Silent Money Read online

  ‘The betting grid is a process in place to launder big one-off incomes from your activities that wouldn’t be explainable for a taxi firm. But the taxi business is the best way to handle income from other customers, especially if it’s coming in all the time. Hopefully, there will be a lot of it, so first we need to put in place a story that will explain why the business is going to skyrocket. I’ll need you to come into the bank and meet my boss, Ian Mason. Tell him about your big expansion plans, spin him a tale about a major programme of buying other taxi firms and merging them with yours. Ron’s Taxis is going to become part of a newly formed holding company, let’s call it Alba Transport, that’s going to be buying up similar operations all over Scotland to create a new group. That will explain the rapid growth when we open our operation up to new customers.’

  Michael saw a flicker of concern on Ron’s face.

  ‘Don’t worry, Ron. The meeting’s at least three months away and you’ll be giving Mason the chance to brag about having a big new customer. He’s not going to ask too many questions. And it’ll give you a chance to see how you feel about having to tell a few tall tales – because that’s the business we’re going into. You’ll be fine. I presume you’ve never met him before?’

  ‘No. I kept a low profile until you came along.’

  ‘And you will in future. But just for this one meeting, I need you to front up the operation to the bank. After that, I’ll be able to handle everything on that side once it’s safe for me to quit my job at the bank and move Alba Transport to another bank. But at the moment, I need it to stay at Royal Clydeside, so I can keep an eye open for any suspicions about what we’re up to. Once we’ve proven to each other that we can make this scheme work, then we talk more about how we can make money from it. Real money. Happy with that?’

  ‘Okay.’ Ron shrugged. ‘You tell me what to say and I’ll say it. Just keep it simple.’

  ‘Excellent. Let’s see how this works out and we’ll take things from there. That’s why this new business has got to look legitimate from the start, nothing about it should raise suspicion. Once we get going, it’s our passport to bigger things.’

  ‘Well, you’ve got me interested. I got a phone call after our first meeting, let’s say from a mutual friend. He told me it might be a smart move to listen to what you had to say. That’s the only reason I’m here today. You don’t look like a chancer, pal, but I need to make sure. Let’s keep the bookies scam going, and if looks good, well yeah, I’ve got a couple of pals who might be interested in finding a smart way of stashing some cash their old grannies might have left them.’

  McGowan couldn’t help but get involved. Michael felt strangely flattered by the news. The bosses at the bank didn’t think he had what it took to succeed, but a career criminal did.

  Michael shook Ron’s hand. His new life was about to begin.

  1974

  chapter six

  Michael checked the accounts every couple of days. Ron was faultless. Money was moving between the accounts precisely in line with the ratios that Michael had laid out. Then it was transferred to a transit account in another bank, from where it could be sent to any bank account he wanted it to end up in. There were also some big bookmaker cheques getting paid into his personal deposit account. Ron’s income was impressive, and he was only a small-time crook. Michael was beginning to realise the scheme he was setting up could be massive, even if only a small part of Glasgow’s underworld took part in it.

  With the new system up and running, there was only the flawed history of Ron’s bank account to deal with. Michael needed to erase the past, so no matter how far back in time somebody looked, there would be nothing that seemed questionable. He smuggled out blank monthly statement forms and spent his evenings typing up a new set of records he could use to replace the old ones in the files. They wouldn’t tally with the bank’s central records, but he could deal with that later.

  It was a painstaking process. Everything that needed to be typed was always done by one of the secretaries at the bank, never a manager. Sitting in his flat, bashing away on two fingers into the early hours, it was several weeks before he completed the new statements to his satisfaction. Then over the next few days, as frequently as he could without attracting suspicion, Michael set about swapping over the statements in the branch’s archives. He created what looked like a completely legitimate taxi firm, its accounts a textbook example of a well-managed business. Now he could begin.

