MELVINS VS. MARRIOTTS: A TALE OF TWO CRIME FAMILIES

In November 1998, Halifax witnessed a string of five murders in 10
days. Four of the killings were connected to the drug trade.

Back then, it was drug dealer killing drug dealer behind closed
doors.

But this is a whole new era, with the second generation bringing the
violence to the front door of a local children's hospital.

"I think the two incidents that occurred in very public places took
this to a level that we haven't seen before, said Const. Jeff Carr,
Halifax Regional Police spokesman.

A Nov. 18 shooting in front of the IWK Health Centre in south end
Halifax, the day after a related shooting at a Spryfield pizza joint,
prompted police to throw what they've called unprecedented resources
at the problem.

It's believed that some members of the Melvin and Marriott families
are feuding, but no one's speaking publicly about what sparked the
violence.

Back in the day, some of these players made money and a name for
themselves - together.

Since 1968, Terrance Cyril Marriott (a.k.a. Terry Sr.) has racked up a
total of 32 years, nine months and 26 days of federal time for drugs
and other offences. But he's also beaten the rap a number of times.

The patriarch of the Melvin family, James Edwin Melvin (a.k.a. Jimmy
Sr.), 48, has been sentenced to a total of 22 and three months of
federal time and is still on parole. He narrowly escaped injury Nov.
17 when shots were fired at him outside a Spryfield pizza joint.

Here's a brief history of these two notorious families:

.April 25, 1988: Arnold (Smiley) Joseph Bailey is fatally shot on a
Halifax street in what police believe was a drug-related shooting.
Police later charged Spryfield drug dealer Terry Marriott Sr. with
murder, but he was acquitted in June 1991.

.October 1991: Police seized about 3.5 tonnes of hash from a truck on
Highway 103 near Chester. It's believed the drugs had been offloaded
from a Panamanian vessel. Jimmy Melvin Sr., then of Spryfield, was
among the 10 charged. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in
1994 for his part in the operation.

.November 1992: A Spanish vessel led a U.S. Coast Guard vessel on a
19-hour chase through rough seas before sinking early the next day off
the coast of Newfoundland, taking with it an estimated three tonnes of
cocaine. Unaware of what had happened, Jimmy Melvin Sr. and a Crown
witness spent two days trying to get out to the mother ship to offload
the drugs for the Hells Angels. Mr. Melvin, described at sentencing as
"the second in command, was among five Nova Scotians charged in the
crime. He was sentenced in 1997 to 5 1/2 years for conspiracy to
traffic cocaine.

.Nov. 20, 1998: Richard Joseph (Ricky) Marriott, 32, was shot in his
house, along with his girlfriend, Gail Stone. Ricky, who used a
wheelchair and was Terry Marriott Sr.'s brother, was facing three drug
charges of his own. He died at the scene, and Ms. Stone died in
hospital four days later. In August 2000, Ricky's brother William
Ralph (Billy) Marriott, 38, hanged himself in a Halifax jail cell.
Billy faced trial for first-degree murder in the killing of former
Hells Angels associate William St. Clair Wendelborg, and Billy's
girlfriend, Wanda Lynn Campbell, was later found guilty of being an
accessory after the fact. Ms. Campbell's trial was told that Terry
Marriott Sr. thought Billy murdered Ricky, although the rest of the
family might not agree.

.1999: Operation Crack Pot, a joint-forces investigation that targeted
street-level drug dealers, a Halifax corner store and eight crack
houses. Undercover police bought drugs 60 times during the operation.
Terry Marriott Sr. and Terry Marriott Jr. were among the 40 people
charged. Terry Marriott Sr. served four years for trafficking and his
son got 4 1/2 years for possession. (Since December 1992, Terry Jr.
has been sentenced to over 7 1/2 years of federal time. At one point,
the National Parole Board had ordered Terry Jr. to stay away from his
father because of his lengthy criminal history)

.December 2001: Police raided the now-defunct Halifax chapter of the
Hells Angels. Members and associates, including Jimmy Melvin Sr., are
among those arrested and charged with drug offences. The name of Terry
Marriott Sr. is found in exhibits seized by cops, but no explanation
is given at the time. Jimmy Melvin Sr. is sentenced to another six
years and three months for selling hash.

