VANCOUVER STRUGGLES WITH GANG VIOLENCE

Long Cycle of Drug-Related Homicides Plagues Indian Immigrant Community

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- The killings were brazen, often carried out
execution-style, police said.

The most famous case involved a masked man who walked up to a notorious
drug dealer on a dance floor and fired a bullet into his head behind the ear.

The dealer dropped to the crowded floor. Witnesses told police that they
saw nothing.

In the past 13 years, police have reported 76 young men killed in the
Vancouver area in gang-related violence. The authorities blame drug deals
gone bad and local turf wars, mostly involving well-to-do young people of
Indian descent.

Immigrant community leaders in Vancouver complain of police inaction.
Police say they have tried, but have been unable to develop leads that
would stop the bloodshed.

"They are Indo-Canadians killing Indo-Canadians," said Kash Heed,
commanding officer of the 3rd Police District in Vancouver. "Seventy-six
murders . . . mainly within one ethnic group. The cycle of violence, we've
not cracked it yet."

Canadians are not accustomed to seeing widespread gun violence at home.
Canada, with strict firearms laws, has lower levels of such crimes than
does the United States. According to the government's Canada Firearms
Center, the rate of murders committed with firearms in 2001 was 6.5 times
higher in the United States than in Canada.

"The community is quite upset and worried about this violence and killing,"
said Balwant Singh Gill, president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, one of
the largest Sikh temples in North America, with 37,000 members. The Sikh
religious minority of India has at least 19 million adherents worldwide.

"The laws of this land are lenient," Gill said, seated at his temple,
surrounded by bushes of pink and red roses. "Only a few of the murders have
been solved," he said. Gill said he has been threatened with violence,
apparently by gang members, because he has spoken out against their
activity. In one incident, shots were fired at his house. Police confirmed
the threats against him.

The gangs deal mostly in marijuana, according to police, and specialize in
a popular variety grown in the province called B.C. bud. "B.C. bud
marijuana is highly sought after in the United States," said constable Alex
Borden of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

"It is often exchanged for cocaine, cash or firearms. It is a deal between
two criminal gangs, one on the south side of the border and one on the
north side, guns for marijuana," Borden said. "If there is violence in our
streets and firearms are involved, we are concerned the firearms come from
across the border."

In Blaine, Wash., Joe Giuliano, assistant chief at the local U.S. Border
Patrol office, said 23 Canadian smugglers have been arrested on the U.S.
side of the border this year. "Virtually all marijuana smuggling in the
past fiscal year is either directly or indirectly tied back to the
Indo-Canadian community," Giuliano said.

Amar Randhawa, 28, co-founder of UNITED, the Unified Network of
Indo-Canadians for Togetherness and Education Through Discussion, said
Canadian police have not been aggressive enough in tracking down leads to
stop the killings. "Out here, it's a slap on the hand," Randhawa said. "Law
enforcement can't crack the lower hierarchy, let alone get to the top."

Randhawa said he knew many of the victims and killers, and a number of them
attended high school together. "Their background is Punjab Sikhs, ranging
in age from 18 to 35," Randhawa said. "They were all my generation.
Sometimes we know who the people are. Everyone knows. It's the worst-kept
secret. Police know, but you don't see them cracking down."

Police describe the problem as a closed cycle of murder and revenge.

"One day suspect, and the next day victim," said Heed, the police
commander. "One day you are the shooter. The next day you're lying in your
coffin."

He said the killings can be traced to a dispute between Bindy Johal and Ron
Donsanjh, two notorious drug dealers. First Donsanjh's brother Jimmy was
killed in February 1994.

"Johal was the supposed suspect," Heed said, and Ron Donsanjh heard about
it. "They challenged one another. 'Come get me! No, come get me!' " Heed
recounted.

Two months later, Ron Donsanjh, 29, was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Johal was arrested in connection with both slayings. Johal's trial was one
of the most expensive in Canadian history, officials said, because it was
surrounded by intense security measures. But the trial ended in acquittal.

A juror, Gillian Guess, was later charged and convicted of obstruction of
justice, because she had a relationship with one of the co-defendants,
authorities said.

But Johal was freed. Four years later, in December 1998, he was killed at a
Vancouver nightclub. Police said a masked man shot him in the back of the
head, then fled. No one has been charged in Johal's slaying.

The story of Johal inspires young men who have been recruited in high
schools to become gang members like him, Heed said.

"We still have Indo-Canadian males who want to be the next Johal," he said.
"When you talk to them they don't realize they have a short life span. They
have the image of Johal's lifestyle: the cars, the money, the women. They
did not see Johal in jail crying and scared."

The gang members are often from well-off families, local leaders and
officials said. "Unlike in other countries, people involved in the gang
activity here are not the poor or disadvantaged," said Wallace T. Oppal, a
justice of the Court of Appeal of British Columbia. "For the most part,
kids involved here are people who come from middle-class and upper-class
homes. They get involved for the glamour."

Oppal said parental neglect is sometimes a factor. "Parents are devoted to
not only buying the first home, but the second home and third home," he
said from his chambers. "They provide their children with the means, but
not the guidance."

Oppal said he also knew some of those involved in the violence. "The
community is relatively small," he said. "People know one another. I get
stopped all the time. People want to talk about it. This is the number one
issue in the community."

Oppal cited the manslaughter conviction of Hardip Uppal, a bright student
who had won a scholarship. "He was a person with impeccable background,"
Oppal said. "He killed someone in a drug deal."

Uppal organized the killing of Gurpreet Sohi on Sept. 14, 2000, according
to testimony, because he was seeking revenge for the wounding of his
brother a few days before. Another man was the gunman, but Uppal was the
setup man, making sure Sohi was home at the appointed time.

"He put his own skin ahead of his friend's life," said Paul Williamson, the
judge who sentenced him to five years in prison.

He called the killing a "coldblooded execution of a victim sitting in his
home. This dreadful, amoral cycle of bloodletting, violence and
vigilante-like retribution must end," Williamson said at the sentencing
hearing.

Gill, the president of the Sikh temple, said police have said they need
more leads. "Some people are scared to open their mouths because they are
afraid they will get killed," he said.

Heed acknowledged that police are criticized for not stopping the violence,
but said the families of gang members need to help solve the problem.
Family members, he said, deny their sons are involved in crime.

"We've gone to notify people their son was killed and they have been in
such denial they slammed the door in the police officer's face," Heed said.
"They don't want to believe their child is involved. . . . They will ask
the question to their dying day after their son is murdered why they didn't
do something."