Organized Crime
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Nathanson Centre for the study of Organized Crime and Corruption

Asian triads and Sidewinder

     

Lawyer gets 14 years

NEW YORK - Robert Simels, a prominent Manhattan defense lawyer was sentenced to 14 years in prison for plotting to hurt witnesses testifying against his client in a drug case.    (NY Daily News)  MORE:   Simels gets 14 years   Shadeed 'Roger' Khan

 

Detainee fears loan shark

CALGARY - A woman found in what police say is a Calgary brothel told an Immigration and Refugee board hearing that she fears for her life because she is in debt to Hong Kong loan shark.   (Calgary Herald)   MORE:  Sex worker ordered deported   Trafficking arrests   Sex slaves 'sold' for $4K

$1.2M found

THUNDER BAY - Police searching a home in northern Ontario have literally uncovered a whopping $1.2M in cash buried outside.  The enormous sum of money in denominations of $20 and higher was found buried 20 to 25 centimetres underground in a large Tupperware-like container. (CP)   MORE:  Police seize cash

 

OC 15% of world GDP

SINGAPORE - Deputy US Atty. Gen. David Ogden, speaking at the 78th general assembly of the global police agency Interpol, told delegates that they needed to act more forcefully to combat transnational organized crime groups whose proceeds now comprise up to 15% of the global gross domestic product.  (LA Times)

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Harvest 'best ever'

NANAIMO - This was the "best year ever" for outdoor marijuana crops on Vancouver Island, with both growers and Mounties hauling tens of thousands of plants out of the forests.  (Nanaimo Daily News)  PREVIOUS:  Competition

 

Organized crime goes carbon

LONDON - Seven people have been arrested and 27 addresses raided over a suspected £38M fraud involving the trade of carbon credits to avoid paying value-added tax (VAT).   (Telegraph UK)  

 

Breaking up Government and Corporate 'Organized Crime'

As noted in the "Godfather" movie, one man with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.   (Hernando Today)

 

Where the money is

WASHINGTON - Organized crime gangs are exploiting a new target for illegal profit: Medicare and Medicaid.  Experienced in running drug, prostitution and gambling rings, crime groups of various ethnicities and nationalities are learning it's safer and potentially more profitable to file fraudulent claims with the federal Medicare program and state-run Medicaid plans.  (CNN)

 

Canada's #1

WASHINGTON - The 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report highlights the growth of methamphetamine “superlabs” throughout the country, particularly in BC and Ontario.  The report says Canada has become the No. 1 source of ecstasy south of the border.  (CP)   REPORT:  2009 INCSR report

 

UN debates drug policy's impact

VIENNA - The UN's Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is meeting in Vienna to review the effectiveness of drug control over the past decade. Critics say the policies are flawed, contributing to organized crime, violence and instability in the developing world.  But the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says there has been progress.  It says the number of drug users, about 5% of the world's population, has stabilized over the past few years.  (BBC)

 

Ponzi scheme took in $370M

NEW YORK - Nicholas Cosmo, founder of Agape World Inc in Hauppauge, New York, swindled investors out of more than $370 million and used the money to pay for limousines, fund a baseball league and pay off a restitution order from an earlier fraud.  (Bloomberg)   MORE:  Cosmo owed money to the Mob    Cosmo gambled it away

 

$1M ransom paid in kidnap case

VANCOUVER - Three people were abducted and held for four weeks in 2006 and ransom payments totalling more than $1 million were made in Vancouver, Toronto and China in a case going to a pretrial hearing.  (Vancouver Sun)  PREVIOUS:  Rescue ended month in captivity

Vehicles stolen in GTA shipped around the world

TORONTO - Two factors have exacerbated the problem: Canadian border officials don't routinely check shipping containers to see if the cars inside are stolen, and police auto theft squads have weakened over time.  (Toronto Star)  MORE:  Top 10 stolen vehicles   Motor vehicle theft in Canada, 2007

 

Sentence sends warning

TORONTO - The Ontario Court of Appeal has sentenced Simon Rosenfeld, 63, to five years in prison for money laundering instead of the three he received at trial, citing his status as a lawyer as a "significant aggravating factor" worthy of harsher punishment. (National Post)   PREVIOUS:  Be tougher on corrupt lawyers

 

Drug lord convicted

TORONTO - A Brampton man who's considered a modern-day Robin Hood has been convicted in the US of leading a drug smuggling ring that trucked at least 36,000 kilos of cocaine from California to Toronto.  (Sun Media)   MORE:  Convictions in drug case   'Biggest there is'     Bakersfield drug bust    Drug dealers with a big heart

 

Gangs behind US crime

Criminal gangs in the USA have swelled to an estimated 1M members responsible for up to 80% of crimes in communities across the nation, according to a gang threat assessment compiled by federal officials. (USA Today)  REPORT:  National gang threat assessment 2009  .pdf

 

SCC upholds proceeds of crime

OTTAWA - Provincial governments were spared the prospect of returning millions of dollars in seized property when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Crown has the power to confiscate the proceeds of crime.  (CanWest)  JUDGMENT:  2009 SCC 19   Feds seize $281.4M in assets from crooks    Seized property directorate grows   Ontario criminals pay hefty price

 

Record ransom

ATHENS - Kidnappers released an ailing Greek shipping magnate eight days after abducting him at gunpoint near his home, police said.   The 74-year-old tycoon, Pericles Panagopoulos, was freed hours after his family paid the kidnappers a multi-million dollar ransom, police said.    (CNN)

 

Security crackdown

OTTAWA - The government is launching a security crackdown on more than 100,000 workers at Canada's airports and marine ports. The initiative comes through a new deal signed by the federal Transport Department and the RCMP to weed out organized-crime operatives from restricted areas. (CanWest)   MORE:  RCMP study reveals OC web   Project Spawn   .pdf

Gangs infiltrating airports

     

Blacklisting criminal gangs

OTTAWA - Parliamentarians are considering whether the Conservative government should create a list of banned criminal organizations - starting with the Hells Angels - just as terrorist organizations are officially blacklisted.  (CanWest)

 

List of illegal gangs won't stop the violence

New law of criminal organizations in Canada  .pdf

Wikipedia: List of criminal organizations

 
     

Suspected loan sharks

VICTORIA - CBC News has obtained documents that show 33 cases of suspected loan sharking were reported around BC's casinos in a two-and-a-half-year period from 2002 to 2004.  The documents show that out of 33 cases of suspected loan sharking, police were called only three times.  (CBC) 

Loan sharks feeding at River Rock

'Chess club' probed

Victim had been ordered deported

Yan not a suspect in Wong murder

Life & death of 'Big Sister' Betty

Suspected money laundering at casinos

Money launderers suspected of using casino slots

Criminals target BC casinos

Legacy of husband's casino debts

CBC tests system

Casino loophole lets criminals launder cash

Richmond casino is a crime magnet

River Rock Casino

Casino loan sharks draw complaints, no charges

Casino related crime on the rise

 
     

