vicious and active criminal who will stop at nothing to uphold his position in the underworld as a hard man and to gain his own ends."In 1969, his wife, who was in Greenock Prison, wrote to the governor in Aberdeen asking for him to be kept there.She wrote: "He is Arthur Thompson (No. 660/67) he was told he may be sent to Barlinnie to be liberated and he doesn't want this as he fears he may get involved with the wrong type of people and he doesn't want that to happen."So would you please try and have him kept in Craiginches sir and oblige."
But the governor, Mr Williamson, warned that Thompson would "put the screw" on a number of locals in Aberdeen, urging that he should "seek protection" before being liberated from Barlinnie.In the previous year the governor described Thompson as a consummate villain, adding: "It is well known that Thompson and [NAME REMOVED] are thugs of the worst kind and run warring factions inside and outside of prison, with the blind hatred of their kind."His removal to a secure unit in Inverness had a "marked effect on the morale of the other prisoners", the governor added.Thompson regarded parole as a "political gimmick" and was turned down for release several times.The documents were among thousands of files opened to the public at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh.Scottish ministers decided in June last year to reduce restrictions on historical records under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
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