Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll was one of Scotland's top 15 police targets, The Daniel clan enforcer, who was assassinated

"He was a very violent, unpredictable individual with animal cunning.

Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll was one of Scotland's top 15 police targets, The Daniel clan enforcer, who was assassinated in an Asda car park, featured prominently in a mapping exercise designed to establish the true scale of organised crime.Commissioned by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, the pioneering project identified 367 organised crime groups made up of 4066 individuals.They were ranked in order of the threat, risk and harm they pose to communities.The underworld Who's Who is highly confidential but we have been told Carroll featured in the top 15.As well as the national premier league of crime, each police force has its own list to allow officers to home in on the Mr Bigs.And we understand Carroll was one of Strathclyde Police's top 10 targets. Jamie Daniel, the grandfather of Carroll's two sons, is in the top five for the whole of Scotland.The exact make-up of the secret list is known to only a select few.A police source said: "Carroll was one of Scotland's most dangerous criminals and many people breathed a sigh of relief when he was killed."His murder leaves a vacuum but nobody is chomping at the bit to become the next Gerbil."Drug boss Carroll, 29, had been on the police radar since his teens but in recent years he had built a fearsome reputation.Our source added: "Even five years ago, when he was 24, he was a significant criminal player on the north side of Glasgow."We had to deploy a lot of resources in a bid to manage him. This included armed operations based on the intelligence we were getting."
Strathclyde detectives are now working round the clock in a bid to trace, interview and eliminate a lengthy list of individuals from the murder probe.Carroll is best known for playing a leading role in one of Scotland's most bloody gangland feuds.
Our source said: "He was a complete rocket. In the whole war between the Lyons and Daniel clans Carroll was the most unpredictable element."He heightened tensions because of the way he conducted himself and he was the one who could tip the whole thing into chaos."We know he was an arch enemy of the Lyons' but it is essential to keep an open mind at this stage of the inquiry."Underworld sources have even suggested the murder could be an inside job.
Liability Our source added: "Could it be that the Daniel clan felt he had become a liability?"It is not outwith the bounds of possibility."
Carroll's criminal behaviour, especially a recent spate of kidnappings, also left him with scores of enemies.
The mob led by Gerbil were dubbed the alien abduction gang as the victims, who were dragged from their homes then tortured, told police they could not remember anything.
Our source drew comparisons between Gerbil and another murdered gangland enforcer, Joe "Bananas" Hanlon.Bobby Glover, 31, and Hanlon, 23, were shot dead in 1991 in a revenge attack for the assassination of crime godfather Arthur Thompson's son, Arthur Jnr.
The pair were killed because they were allies of former Thompson enforcer Paul Ferris, who was blamed by the crime boss for his son's murder.
Our source said: "Hanlon had a similar nature to Carroll in that he was also very violent and unpredictable."Although Gerbil was a significant underworld figure, Crown Off ice investigators are still trying to establish how much he was worth.
Our source said: "He might have been a pay-as-you-go ned who earned it and spent it.
"Or he may have squirrelled away a fortune amassed through drugs, fraud and money laundering."At this stage, we don't know the true scale of his wealth."
Carroll is survived by his partner, Jamie Daniel's daughter Kelly Green, 29. The couple, who lived in Lennoxtown, Dunbartonshire, have two sons, aged six years and eight months.Gerbil was shot dead as he sat in the back of a black Audi in the car park of Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow around 1.30pm on Wednesday January 13.
Police have revealed more than 10 shots were fired at Carroll as horrified shoppers looked on.The three-man hit squad then sped off in a dark blue Volkswagen Golf, which is believed to have travelled east along the M80.The stolen car was later found burnt out in Yetts Hole Road, Glenmavis, Airdrie.