It might have gained the title of the second prettiest city in the world, but as Edinburgh prepares to host this year's famous Fringe and International Film Festival there is a fearsome underbelly of drug-related crime rumbling below its carefully curated surface.

Scotland's picturesque capital, which was beaten only by Cape Town in a recent survey by Time Out, will welcome around three million visitors next month for its annual luvvie fest, as incomers enjoy its breathtaking views of the castle, famous cobbled streets and mysterious closes.

But lurking in the shadows of Arthur's Seat, Calton Hill and the Leith docks are some of the world's most dangerous underworld criminal gangs.

Assaults, shootings and firebombs have now become so commonplace in the whimsical streets where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter, that Police Scotland have even set up a dedicated investigation unit.

Operation Portaledge has so far made 69 arrests in connection with a massive upsurge in gangland attacks in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as the surrounding areas.

And while Trainspotting brings glamour with its 30th anniversary celebrations at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, the city's drug-related mortality rate remains at an all-time high. 

Scotland is the drugs death capital of Europe and has been for seven years in a row despite a 13 per cent fall in fatalities, according to the latest official figures.

And just yards away from where stars will be turning up for the red carpet celebrations next month, is the scene of last March's petrol bombing of a beauty salon on Great Junction Street. 

It is also where a murder in a separate unprovoked knife attack by an assailant who had prior connections to drug supply operations took place. 

Whilst the city has its share of youth gangs, the main issues stem from a long-lasting feud between rival criminal gangs, the Lyons and Daniels families, which dates back to 2001, when a stash of cocaine was stolen from a Daniel safe house in Milton, Glasgow, and subsequently sold by the Lyons clan.

The initial dispute over drug territory exploded into a series of extreme, tit-for-tat violent attacks across Scotland, spreading to Edinburgh after an alliance was formed between head honcho Steven Lyons and Edinburgh-based 'Tamo Junto' mobster Ross McGill to violently target members of the rival Daniel clan and their associates.

Operating from Dubai, the pair used this partnership to track down and attack members of the Daniel family and their local associates across the east of Scotland.

The violence escalated after McGill's group was reportedly paid with £500,000 counterfeit cash by an associate of Edinburgh crime boss Mark Richardson (who was aligned with the Daniel faction).

Cocaine baron Richardson was most recently jailed in 2018 for more than ten years for his role in the Daniel gang. 

This sparked a campaign of firebombings, stabbings, and assaults in and around Edinburgh, and following the assassination of Lyons family members in Spain, the violence has stepped up even more.

Since March last year, properties in and around Edinburgh have been torched, machetes have been wielded and gunshots have been fired as gangs terrorise those in and around the famed capital.

Those injured include a 54-year-old man who was seriously hurt outside his home in Edinburgh, as well as a 72-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy in the Milton area of Glasgow.

Areas in Edinburgh that have been targeted so far include Parrotshot where the first car was set on fire, the normally charming seaside suburb of Portobello, where a property was torched, the less salubrious areas of Niddrie and West Pilton where shots have been fired and houses have been left in flames.

The Belle Cheveux beauty salon in Leith which was hit by a 'Molotov cocktail' was reportedly run by feared mob boss Mark Richardson's partner. 

Despite Richardson currently serving a decade-long prison sentence for his role in a crime network said to be 'the most sophisticated encountered' by Scottish police, even life behind bars cannot prevent the two rivals' violent bloodshed.

More upmarket areas like Craiglockhart have also been dragged into the feud, with firebombings and the slashing last year of 54-year-old businessman, David McMillan, a pal of Mark Richardson's at a property on Pitcairn Grove – the third time this address was targeted.

In what appeared to be a related attack, the Garage Conversion Company on The Wisp was also a target in recent weeks.

And vehicles on Gorgie Road and a house on Bellenden Gardens in Liberton, Edinburgh, have also been set alight in the early hours.

The incessant violence is ongoing and in Edinburgh it seems no area is safe from the attacks with one home on Balderston Gardens North in the capital targeted twice within 24 hours just last month while a skip lorry was driven into a living room on Brand Drive.

The current situation looks like it may get worse before it gets better as the alleged perpetrators sent a message along with a video of the incident overlaid with the song Go by The Chemical Brothers, and the letters TMJ (Tamo Junto) with the warning, 'Expect consequences'.