Pubdate: Sat, 01 Jun 2002 Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://www.fyiottawa.com/ottsun.shtml Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329 Author: Lisa Lisle, Ottawa Sun BROTHERS PLEAD GUILTY TO DRUG CHARGES Two Ottawa brothers who headed up a multimillion-dollar international drug ring handed over almost $1 million in assets yesterday after pleading guilty to drug charges. Ottawa real estate agent James Kenny, 48, and his 52-year-old brother Brian Kenny pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic drugs, simple drug trafficking, conspiracy to possess proceeds of crime and money laundering. James Kenny pleaded guilty to an additional charge of possession for the purposes of trafficking. Both men, who along with two dozen others were busted after a joint-force operation dubbed Project Angle, were handed a five-year prison sentence and were forced to hand over cash and assets obtained by crime. The assets included homes, time shares, cars and a sail boat which is believed to have been used to bring hundreds of kilograms of hashish into Nova Scotia from Gibraltar twice a year. 'Motivation Was Greed' Once in Halifax, the drugs were unloaded and then shipped to Ontario, where they were distributed in large quantities. "It's clear they were offences for which the only motivation was greed," federal Crown prosecutor Ann Alder told the court. According to the agreed statement of facts, neither Brian Kenny nor any of their distributors had legitimate jobs. "Basically, they were on the payroll of this organization," Alder said, adding that apartments and trips for the so-called employees were funded by the Kenny brothers. Police recorded hundreds of conversations between the Kenny brothers and their associates, in which real estate terms were used as code for drugs and cash. The day before the scheduled police raids, Brian and James Kenny had a telephone conversation about a piece of property consisting of 40 acres. In one of the 24 searches conducted by police Nov. 13, 2001, 40 kg of recently delivered hashish was found. In all, police seized 93 kg of hashish, more than $200,000 in cash, a kilogram of marijuana, a small amount of cocaine, five vehicles and nine firearms in raids conducted in Ottawa, the Outaouais, Eastern Ontario, Laval, Que., and Halifax. Tax Evasion Also pleading guilty to tax evasion, both men admitted to failing to each claim $513,436 in income between 1989 and 2000. They were handed a six-month jail sentence to be served concurrently with their prison time. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth