RIVAL GANGSTERS CHARGED IN SAME STING

Red Scorpion, UN Gang Members Arrested After Being Offered Access to
100 Kilos of Cocaine

Over the last few months, undercover operators posing as frontmen for
a Mexican drug cartel set the bait for members of the notorious Red
Scorpion and United Nations gangs.

They promised the Metro Vancouver gangsters access to 100 kilos of
cocaine for $3 million. They asked for deposits of $100,000.

Separately and unbeknownst to each other, the rival gangs met their
contacts in public places and secret spots. Some meetings were in
private homes.

What neither gang knew was that their cartel contacts were not
underworld, but undercover police officers with the Combined Forces
Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU).

The dramatic arrests of five men Thursday -- including the Red
Scorpion's Jarrod Bacon and the UN boss Doug Vanalstine -- marked what
police say is a successful conclusion to the investigation, dubbed
E-Pintle.

Vancouver Police Insp. Brad Desmarais called the bust "a spectacular
success in our struggle against the gangs in the Lower Mainland."

Bacon, 26, and his co-accused, Scorpion associate Wayne Scott, 53, are
charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance between
Feb. 20 and Aug. 28, 2009. Vanalstine, 50, and his fellow UN
gangsters, Daryl Johnson, 31, and Nicholas Wester, 30, face the same
charge for the same time period. They are also charged with possession
of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking on Aug. 27, 2009 in Abbotsford.

A core team of 20 police officers worked on E-Pintle around the clock,
from its inception last February through the peak summer months to the
gunpoint takedowns in Abbotsford and Kelowna.

Other surveillance teams bolstered the team when needed, CFSEU
spokesman Sgt. Bill Whalen said Friday.

They snapped photos of Bacon standing in front of a green pickup
chatting with Scott, his girlfriend's father and the grandfather of
Bacon's toddler. They captured images of Vanalstine sipping Tim
Hortons coffee.

CFSEU head Supt. Doug Kiloh said the decision was made to target the
RS and the UN because both groups "were involved in regional and
inter-nations drug trafficking and the violence that accompanies it."

"Despite previous arrests and ongoing trials, the UN gang and members
of the Bacon group have continued to conduct criminal activity," Kiloh
said. "Mr. Vanalstine and all of these individuals, to support their
business, are ready and willing to employ violence at a number of
different locations through a number of different means."

Three of the five were already facing criminal charges when the new
indictment was sworn. Bacon was in the middle of a Surrey provincial
court trial on 10 firearms counts. That trial, in which he and brother
Jamie are challenging the admissibility of evidence, is set to resume
Dec. 3.

Vanalstine is charged in Washington state on a series of
drug-smuggling charges to which UN founder Clay Roueche has already
pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced in December. The U.S. Attorney is
seeking 30 years.

Johnson is out on bail in a trafficking case out of
Summerland.

Neither Scott nor Wester has a record in B.C., though Wester was
convicted in Spokane in November 2000 of importing marijuana into the
U.S.

All made their first appearance in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday and
have been remanded in custody to Dec. 3.

It appears that the rival gang members realized only Friday that they
were charged in the same sting.

Whalen said the "most intense investigational component" of E-Pintle
occurred in June, July and August.

"The meetings went on basically in two cities, Abbotsford and
Kelowna," Whalen said. "The meetings went from coffee shops to more
discreet locations."

The UN delivered the $100,000 down payment. The Red Scorpion group did
not.

Kiloh said he couldn't provide much detail of the evidence until it is
heard in court.

"We do have surveillance. We do have direct conversation and we do
have money that has been provided as a deposit for securing the
drugs," he said. "There was direct money purchase of cocaine and there
was some request with respect to the individuals sending marijuana or
being able to transport marijuana by varying methods into the United
States."

Kiloh said the reality for organized criminals is that they continue
to ply their trade even when facing charges, and even when targeted by
violence.

"When they come out of court, they look for more income. They do what
they do and they continue to utilize criminal activity to support
that," Kiloh said. "The drugs were a means for us to get at them
criminally, but clearly it is the threat to public safety, clearly it
is the violence of these individuals that are of concern to the police."

Gangs Remain 'Fluid'

Violent B.C. drug gangs continue to target youth for membership
despite high-profile charges like those laid against five Red Scorpion
and United Nations members this week.

Supt. Dan Malo, who heads the Gang Task Force, said both groups are
now "very fluid," but not completely wiped out.

"There is a conflict within the gangs themselves right now to try to
assume other territory in the region and to then acquire new tattooed
gang members on a weekly and sometimes daily basis," Malo said.

He said the new recruits "are abused physically; they are abused
mentally.

"They don't make a lot of money. They are lured by a lifestyle that
truly does not exist," Malo said. "I think we really need to reach out
to our young folks."

Abbotsford Deputy Chief Rick Lucy said his city has really been hit
hard, with eight gang murders so far this year, including those of
three teenagers linked to the Red Scorpions.

He said the arrests of five gangsters active in Abbotsford helps make
his city's streets safer.

"When we have success in a project such as this it is a good step on
our path to see that this ends," Lucy said.