DRUG DEALER CONVICTED IN VIDEOTAPED ASSAULTS

Tony Terezakis's Wife Sought Counselling After Viewing 'Movies'

A jury has rejected drug dealer Tony Terezakis's testimony and
convicted him on 12 counts of assault, assault with a weapon, and
unlawful confinement, crimes that were videotaped by his criminal cohorts.

Terezakis testified that he hired actors to make a film to illustrate
the plight of people living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The B.C. Supreme Court jury, which considered its verdict for more
than two days, watched several hours of videotape showing Terezakis --
dressed in black leather jacket, gloves and wraparound sunglasses with
a religious cross on a chain around his neck -- confronting people at
the American and Cobalt hotels on Main Street, then beating and
kicking them while shouting "praise the Lord."

He also admonished people for stealing drug money and not reading the
Bible enough. The videos showed him handing out Bibles to prostitutes
and drug users living in the hotels.

Many of the videos showed Terezakis mugging and singing for the camera
while the victims screamed in pain or waited for the next blow.

"Get off my block and don't come back," Terezakis told one victim.
Terezakis testified he was only trying to add realism and drama to the
movie.

He called several of the victims as defence witnesses who testified
they were "actors" paid in drugs. None of the "actors" would testify
for the Crown, indicating the fearful grip the drug dealer still had
over the witnesses, even though he was in custody.

His wife originally found the videotapes and handed them over to
police, then sought counselling after watching the disturbing images
of her husband beating people while making religious
exhortations.

Terezakis was originally the first person charged in B.C. with being
the head of a criminal organization. The charge was thrown out by B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes, who ruled part of the law was
unconstitutional. That ruling is being appealed by the Crown.

Terezakis is expected to be sentenced Thursday.

At the start of his trial, he pleaded not guilty to the assaults
caught on videotape but pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and
heroin. He ran a small drug operation that operated out of the
American and Cobalt hotels.

He was arrested as part of an investigation into a criminal
organization's links to a number of drug-related murders in Burnaby
and the Fraser Valley.