Together, they ran the one of the most sophisticated, well-armed and brutal criminal enterprises Scotland has ever seen.

A group of nine men helped run a drugs empire worth millions, forming the number one cocaine distribution network across Scotland and the UK.

They policed this network by way of brutal violence, including shootings and the abduction and torture of a man over a period of days.

Over the course of a fortnight at the High Court in Glasgow, one by one, all nine admitted a range of crimes from drug-dealing to serious assault.

Collectively, the gang were jailed for a total of 87 years on Monday.

Prosecutors described them as the most sophisticated crime group in Scottish legal history, sentiments echoed by Scotland's national police force.

How did they get to that position of dominance, and how did they fall?

The group rose to the top of the crime world by the importation of vast quantities of cocaine, which they would sell onto other gangs.

They would intimidate these gangs to enforce this empire with extreme violence and an arsenal of guns police described as "unprecedented" for organised crime in this country.

At their fingertips they had machine guns, handguns, stolen vehicles, uniform encrypted mobile phones, surveillance equipment and tracking devices.

They employed private detectives, used Royal Mail uniforms to intercept correspondence and even used fake facial hair and wigs.

Across the central belt, they rented out nearly a dozen properties under fake names for their operations.

Many of these were industrial premises in areas including Glasgow, Lanarkshire, West Lothian and Larbert, near Falkirk.

In March 2013, drug dealer Robert Allan met one of the nine gang members, 37-year-old Barry O'Neill, in Glasgow to buy two kilos of cocaine worth £45,000.

Mr Allan later complained about the "quality" of the drugs and it was agreed he could return some of the drugs but had to pay £30,000.

When he was later unable to stump up the cash, Mr Allan fled Scotland for Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

In March 2015, he was traced to his new home by the gang's enforcer, 50-year-old David Sell.

Mr Allan was chained up, assaulted and bundled into a van.

He was held hostage at an industrial unit in Fauldhouse, West Lothian the gang rented.

Over a period of two days he was whipped with a thick chain, smacked with a metal bar and left with a broken leg after being battered with a 14lb sledgehammer.

The victim was then ordered to strip before being sprayed with a bleach. The liquid seeped into his wounds, causing further agony.

"It's no about the money," he was told at one point. "It's the f***in principle."

Finally, he was transported to a rural spot near the road East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, shot in both knees and abandoned.

He was found by members of the public and taken to hospital for emergency treatment and surgery.

Additional crimes by the gang members led to four separate police investigations, which officers did not initially realise were all connected.

The 28 charges they appeared in court for included the shooting of underworld figure Ross Monaghan outside a Glasgow primary school last January.

The gang was implicated in a shooting at the home of Robert Kelbie in Ratho, Edinburgh, which was investigated by police in September 2016.

Detectives also made a discovery of a massive haul of deadly firearms at a lock-up in Anniesland, Glasgow, in early 2017.

During the police probes there were surveillance operations on key premises and also vehicles, which the gang used to elaborately conceal drugs, cash and weapons.

Police attempts at surveillance were met with sophisticated counter-measures including specialist "signal jammers" and metal detectors.

After years of painstaking work by Police Scotland, the gang is now facing lengthy jail terms.

However, despite large firearms and cash hauls, police did not manage to trace any cocaine linked to the group.