Unfortunately, most gang members still felt it necessary to carry a weapon of some description. After all, a man was naked without one. The knife came to replace the razor. Unfortunately, while the razor could maim, the knife would kill, and while Lord Carmont’s sentencing contributed greatly to an improvement in the aesthetic appearance of Glasgow’s citizens, it was a significant factor in bringing to many an untimely end.

Hugh Boyle joined the ‘Young Cumbie’, the youth section of one of the Gorbals’ most notorious gangs. It was named after Cumberland Street, the location of its headquarters.

He took part in his fair share of battles, picked up the obligatory scar and could wield both razor and knife with the best of them. However, he swiftly realised that all this violence for the sake of it was ultimately pointless. He had no intention of ending up like so many of his predecessors – in prison or hopelessly alcoholic. His fighting prowess brought him admiration, but it was his intelligence that earned him respect. When he was seventeen he graduated to the Cumbie itself and quickly established himself as a natural leader. He stopped carrying a personal weapon, preferring the company and moral support of two heavily armed body guards. He also improved the gang’s finances. Raiding parties were sent around town to relieve the middle classes of their property, houses were broken into, and pedestrians parted from their wallets and handbags.

Hugh Boyle then discovered the magic of credit. People’s greed was often far greater than their means, and Boyle was nothing if not generous. He would allow them to incur debts which they could then pay up, with a rate of interest he arbitrarily determined. The unwary (and there was an abundance of them) were trapped. They found themselves having to borrow money in order to meet the weekly instalments. Boyle readily supplied this need and thereby entered the profession of banking. This proved even more lucrative as, realistically the debt had very little chance of being repaid. Occasionally some defaulters would need a gentle reminder.

Boyle found himself growing ever more powerful and more wealthy. He came to appreciate that people were dispensable. His henchmen had no great personal aspirations and were quite content with the money he regularly put their way. It enabled them to have a good bevvy and keep the wife quiet (if not exactly sweet). The foot soldiers, however, regularly fell foul of the law. Despite deals by the police, being a grass in the Gorbals was as good as signing your own death warrant. The police knew of Boyle’s activities, but they could prove nothing. A combination of loyalty and terror made a powerful opponent.