9 charged

HONG KONG - Police have charged nine men over the killing of a Hong Kong triad boss who was hacked to death by suspected rival gang members.   (AFP) 

Joint crackdown on triads

Sun Yee On triad

Wo Shing Wo triad

Triad society

Chinese criminal organizations

Gangs in Toronto

 
     

Drug baron guilty

ST HELIER - Drugs baron Curtis Warren  who is believed to have amassed a fortune of £300M was convicted of trying to smuggle £1M worth of cannabis.   (Daily Mail)  

Kingpin guilty

Bounty

Ben Kinsella

Adams family,

Plan to target organized crime

SOCA annual report 2008/09  .pdf

SOCA annual plan 2009/10   .pdf

Getting Organized  .pdf

Comprehensive approach to tackling serious OC

Police create map of criminal gangs

UK's 5,000 most wanted

2,800 gangs

'Running empires from jail'

Britain's 'Godfather' behind bars

Terry Adams

Police joined dark side

Colin Gunn

Nottingham's 'godfather of crime'

Drug mastermind jailed for 30 years

Brian Brendan Wright

 
     

Soccer in hands of gamblers

BERLIN - Violence, payoffs, drugs: A widening investigation into soccer corruption in Europe turned more explosive last week as allegations out of Germany had criminals supplying sedatives to team doctors and officials to be used to affect players and the outcome of games.   (Toronto Star)  

Match fixing scheme  

Betting scandal  

Match-fixing   UEFA

'Crashgate' scandal

F1 race-fixing claims

'Crashgate'   Flavio Briatore 

Formula 1

Warning over match-fixing

Michael Franzese,

Unusual betting at Wimbledon

Sports gambling corruption

Gambling Commission

Age of complacency over

Suspicious betting detected

Michael Franzese  

 
     

Army on alert

CONAKRY - Guinea's military leaders have uncovered a plot to overthrow the government in the poor, unstable West African nation, state radio reported.  It said in a report Saturday night that military ruler Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara put the army on high alert after learning of a planned attack from fighters in neighboring Guinea-Bissau and Liberia.  It said the coup plot appears to be backlash from drug traffickers deposed by Camara when he seized power in December.  (AP)  

Guinea on alert for 'attack plot' by cartels

Crime lords 'ruining West Africa'

West Africa

UNODC

Organized crime plundering West Africa

W Africa transit for $1B in cocaine

TV confessions

New Senegal record cocaine haul

Senegal

Africa - new front in drug war

 
     

Money laundering scheme

HOUSTON - Thi Phoung Mai Le, 43, of Ottawa, Ontario, has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for her role in an international narcotics money laundering scheme. (BackgroundNow)   PREVIOUS:  Convicted of money laundering

Why gangs took over shoplifting

Shoplifting and retail losses represent a growing crime and one where sophisticated and organized criminal rings have joined the smaller players in targeting everything from Oil of Olay to baby formula to widescreen TVs.  (Vancouver Sun)   MORE:  The war on retail crime

 
     

Accused was 'ecstasy kingpin'

TORONTO - A drug dealer wounded in a botched Harbourfront transaction once masterminded America's largest Ecstasy smuggling ring, which employed naive Hasidic Jews as couriers.   (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS:  Dealer's reduced term irks police   Man shot at Harbour Castle former drug dealer    3 arrested in hotel shooting   Holy Rollers

Raid nets family members

TORONTO - Sataya Vongkosy, 32, faces 180 charges after the massive police bust, which targeted an illicit drugs-for-guns operation that spanned much of Southern Ontario and reached into the US.  (Toronto Star)   MORE:  Project Blackhawk results in more than 440 charges   Charges after guns, drugs blitz   'This is a big deal'

 
     

Target criminal fronts

CALGARY - Cleaning up Calgary's downtown streets also means keeping a close eye on what's happening in the office towers, says an international expert on organized crime.   (Calgary Herald)

BC hits criminals in the wallet

VICTORIA - BC's two-year-old civil forfeiture program is a huge success, having taken $5 million away from criminals and gangsters, Solicitor-General John van Dongen said.  (Vancouver Sun)  

 
     

Police seize 15M ecstasy pills

SYDNEY - An international drugs and money laundering syndicate has been smashed by a joint European and Australian police operation following the world's largest single seizure of ecstasy with a street value of $A440 million.  (Times online)   MORE:  World's biggest ecstasy bust

Canada's spreading cannabis crop

VANCOUVER - The striking aspect of BC's marijuana trade is that it has gone beyond the boundaries of traditional organized crime groups (although some are still heavily involved) and entered into the middle classes.  (BBC)

PREVIOUS:  Cocaine central

 
     

Abductors free Canadian

PORT-AU-PRINCE - A Canadian woman abducted last week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, has been released and is in good condition, United Nations Police have confirmed. (CTV) 

Canadian kidnapped in Haiti

Canadian woman held for ransom

UN stabilization mission

US travel warning for Haiti

 
     

Japan's not-so-secret mafia

TOKYO - The Yakuza is one of the most powerful organized crime syndicates in the world. It is Japan's not-so-secret version of the Mafia, with 85,000 members who trace their roots back to 17th century Samurai warriors.   Deeply embedded in Japanese business and culture, the Yakuza also have their tentacles into this country and American law enforcement knows it.  (60 Minutes)  

Bosses take legal classes

No bailout results

Yakuza

Yamaguchi-gumi

Sumiyoshi-kai

Inagawa-kai

After livers, cash to UCLA

Tadamasa Goto

 
     

Police raid two currency exchanges

VANCOUVER - Two Langley downtown currency exchanges were raided by heavily armed police resulting in four arrests and the seizure of large amounts of cash.  Police raided the Capital Forex storefront at 5560 204 St. and also the Global Tourist Centre Currency Exchange located at unit 106, 20505 Fraser Hwy.  Both businesses are apparently owned or managed by Robin Rathor, who could not be reached for comment.   (Langley Advance)   MORE:  Mounties accuse 4 of money laundering   Cash houses under fire

Net gain for gangsters

VANCOUVER - Growing evidence suggests that Canada’s Pacific fishing fleet is also being used to facilitate other criminal activities, including the transport of drugs and illegal firearms by outlawed biker gangs and former Soviet Union crime syndicates, according to the National Study of Crime in the Australian Fishing Industry.   (Asian Pacific Press)   PREVIOUS:  Australian Institute of Criminology     Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

 
     

Police seize arsenal in traffic stop

AJAX - A Montreal man who police say was caught driving an SUV loaded with guns, drugs, lab equipment and a grenade is facing 64 charges after being pulled over in Ajax, Ont.  Police say Hanna Anastas, 34, was driving a vehicle matching the description of one wanted by police.   (CanWest)

