Article taken from Sunday Mail archives
UNMASKED
First picture of drugs king whose assassination has sparked a desperate hunt for his missing millions

**Please note Springburn and Possilpark Housing Association is now known as North Glasgow Housing Association Ltd**
RUSSELL FINDLAY. Sunday Mail.  Glasgow (UK):  Dec 17, 2000
(Copyright Sunday Mail)

Shady world of the M & M security firm ONE of the McGovern crime clan is running a security company despite being a convicted murderer. Paul McGovern, 27, younger brother of murdered gangster Tony, served ten years behind bars for the brutal stabbing of a janitor. The Sunday Mail can reveal that the baby-faced killer is joint partner in M&M Security with gangster George 'Geo' Madden, 39.

The men's ability to enter the industry, despite their underworld connections, yesterday prompted new calls for tighter controls and stricter vetting of security company bosses. The McGoverns' local MSP, Paul Martin, said he would raise the issue at Holyrood.

The company is based in the McGoverns' Springburn heartland. It provides security for homes being built by the partly publicly-funded Springburn and Possilpark Housing Association.

Scottish Homes has provided pounds 1.2 million of public cash for one of the two Springburn sites, just 50 yards from the local police station. Builders JB Bennett, Scottish Homes and SPHA bosses were surprised to hear about M&M's background.

A Scottish Homes spokeswoman said: "This is something that we were unaware of. However, none of the public funding goes towards security. It is up to the builders to decide who provides security."

SPHA director Robert Tamburrini refused to comment.

JB Bennett manager Drew Wilson said: "I dealt with Mr Madden but I didn't know about Paul McGovern. Our main concern is site security and we've had no problems with this company. I will be raising this at the next board meeting. But we could hire the nicest guy in the world to guard our sites and they would get robbed every night."

A Springburn local said: "Everyone knows that M&M means McGovern and Madden. The signs are enough to ensure nobody goes near these sites."

McGovern was jailed in 1990, aged just 16, for the frenzied knife murder of 47-year-old Thomas Cushley. He only got out recently and is now an integral part of the McGovern crime family.

M&M office manager John Fox is an employee of a company co-owned by ex-Celtic star Charlie Nicholas and his partner Jim Milligan. Fox is also licensee at the The New Morven bar, which was the scene of Tony McGovern's murder and is owned by Jimmy Nick's Properties Ltd.

George Madden was wounded in a shooting in the Spring Inn four years ago. Detectives on the case met a wall of silence. His brother, Charles Madden, was killed in a 1985 knife attack in Possilpark. He was 27.