Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 2009
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 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: Kim Bolan, Staff Writer

U.S. SEEKS 30-YEAR TERM FOR 'DRUG LORD' UN GANG LEADER 'DANGEROUS,
REMORSELESS'

'His Organization Was Equal Parts Corporate And Violent,' Prosecutor
Says

United Nations gang leader Clay Roueche was like a multinational
entrepreneur, expanding his lucrative drug empire across North America
with a combination of corporate ingenuity and violence.

He earned premier status in the criminal underworld by overseeing "the
movement of tens of thousands of pounds of marijuana, thousands of
kilograms of cocaine and millions of U.S. dollars," U.S. prosectors
say.

For that reason, the B.C. man should spend the next 30 years behind
bars when he is sentenced in a Seattle courtroom in December, the U.S.
Attorney says in more than 60 pages of just-filed court documents.

"His organization was equal parts corporate and violent," says the
sentencing memo, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan Roe and
Roger Rogoff.

"He used private airplanes, float planes, helicopters, cars,
semi-trucks and coded BlackBerry telephones to create a secret and
successful organization that he planned to extend into the Far East
and South America. He employed pilots, drug couriers and money
transporters to carry out the objectives of his organization."

The documents quote former associates of Roueche, who cooperated with
U.S. officials, saying he threatened to kill people who wanted out.
One said Roueche claimed he had beaten someone with "dull machetes."

"His organization has used any means necessary to carry out this goal,
including threats and violence."

Roe and Rogoff said Roueche "worked hard, with laudable organizational
skills coupled with an attention to detail, to achieve the moniker
'drug lord.'

"The affidavits of the various cooperators paint the picture of a
controlled, powerful man who appeared willing to take whatever
necessary steps in order to continue his lucrative drug-trafficking
business."

Roueche, 34, entered a surprise guilty plea last April to conspiring
to smuggle cocaine and marijuana, as well as money laundering. He was
to be sentenced Nov. 5, but on Wednesday the hearing was postponed
until mid-December because his lawyer requested more time.

The documents say the UN founder "was the public face of this violent,
quasi-corporate group, and led its drug trafficking
endeavours."

"The group used guns, threats and violence to keep its contracted
workers and gang members in line and to ensure that no one informed on
the group's activities," Roe and Rogoff said.

"The UN Gang is the type of organized, sophisticated drug trading
group that presents a significant danger to the safety, peace and
security of the United States."

The sophisticated law enforcement probe that led to Roueche's downfall
is laid out in the sentencing documents.

"Using customary investigative techniques, routine arrests and
seizures, confidential informants, undercover agents, recorded phone
calls, a consensual wire intercept, search warrants, physical
surveillance, electronic surveillance and inter-agency cooperation as
well as other sophisticated law enforcement techniques, a multitude of
federal law enforcement agencies undertook to dismantle or disrupt the
organization," the documents say.

Roueche was nabbed in May 2008 as he attempted to attend a gang
meeting in Mexico. Mexican authorities -- tipped off about his
criminal connections -- turned Roueche away and he was forced onto a
flight that landed in Texas, where an warrant was executed.

Roe and Rogoff say in their memo that they understand 30 years is "an
extraordinary sentencing recommendation."

"The government makes the recommendation because Clay Roueche is an
extraordinarily dangerous, remorseless defendant, who committed
extraordinarily serious crimes. He deserves this extraordinary
sentence," they said.

The breadth of the conspiracy as laid out in the court documents is
startling.

U.S. agents "identified at least 15 helicopter landing sites on
federal and state lands in Washington state that were being used by
the UN gang for drug and human smuggling," the documents say.

The agents believe Roueche spearheaded over several years the shipment
of at least 2,000 pounds of B.C. bud a month into the U.S. and the
movement into Canada of 200 pounds of cocaine per month.

"This sort of criminality dramatically increases the United States'
illicit drug supply by causing Mexican and Colombian drug trafficking
organizations to smuggle more cocaine," Special Agent Peter Ostrovsky
said in an affidavit.

"In all, the investigation resulted in the seizure of 2,169 pounds of
Canadian marijuana, 335 kilograms of cocaine, $2,033,388 in U.S.
currency, two pounds of crack cocaine, four pounds of methamphetamine,
and five firearms," Roe said. "In addition, agents conducted the
undercover delivery of $748,460 in U.S. currency at the direction of
Roueche."

U.S. investigators got help from the Combined Forces Special
Enforcement Unit-B.C. after Roueche's arrest in Texas.

The CFSEU information highlights Roueche's leadership role in the
organization and "his use of violence within the gang is clear from
two different themes," the sentencing memo says.

Intercepted conversations of Roueche's dad Rupert indicated his son's
"long-running role in drug-trafficking."

The U.S. Attorney says a Roueche letter intercepted from jail
indicates "he simply wishes to continue supporting his organization
until he can get out and pick up where he left off."

The letter was addressed to his mother, but began "To my Bro's [sic],"
the documents say.

"Roueche spends two handwritten pages re-dedicating himself to his
gang. He muses about the 'hella cool' cellmates he had in the Federal
Detention Center, commenting that he closely listened to their stories
because he has, 'a big thirst for knowledge.' "

The memo said Roueche was impressed by one cellmate because he had
"crazy tatts and bullet wounds everywhere as well as stacks of charges
LOL."

"Roueche simply shows no desire to walk away from the very people with
whom he surrounded himself during his crimes," Roe and Rogoff said.
"His behaviour and his letters evince a continuing need to lead his
'crew' and return to the drug trafficking he has lived for the past
several years. He does not show a need or an inclination to change."

Roueche deserves to spend three decades in jail because of the
"creativity, toughness, and intelligence required to build and
maintain an illegal organization the size of the UN gang."

"Roueche has travelled the world to find new sources of supply and new
potential markets for his drugs. He is worldly and charismatic.
Unfortunately, he has chosen to use these traits in a manner that
serves to hurt the people of the United States on as grand a scale as
possible," the memo says.

"Roueche's participation in the distribution of drugs in this country
has fuelled the destruction of countless addicts, has destroyed
countless relationships, and has broken up countless families . . ."

EVIDENCE TRACES ROUTE ILLEGAL HANDGUN TOOK FROM WASHINGTON STATE TO VANCOUVER

Glock later found in gang leader's condo

A Glock handgun found last year in the Coquitlam condo of UN gang
leader Clay Roueche was purchased 10 years earlier at a Lakewood,
Wash., gun shop.

Court documents filed for the sentencing hearing of the convicted drug
smuggler show the circuitous route the illicit firearm took from
Washington state to Metro Vancouver.

A Tacoma man named Abdul Shaheed Salaam bought the Glock on June 20,
1998 from Rainier Guns, 10505 Bridgeport Way SW, Lakewood, Wash.

Salaam presented a Washington state drivers' licence and a concealed
weapons permit, according to a firearms trace summary report prepared
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

There are three little hand-written notes attached to the summary and
signed by Salaam.

"I, Abdul Salaam, sell my Glock 19 SN AM 5421 to Darrow Brooks," the
note referring to the Roueche gun says.

The two other notes say Salaam sold an AK-47 and a Desert Eagle 44
magnum to Brooks.

A person named Birgis Brooks later admitted to U.S. officials that he
was a UN associate and bought the Glock from a Tacoma man.

"Brooks subsequently admitted that, in addition to all of his
marijuana and money smuggling activity, he also procured a gun that
was transported to Roueche in Canada," Special Agent Peter Ostrovsky
said in an affidavit filed this week.

"He gave the gun to another man, who helped smuggle it into Canada.
Brooks told law enforcement agents that Roueche and most other UN gang
members had guns hidden in stash boxes (hidden compartments) in their
cars. This particular 9-mm Glock was found in Roueche's apartment when
Canadian law enforcement searched it." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr