Jon Bacon Murder Trial to be held without Jury

The trial of three men charged with the murder of Jon Bacon in Kelowna five years ago will be heard by a judge with no jury. That's unusual for murder cases but both the Crown and defence have agreed to it.

Bacon was killed in August 2011 when his Porsche Cayenne SUV was riddled with bullets outside the Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna. A masked gunman armed with an automatic weapon opened fire.

Jujhar Khun-Khun, Jason Thomas McBride and Michael Hunter Jones have been charged with murder and attempted murder in the mid-day execution. The trial is scheduled to start next May, and is expected to last ten months. A high-security court room has been built and the cell blocks upgraded at a cost of about $4 million to accommodate the trial.

Hells Angels Guy Rodrigue Arrested

Guy Rodrigue, 59, surrendered to police after 7 years on the run. He is facing the same charges that had been filed against him on 15 April 2009. He is charged with 22 counts of murder and conspiracy, drug trafficking and gangsterism. Rodrigue belongs to the Sherbrooke chapter. He is considered a highly influential member of the Quebec Hells Angels according to police. A few weeks ago, the Crown withdrew all charges against seven other Hells Angels on the run, however charges were not withdrawn against Rodrigue and another still fugitive biker, Claude Gauthier. The two men are the last of those not arrested in Operation SharQc.

Sûreté du Québec raid Devils Ghosts in Montreal : HA puppet club

70 police officers are raiding locations linked to a drug-trafficking ring on Montreal's South Shore this morning. Police say the ring is controlled by members of the Devils Ghosts. The Sûreté du Québec, Longueuil and Richelieu-Saint-Laurent police forces are taking part in the operation at locations in Longueuil, Saint-Amable, Sainte-Julie and Saint-Bruno. The Devils Ghosts are a relatively new biker gang established by and directly affiliated and controlled by the Hells Angels.

In August five men connected to the Devils Ghosts were charged with drug and weapons offenses after a raid. Matthew Richiot, Michaël Petardi, Sergio Nesparoli and his son, also named Sergio Nesparoli, as well as Gino Nesparoli were arrested during a joint police operation in Montreal North and Rivière-des-Prairies. Four handguns, one long weapon, ammunition, bulletproof jackets and cocaine was seized.

Hells Angels have dethroned Montreal Mafia

For over 30 years the Rizzuto clan ruled the roost of organized crime in Quebec in partnership with the Hells Angels and street gangs. Now even they are paying taxes for the right to operate. Such an outcome would have been unimaginable for Vito Rizzuto, who ruled with an iron hand while at the top of the pyramid in Quebec. The natural death of Rizzuto in December 2013 torpedoed the Sicilian Clan and marked the beginning of the end. Project Mastiff-Magot was another heavy blow that weakened and disorganized the mob, which has given way to the new Hells Angels.

Sources say organized crime in Quebec is currently controlled by the Hells Angels, who have established a 'superstructure' guided by 'committee decisions' that put them at the very top of the pyramid. Reportedly Mario Brouillette, Robert Martin, and brothers Sylvain and François Vachon are on the committee, which uses lieutenants in each region to control puppet clubs for the 'big gang'. It is estimated over 80% of the Province is under their direct control.

Robert Martin

The Hells Angels have taken over former Mob territory and have made inroads into New Brunswick and Ontario. While the Hells Angels ascend, the Montreal Mafia has had no real leader since the Magot Mastiff-operation and the consecutive murders of three prominent members of the Rizzuto clan in 2016. The end of the reign of the Sicilians seems complete. While the alliance has ended, there is no animosity between bikers and the remaining Sicilian mafiosi. It is unclear if this will remain so if the 'Ndrangheta' (Calabrian mafia region of Italy) reestablishes dominance in Montreal as many suspect.

South Florida in opioid overdose crisis

The man was in his late 30s, dressed in shorts, open shirt and barefoot. He was laying face down on the pavement outside the front door of Wal-Mart. He had been dumped out of a car and was not moving. His skin was a blue-gray. He looked dead. Five available units from Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Station 2 were on other calls, including two for suspected overdoses. A unit from another station was sent. It's projected that by the end of this year more than 800 in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties will die of opioid overdose. South Florida, along with New England, New Jersey, Ohio and Southern Appalachia are epicenters in the US of Fentanyl and Carfentanil. "I have never seen it like this, ever" said Lt. Ozzy Tianga, a veteran Broward Sheriff's Office detective. "Nothing comes close"

Last week South Florida officials sounded an alarm about the drug crisis, repeating dire warnings from the DEA about the perils of fentanyl and carfentanil. Animals are not immune. In October three dogs with the Broward Sheriff's Office K-9 unit working a search in a suspected drug house became ill with overdose-like symptoms.

In Broward County deaths involving fentanyl have doubled. In Miami-Dade County they have tripled. Paramedics are running hard just to keep up, and spraying so much naloxone they are busting budgets. Paramedics get used to seeing repeat customers. The man loaded into the ambulance in front of Wal-Mart was saved. It took three doses of Narcan. He did not blame paramedics for spoiling his high. He had a smile on his face. "Thanks for saving my life." A paramedic arriving on another truck recognized him: "He'll be back."

HST = 'Hells Sales Tax'

Ontario Nomads Phil Boudreault (left) and Martin Bernatchez refused to pay the HST. Boudreault was shot in April, Bernatchez in August.

Having regained virtual total control over the drug market in Quebec, the Hells Angels are ruthless towards those who do business without paying the "sales tax", even their brothers. Reportedly it's a 10% tax imposed weekly by the bikers. Buoyed by the end of SharQc and the release of most of its members, the Quebec Hells Angels are again the most powerful gang in the drug trade. Phil Boudreault, a former Olympic boxer who was vice president of the Ontario Nomads, is still confined to a wheelchair. Martin Bernatchez, president of the chapter, survived three bullets. The Nomads chapter, founded 15 years ago, was unwound in September.

When trafficking networks are not directed by the Hells Angels, they systematically receive 10% of the revenue of other groups operating in what they consider 'their' territory. "You are allowed to sell only if you pay tax" say investigators. "Even the Italian mafia, destabilized by police operations and internal conflicts, pay them their cut" Police say the wholesale price of a kilo of cocaine in Montreal is $ 50,000, the same price that was set by the Mafia and the Hells Angels a decade ago. Price in the UK is said to be $77,000. It is said a kilo of cocaine sells for less than $1500 in Colombia.

Vancouver police issue another warning after string of drug overdoses

Vancouver police have issued yet another warning after 11 non-fatal overdoses were reported in a single day in the city’s Downtown Eastside. The city’s supervised injection site saw 28 overdoses on Monday – none fatal. There have been 622 fatal overdoses in B.C. so far this year, compared to 397 for the same period last year. Every day, on average, 2 more people will die. October's toll was 63, up from 57 the previous month. The coroner says fentanyl still remains a major contributor with 60 per cent of deaths attributed to the drug.

In Alberta 338 have died so far this year with fentanyl identified in 193 cases. Ontario has only released numbers for 2015, a year in which 529 people died of opiod overdose. The ‘hodgepodge’ tracking leaves the true magnitude unknown. Governments in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario are moving ahead with exploring safe drug consumption sites in an effort to reduce the number of deaths. Health leaders have grown increasingly concerned and are finally addressing the fentanyl and opioid crisis from a health and harm reduction perspective. It takes more than 8 months to prepare a Health Canada application, let alone get approval. Health Minister Jane Philpott will host a conference in Ottawa to discuss the crisis.

The amount of fentanyl reaching Canada has skyrocketed over the last four months, with border officials seizing fentanyl 32 times at various ports of entry across the country from May until last Friday. Those seizures add up to 8.46 kg, enough to produce more than 8.4 million pills at an estimated potential street value of $169 million.

Trial begins for alleged UN gang killer Cory Vallee

Cory Vallee is accused of being a hitman for the United Nations gang at the height of the gang war with the Bacon brothers and the Red Scorpions gang. Vallee is accused of the murder of Kevin LeClair on February 6, 2009. LeClair was ambushed in a parking lot in front of a crowded grocery store in Langley’s Walnut Grove area.

Murder and conspiracy charges were laid against Vallee and other UN Gang members and associates in January 2011. Among those still on the run is UN gang leader Conor D’Monte. In August, UN gang twins David and Ryan Murphy, 42, admitted that they helped commit the murders of Jonathan Barber and Kevin LeClair. Both received a paltry two-year sentence. The twins were nearby when Barzan Tilli-Choli killed stereo installer Barber with an AK-47 provided by David Murphy. Barber was mistaken for Jamie Bacon. Ryan Murphy was at the scene of LeClair’s killing by Cory Vallee using a machine gun that David Murphy had in his possession.

Jonathan Barber, 23

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2016/11/conor-dmonte-still-fugitive.html

Montreal Mob defence lawyer pleads guilty to obstruction of justice

Gerardo Nicolo, 48, pleaded guilty in October to obstructing justice by attempting to persuade an undercover RCMP officer to leak information to members of a Mafia clan — Giuseppe De Vito, and one his associates, Nicola Di Marco. The guilty plea came eight years after Rizzuto associate Nicolo was charged in an investigation that did not initially target him. In 2007, while the RCMP were looking for De Vito, allegations surfaced that some investigators were working for him. His associate, Angleo Cecere, a civilian employee who translated wiretaps for the RCMP was arrested for leaking documents to Nicola Di Marco. In March 2013, Cecere was sentenced to a one-year prison term.

Angleo Cecere

Giuseppe De Vito

In November 2008 Gerardo Nicolo was arrested for trying to “bribe a peace officer by offering money in exchange for information that could obstruct or defeat the course of justice." Giuseppe De Vito was the leader of a Mafia clan. In 2012, De Vito was sentenced to a 15-year prison term for his role in a failed attempt to smuggle 218 kilograms of cocaine through Trudeau airport. On July 8, 2013, he died of cyanide poisoning inside a federal penitentiary near Quebec City. On May 5, 2011, Nicola Di Marco headed to the Montreal courthouse certain he was destined to end up in a federal penitentiary that day on a weapons charge. So he swallowed 22 pellets of hashish. The RCMP was fully aware of his plans, and tipped off Correctional Service Canada. In 2014, Di Marco’s sentence was extended to five years after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.

Nicola Di Marco

Sinaloa Cartel Meth Lab - Crack Production

The Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Sinaloa or CDS) is an international drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized crime syndicate. Established during the mid-1980s, the Sinaloa Cartel is based primarily in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, with operations in the Mexican states of Baja California, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua. The cartel has been called the Federation and the Blood Alliance. The United States Intelligence Community considers the Sinaloa Cartel "the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world" In 2015, the Sinaloa Cartel was the most active drug cartel involved in smuggling illicit drugs into the United States.

The cartel is involved in the smuggling and distribution of Colombian cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States. The Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona areas are major trans-shipment and distribution points for the cartel. It also has operations in the Philippines as a trans-shipment point for drugs. The major cartels have aligned in two factions: one integrated by the Juárez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel and Los Zetas; the other faction integrated by the Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel. The Sinaloa Federation has formed alliances with two Chinese Triads, Sun Yee On and the 14K Triad, to acquire the precursor chemicals needed to create synthetic drugs like Meth.

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2016/10/104kg-meth-bust-in-utah-involves.html

DEA warns of new form of fentanyl - U-47700

The latest analogue to hit the streets is called U-47700 and has street names such as Pink or Pinky. Officials said it has been tied to 46 deaths. U-47700 is an opioid analgesic drug developed by Upjohn in the 1970s. It acts as a selective agonist of the µ-opioid receptor. U-47700 is thought to be 7.5x the potency of morphine. It was derived from an earlier opioid AH-7921.

U-47700 has never been used medically, only in research, nor has it been tested on humans, until now. Responding to the imminent threat to public health and safety, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has placed U-47700 into Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, effective November 14, 2016. Currently numerous sources can be found on the internet without difficulty. It can be had for as little as $ 7.28 per gram if buying a kilo.

From 1999 to 2014, the number of opioid-related deaths in the US quadrupled from 8,050 to 28,647, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overdose deaths related specifically to synthetic opioids increased from 730 to 5,544 in the same time period.

Erin Jade Maranan made illegal police database searches - two dead

Former Toronto police civilian employee Erin Jade Maranan, 28, faces 24 criminal charges. It is alleged she searched police databases for information on two people who were, months later, murdered — gunned down in separate shootings. Police allege Maranan, who had three years’ of service with Toronto police, made a slew of illegal database searches between February 2014 and June 2015. Her charges solely relate to allegedly accessing information without authorization. She is not charged in connection to either homicide. In February 2015, Maranan searched for information on Ly Duy Nguyen and Victor Oliveira — two men who were gunned down in separate shootings seven months later.

Victor Oliveira

Duy Ly Nguyen was gunned down in a brazen midday execution at a Vancouver shopping mall in September 2015. He had only recently arrived in B.C. days earlier from Ontario, and is believed to have had ties to the Chin Pac gang. He was shot in 2012 by a member of the rival Asian Assassinz. No arrests have been made in either homicide.

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2016/06/stingray-cellphone-snooping-nails-asian.html

HMCS Brandon and U.S. Coast Guard involved in drug bust – 700 kg of cocaine

HMCS Brandon, in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard, seized an estimated 700 Kg of cocaine in international waters off the Pacific Coast of Central America on November 5th. The cocaine, worth an estimated $28 million U.S., was recovered from the ocean after being jettisoned by suspected smugglers in a panga-style fishing vessel

The vessel had been spotted by a USCG HC-130J aircraft patrolling the region. HMCS Brandon launched two rigid-hulled inflatable boats with USCG law enforcement teams onboard to pursue the vessel and secure the 14 jettisoned bales

Operation CARIBBE is Canada’s participation in the multinational campaign against illicit trafficking by transnational organized crime in the Caribbean Sea and the East Pacific Ocean. The Canadian military has been taking part since 2006.

Hells Angels surround Robert E. Lee monument in New Orleans

Hell's Angels went to Lee Circle and surrounded the Robert E. Lee monument Thursday. The development came after New Orleans and other American cities were roiled by a wave of vandalism by those lashing out after the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

Protesters took to the streets again later that night, but in a much more peaceful manner. New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison held a press conference hours earlier to detail police strategy for handling the protests.