MODERN SMUGGLERS FOLLOW OLD ROUTES

'Emperor Pic' Pioneered Way Through Valley

WHISKEY GAP, Alta. - Once a favourite route for Prohibition whisky
smugglers like the notorious Emilio Picariello, this small valley in
southern Alberta now has only a historical marker to remind visitors
of its colourful past.

But its remote location, just a stone's throw from the United States
border, makes it ideal for continued use by modern smugglers who deal
instead in marijuana, cocaine and human cargo.

"When you get out to the farmland and the Prairie land down here,
it's definitely an attractive venue for some of them, and they
definitely do come out and try," said RCMP Const. Jeff Smith of
I-BET, the Integrated Border Enforcement Team based in Raymond.

Most Recent Case

The most recent incident occurred in December 2005 when a 21-year-old
drug mule was caught attempting to smuggle 32 kilograms of cocaine
into Canada. Kenneth Holland was being pursued by the border patrol
when he drove through a barbed-wire fence and became stuck in the snow.

He escaped on foot and was later caught after a 23-kilometre chase.
Holland, who was sentenced in June to 10 years in prison, confessed
he had made other cross-border drug runs in the months before his arrest.

"You do get some people driving across there, but if you get to some
of the more remote areas, you start dealing with dirt bikes and
quads, and we do see that as well," said Smith.

Whiskey Gap lies about 300 kilometres south of Calgary, near the Del
Bonita border entry. During the 1920s and '30s it was a booming
hamlet with a general store, restaurant, pool hall, blacksmith,
lumberyard and three grain elevators.

The gap through the hills was originally used by 1860s and 1870s
American traders who crossed the border to trade goods and alcohol
for buffalo robes and furs.

During the 1916-1924 Prohibition period in Alberta, booze was
smuggled through from the United States. Later, when the U.S.
declared its own Prohibition, it flowed in the opposite direction.

Pic Began In 1'8

Emilio Picariello started a thriving bootlegging business in 1918 and
became a familiar face in Whiskey Gap. The man known as "Emperor Pic"
was eventually hanged along with accomplice Florence Lossandro in
1923 for the murder of a police officer.

"This old Emil Picariello drove through with a load or two and the
police were chasing him at the time," said Raymond Hodgson, 86, who
heard the story from his father, Jerome.

"His son and the girl that hung with old Picariello were in this
convoy and his son was in front with a load of booze," said Hodgson,
who still lives in the family home just a kilometre away from the
original site of the community.

"His son dropped a bottle of whisky on the road for the police (to
slow them down)," he laughed. "The police stopped to grab it for
evidence. Dad didn't know whether they caught them or not."

As for modern-day smuggling, police still keep a watchful eye. "Any
smuggling across the border is an issue, whether it be illegal drugs
or whether it be human smuggling," Smith said. "But is it running rampant?

"I think not."