Trucker guilty

SEATTLE - A Chilliwack trucker faces at least five years - and possibly 40 years - in jail for conspiracy to smuggle marijuana into the US.  A jury in US federal court in Seattle deliberated for a day-and-a-half following a week-long trial before convicting Corey Wirsz, 26.  (Vancouver Province)  MORE:  Trucker guilty of smuggling pot

 
     

8 years for ecstasy lab

VANCOUVER - The kingpin of a pair of Richmond drug labs that had the chemicals to make 15 million hits of ecstasy has been handed the longest prison sentence in Canadian history for such a crime.  (Vancouver Province)

Grower forfeits home

SECHELT - A BC judge has ordered a marijuana grower on the Sunshine Coast to turn over his mortgage-free $600,000 home to the government in what appears to be the largest such forfeiture in BC history.   (Vancouver Sun)

 
     

Ottawa denies report

The Conservatives are denying a report that Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung was released by her Afghan captors in a swap for two Taliban leaders.  She was released after a month of negotiations between CBC staff, Canadian and Afghan officials and her captors.   (CTV)

Kept in a hole in the ground

3 arrested

CBC journalist set free

Rescue raid planned, aborted

Abducted CBC journalist released

Blackout on kidnapping posed dilemma for media

 
     

Holy land gangland: part 5

ISRAEL - This is the fifth and final installment in a five-part series about organized crime in Israel.  (Tablet) 

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4

Mob boss assassinated

Car bomb kills crime kingpin

Police recommend billionaire be charged

Significant achievements

Yaakov Alperon

Israeli mafia

Team hunts killer

Record sentence

Gang war

Son vows revenge

'Earthquake' for the underworld

 
     

Dirty lawyer off to prison

MONTREAL - Pierre Boivin, 59, a specialist in financial law, found himself on the opposite side of the prisoner's dock when Quebec Court Judge Paul Chevalier ruled in a case that had been stalled for years by an attempt by the lawyer to withdraw the guilty plea he entered in September 2005, along with two co-accused.  (Montreal Gazette)

1 year community service

VANCOUVER -  Zhen Ai Xu, otherwise known as Pinky, gets to keep her silver BMW SUV.  But she has had to give up to the BC government one of her houses, a million-dollar Richmond home run as a high-volume brothel that was raided by police last Feb. 8.  (Vancouver Province)   PREVIOUS:  Warrant reveals pimp's life   Top madam earned millions   Police bust Pinky's places

 
     

Government and organized crime: History of co-existence

MOSCOW - A government is the organization which is the governing authority of a political unit, also the ruling power in a political society, and the apparatus through which a governing body functions and exercises authority. Government have the authority to make laws, to arbitrate disputes, to issue administrative decisions, and a monopoly in authorizing force. (Pravda)

Mobsters without borders

WASHINGTON -  Launching a campaign against such international criminals, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said they were more adaptable and sophisticated than La Cosa Nostra and other syndicates the US government set out to defeat half a century ago.  (Reuters)   MORE:  Criminals target energy, financial markets   AG targeting international organized crime   Center for Strategic and International Studies

 
     

Europe’s Future Mafia States

The National Intelligence Council released its latest study on the world’s future last week, Global Trends 2025.  Buried on page 33 was this tantalizing tidbit: “Crime could be the gravest threat inside Europe as Eurasian transnational organizations become more powerful and broaden their scope. One or more governments in Eastern or Central Europe could fall prey to their domination.”   (Center for Public Integrity)

Transportation, smuggling and Organized Crime

EU strips millions from Bulgaria

EU reports on Bulgaria & Romania

EU grant riches are plundered

EU suspends funding

EU subsidies 'looted' by Bulgarian mafia

Post-Communist sleaze

Bulgarian Mafia

The morphing of organized crime

Crime groups 'buy' politicians

Organised crime invested in Bulgaria's elections

The drug market in Bulgaria

 
     

Yacht seized

DUBLIN - A luxury yacht packed with cocaine worth more than half a billion pounds was towed ashore under armed guard today after it was seized off the Irish coast (Guardian UK)  

How drug ship was tailed from Caribbean to Cork

Wave of cocaine   Cocaine yacht

UK top of EU cocaine league

British criminals believed to be behind cocaine

2008 the state of the drugs problem in Europe

Opium glut

 
     

Clan nabbed

The image of former Toronto resident  has been splashed throughout the Italian media over the past 24 hours as American authorities announced one of the largest international drug busts in history.    (Toronto Star)

Giuseppe Coluccio

DEA 'Project Reckoning' 

175 arrested in crackdown on Mexico's Gulf Cartel

International bust

Scores held in global drug bust

Wiseguys smoked in global drug bust

'Ndrangheta   Gulf Cartel   Mafia   Cartels

 
     

LA Gangster Part 7

LOS ANGELES - When the coroner put Jack Whalen's body on a slab, it measured 72 inches, just 6 feet. For years, people had described him as 6-foot-2 or 6-4. But "the Enforcer" was smaller in death than life. (Los Angeles Times)

LA Gangsters Part 1   LA Gangsters Part 2

LA Gangsters Part 3   LA Gangsters Part 4

LA Gangsters Part 5   LA Gangsters Part 6

Gangster Squad

 
     

Ex-Soviet crime ring in Toronto

TORONTO - Crime rings of former Eastern European mobsters use Toronto as a base for local and international law-breaking, including kidnapping, extortion and identity theft, say organized crime experts. .  (Toronto Star)

Crime boss killed by drug gang

DUBLIN - Murdered gangland figure Paddy Doyle was shot dead in Spain after falling foul of an international drugs gang.  (Independent)   PREVIOUS:  Gang chief shot dead in Costa ambush

 
     

Organized crime goes green

MONTREAL - Organized criminals in Canada are going green, turning to environmental crime as an increasingly lucrative way to raise money.  A report released yesterday by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada says crime networks have developed underground markets for electronic waste and scarce natural resources. (CP)

CSIS 2008 report on Organized Crime

Police 'not on top of organized crime'

BC gangs control meth sales, crime report says

Information is crime's new opiate

OC groups centred in big cities

Canada a top ecstasy supplier

 
     

Super labs

VANCOUVER - Drug labs are becoming factories, according to RCMP Inspector Brian Cantera who says they're now being defined as "super labs". .  (News 1130)

'Super lab' biggest in BC

Homes evacuated

10 homes evacuated

Lab bust

Lab dismantled

 
     

Bounty

WASHINGTON - The US has placed a $100,000 bounty on the head of suspected Russian crime boss Semion Mogilevich, the alleged mastermind of the YBM Magnex scandal that defrauded investors in the Canadian company out of an estimated $650M and undermined confidence in Canadian stock markets.    (National Post)

Russian spin

Godfather shot

Vyacheslav Ivankov

Only criminals with any code of conduct are the Russian mafia

Criminal king receives pompous funeral

Oligarch linked to mafia boss

Peter Mandelson

Oleg Deripaska

Mandelson denies 'favours'

Who's who of Russian mobsters

Russian mafia boss arrested

The end of 'Brainy Don'?

