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Police Bust Intricate Organized Crime Ring
Pubdate: Thu, 14 Aug 2003
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Page: Front Page
Authors: Neal Hall, Chad Skelton and David Hogben
POLICE BUST INTRICATE ORGANIZED CRIME RING
A two-year police investigation -- Project Ecru -- has struck a major blow
against a large crack cocaine trafficking organization. Sun reporters Neal
Hall, Chad Skelton and David Hogben tell the story of murder, money and
mobile drug labs
A two-year investigation aimed at cracking down on organized crime and
motorcycle gangs in the Lower Mainland has resulted in charges against 12
men, including an alleged Hells Angels associate, police said Wednesday.
The investigation marks the first time in B.C. history that a person has
been charged under new federal organized-crime legislation.
Anthony Terezakis, 43, the alleged Hells Angels associate, has been charged
with instructing the commission of an offence for the benefit of a criminal
organization -- a drug ring -- that allegedly used mobile laboratories to
supply crack cocaine and heroin to a highly organized street-level
distribution operation in the Downtown Eastside.
Police said the arrests -- of suspects in Vancouver, Kelowna, and Winnipeg
- -- will strike a blow against organized crime.
"It is a major breakthrough in the sense that we brought an organized crime
charge against an individual," said Vancouver RCMP Inspector Bob Paulson,
the case manager of the investigation, which involved 38 officers from the
Vancouver and Abbotsford police departments, the RCMP and the Organized
Crime Agency of B.C.
Paulson said the arrests indicate the value of integrated investigations of
this kind.
"Organized crime is so complicated, that's the only way to catch these
guys," he said.
Terezakis was sentenced earlier this year to a term of house arrest for
acting as the "muscle" in a marijuana trafficking deal.
An application for a search warrant filed by Vancouver police Detective
Constable Christopher Graham, and obtained by The Vancouver Sun, alleges
that Terezakis ran a sophisticated drug trafficking operation from the
American Hotel, renting three rooms under different names.
Police had the hotel under close surveillance on Aug. 6 and 7, according to
Graham's application.
"Surveillance ... indicated that Terezakis is continuing to operate his
drug distribution network out of the hotel," Graham states. "I observed
members of his organization in and around the hotel during the
surveillance, as well as a multitude of drug addict[s] hanging around the
doors of the hotel."
According to the search warrant, the Vancouver police Emergency Response
Team arrested Terezakis Aug. 7 as he stepped out of his blue 1997 Mercedes
Benz at the back of the American Hotel.
In his affidavit, Graham says he asked for the assistance of the ERT
because he was aware of "weapons, including handguns, being in the
possession of Terezakis and other members of his group."
Following Terezakis's arrest, police searched his three rooms, where they
found a makeshift weapon -- a steel bar with a taped handgrip -- and pieces
of paper that appeared to be used to keep track of drug trafficking business.
Terezakis's older brother, John, 45, was sentenced last summer to 12 years
in prison for playing an "executive-level" role in a deal involving 50
kilograms of cocaine.
Also charged as a result of the joint investigation are Sean Casselman, 30,
and Gus Lioudakis, 61, both of Vancouver, and Andrew Goosen, 19, of
Abbotsford, who are alleged to have conspired together to traffic in
cocaine and heroin.
The indictment against Terezakis states that he, Casselman, Lioudakis,
Goosen and others are part of a criminal organization. Casselman is also
charged with possession of an unlicensed restricted weapon -- a .357 magnum
revolver.
Lioudakis is believed to have been the hotel manager at the American Hotel
at the time the drug offences were allegedly committed.
Also charged with conspiring together to traffic in cocaine are Aviv
Ciulla, 32, and Jairo Castenada, 39 of Vancouver. The charges relate to the
1995 seizure of 305 kilograms of cocaine from a vehicle in the Fraser
Valley and a home in East Vancouver.
Ciulla and Castenada are also charged with Salvatore Ciancio, 40, of
Vancouver with conspiring to traffic in cocaine. Ciancio is currently in
custody awaiting trial in the December 1995 first-degree murders of Eugene
and Michelle Uyeyama of Burnaby.
Drug trafficking and conspiracy charges have also been laid against Michael
Anthony Ovsenek, 37, Sydney Dallas, 44, of Vancouver, Brent Anthony Licht,
36, of Kelowna, Salvatore Santalucia, 34, of Vancouver and Scott Andrew
Rosza, 32, of Winnipeg.
Ovsenek was recently convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to 90
days following his refusal to be sworn as a defence witness at the trial of
Dallas, who was convicted of cocaine conspiracy charges and sentenced to 12
years in prison.
Licht is facing serious drug charges in the United States but was recently
successful in resisting an application to have him extradited to face these
charges.
Gary Bass, assistant commissioner of the RCMP in B.C. and head of criminal
operations for the region, said the latest success by police reflects the
top priority being afforded to fighting organized crime and the strong
benefit of recent federal changes to organized crime legislation.
In January of 2002 Bill C-24 came into effect giving both police and
prosecutors tough new powers to deal with organized crime.
Under the new legislation, three new offences were added under the
organized crime category, stronger sentences for organized criminals were
introduced, and much stronger protection for witnesses and jurors was
brought in.
"Criminal groups rely upon intimidation and fear to stay organized,"
Paulson said. "What we are finding is that our new approach to fighting
organized crime combined with the new legislation is taking away some of
the fear factor and helping to unglue the nature of organized crime."
In Quebec, police have been very successful in having charges laid against
what are termed "enhancers" of organized crime activity -- individuals not
directly involved in organized crime but who provide services or products
like leased automobiles to known organized crime elements.
The B.C. investigation, code-named Project Ecru, arose out of drug and
murder investigations in 1995, beginning with a 305-kilogram seizure of
cocaine worth about $9 million at the wholesale level and about $30-million
on the street.
The cocaine was seized in two places: On the Trans-Canada Highway at
McCallum Road in Abbotsford and in a home in the 2900-block of East Fifth
Avenue in Vancouver.
In the first seizure on Sept. 24, 1995, Chilliwack RCMP stopped a car and
found more than 135 kilograms of cocaine inside the vehicle, which had been
rented in Alberta. Two Quebec men were charged with possession of a narcotic.
Then, on Sept. 29, the RCMP drug squad found 170 kilograms of cocaine along
with an AR-10 assault rifle in the Vancouver home.
After the drug busts, seven murders took place that police believe were
tied to the cocaine trade.
In December 1995, Eugene Uyeyama, 35, and his wife Michele, 30, were
tortured and killed before their home was set on fire.
It is believed the Uyeyamas were killed because they were involved with a
criminal organization importing cocaine and were considered informers who
had apparently talked to police about protection.
And in September 1996, five people were killed at a rural Abbotsford
farmhouse: Raymond Graves, 70; his wife Sonto Graves, 56; their son David
Kernail Sangha, 37, and family friends Daryl Brian Klassen and his wife
Teresa Klassen, both 30.
The Graves were allegedly killed because they owed a drug debt. The
Klassens, who were also involved in the cocaine trade, had apparently
dropped by to visit.
A joint police investigation first concentrated on the drug murders, which
led to charges against three men last year.
Robert (Bobby) Moyes was charged with the five murders at the Abbotsford
farm along with Mark Therrien, 39. He was also charged with the murders of
the Uyeyamas along with Salvatore Ciancio, 40.
Last Oct. 10, Moyes pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder
and was sentenced by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ronald McKinnon to a
mandatory life sentence without parole for 25 years.
Moyes was already serving a life sentence for robbery when took part in the
alleged contract killings.
Moyes and Ciancio became the targets of a police investigation after a
Richmond housewife, Tami Morrisroe, infiltrated a criminal organization in
1996 that was believed to have links with Cali cocaine cartel in Colombia.
Morrisroe said years ago that she was trying to dig up evidence to help
exonerate her father, Sid Morrisroe, who was then serving a life sentence
for murder.
Eventually, realizing she was in over her head, Tami Morrisroe, turned to
police for help.
The RCMP enlisted her as a police agent and wired her purse to transmit
conversations within the alleged criminal organization.
When police believed things had become too dangerous, Tami Morrisroe
entered the witness protection program in 1996.
Her father has always maintained he was not involved in the murder of
Penthouse nightclub owner Joe Philliponi.
Sid Morrisroe, a 68-year-old former boxer and plumbing contractor, was
recently granted full parole after serving 19 years in prison.
His claim of wrongful conviction is being reviewed by the Association in
Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted, which is headed by former U.S. boxing
champ Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, who moved to Canada after being released
from prison in the U.S., where a judge found he was wrongly convicted of murder.
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