Pubdate: Thu, 11 Oct 2007
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Ian Mulgrew

KINGPIN OF PERSIAN ORGANIZED CRIME FINALLY CONVICTED

Crime Boss Was Involved In Trafficking Drugs, Laundering Money And
Bilking Seniors Across The Continent

NORTH SHORE - Prosecutors have finally managed to convict a North
Shore-based Persian organized-crime kingpin involved in trafficking
drugs, laundering money and bilking seniors across the continent.

After lengthy proceedings in New Westminster involving charges of
kidnapping and torture, Omid Tahvili now faces lengthy imprisonment
and extradition to the U.S.

Tahvili, who arrived from Iran in 1994, came to the attention of
authorities after he and his brother-in-law were nabbed on Nov. 30,
2000, with three kilograms of cocaine.

By 2003, at an immigration detention hearing, the RCMP's three-person
Integrated Persian Intelligence Section identified Tahvili's group as
one of the main outfits operating from within the province's Iranian
community.

But, as with so many of the upper-echelon criminals in the Lower
Mainland, Tahvili managed to thumb his nose at the law until he was
arrested in 2005 on these multiple counts.

Even in this case, he could have walked -- three people came forward
and provided him with an alibi. But earlier this month B.C. Supreme
Court Justice Brian Joyce dismissed their testimony for what it was --
fabricated rubbish. A 37-year-old married man with two kids, who
seemingly operated luxury car-rental firms and a detailing company,
Tahvili did not take the stand for good reason. The prosecution would
have shown him for what he was -- a long-time, big-time hoodlum.

His bust in 2000 was part of a joint Vancouver police-RCMP
investigation targeting mid-level drug traffickers who supplied
street-level dealers.

The undercover sweep, which resulted in 39 charges against nine
people, also netted eight kilos of opium, half a kilo of
methamphetamine and 113 grams of Ecstasy. But Tahvili convinced the
judge in that case it wasn't his dope, and his brother-in-law copped a
plea.

According to police intelligence put before an Immigration Board
detention hearing in 2003, Tahvili's gang numbered between 20 and 30
Persian ex-pats and others, including a known contract killer.

They were said to be fencing stolen autos, trafficking in heroin,
opium and crystal meth as well as engaging in fraud and robbery.

By July of 2004, Tahvili's involvement in organized crime spurred the
federal government to begin deportation proceedings against him. But
Ottawa halted them after these charges were laid the following year
and Tahvili imprisoned to await trial.

In this case, Tahvili and brother-in-law Alvin Royhit Pal were charged
with kidnapping a Surrey man in an effort to recover $350,000 of the
group's drug money that went missing from Purolator Courier's Richmond
warehouse.

Pal, who pleaded guilty in the 2000 cocaine bust and served 11 months,
was on parole at the time of the kidnapping.

He was acquitted because the judge wasn't sure the victim fingered the
right man.

Evidence showed that in tracking the missing money, Tahvili learned a
suspected courier employee had quit and returned to Vietnam.

On June 20, 2005, Tahvili kidnapped the man's brother-in-law in an
attempt to wring from him information about the missing cash.

That man's identity is protected by court order because he knew
nothing about the missing money and, in the course of the ordeal, he
was sexually assaulted.

The man testified that two men arrived at his home in a Porsche 911
looking to test-drive a used Mercedes he was selling.

He got in the car with one.

During the test drive, the would-be buyer pulled into a construction
site, the victim testified, and Tahvili was waiting in a tony Infiniti
SUV armed with what appeared to be a handgun.

The man said he was blindfolded and taken to a location where he was
stripped, humiliated and brutally interrogated.

Police think the site was Platinum Touch Auto Detailing in the
1600-block of West Fifth Ave., Vancouver, a firm once owned by
Tahvili's wife, Pamela Pal, and then by a close associate.

Eventually the victim was released after several terrifying hours in
which his family was threatened with rape and death, he thought he was
going to be shot, the edge of a razor blade was run down his spine and
he feared he would be sodomized.

During the investigation, Toronto police confiscated $109,000 in cash
found inside a silver BMW-X5 in North York with one of the gang's
eastern members. In Richmond, the RCMP seized another package
containing $200,000 from Purolator.

In the RCMP's interview with Tahvili after his arrest, Sgt. Al Proulx
described him as the "ringleader, kingpin, the top dog of laundering
money. You're the boss."

In May, Tahvili, his other brother-in-law, Reginald Sanjay Pal, and
Derrick Joseph Squires were ordered extradited to the U.S. to face
charges for running a global telemarketing fraud that targeted
vulnerable, elderly Americans.

Under the scheme, between March 1999 and May 2002, telemarketers
called people telling them they had won a lottery or windfall through
a little-known British investment program.

Before they could collect their cash, however, they had to remit
certain "fees" to cover taxes, currency conversion costs and similar
supposedly incidental expenses.

As the boss, Tahvili allegedly provided financing for the shell
companies behind the scam, while his supposed second-in-command Pal,
closed "sales" and dealt with the credit-card processing firm.

Both the FBI and RCMP were involved in that investigation, which
uncovered more than $3 million US in losses.

There is little question nailing Tahvili is a significant event, and
the investigators deserve kudos.

Still, Tahvili was on police radar the moment he was arrested in that
Nov. 2000 swoop. Yet he continued on his merry way, increasing in
stature as a crime boss, for another half decade.

His tenure as a North Vancouver, Persian Tony Soprano is testament to
the woeful lack of resources this province devotes to fighting
organized crime.
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MAP posted-by: Derek