  Michael met up with Ron in a bar deep in Glasgow’s South Side, well away from either of their usual haunts, sitting at the end of the horseshoe to distance themselves from the noisy chatter of the pub’s regulars. He produced a set of carbon copies of the newly fabricated bank statements for Ron to keep with his business files, along with a document showing the transaction summaries of half a dozen of the bank’s business customers, with some calculations in the margins showing liquidity ratios, net present value calculations and gross operating margins. Ron’s Taxis was nestled securely and anonymously in the middle of the pack.

  ‘I haven’t got a clue what any of this stuff means, but all that business jargon sounds spot on to me,’ said Ron. ‘Looks like you’ve put a nice respectable window dressing on what some nosey parker might think looks dodgy. I feel quite the businessman.’

  ‘Good, because now you’ve got to act the part. We’ve sorted out your accounts, so your business doesn’t look suspicious. Now we can start to use it to launder other people’s money. It’s time to have that meeting I told you about. Make an appointment to see the manager, tell him you’ve got big plans to expand the business. So that when the money comes flooding in, the bank will have been expecting it. Think you can handle that?’

  ‘Don’t forget, it might look like I run a big taxi firm, but I know bugger all about the business. But yeah, I think I can handle it.’ Michael picked up an unwelcome bravado in Ron’s reply.

  ‘You’ll be fine. But get in and out of that meeting as quickly as possible, and say only what I tell you beforehand. No embellishments.’

  Ron set up the meeting for the following Wednesday, 10 a.m. Michael had chosen the time carefully. Mason had to leave at eleven and Ron was instructed to turn up twenty minutes late, making profuse apologies, to keep the time when they would be talking as short as possible. After the introductions and pleasantries were out of the way, Ron would have less than half an hour to hold together the story about his expansion plans. Despite Michael’s words of encouragement, it was longer than he would have liked.

  Just before ten, Michael busied himself away from the tellers’ counter. He didn’t want Ron to give him an inadvertent nod of recognition. Michael saw Ron’s back as he was ushered into Mason’s office. Only ten minutes late, not twenty. He silently cursed. Ten to eleven, Mason’s door opened, he stuck his head out and called for Michael. When he walked in, Ron was seated, looking happy and relaxed.

  ‘Mr Smith, this is Michael Mitchell, our assistant manager. Michael, Mr Smith is a business customer of ours, he has a taxi firm that looks like it will be growing significantly in the near future. Ron’s Taxis, you’ve probably seen the name. How many new cabs did you say, Mr Smith?’

  ‘Forty-two in our first wave. Pleased to meet you, Mr Mitchell.’ Ron smiled, enjoying the game.

  ‘Likewise,’ Michael replied, keeping a stony face to remind Ron to stay focused.

  ‘Michael, I have to run, but could I ask you to go through some paperwork with Mr Smith? He has to fill in forms to change his company’s name, and I’ve suggested he open a number two account to keep his merger and acquisition expenses separate from his ongoing running costs and revenue. That’ll earn him interest and let him have a clearer picture of his day-to-day profits and cash flow. I’ll leave you in capable hands, Mr Smith. Michael is excellent at taking care of these sorts of details.’

  Michael could see Ron was enjoying Mason ordering him about. ‘Very
kind of you to say so, Ian,’ Michael replied, hamming up the tone of servitude to remind Ron he too was playing a part. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get the forms.’

  When he returned, Mason had gone. Michael closed the door.

  ‘Well?’ he asked.

  ‘Went like clockwork,’ Ron replied. ‘Not a single question you didn’t give me the answer to. I played the part of the smart business guy. Enjoyed it, actually.’ He grinned.

  Michael gave him a curt nod of congratulation. ‘Good. But don’t think it will always be this easy. I’ll be taking over the business side of the operation once we get started. Just so we’re clear.’

  As soon as the bank closed, Michael headed off to meet Ron at yet another pub to avoid being recognised.

  ‘You did well today,’ he told him.

  Ron greeted his comment with an icy smile. ‘Remind me, Michael,’ he said. ‘I hit the streets looking for new customers, and it’s my balls on the line if we don’t deliver. I’ve just shown I can front up to the banks if I have to. What exactly, might I ask, are you doing in all this?’

  Michael wasn’t sure if Ron was gently sparring with him after the euphoria of the morning or if he was moving to challenge his authority. He gave him the benefit of the doubt. ‘My job is to design the schemes that can handle the existing cash and give room for expansion,’ Michael said, softening his words with a benign smile. ‘To keep a watching eye on whether our activities are attracting any unwelcome attention at the bank. So we’re always one step ahead.’

  Michael paused to stare at Ron for a few seconds. ‘And I can do that with you, or with someone else. There are lots of criminals in Glasgow’s mean city, so I’m spoiled for choice as to who I pick as my partner. You’d struggle to find someone like me. Just so we’re clear.’

  ‘Maybe I can do this without you; maybe I can’t. But it seems to be working. I’m happy to stick to our deal. Fifty-fifty split of what we make. My money done for free. That’s still our deal, right?’

  ‘It is,’ Michael replied. ‘And there’s one last thing: I’m invisible. Once we get started with other customers, you pay me my fees in cash, in a nice anonymous brown envelope each month. You don’t ever know how I launder my own money. And no one ever gets to hear of my existence. You dreamt all this up yourself; you didn’t need any help.’

  ‘So if the shit hits the fan, I’m the only one going down? Are you sure it should be fifty-fifty?’

  Michael knew he needed to nip these snipes in the bud. ‘I think you’re underestimating how valuable a product we’ve got here. There’s a ton of money to be made if we don’t squabble between ourselves. This is going to be big business. Did you see yesterday’s Glasgow Herald? Jimmy Slavin sent down for three years, all because the police were on to him because of his bank accounts. Never got caught in the act in all those jobs he did. That’s the future, Ron. The days of nobody caring where the money comes from are numbered. And the smart boys in your line of work are going to cotton on to that when Bar-L starts filling up with similar cases.’

  ‘You think so? How much are we talking about?’

  ‘I went to the library last weekend, went through the newspapers to look for all the big robberies in the west of Scotland over the last year. Tallied up the total, came to fifty million. Even allowing for exaggeration, if we got ten per cent of that, we’d be clearing a couple of hundred grand a year in fees. That’s assuming every robbery gets reported. How much do you pay in after a typical job? Ten grand, max? You do the sums.’

  Ron let out a low whistle. ‘I’ll say one thing about you, Michael. You’re good with numbers. A couple of hundred big ones, you say? Maybe you’re worth a punt after all.’

  ‘Good. We’ve passed the first test, so now we can open for business. But slowly. When we do this, we do it right.’

  ‘Slowly, slowly,’ said Ron, without much enthusiasm. ‘Okay, I agree. Not that it sounds like I’ve got much say in the matter.’

  He left. The meeting at the bank had shown Michael’s fears of instant discovery to be unfounded. Mason would have pulled the Ron’s Taxis file to look at in the meeting, and he had obviously spotted nothing suspicious about the forged statements. Ron had never done anything like this before, but he was able to be convincing as a businessman with ambitious growth plans. Michael knew he would always have to be careful, but the powers that be did not take the responsibility of spotting fraudulent activity too seriously. This was going to be even easier than he had imagined.

  Now it was off to Mary’s house. He liked the irony that straight after taking the first big step into a life of crime he would be meeting Mary’s policeman father for the first time. Mary had been beside herself with delight, seeing this as a momentous event in their relationship. And she was overjoyed that Michael had thought it equally important. Jacket and tie, a bottle of wine, flowers for the mother. This was to be a full-on charm offensive.

  After the meal, when Mary and her mum disappeared into the kitchen to do the washing-up, Michael could start on his objective for the evening.

  ‘Mary tells me you’re in the police force, Mr Johnson,’ Michael said, accepting the proffered cigarette. ‘Must be a very satisfying job.’

  ‘It is,’ Mary’s father replied. ‘But not as exciting as it sounds, I’m afraid. I’m Fraud Squad. More akin to your line of work in many ways. Lots of paperwork, trying to account for how money is moving about.’

