Mike on Crime

THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — A Crown lawyer is getting some added police protection while spearheading a drug conspiracy trial involving two high-profile criminal gangs.
These are the same gangs police believe are partially behind a bullet-flying gang war earlier this year in Metro Vancouver that left dozens dead.
Prosecutor Martha Devlin was flanked by two plain-clothed RCMP officers Wednesday as she attended a hearing to fix a date for bail for Jarrod Bacon and his co-accused Arnold Scott.
Sgt. Bill Whalen, with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said no threats have been made in the case and the arrangement is simply a precaution.
Whalen said Devlin was threatened previously when she prosecuted an earlier Hells Angels trial.
The latest charges were laid in connection with a plan to import 100 kilos of cocaine from Mexico involving alleged members of both the Red Scorpions and the United Nations gang.
Whalen said police don’t want to take any chances.
“Because, you know what, we’re dealing with some very violent people.” Whalen said.
Whalen claims the Red Scorpion gang and the UN gang have been involved in more overt violence in the past few years than the Hells Angels.
“We’re providing her security to make sure there are no issues.”
The conspiracy charges were laid last week.
Police also laid charges against UN gang leader Douglas Vanalstine and his fellow gang members Nicholas Wester and Daryl Johnson.
They are charged with conspiracy to traffic and possession for the purpose of trafficking drugs.
The charges were laid after an undercover operation targeted both rival gangs. During the operation, police say both groups conspired to import the cocaine from Mexico into Canada.
Jarrod’s brother, James Bacon, faces one count of first-degree murder in connection to the murders of six people in a Surrey highrise in October 2007.
Another member of the Red Scorpion gang, Dennis Karbovanec, pleaded guilty in April to three counts of second-degree murder in connection to the same murders.
Police say a bad B.C. marijuana crop and a clamp-down on Mexican drug cartels fuelled all-out gang war over supply and turf.
Police at first denied the war, and later Vancouver Chief Const. Jim Chu admitted the area was in the middle of a “brutal” gang war that involved more than 100 shootings in recent years.
Since then, Metro Vancouver police have made dozens of arrests of alleged gang members on charges ranging from firearms possession to first-degree murder.