Organized Crime

KAMLOOPS - A Kamloops gardening store owned by a close associate of a slain Hells Angels’ member has been raided by anti-gang police as part of a drug trafficking investigation.  Kamloops RCMP and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said in a news release Tuesday that the searches were conducted on the Sunshine Gardens Superstore in the 1700-block of Kelly Douglas Road, as well as at two residences — one in the 100-block of Knollwood Drive and the other in the 1000-block of Kinross Place. (Vancouver Sun)

Alleged money launderer Jian Jun Zhu was shot to death and his associate Paul King Jin was wounded Friday night in a targeted shooting at a Richmond restaurant. Zhu was suspected of being a key player in B.C.’s biggest money laundering investigation, where as much as $200 million was allegedly laundered a year. (The Province)

VANCOUVER - The woman dressed in a burqa carefully clutching her purse boarded the Canada Line SkyTrain at the Bridgeport station in Richmond, B.C. Underneath the disguise was Knowah Truth Ferguson, a Hamilton man just two months past his 18th birthday. Inside the purse was a .45-calibre gun and a Glock pistol. (Hamilton Spectator)

NEW YORK - Gambino crime family boss Frank (Franky Boy) Cali was gunned down Wednesday night in a gory hit in front of his Staten Island home, police sources said. Cali, 53, was shot six times in the chest by a gunman in a blue pickup truck on Hilltop Terrace near Four Corners Road in Todt Hill about 9:15 p.m. Medics took him to Staten Island University Hospital, where he died.(New York Daily News)

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Neighbours describe hail of gunfire that killed 'Franky Boy'

Last week, officers seized nearly $10 million worth of cocaine and crystal methamphetamine from a vehicle near Drumheller. The investigation began in November, when police received information from other agencies linking a Calgary resident to the transportation of drugs across Canada. (Calgary Herald)

TORONTO - Thirty-one people, including a central "kingpin," have been arrested and more than 300 charges laid in a major investigation into a human trafficking and organized crime ring that operated around Canada.   (CBC)

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York Regional Police media release on Project Convalesce

The former commanding officer of a B.C. RCMP anti-illegal gaming unit says he was stunned when the provincial government disbanded his unit in 2009, even after he warned it that the decision would allow organized crime to operate “with impunity.” (Global News)

VANCOUVER - A prominent Hells Angels associate who leads the Devils Army support club in Campbell River has been charged with the 2016 murder of a promising MMA fighter and young father. (Vancouver Sun)

A long legal battle involving a hitman for the Hells Angels came to a close Friday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court when lawyers agreed that Dean Daniel Kelsie can now begin applying for parole. Kelsie shot and killed Sean Simmons in the lobby of an apartment building in north-end Dartmouth, N.S., on Oct. 3, 2000. Kelsie was one of four men who took part in the killing. (CBC)

When his brother was killed last year in an ambush, Vincenzo Muià became the boss of his Mafia clan in southern Italy. One of his first acts of leadership was to gather his loyal soldiers to plan their defence. His next was avenging his brother. (National Post)