  ‘Never thought of it like that,’ Michael said. ‘But then again, we don’t lift too many stones to look underneath. At Royal Clydeside we respect our customers’ privacy. Unless we see them getting into trouble, which happens all too often with students having to manage their financial affairs for the first time. I invite them into the branch, have a quiet word, see if I can help them get on top of things again.’

  ‘Sound like a sensible plan. But I wish you banks would be more proactive in telling us about any funny smell coming from any of your business accounts. It would make our job a lot easier.’

  Michael leant forward. ‘I quite agree, sir. Personally speaking, I think it’s not only good business practice but also one’s civic duty to report any suspicions. We do get the occasional audit; we’ve got the head-office chaps coming in to do one in a few weeks. But speaking frankly, we don’t get any training or advice on how to spot a bad apple. We just have to use common sense. I try to be vigilant about that sort of thing, but there’s no encouragement from above about doing more, or what to be looking out for. Shocking really.’

  ‘Refreshing attitude, Michael. Good to know we can rely on at least one bank manager to keep their eyes and ears open.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think we have many master criminals in Byres Road.’ Michael laughed, as Mary and her mother returned to join them. ‘But I’ll pick your brains as to what to look out for.’

  ‘Would be delighted to help, young man,’ Mary’s father replied. ‘Hopefully, you’ll get a few more of your colleagues to take the same interest.’

  Michael looked over at Mary and gave her a nod that the evening was going well. Very well. She had just received an indefinite extension to their relationship.

  * * *

  The audit managers Michael had mentioned arrived at the branch two weeks later. They spent the morning with Mason in his office; Michael not invited. They headed out for lunch and when they returned he was summoned to join them.

  ‘This is Michael Mitchell, my assistant,’ said Mason by way of introduction. Mason always referred to Michael as his deputy with customers, his assistant with bank staff. ‘Michael, this is Mr Manning and his assistant, Audrey. I’ve spent the morning discussing our annual fraud-prevention audit, and now that we’ve sorted out what to do, I need you to give them every assistance. Everything should be clear, but if there’s anything you need to check on, let me know.’ He turned to Manning. ‘You’ll find Michael a dream to work with. Nothing he likes m
ore than getting stuck into numbers.’

  ‘Very kind, Ian,’ Michael mumbled. ‘So how can I be of help?’

  ‘Oh, use the meeting room to discuss that, will you, Michael?’ Mason said by way of a dismissal. ‘It’s a bit involved, dare I say tedious. Many thanks.’

  Michael headed off to the meeting room with the auditors. Manning didn’t proffer his first name.

  ‘Can you get me the files of three business clients, please?’ he asked, his tone rather offhand. ‘Choose them at random, maybe try to get ones that have a lot of cash transactions. And we’ll need a decent calculator. Audrey here will have a lot of calculations to make.’ His assistant gave an awkward smile. ‘And don’t worry about what you’ve been told about being long and tedious. We’ll be out of your hair in a couple of hours. I’d like to be on the train back to Edinburgh before rush hour.’

  Michael lugged in the desktop calculator, plugged it in and went off to choose the files. He picked out the local barbershop and a second-hand car dealership on Great Western Road. And the newly renamed Alba Transport. He took a deep breath and went back to the meeting room.

  ‘Think these will keep you busy,’ he said. ‘Our biggest client – a car dealership – and one of our cash-only customers, the barbers down the road. And a taxi firm who came in to meet Mr Mason recently, who are about to expand all over Scotland. Just changed their name, but that shouldn’t confuse things too much.’

  ‘Excellent. Let’s get started,’ said Manning. ‘Audrey, you know what to do.’

  Manning picked up the first file. ‘Wonderful things, these calculators,’ he said to Michael, with a nod towards Audrey. ‘I see your office has the new Hewlett-Packard 9100A. Devilishly difficult to operate, with everything in Reverse Polish notation. Luckily, I’ve got a girl who knows all that stuff. Eh, Audrey?’ Audrey glanced up to give a shy smile of acknowledgement.