Operation Folklore: Cops listen in on crooks; Monopoly

Jun 1 2008

OPERATION Folklore's surveillance onslaught against Jamie Stevenson amassed thousands of hours of his bugged conversations including this meeting with business associate Anthony Burnette. During the secretly-recorded discussion in Stevenson's flat in Burnside, the pair discuss deals worth millions. They discuss buying and selling land, homes and businesses as if they were playing Monopoly - with real money. Rangers manager Walter Smith - who knows one of Stevenson's associates - is targeted as the source of an investment tip although the football manager knew nothing of Stevenson or his possible involvement.

The gangster and Burnette begin talking at 9.29pm on Thursday, March 2, 2006. They finish 24 minutes later.

Anthony Burnette: They were supposed to come to you the following day to report progress.

Jamie Stevenson: They didn't. He's still to get back to me on that one. This is followed by the sound of a telephone keypad being pressed then Stevenson begins talking on the phone.

JS: Willie, I'm with Tony the now. Did we ever get any thingwy on the site in Motherwell? Did it not? All right, no bother. I'm at the other place tomorrow. What time do you want to go down at? Aye, OK.Cheerio.

Stevenson hangs up and speaks to Burnette again.

JS: No, nothing came of it. But what he says to me there...do you want to take a run? There's a place down near Helensburgh where Walter Smith... it's a hotel but it went into liquidation and Walter says to Willie it would be ideal for you to get in and build flats in it, he says.

AB: Walter Smith, the football manager?

JS: Aye.

AB: Willie knows him, does he?

JS: Aye.

AB: I didn't know that.

JS: Willie's sister runs one of Walter's and his partner's pubs and has done for five, six years... that's why they've got in tow with Willie, through his sister.

'Why don't we take a run down and see that place?' he says, 'because Walter says it would be stunning for flats - absolutely stunning.'

So I says to Willie the night: 'Let's get all the money in place because if I wanted to buy that place we would need to put it in the now.'

The money we generated, the income from the garage, would hopefully pay the loan for this place or whatever - if we could get planning permission.

Willie says to me that Walter says to him 'Listen, buy that - it's going into liquidation and it's a going concern.'

AB: Well, I could run down with him tomorrow because you're going to be tied up all day.

The men begin discussing one of their petrol stations where the leaseholder is apparently obstructing their plans to sell before talking about difficulties in locating a Shell station that they have been told is up for sale in Glasgow. They go on to discuss more property deals and the merging of three firms into one business worth £1million. Stevenson reveals he plans to start buying property in Edinburgh.

JS: I'm actually waiting on a price for six flats up in East Kilbride but they've no' got back to us. Need to get back to the boy.

Apparently he's making about twenty grand off each of them. It's a f****** steal.

AB: So, with the fusion, the merger of all three different assets, you've got about 1.1 million there.

JS: Aye, easy.

AB: It's a good lever.

JS: For what?

AB: You've got the asset value there so you'd be able to raise mortgage finance no problem at all.

JS: No problem, no bother whatsoever. I'll tell you one thing. See that Edinburgh, on that Leith waterfront. When that development finishes... absolutely frightening.

AB: Is it? Have you been down and had a look?

JS: Aye, spent a day in Edinburgh. I didn't know what like the market was but they're doing a two-bedroom at one-eight-five (£185,000)

Trinity...where's Trinity in Edinburgh? Say we use a hundred grand for the four properties, twenty-five on each property. The properties are one-eight-five so you've got a mortgage of one-sixty but they actually give you back thirty or forty grand.

So you can either leave it in the property equity or you can take it out, so you've no' put anything in but it still looks as if you're still paying the one-eight-five.

So when you go to sell it at a later date, you've not paid like you've got thirty grand off it. You've not paid one-fifty on paper - you've paid one-eight-five or whatever it was.

AB: You pay the taxes on one-eight-five?

JS: Aye, so at the end of the day when you go to sell it when the development's finished, then you've f****** won a watch, haven't you?

It was the boy that was explaining 'cos that's all he does, see.

He goes and buys twenty and thirty at a time so I've been firing him up there 'cos he says there's six in East Kilbride at the corner of the Whirlies (a roundabout) and they're doing one-three-two (£132,000).

He says: 'Jamie, if I can get something off them, then go for the six of them.' Then 'Wait,' he says, 'and wait 'cos they're really good value for money.'

AB: Where's that? In East Kilbride?

JS: Just at the Whirlies. Good renting potential as well.

AB: I'm going to get down the road. I'll ring Willie tomorrow.

JS: I'll get you down. It's like an oven in here.

There's the sound of a door closing and a TV is on in the background.