Gangland ‘Godfather' Eddie Lyons Snr bids farewell to gunned down son & kingpin pal as loyal hoods pack out funeral

Scottish Sun

a day ago

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GRIEVING Godfather Eddie Lyons Snr can't hide his pain as he says a final farewell to murdered son Eddie Jnr who was laid to rest with lifelong Lyons gang pal Ross Monaghan.
The 67-year-old was surrounded by security heavies as he arrived with loved-ones for the joint funeral of two of Scotland's most notorious crime kingpins.
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Eddie Lyons Jnr, left, and Ross Monaghan were murdered by a gunman on May 31
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The funeral of Eddie Lyons Jr and Ross Monaghan took place today
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Gangland boss Eddie Lyons Snr pictured leaving the funeral
Lyons, 46, and Monaghan, 43, were given a final send-off this afternoon - one month after they were gunned down in a Spanish boozer amid Scotland's raging turf wars.
The solemn occasion came days after we revealed authorities in Spain had handed over the pair's bodies to relatives for repatriation.
Hundreds of friends, family and underworld figures gathered at Bishopbriggs Crematorium in north Glasgow to show respect to Monaghan and Lyons Jnr - brother of Dubai-based mob boss Steven Lyons, 44.
One onlooker said: 'Eddie looked like a broken man. He was pale and had to be led into the crematorium by a security team.
'His son was murdered and Ross was as good as his boy.
'The service was touching and, at times, funny. But nobody should forget just how dangerous Monaghan and Lyons were.
'They'd have just as keenly seen their rivals' parents cry at their funerals.'
As early arrivals streamed to the venue a white van was seen dropping off elaborate floral tributes that read 'Friend', 'Nephew', 'Uncle' and 'brother'.
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Hundreds of friends, family and underworld figures are gathering for the funeral
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The order of service 'Celebrating the lives of Ross Monaghan & Edward Lyons'
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Mourners carrying the coffins into Bishopbriggs Crematorium
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Lyons associate Liam Boyle, pictured centre
A violinist stood at the entrance playing the moving theme tune to the movie Braveheart as scores of mourners began arriving shortly before the 3pm send-off.
Dozens of flash cars and SUVs, many with blacked-out privacy glass windows, poured into the car park with many more left outside in the street as huge numbers flocked to the service.
Spanish cops insist hitman who executed Ross Monaghan & Eddie Lyons Jr killer WAS member of rival Daniel clan
Security guards were roped in to keep a close eye on proceedings amid months of raging tit-for-tat violence between Scotland's rival crime clans.
Two silver hearses arrived carrying the murdered duo's bodies with a Range Rover driving ahead and a family fleet of Mercedes following on.
Close pal and Lyons associate Liam Boyle, 44, could be seen in the family cars with visibly distraught relatives of the men who both had wreaths saying 'dad' and 'son' placed in their respective hearses.
Another flourish of white roses spelling the name 'Ross' could be also seen resting beside Monaghan's mahogany coffin as the vehicles slowly approached around 400 mourners waiting for the service to begin.
Associates of the pair dressed in black appeared to form a guard of honour, standing in two lines as the cars approached the main building.
The service was delayed briefly, given the huge number of cars pouring into the car park to say a final farewell to the infamous pair.
An order of service with a Celtic-style engraving was handed out to mourners showing close pals Monaghan - sporting a greying red beard - and Lyons grinning for a photo taken in happier times.
A quote from the Coldplay song Everglow was used in tribute to Monaghan, reading: 'Oh, they say people come, say people go. This particular diamond was extra special.'
Pictures were included beside the ode dubbed 'Our Hero' that showed Monaghan wearing shades, enjoying a pint of Guinness and sharing a precious moment with his children.
A gallery of pictures in tribute to Eddie included a snap with his dad when he was just a baby.
It read: 'We hold your heart in our hearts. We love you always forever.'
The mournful hit tune Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve played through speakers amid sombre summer rain as grieving relatives made their way inside the crematorium building.
Eddie Lyons Snr, 67, was seen huddling closely with loved-ones as the coffins were carried inside to make their final journey.
The coffins were placed side-by-side as dozens of mourners squeezed into the main building where many stood in the aisles with every seat taken.
The service was streamed to a screen outside where hundreds more listened in silence with many sheltering from the downpour under umbrellas.
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Tributes to Ross Monaghan in the order of service, featuring a lyric from Coldplay's Everglow
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Loving family tributes to Eddie Lyons Jr
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Floral tributes left outside the crematorium after the joint funeral
The service heard the lifelong pals were born in the same hospital and formed a bond that would last until their final days.
A eulogy described the impact their deaths have had on their loved ones, saying: 'For these two families, that grieving process has begun.
'This can be like the ocean. Some days it might be calm and they can almost cope. Other days it will threaten to overwhelm them and drown them.
'Everyone in this room has been touched by Edwards and Ross in some way. Let's take a few moments to remember them and in our hearts recall once more the things about each of us that they loved and admired and cherished about them.
'The sons, brothers, husbands, dads, cousins and the loyal and trusted friends.'
The bodies were then interred to a cover version of the song Forever Young as a montage of personal photos showing Monaghan and Lyons as loved-ones will remember them most.
Eddie Snr and close family members then left to the waiting motors with private security guards by their side as they left the funeral venue.
We told how Lyons Jnr and Monaghan met their end after watching the Champions League Final in Monaghans, Fuengirola, on Saturday May 31.
In the wake of the killings, associates of the Irish Kinahan cartel leaders gave their support to the families and promised them: 'We'll get this sorted.'
Allies of fugitive kingpin Daniel Kinahan had also told grieving loved ones they intended to pay their respects at the funerals of the executed hoods.
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Monaghans bar in Fuengirola, Spain where the two hoods were assassinated.
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CCTV captured the moment a gunman pursued Monaghan inside the death boozer.
We told how Monaghan was key in helping to cement the Glasgow-based Lyons' ties with the Kinahans, who have a £4million bounty on their heads in the US.
A relative told The Scottish Sun: 'The family have had a few phone calls from them to say, 'Sorry for your loss'.'
We told how alleged hitman Michael Riley is to fight extradition.
The 44-year-old, of Huyton, Liverpool, appeared last month at Westminster Magistrates Court as part of a bid to have him shipped to Spain.
Riley's full extradition hearing will be in October and is expected to last all day.
The Lyons gang kingpins were drinking in Monaghans bar when they were gunned down in front of staff and revellers.
A hooded assassin was captured on CCTV storming the boozer and shooting both men dead in a targeted double hit.
We told how cops in Spain and Scotland gave conflicting information over who is believed to have ordered the slayings.
Police Scotland first insisted they had 'no intelligence' to suggest the murders were connected to an ongoing turf war here.
However, their Spain counterparts later said the man they want extradited over the killings was 'an internal member of the rival Daniel gang'.
We told how a captured mobile phone holds the key to proving the alleged assassination is linked to their Daniel gang rivals, sources claim.
Insiders say it contains data allegedly linking Riley to Daniel hoods who Spanish detectives reckon are behind the massacre.
Career criminal Monaghan – who fled Scotland for Spain after a failed attempt on his life in 2017 – was tried but acquitted over the murder of notorious Glasgow hood Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll at an Asda car park in 2010.
In August 2017, he and Lyons Jr, both members of the Lyons Glasgow crime family, were cleared of being involved in a brutal street attack on three men outside the Campsie bar in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow.
The murders happened in the thick of a gang war in Scotland involving associates of caged kingpin Mark Richardson, 38, and his allies in the Daniel clan - the Lyons' arch-enemies.
Dubai-based hood Ross 'Miami' McGill and a group known as Tamo Junto have been targeting Richardson's associates and Daniel's family members.
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Ross 'Miami' McGill, a former Union Bears ultra, is waging war on associates of Mark Richardson