Pubdate: Mon, 08 Mar 2010 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 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, Vancouver Sun GANGS TURN FROM MURDER Violence Still Used To Solve Disputes Metro Vancouver gangsters are turning away from murder, but still solving their disputes with beatings, kidnappings and threats, the head of the Gang Task Force says. Supt. Dan Malo, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said the rampant out-of-control shootings of a year ago may seem like a memory, but gangs remain in conflict and dangerous across the region. "I think there is a definite change in behaviour of the gangs still involved in conflict. We still hear there is conflict going on between gangs. There are still dial-a-dope operations being taken over with violence. But that level of violence involves a beating. Or it might involve a stabbing. "It might involve a kidnapping for four or five hours where there's an acceptance of a loss of a territory or a drug line," Malo said in an interview. "They are not taking that behavioural final step which is that Billy or Bobby has got to die." By this time last year, there had been 21 murders in the Lower Mainland, 14 of which were suspected of being gang-linked. So far this year, there have been seven murders in the region with just four suspected of being connected to gangs or organized crime. "We are not hearing about the contracts, whereas last year, I was hearing that a group had five, six, seven or eight contracts on a list of people," Malo said. "Contractors would get a list of four or five people and would pick which of those they were going to go kill." Lower Mainland gangs mostly hire hit men to carry out executions of rivals, Malo said. Some of the more than 50 gangsters arrested in different investigations over the last year are suspected of being responsible for murders, even though they are facing lesser charges, Malo confirmed. As well, other suspected contract killers have been murdered themselves. And others have left the country, Malo said. He said some of the mid-level gangs members are telling the Gang Task Force they have changed their ways. "They haven't really got out of the business," he said. "They have quieted the overt level of violence that they are prepared to act on. So they are still involved in drug dealing." A new disturbing trend is an increase in the number of targeted gang home invasions, Malo said. "Home invasions have definitely spiked," he said. Police reacted to the gang slayings in recent years by shifting their investigative focus to the groups causing the most risk to the public, Malo said. Instead of just targeting traditional organized crime, where the level of violence remains steady, law enforcement agencies went after the most violent and brazen gangs in any given week or month, he said. "We have targeted who we have heard through intelligence sources is currently the highest risk to the public today," he said. "And I think that is a significant shift in thinking and I think really now we are seeing the success of that." Malo said gangsters have to understand that if they take their battle to the streets, there will be severe consequences. Gangsters don't necessarily go after enemies themselves. They often put the contracts out to tender. "They are able to reach somebody who will decide whether they will pick up the contract or not. And sometimes what will happen is that an individual will pick up a contract to kill somebody or sometimes what will happen is the contract is thrown out into the general populous to say anybody who kills so and so, there is $10,000 on their head," Malo explained. "Many times, the people that commit these murders will actually ask if this is an exclusive contract for them to pick up or not." Hits are put on people for a variety of reasons, he said. "So many of these contracts, from our experience have been that the gangs have a beef with somebody -it could be everything from a load of drugs that gets lost, to a tax that doesn't get paid to a conflict gang against gang. The reasons for the conflicts -I can make a list of them, but they vary," Malo said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D