LAX POT LAWS LURE CRIMINALS TO CANADA, POLICE SUGGEST

Twins' Killers Likely Part of Increasingly Visible Toronto Underworld,
Officer Says

After a gang-style weekend shooting left twin brothers dead, Toronto's
top homicide officer denounced Canada's marijuana laws, saying they
are an open invitation for criminals from around the world to set up
shop.

"We've got a new cash crop called marijuana where the penalties are
slight and the profits are enormous," Staff Inspector Gary Ellis, head
of the homicide squad, said yesterday.

"We are attracting every serious criminal going, and just like the old
Wild West days, you get the violence that goes with it," he said.

While he had no direct evidence to link the weekend shootings to
marijuana grow houses -- or even to recent shootings involving such
operations -- Staff Insp. Ellis said the deaths were yet another
example of what he called a continuing "cycle of violence."

He said that if laws don't allow police to crack down on marijuana
users and growers, gangs in Toronto, such as the one that may have
killed the twins on Sunday, will become even more visible as they
fight over profits in the city's drug trade.

On Sunday morning, two to four men burst into the Hush Karaoke Bar on
Ossington Avenue, near Queen Street.

Their faces covered with hats and bandannas, the men walked directly
to the table where the victims were sitting, pulled out their guns and
began "firing indiscriminately," according to Detective Rudy Pasini,
the lead investigator on the case.

The bullets left 27-year-old twins Phu Hoa Le and Loc Dai Le dead.
Three of their friends were injured.

Two men, both 26, were treated and released on Sunday. A 24-year-old
remains in hospital and was expected to live, police said.

The Vietnamese brothers worked together at a marble and granite
countertop installation company.

Loc Dai Le was married with one child.

Police said that although the men had been involved in "minor"
offences in the past, they were not considered dangerous and had no
known links to any local gangs.

Staff Insp. Ellis said he was almost certain, however, that those who
shot the men were part of a gang, and were connected to the underworld
that is becoming increasingly more visible throughout Toronto.

"Those who are involved in this type of trade are a culture unto
themselves. They don't leave clues; they're ruthless, and they are
very transient," he said. "I'm concerned, because I see the outcome of
the bodies on the street and I'm expected to do something about it."

At a press conference last week, Staff Insp. Ellis tried to outline
the danger of relaxing marijuana legislation after a 22-year-old man
was killed in a shootout outside a Scarborough grow house.

Staff Insp. Ellis said it was too early to tell if there were any
connections between the killings this past weekend and those in the
shootout, but maintained that the recent deaths just prove what he was
trying to say last week.

"It goes with what I predicted," he said. "I'm not saying I'm
connecting the two, [but] we've got some gang warfare going on here
where people are being executed, and some of them are innocent."

While Staff Insp. Ellis thought it too early to draw too close a
connection between the incidents, his investigators confirmed
yesterday they are already looking for possible links.

Det. Pasini said he is comparing the guns used and the descriptions of
the suspects.

He added that while most witnesses left the karaoke bar after Sunday's
shooting, many of the nearly 30 people there have come forward to
offer accounts of what they saw.

He urged others to do the same, admitting the present descriptions of
suspects are vague. He said he hoped that other witnesses could help
assemble a better description.

Police are looking for up to four Asian men, possibly Vietnamese, and
20 to 30 years of age.

Det. Pasini said he was ruling out any connection to the location
itself, which changed hands less than a month ago. He said the fact
the men came straight towards the victims once they entered the bar
suggested they had specific targets in mind.

While Det. Pasini searched for witnesses and more clues, Staff Insp.
Ellis continued his call for stronger regulations. "On the policy
macro level I think its very shortsighted," he said of Ottawa's
intentions to relax marijuana legislation.

"The outcome is that nice residential neighbourhoods are going to get
shot up. These guys [gang members] are soldiers."