.May to June 2002: An undercover police investigation dubbed Operation
Midway swept up 81 people including many Marriott and Melvin family
associates. The raids also hit homes and businesses owned by some
family members and associates. Bruce Alan Jackson, a drug dealer
turned informant, detailed in court how the second generation of
Melvins and Marriotts ran a drug ring in Halifax. Mr. Jackson was the
manager of a Herring Cove Road crack shop in a ring operated by one of
Terry Marriott Sr.'s sons, Brian James Bremner (a.k.a. B.J. Marriott);
the young man's cousin, Gary (Boo) Boudreau and longtime friend James
Bernard Melvin (a.k.a. Jimmy Melvin Jr.).

Jimmy Jr., who was already in jail when the arrests were made, was
later sentenced to three years for attempting to have someone smuggle
drugs to him in prison as part of Operation Midway. That was to be
served on top of a two-year term he received in December 2002 for
possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking in May 2001. His
sentence ended on May 17, 2006, but he had been in custody in relation
to other charges until he was ordered released a month ago, on Nov.
14.

Mr. Boudreau received six years and six months for drug and weapons
offences. While it may have been his first federal sentence, he told a
National Parole Board panel last year that he'd been selling drugs
since he was 13 and became a high-level dealer in 2000. Now 32, Mr.
Boudreau, who co-owned a Herring Cove Road tanning salon that was
firebombed in 2006, has kept himself out of jail since his release
last year.

B.J. Marriott, who was also in jail when the investigation was
underway, was eventually convicted and sentenced to a total of six
years for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the Central Nova
Correctional Facility in Dartmouth between June 17 and June 20, 2002
and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking at Springhill
Institution between May 27 to May 31, 2002. The drugs headed for the
Springhill prison were supposed to go to Wayne James, a Halifax man
serving time for a Hells Angels-related murder. Although B.J. Marriott
didn't actually handle the drugs, the judge ruled that he had control
of the prison packages through the people that did his bidding.

His mother, Dawn Bremner, and his uncle, Teddy Bremner, each received
18-month conditional sentences for their part in the operation. Jimmy
Jr.'s then-girlfriend, Jennifer Purcell and Jimmy Jr.'s mother, Debbie
Melvin, received two years and 12 months, respectively, while charges
against Mr. Boudreau's wife and his grandmother were dismissed. In the
end, 66 people were convicted for varying roles in the drug ring, and
some on multiple charges. Neither Jimmy Sr. nor Terry Sr. was among
those arrested.

Now 26, B.J. Marriott is in prison in the Prairie region where he is
serving 16 years and four months for manslaughter; two counts of
assault with a weapon; assault causing bodily harm; two counts of
possessing a dangerous weapon; and possessing property obtained by
criminal activity; and the drug charges. He was eligible for day
parole on Nov. 28, but did not apply. He also decided to postpone an
upcoming parole board hearing scheduled for next May. Instead, the
board is expected to hear his case in May 2011.

.Oct. 25, 2002: At about 6 a.m., at least one Molotov cocktail and
five bullets hit 28 Sylvia Ave., which is owned by Jimmy Melvin Sr. An
hour earlier, two bullets went through a kitchen window of a nearby
home on Emerald Crescent. Wayne Douglas Robinson, a cousin of Terry
Marriott Jr. is later arrested in the firebombing. In the following
years, houses, apartment buildings or businesses were either shot at
or firebombed on Arvida Avenue, Herring Cove Road, Hartlen Avenue and
Old Sambro Road.

.July 7 and Sept. 3, 2004: On these two evenings, shots were fired
outside 490 Herring Cove Rd. and Terry Marriott Jr. was hit both
times. He was hit in the armpit and hip the first time, with witnesses
saying four shots came from a green van. In September, police arrived
at the house after the victim left for hospital. He tells
investigators the shooting was an accident. His uncle, James Cameron,
is the listed owner of the property.

.June 20, 2006: Wayne Nicholas (Chop) Marriott, 21, was shot dead at
about 10:50 p.m., moments after driving up to the Beechville home he
was renting. The man he was with, Jeremy Alvin Leblanc, then aged 24,
was also injured. No one has been charged in the killing.

.August 2007: Jimmy Melvin Jr., his younger brother Cory Patrick
Melvin and Andrew Hudder were charged in several firebombings in
Dartmouth, Fairview and Bayers Lake Business Park. The three will go
on trial next June.