Pubdate: Thu, 30 Aug 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kelly Sinoski

GANG PRESENCE IN KELOWNA GROWING: RCMP

Coquihalla Highway Has Helped Organized Crime to Spread into the Interior

The takedown of high-ranking Hells Angels members in a raid at a 
Kelowna clubhouse is a stark reminder that the Central Okanagan is 
not immune to the gang activity that has plagued the Lower Mainland.

Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon said his city has been attracting a 
growing number of gangs, including the Independent Soldiers and 
Throttle Lockers, since the Hells Angels first set up shop there in 2003.

"( Gang activity) has grown significantly in the last 10 years," 
McKinnon said. "It started out initially there was none. Then the 
Hells Angels moved in and built their clubhouse here and it's taken off."

The gang activity is indicative of the burgeoning growth in the 
Central Okanagan in the past decade, McKinnon said. Kelowna, the 
fourth-fastest growing city in Canada, now has 130,000 residents, 
while the population of the entire regional district, stretching from 
Peachland to Lake Country, is about 180,000.

The Coquihalla Highway, along with Kelowna's position between 
Vancouver, Alberta and the U. S. border, have also likely contributed 
to the city's popularity as a hub for biker gangs.

"What we're dealing with here is a previous misconception that the 
gang problem was limited to an area," said RCMP Sgt. Duncan Pound. 
"Organized crime groups don't respect the borders; they're looking to 
expand their business and their profits."

Last weekend's raid at the Kelowna Hells Angels clubhouse, police 
say, highlights the fact that organized criminals are expanding their 
territory. Mounties on Saturday kicked in the front door of the 
group's Kelowna clubhouse, a $ 503,000 two-storey stucco and brick 
home located in an older residential neighbourhood close to the downtown core.

The home, purchased by Richard Goldammer and Hans Kurth for $ 231,000 
in 2000, according to B. C. property records, was one of five 
locations searched by the RCMP as part of a 21- month drug 
trafficking investigation that involved law enforcement officials 
from the Okanagan to Panama.

Eight people, including fullpatch Hells Angels David Giles, 52, and 
Brian Oldham, 45, were charged for their alleged role in a scheme to 
grow marijuana to fund the importation of 500 kilograms of cocaine 
from South America. All accused are slated to appear in B. C. Supreme 
Court next Wednesday.

"The Coquihalla opened up this area of the province. It wasn't easy 
to get to ( before) but now you can be in Surrey in three hours," 
McKinnon said. "If you're not involved in the drug scene, I think you 
can go about your business and not know they exist ... ( but) if you 
go in a nightclub in this community you're going to see gang members.

"A real eye-opener for an awful lot of people was the gangland murder 
of ( Jonathan) Bacon last year. The fact that could happen in 
daylight in our community was a real shocker to a lot of people."

Bacon, a 30- year-old Red Scorpion, died outside the Delta Grand 
hotel in a hail of bullets fired at a Porsche Cayenne in which he and 
other gangsters were travelling. A Hells Angel and an Independent 
Soldier were also wounded in that attack.

Also last year, seven Okanagan men, including two full-patch Hells 
Angels, were charged in the June beating death of Kelowna resident 
Dain Phillips. The case was believed to be the first in the 28- year- 
history of the Hells Angels in B. C. where a club member was charged 
with murder. In 2010, the RCMP's Federal Drug Enforcement Section 
also announced charges against Mexican nationals in two separate 
cocaine- smuggling operations, including one involving Kelowna residents.

A 16- member Gang Task Force based in Kelowna, which tackles the 
issue of gang activity, declined to comment on the city's organized 
crime situation.

But Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray downplayed the issue. "I would question 
if there's more gang activity in Kelowna or if there's more gang 
activity everywhere," he said.

Pound said while some gangs such as the Hells Angels - and puppet 
clubs such as the Throttle Lockers and the King Pin Crew - have a 
foothold in Kelowna, others use the city as a recreation destination 
or a meeting place.

Of those arrested following the raid last weekend, for instance, 
Giles was the only one confirmed to own property in Kelowna, a $ 
621,000 home in Lakeview Heights that he bought for $ 450,000 in 
2004, according to property records. The other accused live across B. 
C., in homes stretching from Delta to Osoyoos and Castlegar.

Gray noted Kelowna city officials are also becoming more aggressive 
in the battle against gangs. The police budget for the 154- member 
force has doubled in the past six years, he said, from $ 11 million 
to $ 22 million this year. Police have also moved toward a 
crime-reduction strategy, aimed at getting the "big fish" out of the game.

This means criminals will no longer be invisible in his city. "We 
want to be known as an extremely safe community," Gray said. "Council 
is very committed to supplying the resources required to reduce the 
rate of all crime."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom