Pubdate: Mon, 05 Jan 2015
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network
Contact:  http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Jason van Rassel
Page: A1

ORGANIZED CRIME EVOLVING

RCMP boss says Alberta facing rise of drug cartels, motorcycle
gangs

The arrival of Mexican drug traffickers, along with increased activity
by outlaw motorcycle gangs, is changing the face of organized crime in
Alberta.

Mexican cartels have long played a role in exporting narcotics that
end up in Canada, but the RCMP's commanding officer in Alberta says
the syndicates are now basing people here to import and distribute
cocaine and other drugs.

"That's a very interesting development because they've essentially
eliminated the middlemen. Those people are directly from Mexico,
they're key players in a Mexican cartel who have established
themselves in Alberta, and that's a concern," said deputy commissioner
Marianne Ryan.

In Calgary, Calgary's FOB gang and its rivals, the FOB Killers, had
been responsible for bringing large amounts of cocaine into the city.

The FOB Killers ( FK) were closely aligned with Vancouver's United
Nations gang, which for years sent members to Mexico to do business
with the drug cartels.

However, the environment has dramatically changed in recent years: UN
gang leader Clay Roueche is serving a 30- year drug trafficking
sentence in the United States, and several other key members have been
imprisoned or killed - including three murdered in Mexico. In Calgary,
a long-running war between FOB and FK was responsible for at least 25
homicides from 2002-09. Many veteran members who haven't been killed
are now behind bars in connection with the violence.

A warning by Calgary police in November that Mexican cartels were
attempting to establish a foothold here was followed a month later by
an announcement that authorities had arrested four people allegedly
connected to La Familia, a Mexican drug gang. Police said the suspects
were supplying drugs in Edmonton, as well as several communities
policed by the RCMP: Fort McMurray, Drayton Valley, Lloydminster and
Red Deer.

"I think that says something. I hope that's a trend we can stay on top
of," Ryan said.

The RCMP provides front-line policing throughout rural Alberta under
cost-sharing agreements with the provincial government and several
municipalities. There is also a smaller number of RCMP members in
Alberta working in areas of federal jurisdiction like national security.

The province pays Ottawa 70 per cent toward the cost of the 1,550
officers stationed in Alberta.

An additional 55 officers included in this year's provincial budget
has helped keep up with population growth, but Ryan said demands for
more officers from municipal clients such as Fort McMurray, Leduc and
Lloydminster, as well as Calgary-area communities like Airdrie, are
"across the board."

Part of the challenge has been finding recruits in a competitive job
market, Ryan said, but she added the migration of organized crime to
smaller centres policed by the RCMP is also adding to the pressures on
the force. Ryan pointed to the establishment of a Hells Angels chapter
in Fort McMurray as evidence organized crime groups are going to
greater lengths in pursuit of profits.

"Why are they there? I'm sure they have an answer for that, but I
think we have ours as well," Ryan said.

Elsewhere in the province, the RCMP has observed the establishment of
support clubs - affiliates that take direction from major motorcycle
gangs like the Hells Angels and Outlaws - that provide added reach and
influence for the parent organizations.

"That, to me, is a clear sign that outlaw motorcycle gangs are alive
and well," Ryan said.

Police have been able to make inroads against that expansion through
initiatives like Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT), a
provincial umbrella organization targeting serious and organized crime
with 400 investigators from the RCMP, municipal police forces and
Alberta Sheriffs.

Criminal organizations have no regard for jurisdictional boundaries,
so police have to respond in kind by co-operating and sharing
intelligence, said Ryan.

"That's what really works ... when that Intel is borderless," she
said.

In early December, the chairman of ALERT's civilian board, Shami
Sandhu, raised the spectre of cuts to the organization, saying the
government was looking at eliminating 70 positions.

ALERT later retracted the statement, and Solicitor General Jonathan
Denis said the province will maintain the current level of funding to
the organization next year.

"There never was intent to reduce their staffing levels," Denis
said.

As Canada's federal police force, the RCMP is the lead agency
responsible for national security - an issue that's been especially
sensitive in Alberta with the revelation that several men who
worshipped at a downtown Calgary mosque have travelled to the Middle
East to fight with jihadist groups.

"Here in Alberta, we have significant RCMP resources devoted to
national security, and I think the public should feel confident that
we're doing absolutely everything we can to make sure we maintain that
high priority and that level of intensity, along with our partners in
Edmonton and Calgary," she said.

Why Calgary became such fertile ground for several local extremists is
"the $60,000 question," said Ryan. Although some of the terror
recruits are rumoured to have been killed in foreign fighting, Ryan
said local authorities must remain vigilant against others becoming
radicalized.

"I don't think anyone can say the worst is over," she said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt