Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jul 2004
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: A12
Copyright: 2004 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: DeNeen L. Brown, Washington Post Foreign Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Vancouver

VANCOUVER STRUGGLES WITH GANG VIOLENCE

Long Cycle of Drug-Related Homicides Plagues Indian Immigrant Community

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- The killings were brazen, often carried out 
execution-style, police said.

The most famous case involved a masked man who walked up to a notorious 
drug dealer on a dance floor and fired a bullet into his head behind the ear.

The dealer dropped to the crowded floor. Witnesses told police that they 
saw nothing.

In the past 13 years, police have reported 76 young men killed in the 
Vancouver area in gang-related violence. The authorities blame drug deals 
gone bad and local turf wars, mostly involving well-to-do young people of 
Indian descent.

Immigrant community leaders in Vancouver complain of police inaction. 
Police say they have tried, but have been unable to develop leads that 
would stop the bloodshed.

"They are Indo-Canadians killing Indo-Canadians," said Kash Heed, 
commanding officer of the 3rd Police District in Vancouver. "Seventy-six 
murders . . . mainly within one ethnic group. The cycle of violence, we've 
not cracked it yet."

Canadians are not accustomed to seeing widespread gun violence at home. 
Canada, with strict firearms laws, has lower levels of such crimes than 
does the United States. According to the government's Canada Firearms 
Center, the rate of murders committed with firearms in 2001 was 6.5 times 
higher in the United States than in Canada.

"The community is quite upset and worried about this violence and killing," 
said Balwant Singh Gill, president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, one of 
the largest Sikh temples in North America, with 37,000 members. The Sikh 
religious minority of India has at least 19 million adherents worldwide.

"The laws of this land are lenient," Gill said, seated at his temple, 
surrounded by bushes of pink and red roses. "Only a few of the murders have 
been solved," he said. Gill said he has been threatened with violence, 
apparently by gang members, because he has spoken out against their 
activity. In one incident, shots were fired at his house. Police confirmed 
the threats against him.

The gangs deal mostly in marijuana, according to police, and specialize in 
a popular variety grown in the province called B.C. bud. "B.C. bud 
marijuana is highly sought after in the United States," said constable Alex 
Borden of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

"It is often exchanged for cocaine, cash or firearms. It is a deal between 
two criminal gangs, one on the south side of the border and one on the 
north side, guns for marijuana," Borden said. "If there is violence in our 
streets and firearms are involved, we are concerned the firearms come from 
across the border."

In Blaine, Wash., Joe Giuliano, assistant chief at the local U.S. Border 
Patrol office, said 23 Canadian smugglers have been arrested on the U.S. 
side of the border this year. "Virtually all marijuana smuggling in the 
past fiscal year is either directly or indirectly tied back to the 
Indo-Canadian community," Giuliano said.

Amar Randhawa, 28, co-founder of UNITED, the Unified Network of 
Indo-Canadians for Togetherness and Education Through Discussion, said 
Canadian police have not been aggressive enough in tracking down leads to 
stop the killings. "Out here, it's a slap on the hand," Randhawa said. "Law 
enforcement can't crack the lower hierarchy, let alone get to the top."

Randhawa said he knew many of the victims and killers, and a number of them 
attended high school together. "Their background is Punjab Sikhs, ranging 
in age from 18 to 35," Randhawa said. "They were all my generation. 
Sometimes we know who the people are. Everyone knows. It's the worst-kept 
secret. Police know, but you don't see them cracking down."

Police describe the problem as a closed cycle of murder and revenge.

"One day suspect, and the next day victim," said Heed, the police 
commander. "One day you are the shooter. The next day you're lying in your 
coffin."

He said the killings can be traced to a dispute between Bindy Johal and Ron 
Donsanjh, two notorious drug dealers. First Donsanjh's brother Jimmy was 
killed in February 1994.

"Johal was the supposed suspect," Heed said, and Ron Donsanjh heard about 
it. "They challenged one another. 'Come get me! No, come get me!' " Heed 
recounted.

Two months later, Ron Donsanjh, 29, was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Johal was arrested in connection with both slayings. Johal's trial was one 
of the most expensive in Canadian history, officials said, because it was 
surrounded by intense security measures. But the trial ended in acquittal.

A juror, Gillian Guess, was later charged and convicted of obstruction of 
justice, because she had a relationship with one of the co-defendants, 
authorities said.

But Johal was freed. Four years later, in December 1998, he was killed at a 
Vancouver nightclub. Police said a masked man shot him in the back of the 
head, then fled. No one has been charged in Johal's slaying.

The story of Johal inspires young men who have been recruited in high 
schools to become gang members like him, Heed said.

"We still have Indo-Canadian males who want to be the next Johal," he said. 
"When you talk to them they don't realize they have a short life span. They 
have the image of Johal's lifestyle: the cars, the money, the women. They 
did not see Johal in jail crying and scared."

The gang members are often from well-off families, local leaders and 
officials said. "Unlike in other countries, people involved in the gang 
activity here are not the poor or disadvantaged," said Wallace T. Oppal, a 
justice of the Court of Appeal of British Columbia. "For the most part, 
kids involved here are people who come from middle-class and upper-class 
homes. They get involved for the glamour."

Oppal said parental neglect is sometimes a factor. "Parents are devoted to 
not only buying the first home, but the second home and third home," he 
said from his chambers. "They provide their children with the means, but 
not the guidance."

Oppal said he also knew some of those involved in the violence. "The 
community is relatively small," he said. "People know one another. I get 
stopped all the time. People want to talk about it. This is the number one 
issue in the community."

Oppal cited the manslaughter conviction of Hardip Uppal, a bright student 
who had won a scholarship. "He was a person with impeccable background," 
Oppal said. "He killed someone in a drug deal."

Uppal organized the killing of Gurpreet Sohi on Sept. 14, 2000, according 
to testimony, because he was seeking revenge for the wounding of his 
brother a few days before. Another man was the gunman, but Uppal was the 
setup man, making sure Sohi was home at the appointed time.

"He put his own skin ahead of his friend's life," said Paul Williamson, the 
judge who sentenced him to five years in prison.

He called the killing a "coldblooded execution of a victim sitting in his 
home. This dreadful, amoral cycle of bloodletting, violence and 
vigilante-like retribution must end," Williamson said at the sentencing 
hearing.

Gill, the president of the Sikh temple, said police have said they need 
more leads. "Some people are scared to open their mouths because they are 
afraid they will get killed," he said.

Heed acknowledged that police are criticized for not stopping the violence, 
but said the families of gang members need to help solve the problem. 
Family members, he said, deny their sons are involved in crime.

"We've gone to notify people their son was killed and they have been in 
such denial they slammed the door in the police officer's face," Heed said. 
"They don't want to believe their child is involved. . . . They will ask 
the question to their dying day after their son is murdered why they didn't 
do something." 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake