WHAT IF YOUR NEIGHBOUR HAS IT ALL - EXCEPT A JOB?

Drug dealers and other criminals who adopt lifestyles that most working
stiffs can only dream of get away with it often because their neighbours
aren't suspicious enough to tip off police, according to members of
Kingston's Proceeds of Crime Unit.

"If they see someone who's moved in next door and they bought a big house
that's $300,000 and they see that they don't work, [they should be asking]
'How do they live like that?' " RCMP Sgt. John Dempster, head of the unit,
told a law enforcement seminar in Kingston last week.

It doesn't happen enough, said Cpl. Michel Aubin, a member of the unit.

"You'd be surprised at not only the houses [they own] but, you know, assets
basically - vehicles, boats, lifestyles.

"We find that once we've done our investigations neighbours, friends,
associates will report to us that 'I never realized, but I should have; the
signs were there.' "

Dempster said it doesn't take much detective work on the part of the public.

Both men were attending the eighth annual International Law Enforcement
Seminar at Royal Military College, where Aubin was one of the guest speakers.

He and the OPP's John Corcoran took seminar participants through the case
histories of two proceeds-of-crime investigations in the late 1990s to
illustrate how effective they can be as a crime-fighting tool.

Corcoran centred on the Hamilton investigation of John Croituro, a
professional wrestler who went by the name Johnny K-9.

Police contended that his main income was from drug dealing, and the
Proceeds of Crime Unit went after his assets. Officers obtained a search
warrant for his home, seized three Harley-Davidson motorcycles he owned,
$10,000 in cash, household furnishings, electronics, jewelry and other
property.

"When we left the house," Corcoran said, "the only thing left was a dog and
a Christmas tree."

The wrestler and his wife eventually signed off on all of the seized
property after they were told the Proceeds of Crime Unit could seek a
fine-in-lieu on investigators' calculations of another $100,000 to $125,000
in hidden assets.

Corcoran said Croituro was "never really afraid of jail, because he was a
very respected criminal - the only thing that scared him was loss of
stature and his assets."

Corcoran also credited a related investigation into the Satan's Choice in
Hamilton with breaking the motorcycle gang's hold on the city. Corcoran
claims that Croituro was president of the bikers club, a charge the
wrestler has disputed.

The Proceeds of Crime Unit went after the Hamilton chapter's clubhouse - a
refurbished building in the city's industrial area - claiming it was a
proceed of crime. Officers got a restraining order to prevent the bikers
from selling the property and, since vandalism was a possibility, they
convinced a court that the bikers should be barred from using the building
even while they continued to pay for it.

Corcoran told the seminar that in 1998, the clubhouse was forfeited to the
Crown, the Hamilton bikers lost their charter, most of the members moved on
and the gang blamed the chapter president and revoked his membership.

"He's an outcast now in the criminal subculture," Corcoran said.

Aubin's case involved three men connected to the Kingston area who police
believed were smuggling drugs, mainly hash oil and marijuana from the
Carribbean. Officers reconstructed how the the men converted drug money
into property and other assets, which were usually registered to aliases or
other people.

Eventually, the Proceeds of Crime Unit restrained or seized $3.5 million in
assets. The courts ordered $2.8 million forfeited, which, Corcoran points
out, "is an exact 80-per-cent success rate."

The Kingston unit today is working on four major projects involving drugs
and 15 to 20 suspects, Dempster said.