GROUPS VIE FOR A PIECE OF DRUG PIE: COP

Twenty groups with shifting, divided loyalties vying for a share of the
illegal drug market are behind Edmonton's ongoing gang violence, says a cop
with the city's gang unit.

The arrest of alleged members of the Trang family drug gang in September
1999 and the subsequent death of Long Duy Hoang, a.k.a. 'Crazy Jimmy,' in a
January 2000 shootout with police, left no dominant power on the streets,
said Sgt. Warren Ottenbreit.

"When they got taken down, it sort of opened up the market for everybody
and anybody to come in," he told The Sun yesterday. "The 20 groups that we
have now, it's some of those ones that were around previously. Some of
those have split away and formed their own groups."

In Edmonton, cops aren't seeing an escalating series of retaliatory
shootings, he said.

While there sometimes appears to be patterns of inactivity followed by
violent bursts of gang violence, Ottenbreit said the attacks happen randomly.

On April 26, Mounties found the shot and burned body of 26-year-old Vincent
Gamboa - an identified gang member - near Stony Plain, and believe he was
killed in Edmonton.

Days earlier, Terry Whitford, 19, was gunned down in a gang-related
shooting on Walterdale Hill. As yet, there are no links between the cases,
Ottenbreit said.

And on Feb. 2, Alan Luan Chung, 23, who police say also had gang
affiliations, died in an Edmonton drive-by shooting.

Some of these are attacks of opportunity, said Ottenbreit.

"Some of the stuff that we're seeing, and some of the stuff that we're
hearing, is that some of these are long-standing battles, things that
happened three, four, five or 10 years ago."

Gangs in Edmonton, he added, do not battle over turf. "Sometimes it's
customers."

With membership no longer strictly divided along ethnic lines, he
explained, there exists fairly fluid allegiance among drug "runners," who
have no loyalty when it comes to which gang they'll work for, Ottenbreit said.

"If one of these runners leaves his group and goes to another group or
gang, you'll find that they are also taking the customers with them."

Gang members then target runners who've defected to intimidate others with
similar plans, Ottenbreit said.

"Sometimes it's been the runner, and sometimes it's been whoever on that
side, just to send a message.

"It's a crime of opportunity with them, because they basically work 24-7 in
that type of thing."