Pubdate: Wed, 08 Apr 2009
Source: Langley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Langley Times
Contact:  http://www.langleytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1230
Author: Frank Bucholtz

GANG WARS NOT OVER

Congratulations are due to the many police officers who investigated 
the various gangland shootings of recent years, and have now arrested 
four men in connection with the killing of six people in a Surrey 
high-rise in 2007. Two were innocent victims who were in the wrong 
place at the wrong time.

Among those arrested is Jamie Bacon, one of the Bacon brothers, the 
infamous Abbotsford trio. They and other gangsters have shown a 
callous disregard for anyone but themselves.

One of their close associates, Kevin LeClair, who spent part of his 
teen years in Cloverdale, was murdered in broad daylight outside the 
Thunderbird Village IGA on Feb. 6.

With the arrests, some people feel that the gang violence will 
subside drastically. Do not become complacent.

Langley RCMP Supt. Janice Armstrong told Langley City council on 
Monday that there are many more gangsters at large, and their battle 
for a share of the lucrative drug business will continue.

History tells us that she is right. There have been several other 
gang wars in the Lower Mainland, with the most renowned in recent 
years involving several rival gangs in Vancouver in the 1990s. They 
became increasingly brazen, and while the violence slowed down after 
a number of the leaders were killed, it never ended.

The latest gang war is simply another group of people doing the same thing.

People need to be wary of these people. They are not up to any good.

While police are well aware of many of them, there are others that 
have not come to police attention. They may be lower-level 
lieutenants in one gang or the other, but they will be on the move 
upwards as their bosses are shot or arrested.

As long as there is a market for drugs, there will be those willing 
to sell it for big profits. Some young men in their 20s are attracted 
to a lifestyle of easy money and a fast life, and that attraction 
won't fade, no matter how many people are killed or arrested.

They know the risks, and they think of themselves as immune.

B.C. will always be a drug hot spot, given our geographical position 
in North America, our major port and a lackadaisical attitude toward 
drug use that many people hold.

The gang wars may be temporarily slowed, but they aren't over.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom