Belgian drug lords hit hard by Sky ECC bust - update

Cops in Belgium have seized almost 28 tons of cocaine with a street value of 1.4 billion euros ($1.65b) after gaining access to the Sky ECC encrypted phone network.

As Sky ECC fell, so too did Belgian crime lords. The Port of Antwerp was their playground. Cracking the encrypted app gave cops access to the six million messages being sent per day between major criminals – not street dealers or thieves. In 200 raids, cops seized 17 tons of cocaine, eight cars, three cash machines, police uniforms, and €1.2m in cash along with guns. 48 were arrested, including a criminal lawyer from Antwerp and a leader of Belgium’s Hell’s Angels.

The prevalence of Sky ECC phones with criminals in Belgium and the Netherlands was huge – one in four active users of the service was in one of the two countries. There were 6,000 subscribers in Belgium and 12,000 in the Netherlands. There were 171,000 active Sky ECC phones worldwide, but only 70,000 of those made monthly calls on the network.

Scott Tucker - America's loan shark

Scott Tucker said he’s a self-made man who, without a degree, contributed billions to the economy. A judge said Tucker is an unrepentant fraud artist and sentenced him to 17 years in prison in 2017.

The payday loan mogul was a race-car driver and enjoyed an opulent lifestyle, with a private jet, vacation homes, and a fleet of Ferraris. The 55-year-old was never short of cash. The same can’t be said of his customers. Millions who couldn’t get loans from banks flocked to Tucker’s businesses, where interest rates exceeded 700% for small loans. Jurors found Tucker guilty of collecting unlawful debts, using misleading contracts and falsely stating that the businesses were owned and operated by natives.

Scott Tucker exits court in New York February 23, 2016.

The claim of Indian ownership helped him avoid state laws that prohibited his shady business practices. Tucker formed sham relationships with the tribes and laundered billions of dollars through their bank accounts to hide his ownership and control. The tribes got 1% of the revenue. The scam ran from 1997 to 2013. From 2008 to 2012 alone, Tucker victimized 4.65m people, collecting $1.3b in illegal interest payments. "From my vantage point, I saw us as doing a good deed for society," Tucker said.

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83 members in good standing of the five Quebec chapters doing fine

Jean-Richard Larivière and Gilles Lambert.

The Quebec HA have bases in Colombia, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic for cocaine smuggling. Sale of cocaine and the 10% street tax that the HA collect from dealers across their territory is the cash cow. There has been no shortage of cocaine in Montreal despite the closure of the Canada-US border. The price of a kilo of cocaine has risen 40% - up to $80k.

"The Hells dominate organized crime, both in Quebec and in Canada. And they do it without any leader and without showing off as much as in the past. "

"They have aged well," concedes Chief Inspector Dubé. "They no longer have to get their hands dirty as much as before." All HA leadership now have jobs or legal businesses, and they all declare their legitimate income and pay taxes. This is a change from the days of 'Mom' Boucher. Martin Robert is considered by cops to be the most influential Hells Angel in Quebec.

Gangster Moll Emma Lavery

Store assistant Emma Lavery, 24, earned as little as £7k a year but wore designer clothes, drove a BMW, and enjoyed holidays to Barcelona, Rome and Mexico while helping her boyfriend run a cocaine empire. She had the latest designer footwear, carried a Gucci handbag and moved into a luxury condo with Adam Hussain after he set up a drugs racket in which he ran a team of street dealers.

In a pair of raids cops lassoed £115,000 in cash spread over their bed bundled into £1,000 wads. Cops seized designer gear including a Rose Gold Rolex watch valued at £28,850, a pair of Gucci Tiger pumps worth £405, Valentino camo flip flops worth £570 and a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes worth £645. Bolton Crown Court sentenced Hussain to 6 years and Lavery, who has an eight month old daughter by him, to 16 months jail suspended for two years.

Laundry list of problems with Kelowna RCMP

Its been more than 14 months since Kelowna RCMP Const. Lacey Browning was filmed abusing a nursing student. The matter is still being investigated. Brown sits at a desk at full pay. She has two other complaints. Const. Siggy Pietrzak remains suspended with pay as investigations grind away on his June 2020 assault of a restrained man. That too was captured on video.

Brian Burkett

Const. Sean Eckland is suspended with pay after he sent explicit text messages to a female assault victim. Const. Chad Vance was acquitted of a 2015 sexual assault, but an RCMP Conduct Dismissal is pending. Brian Burkett, who resigned in 2017, is facing four civil lawsuits for alleged sexual harassment and sexual assault, along with seven criminal charges of breach of trust.

Outlaws boss Bruce 'Monster' Sartwell pleads guilty - 27 months in slammer

Bruce 'Monster' Sartwell, 48, entered a guilty plea in Boston to a sole count of possession of an unregistered firearm. According to cops the Outlaws were locked in a “violent feud” with the Hells Angels. Sartwell is a convicted felon with an arrest record dating back to 1987.

Sartwell is barred from possessing firearms.

A search of Sartwell’s home resulted in the recovery of an AR-15 style ‘ghost gun’ — a firearm without a serial number. Sartwell's lawyers said “he is not a ‘serious’ risk of flight or a danger to the community simply because he happens to be the Regional President of the Outlaws and or goes by the nickname ‘Monster.’

Gun making tools were also seized.

HA Harry Lainas whacked - update

Harry Lainas

Senior Ontario Hells Angel Harry Lainas, 47, was shot to death in the parking garage of an apartment building on Danforth Avenue on Feb 11. Lainas was a full patch with the Simcoe South charter. He was formerly with the Keswick Hells Angels. Lainas narrowly escaped the same fate two years ago in the same area while collecting illegal gambling debts.

Lainas was part of a ring that impersonated police while committing a long string of GTA armed robberies in 2008. Project Betrayal ended with 198 criminal charges laid against 25 people. That bust centred around career thug Dobroslav (Bobby) Manchev. He used a restaurant on Danforth as his "office". Manchev was whacked near the Eglinton Town Centre last May. There have been no arrests in the killing of Lainas.

Sad Sack HA shoot wrong house - Meth Heads

A now former HA bikie, Thomas O’Connor, was caught with cocaine and steroids and sentenced to 6 months. The druggie carried a knife on him for “his own protection”.

Hells Angels Thomas Wilshire Patterson, 28, and Thomas Mortiz O’Connor, 30, are charged with firing shots at a house in Adelaide. They are accused of a “revenge” drive-by shooting – but the wrong house was hit. Also charged are molls Natalie Pilkington and Lilli Trenerry. HA bikie Thomas Patterson lasted one day on his 'good behaviour bond' and was jailed for meth.

1 tonne of opium landed in Vancouver

The criminal investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

RCMP and border guards busted one of the largest opium seizures in Canadian history last month. 1,000 kilograms of opium was lassoed in a pair of shipping containers that had arrived in Vancouver. Dogs helped sniff out the opium, which has an estimated value of $10m.

Yannick Bandaogo

Yannick Bandaogo, 28, has been charged with second-degree murder in a horrific random stabbing attack outside the Lynn Valley library in North Vancouver. There are no connections between the accused and the 7 victims. Bandaogo refused to leave his cell to participate in a scheduled court appearance by telephone.

Bandaogo was arrested at the scene as he stabbed himself. The victim was a woman in her late 20s. Six other people were seriously hurt in the attack. Records show Bandaogo has a criminal record in Quebec.