WE MUST BATTLE ORGANIZED CRIME

The Killing Of Eight People In Rural Ontario Should Not Be Seen As An
Internal Affair

The savage murder of eight gang members and associates in Ontario
should serve as a wake-up call.

Bloody as it was, this was no aberration. On the contrary, it is
merely the latest incident in a long catalogue of gang violence in
our country.

In the past 10 years more than 500 people have been killed in gang
violence, including at least 80 in Vancouver's drug wars, 150 in the
battle between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine in Quebec and
more than 200 in Toronto.

While the majority of those were gang members who lost their lives in
tit-for-tat hits, drug deals gone bad or in intimidation killings,
innocent bystanders have also been caught in the crossfire.

The Montreal biker war claimed 11-year-old Daniel Desrocher when a
car bomb blew up as he passed, a killing that focused public
attention on the escalating violence.

Until recently part of the problem has been law enforcement
authorities' reluctance to acknowledge the full extent of the threat.
After the latest killings in Elgin County, the head of Ontario's
Biker Enforcement Unit talked blithely of an "internal cleansing" and
reassured the public there was "little to fear."

How can there possibly be "little to fear" when people capable of
such brutality are setting up a local version of Murder Inc.?

The deeper concern is the increasing sophistication of criminal
organizations, and the tremendous advantage this gives them in
avoiding arrest and punishment.

Just how skilful they have become is evident in our own province.
Until 2004, when two Hells Angels members were finally jailed, the
gang could boast that not a single member had ever gone to prison in
B.C.

Many organized criminals operate partnerships with legitimate
business operations.

These fronts launder cash, and provide hiding places, transportation
and other support.

Organized crime has another, deadly advantage. Too often witnesses
are afraid to come forward, or are threatened if they do.

When a suspected drug trafficker was shot in the head on a crowded
dance floor in Vancouver, no one there would speak to police. Even
shooting victims remain silent, determined to settle the score
themselves.

Some of this may be about to change. Last year the B.C. Attorney
General's Ministry set up a new Organized Crime Unit to co-ordinate
prosecution of gang-related offences.

The unit, which includes several of the ministry's most senior
prosecutors, will help law-enforcement agencies penetrate gangland
activities in the Lower Mainland.

In Ottawa, the federal government decided four years ago to change
the law to make it easier to convict and punish gang members.
Parliament introduced legislation aimed at criminalizing the internal
workings of mob-style organizations.

Three levels of offence were established, dealing respectively with
"helpers" -- outsiders who have legitimate businesses but give
logistical support to gangs -- "foot soldiers" and gang leaders.

Very tough penalties were laid out for all three, with a maximum of
life imprisonment for leaders who order criminal acts.

That section proved too much for the B.C. Supreme Court, however, and
late last year the court declared the legislation unconstitutional.

Madam Justice Heather Holmes ruled that the term "gang," as employed
in the legislation, was hopelessly vague.

The ruling not only killed prosecutions in progress, it invalidated a
number of search and surveillance operations, such as wiretaps, which
were underway.

More important, it strikes at the very heart of attempts to approach
organized crime on a different level from other forms of illegal
behaviour.

The court's concern is understandable. Mob-style operations are, of
necessity, murky and ill-defined. Might not some helpers or foot
soldiers fail to realize the true nature of the organization they
have fallen in with?

Civil libertarians go further, arguing the new law is draconian:
What's to prevent groups like trade unions involved in an illegal
strike being caught in the net?

Yet without some such approach, it is clear from the track record
that law-enforcement agencies will not halt the spread of organized
crime, far less roll it back.

The benefits of being able to act in concert, of covering their
tracks or providing alibis, and where necessary intimidating
witnesses, give gang leaders and their associates too much of an
advantage.

The federal government has already announced it will appeal the court
decision, and there are indications Ottawa will introduce further
measures to combat organized crime in the coming months.

What happened in rural Ontario goes well beyond an internal settling
of scores among a group of lawless bikers.

It is an affront to our sense of decency, and left unanswered, it is
a slap in the face for our system of law enforcement.