The people traffickers

Russian Mafia      The Russian Mafia

Russian banker's killer 'found'

Billionaire at bay

Putin to rescue Deripaska over $2.5B loan

Andrei Kozlov

Russian Central Banker assassinated

Russian money laundering

Dozens 'sickened' in Russian gas attack

Corrupt officials hinder investigation

Vladimir Barsukov

Tambov organized crime

Police detain suspected gang leader

 
     

Too little, too late

There are ghosts among us, slaves who are invisible to most of us, including police.  They are people who have been trafficked either into Canada or from some other part of Canada.  (Vancouver Sun) PREVIOUS:  Human trafficking    Rise in human trafficking   RCMP's human trafficking unit

Armed gang raids court

JOHANNESBURG - South African police are investigating an audacious raid on the Johannesburg High Court.  An armed gang stole documents related to a number of high-profile organized crime cases.  (BBC)  PREVIOUS:     Brickbats & bouquets for Shabangu   Susan Shabangu    'Kill the bastards'

 
     

Feds bust pot ring on reservation

SYRACUSE - A Canadian drug trafficking ring used the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in Upstate New York to smuggle more than 22,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States, state and federal authorities.  (AP)   MORE: US bust Canadian pot ring   Police go to pot   Raids on Mohawk reserves

The face of the new Mafia

CHICAGO - Boris Stratievsky was "a professor" of money-laundering, washing millions of dollars for shadowy Moscow clients, his father said, according to one transcript of many conversations secretly recorded by the FBI.   (Chicago Sun Times)

 
     

Manitoba pot busts

WINNIPEG - RCMP in Manitoba have arrested 16 people from British Columbia after raiding more than a dozen rural properties investigators said housed marijuana grow operations.  RCMP executed search warrants on 13 properties Tuesday in rural areas around the province's capital region.  (CBC)

NY grand rabbi pleads not guilty

LOS ANGELES - Naftali Tzi Weisz, 59, the Grand Rabbi of Spinka, and the others were arrested after an indictment was returned Dec. 18 accusing the group of 37 counts including conspiracy, mail fraud and money-laundering. (AP)  PREVIOUS:  Rabbi and associates charged    Spinka financial controversy

 
     

3 more arrested

ORILLIA, Ont. - Provincial police have now charged a total of 18 people in an ongoing investigation into an alleged international casino cheat team.   (CP)

Chemicals seized

VANCOUVER - About 3,700 kilograms of an illegal precursor chemical MDP2P used to make ecstasy was seized at the Port of Vancouver.  (Vancouver Sun)

 
     

Air Canada worker suspect

VANCOUVER - An Air Canada employee is at the centre of an international investigation after authorities at Vancouver International Airport seized a large quantity of cocaine before Christmas. .  (Vancouver Province) 

RCMP rejects US claim

VANCOUVER - The head of the RCMP's national drug branch is debunking claims by the United States' drug czar.    (CP)   PREVIOUS:  Altered ecstasy from Canada flooding US    Canadian made, meth-laced ecstasy being dumped into US

 
     

Trail of gold

LONDON - The gold 'grains' - carefully wrapped in plastic and wedged inside travel luggage - were hidden inside a deposit box raided by the Metropolitan Police last week as part of a huge two-year investigation into the proceeds of organized crime.    (Guardian UK)  PREVIOUS:  Brinks Mat robbery

Police safety deposit box raids

Raids yield drugs, cash & guns

Safe Deposit Centres

'Aladdin's cave of criminality'

SOCA abandons hunt

Serious Organized Crime Agency

Battle to break Britain's crime lords

Police chiefs 'rewarded for failure'

Police smash cocaine empire

Police smash into home of 'cocaine kingpin'

UK drug trade

Armed gang convicted

5 convicted

Gang found guilty

Securitas depot robbery

 
     

The beer belly mules

BERLIN - Once the work of South Americans and Africans, Germans are now serving as human couriers to smuggle cocaine into Europe inside their bodies..  (Spiegel)

How the RCMP botched a sting

VANCOUVER - Inter Maritime looked just like any other nondescript company with an office on Howe St. in Vancouver's rough-and-tumble financial district in 2003.  (Toronto Star)

 
     

Mounties seize pot plants

WILLIAMS LAKE - Nine men - three of them brothers - are to appear in court charged with growing and trafficking pot after Mounties seized plants from 8 properties in Likely.    (CanWest)

Grow-ops going rural

VANCOUVER - Crime analysis shows marijuana grow operations are moving to bigger houses, hiding behind more bushes and growing more dope than ever.   (Vancouver Province)

 
     

Gang targeted corrections officer

TORONTO - A correctional services officer once honoured as a hero was the target of an alleged murder plot uncovered this week as Toronto police try to stop a notorious street gang in its tracks.   (Toronto Star)   Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)   MS-13 seeks Toronto toehold   Police arrest members of MS-13   Gangsters set up residence

Man charged

A Vancouver man has been charged with smuggling millions of dollars worth of marijuana stashed in snowmobiles, inflatable boats and travel trailers into Alaska.  Special Agent Dan Wardlaw of the US Internal Revenue Service said 36-year-old David Knutson was indicted yesterday by a grand jury in Anchorage. (CanWest)

 
     

Rejected refugee deported

VANCOUVER - Jose Francisco Cardoza Quinteros, the self-admitted killer who said he was once a member of the notoriously brutal Mara Salvatrucha gang, has been deported from Canada.  (Surrey Leader) 

Refugee killer must stay in jail for now

Putting Canadians at risk

Immigration decision a mystery

Japanese, American gangsters latest deported

Gangsters' presence irks cops

Anti-gang head says progress is being made

More immigration insanity

El Salvador too dangerous for admitted killer

Admitted killer walks free

Refugee will await claim behind bars

'Stunned' admitted killer is free

Assassin walks free in Surrey

 
     

Lawyer facing prison

LONDON - Naveen Sagar laundered drug money, orchestrated false defences and supplied bogus witnesses to help major criminals to evade justice. (Times online)   MORE:  Drug gang's solicitor is jailed

Drug bust nets mastermind

MONTREAL - André Chartrand, of Prévost, was arrested yesterday as part of Operation Channel, a joint police investigation led by the RCMP.  (Montreal Gazette)      MORE:  28 suspects arrested

 
     

Border guard charged in drug bust

VANCOUVER - Shortly after midnight Thursday, waiting police officers watched their target, a Canada border guard, wave two identical GMC suburbans past his post at the Pacific Highway Crossing.  (Vancouver Sun)    MORE:  Border guard busted

RCMP couldn't make case

VANCOUVER - A Lower Mainland man who built secret compartments on contract for cross-border drug smugglers had his home raided by the RCMP, but the Mounties weren't able to find enough evidence to charge him. .  (Vancouver Sun)

 
     

