Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jan 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: Kim Bolan UN GANG'S KEY CARTEL CONTACT GUNNED DOWN IN MEXICO Man who often returned to Surrey believed to have owed money after losing shipment of cocaine CULIACAN, Mexico -- A B.C. man executed in the Mexican state of Sinaloa this week was a high-ranking member of the United Nations gang who had direct contact with Mexican cartels, The Vancouver Sun has learned. Salih Abdulaziz Sahbaz, 37, spent much of the last three years in Mexico and was the key cartel contact for the notorious B.C. gang, police sources confirmed. But he also returned regularly to Surrey, where he had family ties. Sahbaz was found early Monday at an intersection in Culiac=E1n, the capital of cartel-plagued Sinaloa state. He had been shot in the head with a .45-calibre gun. Sahbaz had taken over the Mexican end of the business after two other UN gang members, Ahmet (Lou) Kaawach and Elliott (Taco) Castenada, were gunned down in front of a taco stand in Guadalajara in July 2008. He is believed to have owed money to at least one cartel after losing a shipment of cocaine and was working off his debt when he was slain. Sahbaz had been active in the UN gang since at least 2004, when he and several other Iraqi refugees were brought into the fold by former leader Clay Roueche. Sahbaz is in an infamous photo of UN members dressed in black taken at the March 2005 funeral of gangster Evan Appell, who died of an overdose. Sahbaz had been charged twice with trafficking drugs in Vancouver. At one point, he was boss of the UN gang's "Kurdish Crew" that controlled the Downtown Eastside drug trade. But he also had a falling out with associate Barzan Tilli-Choli after a Vancouver home invasion directed by Tilli-Choli targeted a friend of Sahbaz's. They are believed to have later patched up their differences. A police affidavit filed in court and earlier obtained by The Sun described a 2006 New Year's Eve party in Vancouver attended by Sahbaz and other UN gang members. When gang squad members checked out the event at the Plush nightclub on Pacific Boulevard, they "recognized many of the males in the private gathering or party as being members or associates of the UN gang," the affidavit said. Roueche was at the party with Sahbaz, who was kicked out of the club, according to the document. Officers noticed that Sahbaz was wearing "a diamond-encrusted ring with traditional Chinese characters on it." He allowed the Vancouver police to photograph the ring. The characters "translate into the English language as United Nations," the affidavit said. The UN gang was founded in the Fraser Valley by Roueche and others in 1997. It consisted of B.C.-born men and newer immigrants - mostly from Asia - and once boasted more than 100 members and another 100 associates. But the UN has been decimated in recent years by murders, shootings and arrests of key members in both Canada and the U.S. Sahbaz, Castenada and Kaawach all died in Mexico. Adam Kataoka was killed in Argentina in late 2009. Diane Meyer and Michael Gordon were gunned down in the Fraser Valley in 2008. Last November, Axel Curtis was shot to death in Vancouver. Roueche was arrested in the U.S. in May 2008 and is now serving a 30- year sentence for smuggling cocaine and marijuana and laundering millions in drug profits. At least a dozen of his B.C. mules and associates have also been convicted in the U.S. Tilli-Choli and five others are awaiting trial in B.C. Supreme Court for murder and conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly plotting to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates. Several more UN members or associates are before the courts on drug trafficking, attempted murder and murder charges. Two others - Conor D'Monte and Cory Vallee - were also charged with murder a year ago, but have not been located. There is an international warrant for their arrest. Gang expert Doug Spencer said Tuesday he is not surprised to learn of Sahbaz's demise. "It is more than expected," said Spencer, a former VPD detective now with Transit police. "I knew it was coming because he was living the life and when they are living the life, they all get it." Spencer incorporates new gang murders into the anti-gang presentations he does in Metro Vancouver schools. "It is an important message to get out that for these guys, there is nowhere to hide," Spencer said. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt