Ex-lawyer and confidant of notorious Scots underworld figures releases tell all book

dailyrecord.co.uk:

He was once the lawyer and trusted confidant to some of Scotland’s most notorious underworld figures.James McIntyre has been described as the real-life Tom Hagen, the fictional “consigliere” or adviser to the Corleone mafia family in The Godfather movies.But the lawman’s legal career came to an ignominious end when he was caught in his own home with two pistols and ammunition and given three years behind bars.The 66-year-old, who survived a gangland hit, has now written a “tell all” in the shape of his book Jimmy Two Guns: The Life And Crimes Of A Gangland Lawyer.

He tells for the first time of his brushes with the law and time spent behind bars that was almost as frequent as the people he represented including the McGovern family – six brothers known as the McGovernment because of the control they allegedly had over the Springburn area of Glasgow.

McIntyre, now a TV scriptwriter, said: “I have no regrets about the life that I chose. I represented a lot of heavy guys and their families over the years.“As their consigliere, I also advised clients how not to get caught as well as defending them when they were.“That didn’t mean I conspired with them to commit a crime.

They came to me because of my reputation for getting people off and I also believed in defending the underdog.”McIntyre was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, where his father was chief medical officer, before moving to Scotland in 1962 and studying law at Dundee University.While a third-year student, he had been convicted of breaking into an antiques shop in Dundee and stealing a fireplace surround.He would claim the store was selling Nazi memorabilia and the theft was a protest against the owner.But his application to become a lawyer was refused