Drug rings becoming sophisticated

OTTAWA - Organized crime is continuing to fuel the drug trade in Canada and a new report notes that criminal organizations are branching out and becoming more sophisticated.  (CanWest)   REPORT:  Drug Situation Report 2006   Canada now a major producer of ecstasy: RCMP    BC at hub of global drug trade    Fast facts on BC drug trade   Somali drug may fund terrorism

Authorities can't get rid of poster boy

VANCOUVER - Nok Souvannarath, a Laotian immigrant ordered deported a dozen years ago, is a poster boy for gangsters in the Lower Mainland.  This 46-year-old has been convicted, imprisoned, ordered deported, denied his appeal and been charged again and again with drug and weapons offences.  But he remains in Canada. (Vancouver Sun)

 
     

Porn, pop and paparazzi

VANCOUVER - Purloined porn, a pop star and paparazzi made for pandemonium Monday at BC Supreme Court.   Photographers, cameramen and reporters staked out both entrances to the downtown Vancouver facility to get a shot of Edison Chen, the Vancouver-born singer and fashion designer who is a sensation in Hong Kong.   (Vancouver Province)   

Stalking Edison Chen

Edison Chen

Edison Chen photo scandal

Pop star shocked

Chen proposed marriage to avoid triad wrath

Hollywood gossip website

Did Edison leak photos himself

Chen to quit after scandal

Hong Kong ogles, blushes

Film star sex scandal

'Silly' Hong Kong starlet sorry

 
     

39 indicted for money laundering

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury in Baltimore has indicted 39 people in an international money laundering scheme using an informal currency transfer system known as hawala, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.  (Reuters)  

Canadian arrested in sting

WASHINGTON - Police in five countries have nabbed more than 77 people and seized about US$2.1 billion in counterfeit cheques bound for the United States in a sweeping crackdown that included an arrest in Canada.  (AP)

 
     

Hundreds mourn Taiwan gang boss

TAIPEI - The body of one of Taiwan's most infamous crime bosses, Chen Chi-li, has been flown back to Taipei, where hundreds attended a memorial service.  Chen, a leading figure in the Bamboo Union, Taiwan's largest gang, died of cancer in Hong Kong earlier this month.  (BBC)   PREVIOUS:   Triad society

Asian Gangs move grow-ops

SAN BERNARDINO - Competing Canadian-based Asian organized crime syndicates are setting up elaborate marijuana grow-ops in Southern California selling highly potent “BC Bud” for up to $6,000 a pound.    (Asian Pacific Post)   PREVIOUS:  Houses linked to Asian gangs   San Bernardino Sun feature: Grass Valley

 
     

ICBC sues 95 accused in car thefts

VANCOUVER - Ninety-five BC residents, including two young men awaiting trial for a gangland kidnapping, were sued by ICBC Friday in a massive fraud case involving more than $1.2 million worth of stolen vehicles.    (Vancouver Sun)

Stolen designer clothing found

BASSANO, AB - Mounties aren't ruling out that organized crime may be behind the bust of a Bassano shop caught selling $1-million worth of designer clothing stolen from Calgary. (Calgary Herald)

 
     

'BC Bud violence arrives in Everett

EVERETT - When Everett detectives in July found two people shot to death and more than 1,000 marijuana plants growing in two south Everett houses, experts say they also uncovered evidence of a disturbing trend.  The same organized criminals responsible for Canada's multibillion-dollar "BC Bud" marijuana industry appear to be moving into the neighborhood.  (Seattle PI)  

Murder mystery solved

TORONTO - Answers to a crime that shocked and mystified Toronto for almost 15 years - when bold, professional killers literally shot their way into a suburban warehouse and executed two workers - have finally been revealed in New York, as two Chinese crime bosses now face life in prison for arranging the massacre.  (National Post)  

 
     

Two face court over ice haul

SYDNEY - Two men have appeared in a Sydney court charged with attempting to smuggle 16kg of the illicit drug ice into Australia hidden in two marble tables.  The men, 23-year-old Hong Kong citizen Tsz Shing Law and 25-year-old Canadian national Matthew Gar-Wei Tam, did not apply for bail, which was formally refused in Parramatta Local Court today.  (SMH)   MORE:  Vancouver man in jail after drug bust in Australia

Crown considers appeal

ABBOTSFORD - A man ordered deported 12 years ago was on $50,000 bail when he appeared in court this week on weapons charges and was again released on bail.   Attorney-General Wally Oppal said yesterday the Crown will consider appealing this week's ruling to free Nok Souvannarath on $1,000 bail.  (Vancouver Province)   PREVIOUS:  Deportee gets bail on drugs, gun charges

 
     

$2 trillion threat to world security

International organized crime has become a $2 trillion behemoth that threatens to pervert democracy around the world and fuel already dangerous levels of global inequality, a new study warns.    (Guardian UK)   PREVIOUS:   2007 State of the Future

The world's first narco state

GUINEA-BISSAU - The roads outside the X Club nightspot in Bissau, capital of the world's fifth poorest country, are cracked and pot-holed. They have not been repaired since they were torn up by the tracks of military vehicles during Guinea-Bissau's civil war of the late 1990s.  (Guardian UK)  PREVIOUS:  New front in drugs war

 
     

New York blows away the competition

Researchers have been scouring rivers in Europe and the US for traces of cocaine consumption.  The result: Cocaine use is probably much greater than previously assumed - and New Yorkers are the biggest coke-heads of all.  (Spiegel)

It's a bird, it's a plane, No it's cocaine

Steep rise in Europe cocaine use

2007 state of the drugs problem in Europe

The Thames: awash with cocaine

Italian river 'full of cocaine'

Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence based tool to monitor community drug abuse

Cocaine traces at EU parliament

 
     

Crime boss sentenced

VANCOUVER - A year ago, police heading a probe into an international drug ring bragged they had "chopped the head off the snake" when they arrested Vancouver resident Yong Long Ye.   (Vancouver Sun) 

Proceeds of crime

Police sought to freeze suspect's property

'We've chopped the head off the snake'

Police 'chop head off' alleged drug ring

Cops crack global drug-trade ring

Canadian links to drug cartel

 
     

4 men found guilty on drug counts

KAMLOOPS - Four men who were stopped three years ago on the Trans-Canada Highway with a U-Haul truck full of pot and magic mushrooms were convicted this week in BC Supreme Court.   (Vancouver Sun)

Officers seize $5M in ecstasy

OROVILLE, Wash. - Border patrol officers on Friday stopped a semi truck at the Highway 97 border crossing from Canada and found more than 180 pounds of ecstasy hidden near the rear doors of the truck's trailer.  (KOMO)

 
     

Conditional sentences after plea

WINNIPEG - Two accomplices of criminal mastermind Gerald Daniel Blanchard have been sentenced after pleading guilty.  Dale Fedoruk, 36, of Winnipeg, and Angela James, 22, of Edmonton, both got two-year conditional sentences on Monday after pleading guilty to fraud charges.  (Winnipeg Free Post)

