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. In 1969, Thompson's wife Rita forced her way into the Welsh home and stabbed Patrick Welsh's widow in the chest; she was jailed for three years. His grandchildren and great grandchildren have to remain anonymous for the safety of the family. Thompson also survived two further attempts on his life; he was shot in the groin outside his home – "The Ponderosa" in Provanmill, named after a ranch in the Western television series Bonanza – in 1985. In 1988, Thompson suffered a broken leg after he was run over by a car and shot at, again outside his home. The shooting of his son On 18 August 1991 Thompson's son Arthur Jr (nicknamed "Fatboy") died after being shot three times outside the family home, "The Ponderosa". A former enforcer for the Thompson family, Paul Ferris, was arrested, charged with the murder and remanded to HM Prison Barlinnie.