GANGS RELOADING

New Alliances May Be Forming, Cops Say

Asian gangs may be silent but the groups behind the trigger in last
summer's outbreak of bullet-riddled violence are rebuilding, say police
drug and gang specialists.

Edmonton police and RCMP officials are breathing easier - for now - after
several drug busts involving key members of two rival Asian gangs.

But the new code word in the underworld will be "alliance" between
different Asian crime groups, and further down the road, with native gangs,
said Sgt. Jim Fisher, an Asian gang specialist with the Criminal
Intelligence Service of Canada.

"Natives have always had a strong relationship with the Vietnamese," he
said. "There's a strong potential for links between the (groups)."

But police aren't being complacent about the relatively peaceful streets
this summer, said RCMP Drug Unit Sgt. Doug Carruthers.

"It's pretty much automatic that someone will try to take over the gang
drug business," said Carruthers, whose unit, along with city cops,
infiltrated a major gang drug ring operating between Vancouver and Edmonton
last month.

"The vacancies are definitely out there."

Last year the city's streets became a bloodied landscape in an apparent
turf war between two Asian gangs fighting for control.

Between June 23, 1999, and Jan. 10 this year, four people died and there
were eight shootings that were investigated as gang-related.

Mounties announced a major bust June 27 in which they arrested 15 suspects
of two rival gangs. About 80 officers made up of RCMP and city police
arrested the suspects after a 16-month undercover operation. The busts were
done after a similar sweep in the fall ended with 40 suspected gang members
behind bars.

"The phenomena last summer was two rival gangs fighting for territory. Now,
most of the violence going on involves debts within gangs, not against
other gangs," said Carruthers.

Meanwhile, raising new capital and establishing new contacts for drugs will
be the first order of business, Fisher said.

"It's not just going to be going out and canvassing for money," he said.
"Capitalization will come from tapping into somebody else's scam that is
successful that you can start making money off of."

With the city's Asian gang drug trade temporarily crippled, cops are
keeping a close eye to see if other organized crime groups are preparing to
move in.

Carruthers noted, however, he doesn't believe native gangs such as The
Posse or Redd Alert are capable of taking over the city's illegal drug
trade alone.

"I don't think they (native gangs) have risen to that level. Posse members
are strictly street people. They're not dealing in the large quantities (of
drugs) that the other gangs were."