Police unravel confessions

Not a bad person

Mastermind pleads guilty

Crime ring boss to plead guilty to theft

Accused mastermind's lair raided

High-tech gear, high-powered weapons found

Blockbuster crime spree

 
     

CACP focus on Organized Crime

If you ask the average person about organized crime, most people will mention mobsters and biker gangs.   As officers who confront these issues day in and day out, these views do not reflect the reality of organized crime in Canada today.  (CNW Telbec)   

 

Organized Crime

Police reveal extent of organized crime's long reach

RCMP can't dent organized crime

Organized crime gangs aiding terrorists: RCMP

 
     

Canada Revenue fines drug dealer

EDMONTON - A 58-year-old man was fined $96,000 Tuesday by the Canada Revenue Agency for not reporting the money he made dealing drugs.  The former Yellowknife bar owner didn't report $400,000, which he made through drug trafficking in 2004 and 2005.  (Edmonton Journal)  PREVIOUS:  Drug dealer gets six years

4 Aryan Brotherhood leaders convicted

SANTA ANA - A jury convicted four leaders of a white-supremacist prison gang on charges they used murder and intimidation to protect their drug-dealing operations behind bars..  (CBS/AP)    PREVIOUS:  Aryan Brotherhood   Gang and security threat group awareness

 
     

Another kingpin pleads guilty

DETROIT - Terry Flenory, 37, originally from Detroit, pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise and conspiring to launder money.    Under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Flenory is facing 30 years to life in prison at sentencing early next year. He also agreed to forfeit to the government $270-million in drug proceeds, three homes, including one on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, and diamond-studded jewellery.  (Detroit Free Press)  '

 

Black Mafia' leader pleads guilty

DEA deals Motor City Mafia a knock out blow

Hip-Hop's jeweler on the rocks

Bring on the bling

Jacob Arabov

Black Mafia Family

'Jacob the Jeweler' ordered to stand trial

Brothers keepers

BMF     Bling King busted on drug charges

 
     

Death of innocents lead to LA gang crackdown

LOS ANGELES - However, the effort has met skepticism in the city that has an estimated 700 gangs with 40,000 members - about four for every police officer - and that gave birth to some of the nation's most notorious gangs, including the Crips, Bloods and Mara Salvatrucha.  (AP)   PREVIOUS:  Blood gangs in LA county   Crip gangs in LA county   Gauging the Gangs

White supremacist gang gains clout

BUENA PARK, Calif. - The white supremacist gang Public Enemy No. 1 began two decades ago as a group of teenage punk-rock fans from upper-middle class bedroom communities in Southern California.  Now, the violent gang that deals in drugs, guns and identity theft is gaining clout across the West after forging an alliance with the notorious Aryan Brotherhood, authorities say.  (AP)

 
     

Organized crime loves BC

BC holds a prominent place in the organized crime world, according to a recent report that says the number of gangs in Canada is on the rise.   The report identifies BC as a "hub" for organized crime group activity, such as drug production and distribution.   (Vancouver Province) CISC: Annual report 2007

Illegal drug production thriving

Botched kidnap plots nets jail time

Tracking the techie mobster

Drugs fuel crime boom

Licence to kill

Ecstasy  

Ecstasy smuggling surges

High life on the lam

Credit card fraud charges follow raid

Major credit fraud ring busted

Gangster worth $400M

Dong v. Liu 2008 BCSC 1795   .pdf

 
     

Snitch and Die: A Philadelphia Crime Tradition

PHILADELPHIA - In 2006 Philadelphia became the top spot for murder among America’s ten largest cities. Victims numbered 406. The majority were inner city residents. Among the dead were drug turf rivals, innocents caught in the crossfire, and witnesses who made the mistake of talking. Witness intimidation of the fatal variety is big in Philly. It’s why many murders go unsolved, or can’t be prosecuted.. (BNN)

Nine more charged with murder

WANGANUI, NZ - A further nine men have appeared in court this afternoon, charged with the murder of Wanganui toddler Jhia Te Tua, after police raided a number of gang properties early today.  Jhia was killed after Mongrel Mob members shot at the suburban Gonville house in Wanganui where she was living with her mother and Black Power member father on May 5.  (Stuff.co.nz)   MORE:  12th suspect in Jhia murder inquiry in court

 
     

Raided massage parlours back in business

VANCOUVER - Police carried out a series of raids on 18 Vancouver-area massage parlours on Thursday and made 108 arrests, but many of those businesses were open for business as usual on Saturday. (CTV)  PREVIOUS:  18 massage parlours raided, 100 arrested   108 arrested in BC massage parlour raids   Super Creep: He hunts for innocents

Cocaine bust in US leads to gun seizure in BC

VANCOUVER - American officials arrested BC union leader Perley Holmes in Washington state just south of Grand Forks, BC, alleging he was trying to smuggle 61 kilograms of cocaine back into Canada.  (CBC)  PREVIOUS:  Ironworkers' business manager faces drug charges   Union official arrested in coke bust   Canadian labor leader arrested in cocaine smuggling case

 
     

Macau rival Vegas

Macau may have dethroned the Las Vegas Strip as the world's biggest casino center, according to figures available Wednesday that show the Chinese territory's gambling revenue jumped 22 percent to $6.95 billion last year.  (AP) 

Asian triads and Sidewinder

Stanley Ho's house of cards

I-892 backer fights loan-sharking allegations

The dark side of China's Las Vegas

Stanley Ho's luck turns sour

MGM casino probe could ripple in Atlantic City

Nevada regulators approve MGM-Ho alliance in Macau casino venture

Gambling in Macau

Six degrees of separation

Stanley Ho

 
     

9 charged in alleged sex ring

SEATTLE - Nine people were charged Thursday with taking part in a human-trafficking ring that smuggled scores of Asian women into the Northwest and forced them into prostitution to pay for their trips to the United States.  (Seattle PI)  MORE:  9 arrested in alleged cross-border sex-trade ring

BC bust reveals crime syndicate

VANCOUVER - RCMP say they've stumbled onto a major family run Asian crime syndicate and a huge stash of a dangerous party drugs in Richmond, BC, after a tip came in about a marijuana growing operation.  (CanWest)   PREVIOUS:   Kwok Tam's 1998 arrest is a different picture

 
     

Narcs: Open 'Sesame'

NEW YORK - A $1 million-a-year Bronx drug ring that shipped heroin in a Sing With Elmo doll box was busted yesterday, authorities said.   Seventeen suspected dealers were arrested after cops intercepted the smack in the toy box last week, as well as two other shipments of cocaine and marijuana.  (NY Daily News)

Narcotics production thriving

OTTAWA - The number of synthetic drug samples submitted to Health Canada by police for analysis has skyrocketed 650 per cent over five years, internal government briefings show, suggesting production of highly addictive narcotics such as crystal methamphetamine continues to thrive here.  (CanWest) 

 
     

Cockle gangmaster jailed for 14 years

LANCASHIRE - The gangmaster who caused the deaths of 21 Chinese cockle pickers at Morecambe Bay has been jailed for 14 years at Preston Crown Court.   (Telegraph)   PREVIOUS:  Man guilty of 21 cockling deaths

Gangs claim their turf in Iraq

The Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Vice Lords were born decades ago in Chicago's most violent neighborhoods. Now, their gang graffiti is showing up 6,400 miles away in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods -- Iraq.   (Chicago Sun-Times)

 
     

Toronto officer charged

TORONTO - Toronto police have accused one of their own officers of helping an Eastern European organized crime group charged with importing and exporting marijuana and cocaine between Canada and the US. (CanWest)  

Officer nabbed in drug bust

Police officer charged in drug raid

Drugs and human trafficking fuel organized crime

Drug slaying suspect flown to TO

Four arrested on money laundering charges

 
     

Russian mob blamed for sex charges against envoy

OTTAWA - The Russian mafia in Canada is behind allegations a former Russian diplomat drugged and sexually assaulted two men, an embassy spokesman charged yesterday. (Ottawa Citizen)   MORE:    Ex-diplomat charged with sex assaults

Gift cards just the ticket for organized crime

OTTAWA - Those gift cards that countless Boxing Day shoppers will be cashing in today are also landing under the Christmas trees of organized-crime groups, who use them as ``virtual currency'' for drug deals and money laundering, according to the RCMP. (CanWest)

 
     

Canada-US drug raid

BELLINGHAM - An unprecedented two-year U.S.-Canada investigation into cross-border smuggling using helicopters and planes has led to 46 arrests in both countries and the seizure of three aircraft, more than 3,600 kilograms of marijuana and another 800 kilograms of cocaine, plus more than $1.5 million US. (Vancouver Sun)  

 

Operation Frozen Timber

Wanted: $300,000 Ferrari leased by drug suspect

US, Canadian police bust drug smuggling ring

Pot probe targets Harrison Hot Springs

 
     

Charges dropped in multi-million dope smuggling case

UCLUELET, BC - All charges have been dropped against five men arrested aboard a fishing boat the RCMP said was attempting to import $6.5M in marijuana to BC. (Vancouver Sun)

It's time to account for drugs busts that are busts

Fishboat was carrying cargo of pot

Limar Fishing Ltd.

Mob linked to seized ship

Five charged after RCMP nab drug boat

Self-described drug smuggler arrested on boat

 
     

Drug traffickers find haven in shadows of Indian Country

ST. REGIS MOHAWK RESERVATION, NY - He had eluded the authorities for years. Witnesses against him had mysteriously disappeared. Shots were fired from his highly secured compound here last year when the state police tried to close in.  (New York Times)   MORE:  Dizzying rise and abrupt fall for a reservation drug dealer

2 suspects keep flashy smiles

SEATTLE - A defense expert and the attorneys for two men facing federal drug charges in Tacoma are crying foul over efforts by federal prosecutors and officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to have the gold-capped teeth - commonly called "grills" or "grillz" - removed from their clients' mouths. (Seattle Times)

Spy's murder is 'threat to Ulster'

LONDON - The Northern Ireland peace process was thrown into disarray last night when British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted there would be serious implications if the IRA was responsible for the murder of British agent Denis Donaldson. (The Telegraph) 

Lonely, frightened life of outed spy

Sinn Fein British agent shot dead

Murder inquiry opens after gangland shooting

Home of IRA's alleged chief raided

Alleged IRA chief targeted in border raids

Three arrests in border operation

Aussie drug bust

Van Quyen Ken Tang, 41, is charged with attempting to possess commercial quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and ecstasy. (Vancouver Province)

Drug swoop

Aussie police probe link in meth haul

Brutal murder a twisted tale of revenge

Drug bust

Drug ring

Firefighter linked to drug syndicate

RCMP follows up on Aussie drug bust

Five Canadians arrested in Australian drug raid

Pot-smuggling tunnellers handed 9 years in jail

VANCOUVER - Three BC men who dug a drug-smuggling tunnel under the US-Canada border were sentenced Friday to nine years in jail in U.S. District Court in Seattle.  CanWest)  

Canadians get 9 years in 'BC Bud' tunnel case

Secret drug tunnel busted

400-foot tunnel 'beats them all' 

Tunnel Found on Mexican Border

Alleged tunneler's 'nursery' story had holes

Tunnel linking Lynden, Canada shut down

 

S Korea not willing to back US

SEOUL - This is the picture of North Korea that former US officials and analysts say Washington has pieced together in recent years as it has investigated the appearance around the world of bogus US$100 bills so perfect that they have been called "supernotes."  (Taipei Times)  PREVIOUS:   Asian money laundering finances terrorism

Woman 'tricked' into sex slavery

VANCOUVER - A young Chinese woman allegedly forced into prostitution by the operator of a Kingsway massage parlour wept bitterly Wednesday when she remembered the day in 2002 when she first realized she had been tricked into a life of sexual slavery. (Vancouver Sun)   MORE:  Grim testimony at human trafficking trial

Lai tired by long legal battle

VANCOUVER - The alleged smuggling kingpin said he has grown tired of the long-running legal fight, but remains confident he will eventually be allowed to remain in Canada - where he fled with his family in 1999.   Lai has been denied political asylum in Canada and was on the verge of being deported to China earlier this year when a court ruled that Canadian officials had not properly reviewed claims he would be killed or tortured if sent back.   (Reuters)

Beijing slams Canada over work permit

Chinese smuggling kingpin wins

Chinese fugitive ordered freed from detention 

Chinese fugitive loses bid for appeal on status

Chinese fugitive fights to stay in Canada

Lai Changxing

Lai Changxing

Smuggler's blues

631 gangs smashed

Refugee process abused by criminals

Lai cozy with Communists

3500 Chinese spy companies identified

Institutional Organization of a smuggling operation  .pdf 

     

Saxena in Thailand

BANGKOK - Surrounded by a team of Thai officials, financial fugitive Rakesh Saxena arrived back in Thailand from Vancouver and was handed over to police.  (Vancouver Sun)  

Saxena denied

Fugitive finally loses

Fugitive loses bid to avoid extradition

An expert at slipping the net 

Canada's extradition process

BC Court of Appeals orders another hearing

China eyes its cards in BC murder case

Canada 'slow' in giving up fugitives

Somalia too deadly for violent inmate

Subhash Agrawal   Gloria & Faustino Chingkoe

Michael Joseph Charles Karas

Raul Monter Ortega   Rodolfo Pacificador   Rakesh Saxena    Rakesh Saxena

Malkiat Kaur Sidhu & Surjit Singh Badesha

Napoleon Gomez Urrutia

 
     

24 years

TACOMA - A Canadian US army soldier behind a $54,000 bank heist in Tacoma, Wash., in 2006 will receive 24 years in prison under a plea agreement.  Luke Elliott Sommer, 21, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, brandishing a firearm and possession of a hand grenade.  (Vancouver Province)

Ex-Ranger pleads guilty

House arrest fails to stop scheme

Rakesh Saxena

OTC Bulletin Board

Jail break plan

Gang leader moved

Ranger's defense:  If I did it, it was political

No evidence found of war crimes Pentagon says

US fugitive arrested

BC man robbed bank to start gang: FBI

5th Ranger arrested in bank heist

Tacoma bank robbed to start a BC crime family

Soldiers of Fortune

Canadian 4th suspect in Tacoma bank heist

Rangers charges with Wash. State bank robbery

3 Rangers charged in Tacoma bank heist

 

Proceeds hidden in horse trailer

COUTTS - An Ontario man has been accused of trying to smuggle more than $477,000 US hidden inside a horse trailer across the border from Montana into Alberta.   (CBC)

Border bust

Abbotsford a hotbed of trafficking

Witness is a suspect

Drug trial postponed  

Olympian charged in cocaine conspiracy

10 years

Copter schools hope to weed out drug smugglers

Border guard probe widens

Ecstasy bust

Poppy bust

Pot network

Hockey bags seized

Alleged trafficking ring walks

Drug sting ensnared ex-boxer

Grow-op king duped homeowners

10 years for cocaine haul

Free after a day in pen

Drug lord busted

Drug don arrested

$1M in cash

Drug bust

Botched drug deal

2 Canadians arrested

Cocaine ring busted

Border jumpers

Police release names

Trucker charged in US smuggling case

Drug lab crackdown

Seized heroin

Heroin haul likely Vancouver bound

X-ray of shoe leads to record heroin bust

Border guards' image takes blow

Customs officer in drug ring bust

Ex-cop gets 30 months in jail

Scared into new crimes

Don't keep me in jail

Drug bust at Peace Arch

4 years for marijuana trafficking

Plane loaded with cocaine

Calgary pilot involved in $30-million cocaine bust

Ex-BC union boss gets 8 years

Seven ordered held in kidnapping

Store firebombed after extortion bid

Pot seized

More smuggling at Pearson

Guard triggers $100M bust

Heroin seized

Border bust

Another coke bust

Cocaine found in commercial truck

Cocaine hidden in truck

Badge used to launder money

Abductees tied to missing cash

Police sniff out major pot ring

Tracking cocaine in a can

Ex-border-guard gets jail

Former Blaine border guard sentenced

Prostitute smuggled drugs

 

Police break trafficking ring

Cocaine bust

Largest cocaine bust in AB history

Drug ring broken

Quebec man alleged boss of $1B drug operation

DEA: International drug ring charged

2nd shipment found

Continuing coke bust

Drugs found in hot sauce shipment

Etobicoke drug bust nets $40M in cocaine

Heroin bust

RCMP investigating Vancouver airport company

45th person charged in sting

11 linked to alleged pot ring arrested

Feds say pot smugglers made millions

RCMP dismantles Quebec based cocaine rings

Cocaine ring smuggled drugs via 'torpedo'

$770k in airport suitcase

More than 130 arrested in Quebec

Alleged fraud ring busted in Montreal

Border bust

Ecstasy seized 

Border guard accused

Smuggler sentenced

Man pleads guilty

Pearson coke bust

CBSA Fort Erie seizure

BC man charged

Cocaine in gas tank

Drug ring dismantled

 

 

 

Organized crime not ethnic problem

TORONTO - "There is a perception that some of the ethnic communities are responsible for organized crime. This is not the case. (York Region) 

Alleged crime-op king faces charges

VANCOUVER - A Langley man accused of leading Dark Alley is one of the first people in BC  to stand trial for heading organized crime.    (Langley Advance)

Cross-country police raids

MONTREAL - It was a truly Canadian operation but, alas, it was also illegal. Police swept down on farms, factories and offices across the country yesterday, rounding up 32 suspects in a huge contraband tobacco network. (The Gazette) 

Crackdown on contraband tobacco

Police bust nation-wide tobacco ring

Officials must testify in smuggling case

Provinces join smuggling suit

More tools sought to stop gang violence

WASHINGTON - The recent federal conviction of two Virginia gang members in the murder of a four-months-pregnant teenager could result in the death penalty if prosecutors have their way.  (Fox)PREVIOUS:  House passes bill to make gang crimes Federal offences    Rise in gangs creates bitter debate   How our SUVs end up in Ghana

Biggest of the 'Wheels' pleads guilty, gets four years in jail

VANCOUVER - Christien (Chris) Cameron, 28, the ring leader of a dial-a-dope scheme that operated in South Delta for at least a year has pleaded guilty to two counts of cocaine trafficking.   The remaining charges were stayed.   (Delta Optimist)   PREVIOUS:  Organized crime link to bust   Six arrested through 'Big Wheels'

Spain jails Langley suspect

Michael Medjuck, 55, was one of four Canadians arrested near Barcelona on Oct. 6, after a five-month investigation involving law enforcement agencies from Spain, the U.S., and Canada.  (Langley Advance)  PREVIOUS:    USA vs Michael Medjuck   US, Spain and Canada bust drug smuggling gang    Two NV men arrested in high-seas bust   BC yacht in 1.5 tonne coke bust

Man owns both pot buildings

BARRIE - Two buildings where massive indoor marijuana grow operations were discovered during raids last weekend are owned by real estate magnate Vince De Rosa, police confirmed yesterday. (The Star)  PREVIOUS:  Hugh pot factory was one strange joint    Police say $30M in pot seized    Major pot bust in abandoned Ontario brewery

100 grow-op houses unearthed in mortgage-scam probe

VANCOUVER - Up to 100 large-scale marijuana growing operations have been found in Lower Mainland houses identified by government regulators as part of an elaborate scheme to get mortgages by using false employment records and banking documents.  (Vancouver Sun)

Arrest of money launderer was 'a real coup' for officers

VANCOUVER - For RCMP officers Bill Majcher and Mike Arnold, who combine 30 years of police service - much of it undercover -- the bust of former Vancouver lawyer Martin Chambers was the "number one" accomplishment in their careers.  (Vancouver Sun)

     

Cross-border human smugglers nabbed

PEACE ARCH - Two parallel investigations north and south of the U.S. border have resulted in indictments against 14 men accused of smuggling people into the U.S.  (National Post) 

Authorities bust cross-border smuggling ring

Ring smuggling illegals from South Asia halted

Mother of all 'snakeheads' gets 35 years in jail

Cheng Chui Ping: 'Mother of snakeheads'

15 days in a metal box, only to be locked up

22 stowaways nabbed at Port of Seattle

Golden venture big sails off to jail

New route for Chinese to get fake UK visas

'Crime network' targeted by simultaneous raids

Seattle labelled 'hot spot' for human cargo

Alleged 'snakehead' boss on trial

Alleged Golden Venture mastermind pleads

Chinese people smugglers jailed

The deadly journey

     

SPVM integrated approach to gangs

List of criminal organizations

 

 

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