Blue Angels v Mad Dogs: A look at the biker gang war being waged in Scotland
- Rory Cassidy
- Aug 6
- 3 min read
Last August violence erupted at the funeral of crash victim Gordon Luke, 71, at The Hurlet Crematorium in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire.
Several men wielding machetes were said to have jumped from vehicles and attacked Mad Dogs members, leading to a 65-year-old grandad and men aged 44 and 30 being hospitalised.
Mad Dogs founder and former President Daniel Laponder is serving a nine-year jail term for blowing up a van linked to a Blue Angels rival.
Laponder, who is known as Dan and was a leader of the Blue Angels but left and formed the Mad Dogs, targeted the vehicle in June 2024.
The BT OpenReach Vauxhall Vivaro was used by Blue Angels member David Rollo's dad and was blown up near his home in Lennoxtown, Dunbartonshire.
The bomb was detonated, causing a blaze, and seeing residents being rushed to a community centre following the blast.
Fire crews called to the scene found the pipe bomb lying underneath the vehicle, and a 100-metre cordon was in place until the device was made safe.
Police traced Laponder to a barge in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, where he was living at the time, and he told them he had a shotgun inside.
They found a loaded double-barrel, break-action shotgun that had been shortened by removing a section of the barrel and stock.
Laponder's DNA and fingerprints were recovered from a bottle and duct tape used in the making of the pipe bomb.
The High Court in Glasgow heard the bomb had been plantedas retaliation for Mad Dogs members' bikes being torched.
Defence KC John Scullion told the court: "Motorcycles belonging to friends of Mr Laponder were set on fire."
"A group of motorcyclists attended Mr Laponder's home address and threatened him with violence."
A month before the pipe bomb incident, in May 2024, killer John Bingham made what Laponder described as "a very generous financial contribution" to the club.
The month before the donation, Bingham, who was previously cleared of murder after admitting stabbing a love rival to death, leapt from a car before threatening a female motorcyclist in a road rage incident.
He claimed he did not know she was a female and that he had targeted her because he noticed she was wearing Blue Angels patches on her clothing and that Blue Angels members had torched his Maseratti GranTurismo car.
He saw red while he and the woman were travelling through North Lanarkshire in April 2024 and ended up in the dock at Airdrie Sheriff Court.
He was sentenced to a Restriction of Liberty Order for 180 days with a curfew from 7pm to 7am and was banned from driving for 3 months and 26 days.
In May 2013, he was cleared of murdering love rival Alister Milroy, who was knifed five times in his kidney, spleen and liver.
The pair, who had both been in a relationship with the same woman, had become involved in an altercation at Bingham's home in the village of Annathill, near Coatbridge, on November 18, 2012.
Milroy, who was in a relationship with Bingham's former partner at the time, arrived at Bingham's house and slashed Bingham and his car tyres, before a fight broke out between them.
Joyce Caldwell, Bingham's partner of 24 years, had run off with Milroy, who had been one of Bingham's employees.
The court heard as Milroy lay dying, Bingham knelt by the 44-year-old's side and said: "What possessed you to do this? Look what's happened."
In court, Bingham said: "I stabbed him to protect my family".
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