DEAD PUSHERS DOOMED BY OWN PRODUCT

Crack Addicts, They Ran Up Huge Debts, Says Fellow Dealer

Whalley's street-level drug dealers say four fellow pushers slain a
week ago in an upscale highrise were victims of their own product.

With their personal lives spiralling out of control as they consumed
more and more of the crack cocaine they were dealing, the four murder
victims had big debts with unsympathetic associates who eventually saw
little chance of being repaid.

"[They] were real greaseballs," a 135A Street drug dealer who goes by
the moniker "Painless" said yesterday. "Good riddance."

He said the four murder victims -- brothers Corey Lal, 21, and Michael
Lal, 26, Edward Narong, 22, and Ryan Bartolomeo, 19 -- were high
rollers, living a flashy life.

But their addiction to drugs eventually clouded the reality of trying
to balance the books of their illegal cash-generating operation.

"They owed money -- tons of it," added Painless. "They were big
spenders -- cars, stereos -- and they always had women because of all
the drugs."

Their drug use, he said, eventually made them liabilities.

"Those guys were into rock big time," he said of their cocaine
use.

"They sold weed [pot] and [crystal] meth, but it was mostly
rock.

"They ended up being irresponsible. They were affiliated with people
who don't do drugs, and they were doing lots of drugs. That was their
downfall."

About four weeks ago, Painless said, the four murder victims had
someone beat two small-time 135A Street drug dealers.

"They hurt a couple of people real bad," he said. "And it was for the
wrong reason."

After that incident, he said, the buzz on the street was that the four
were going to be killed.

"I knew they were going to get capped," he said. "It was in the
planning for three weeks."

Despite the loss of the four men, who supplied a cadre of low-level
drug dealers, Painless said there is no shortage of crack.

"There is already someone else here," he said, showing pieces of crack
he held in his hand. "This stuff, it's the devil's juice -- it's evil."

Other drug dealers along the bleak section of street said the murders
have everyone watching their backs.

"People are nervous," said one dealer, who did not give his name.
Right now, he said, most involved in the drug trade are lying low,
which means the price has gone up.

He has bumped his price of a gram of rock from $50 to
$55.

The dealer was working despite a number of Surrey RCMP being in the
area.

"The cops are running around here pretty hard," he
said.

"They aren't normally here like this," he added as a dealer across the
street was being handcuffed.

The presence of so many drug dealers had some wondering if police are
making any headway in the war against drugs.

"This is disgusting, the drug problem here," said Erik Lindberg Jr.,
30, who had dropped off a resume at an area business.

"I just had four people ask me to buy crack," he said. "Obviously
something has to be done."

If there is a shortage of crack in this part of Whalley, it was not
evident yesterday. At the Royal Canadian Legion, a group huddled under
stairs smoking crack.

And at the nearby Surrey Central SkyTrain station, addicts smoked
crack in a parking lot behind a pizza joint.

"There's no shortage of rock," said a young woman, her hair resembling
a bee's nest.

Whalley has been under the microscope because of the slaughter of the
four dealers -- who all had criminal records -- and two other victims
police said were innocent bystanders who happened to be in the wrong
place at the wrong time.

Chris Mohan, 22, who lived in the same apartment building, and Ed
Schellenberg, 55, who was working on a fireplace in the suite that was
attacked, were also murdered.

Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation
Team, said yesterday afternoon they finished a search of another
upscale apartment complex in the 10,000-block 148th Street.

He said police are now focusing on tracking down individuals they know
have ties to the four dead drug dealers.

"We are now canvassing the Whalley area and Surrey Central area,
talking to people we feel have an association to our victims," he said.

Carr also said the man who holds the lease to the suite where the six
men were murdered is not talking to them.

"He is not co-operating with us," said Carr. "We believe he is
involved in some sort of criminal activity."

There were some in Whalley who said the area is improving.

Annette Welsh is the director of the Front Room, a shelter on 135A
Street with 36 beds.

"The only time we get attention here is when it is negative," she
said.

"Everybody is talking about these murders that happened in Whalley,
yet there are so many positive things that have been happening around
here,"she said. "This is not the Whalley of 20 years ago."