Pubdate: Fri, 08 Feb 2013
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 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

GREEKS BOSS GETS LIFE FOR BRUTAL GANG KILLING

Manolakos Gets No Chance of Parole for 25 Years

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bill Smart decried public gang violence 
Thursday as he sentenced Greeks boss Peter Manolakos to life in 
prison with no hope of parole for 25 years for first-degree murder.

At the same time, Smart handed Manolakos a concurrent sentence of 15 
years - minus more than 13 years pre-trial credit - for a 
manslaughter conviction in the brutal beating death of Greeks driver 
David Marnuik in July 2004.

Manolakos was convicted for ordering his enforcers to find Marnuik 
and beat him for stealing drugs and money while on shift.

Smart also sentenced Greeks associate Douglas Brownell to 17 years, 
minus 12 years pre-trial credit for two manslaughter convictions in 
the deaths of Greeks gang rivals Thomas Bryce in November 2004 and 
Ron Thom in May 2005.

Manolakos' first-degree murder conviction was for ordering the hit on 
Thom, who the Greeks mistakenly believed was helping police. Smart 
said Brownell was not an active member of the Greeks at the time, but 
was working in the drug trade to support his own addiction.

The judge accepted statements made by Brownell at his sentencing 
hearing last month that he is remorseful for his actions and has 
turned his life around.

Smart started the sentencing hearing at the Vancouver Law Courts by 
making what he called "general observations" about the gang situation in B.C.

"On an almost weekly basis, the public sees and hears the risks posed 
to a peaceful and just society by gangs involved in the drug trade. 
Such gangs challenge the rule of law and create fear in law-abiding 
citizens that they, their children and other family members may be 
harmed simply because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time," 
Smart said.

"The consequences to individuals and the community caused by gangs 
trafficking illicit drugs are extraordinary. They include violence on 
public streets, property crime, ruined lives and huge expenditures of 
public resources. Members of gangs involved in the illicit drug trade 
in Canada convicted of murder, manslaughter and other violent 
offences must be met with harsh sentences."

Smart noted Manolakos's role as "the leader of a criminal 
organization that operated an illegal drug trafficking business."

"He is an intelligent man who maintained control of his gang and 
expanded his drug business by the use of violence and intimidation. 
He ran a business with the apparent indifference as to the 
consequences of the drugs he sold and the violence he encouraged had 
on individuals or the community of Vernon," Smart said.

Brownell's role in the two deaths was lesser than others, and in part 
related to his drug use at the time. While Brownell joined in the 
fatal beating of Bryce on a popular beach front outside of Vernon, he 
did not inflict the fatal baseball bat blow to the head, Smart said.

Brownell's role in Thom's death a few months later was to escort him 
from his campsite to the spot where the Greeks were waiting for him. 
He didn't know they planned to kill Thom, Smart said.

Both Manolakos and Brownell got two-for-one credit for most of their 
pre-trial custody. (Routine double time credit was eliminated by the 
federal government after their arrest.) Smart also gave Brownell 
2.5-to-one pre-trial jail credit for the last year of his 
incarceration because he was held in solitary confinement due to 
threats against him.

Three other Greeks enforcers - Dale Sipes, Leslie Podolski and 
Sheldon O'Donnell - have already been sentenced to life in prison 
with no parole for 25 years for their roles in the slayings of 
Marnuik, Bryce and Thom.

William Mastop, a lawyer who pleaded guilty to working for the gang, 
will be sentenced next month.

The RCMP put together a special task force to look into the gang's 
activities in 2004 and 2005, resulting in arrests and charges in May 2006.

Greeks gang members are also suspects in four other slayings in the 
north Okanagan.

At the time of the first Greeks arrests in May 2006, police said the 
gangsters were major players in the drug trade in the Okanagan and 
also had tentacles that reached to Grande Prairie, Edmonton, 
Vancouver and other cities. They also had links to the Hells Angels.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom