US embassy cable - 05VANCOUVER1470

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 VANCOUVER 001470 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAN; INR; INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KJUS, SNAR, SOCI, Crime 
SUBJECT: ORGANIZED CRIME IN BC IS ON THE RISE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT IS 
STRUGGLING TO KEEP UP 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The number of organized crime groups in BC 
has more than doubled in the past two years, severely 
challenging BC law enforcement and the judiciary.   Almost every 
global ethnic crime group known to law enforcement now has a 
base in Vancouver.  Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMG), or Hells 
Angels, are the most dangerous crime groups in BC and sit at the 
top of the hierarchy for marijuana smuggled into the U.S. and 
for cocaine smuggled from the U.S. into Canada.  Asian-based 
organizations are involved in drug and human trafficking. 
Indo-Canadian gangs often export marijuana to the U.S. and 
engage in violent struggles that have claimed more than ten 
lives just this year.  East-European groups commit sophisticated 
financial crimes like credit card fraud.   However, most of the 
province's criminal organizations operate independently of the 
major criminal enterprises such as the Hell's Angels, thus 
avoiding police attention by remaining autonomous of the more 
notorious groups. The scope of organized crime in B.C. is so 
large that law enforcement is incapable of monitoring the vast 
majority of groups, and conditions in the province continue to 
invite criminal organizations to take part in the lucrative 
market.  End Summary 
 
The Most Notorious Groups 
 
2. (SBU) As of June, there were 108 organized crime groups known 
to be operating in B.C., more than double 2003 numbers.  The 
following is a summary, obtained from media, contacts, and a 
June Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) report, of the five 
main organized crime categories in the province-Outlaw 
Motorcycle Gangs (OMG), Asian-based Organized Crime, 
Indo-Canadian Organized Crime, East-European Organized Crime, 
and Independent Organized Crime. 
 
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs 
 
3. (SBU)  The RCMP considers the Hells Angels and their OMG 
associates the most dangerous criminal group in this province. 
The Hells Angels control the cocaine trade, organized 
extortions, and much of the sex trade.  They are also heavily 
involved in producing and exporting marijuana.  Hells Angels 
often use violent means, such as homicides, violent assaults, 
extortions, and debt-collections, to carry out their business. 
Canadian law enforcement has succeeded in charging or convicting 
45 members and associates of that club in the past year.  Until 
recently, though, BC law enforcement had not been able to find 
substantial evidence to prosecute Hells Angels because they tend 
to remain in the background; they direct other individuals or 
groups to carry out the crimes for them, making it much more 
difficult for law enforcement to tie these crimes to the Hells 
Angels. 
 
4. (SBU) Consulate staff contacted the RCMP's Combined Forces 
Special Enforcement Unit. An official explained that Hells 
Angels play a leading role in cross-border cocaine and marijuana 
trafficking.  He said marijuana export groups are organized 
hierarchically, with one or two club members supervising a group 
of non-club members who finance and plan the drug's growth and 
exportation.  These non-club members, who may not know who is 
above them in the hierarchy, are aligned with smuggling groups 
that send marijuana to the U.S. and take cocaine back to Canada. 
 Hells Angels club members rarely step foot inside a grow-op or 
handle the marijuana; they operate in a similar fashion in the 
cocaine trade. 
 
5. (SBU) Two years ago agencies across B.C. stepped up their 
efforts to work together on tackling organized crime.  The RCMP, 
Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, and most municipal 
forces in the Lower Mainland and Greater Victoria areas teamed 
up with entities such as the Liquor Control and Licensing Board 
and the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency, leading to the 
recent crack-down on Hells Angels.  The Combined Forces Special 
Enforcement Unit believes the recent crackdown will cause the 
organization to draw back and refrain from normal business; 
those who remain active will probably only associate with club 
members and a few trusted associates until they feel safe again. 
 Others believe, however, that the recent law enforcement 
success has not stopped the club from expanding and that there 
are always more people waiting to join the club than are 
arrested.  Additionally, imprisoned leaders maintain 
considerable influence.  The RCMP believes that, despite this 
fact, there are probably enough officials engaged in 
investigations to sustain the multi-agency effort. 
 
Asian-based Organized Crime 
 
6. (SBU) Asian-based Organized Crime (AOC) includes domestic and 
internationally-based organizations that use B.C.'s position as 
North America's gateway to Asia to their advantage.  AOC 
organizations in B.C. control the sex trade and extortion within 
the Asian community and are involved in drug importation, 
marijuana production, violent and financial crimes, and 
counterfeiting.  Vietnamese groups are particularly successful 
marijuana-growers.  Chinese organizations dominate the heroin 
trade.  Much of B.C.'s methamphetamine is produced and 
distributed by AOC organizations.  US Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement (ICE) reports that AOC groups are behind most human 
trafficking in B.C., particularly Korean women trafficked to 
Canada and often transported to the U.S.  ICE, in partnership 
with the Canadian Border Services Agency's immigration and 
intelligence sections and RCMP border integrity, have identified 
some of the main players in the human trafficking industry and 
say that various trafficking groups in the U.S. and Canada 
associate together, not in a hierarchical structure, but as 
different enterprises trading for financial gain. 
 
7. (SBU) Consulate staff met with an official of the Vancouver 
Police Department, who expounded on Asian crime practices, 
saying the groups vary among ethnic lines, use cultural tenets 
to their advantage, and are always changing.  For instance, once 
law enforcement believe they know how a group operates, that 
group changes "like a chameleon."  Unlike the mafia, AOC is not 
centered on a hierarchical structure.  Criminal enterprises form 
to carry out a specific conspiracy, then dissolve once the job 
is finished.  Asian criminal enterprises work together solely to 
earn money, they rarely focus on a single commodity, and their 
group structure allows one leader to preside over a network of 
various crimes. 
 
Indo-Canadian Organized Crime 
 
8. (SBU) Indo-Canadian Organized Crime (ICOC) draws from the 
Lower Mainland's South Asian community and is associated with 
street level drug trafficking, exporting marijuana (particularly 
to the U.S.), and violent murders which have claimed almost 90 
lives in the past 15 years and more than 10 in the past year in 
the Lower Mainland.  The Vancouver Sun reports that many of 
those killed in Indo-Canadian struggles are gang leaders or 
members.  ICOC is an increasingly dangerous lifestyle; however, 
many young Indo-Canadian males, despite the dangers associated 
with it, are drawn into the "fast life" with its promises of 
fast money, cars, and possessions. 
 
East-European Organized Crime 
 
9. (SBU) East-European Organized Crime (EEOC) groups in B.C. are 
lower-profile, but not less damaging, than the others.  They 
typically engage in sophisticated, high-value financial crimes, 
such as identity theft, card fraud, money laundering, and 
immigration-related crimes.  A VPD officer informed Consulate 
staff that, unlike traditional organized crime groups with names 
and hierarchical structures, EEOC groups form when experts in 
various areas come together to pull off a crime, following which 
the groups are disbanded and members disperse to join schemes 
elsewhere.  Like AOC, EEOC is a global society that changes 
faces so frequently that it leaves law enforcement far behind. 
The officer explained that these organizations are very skilled 
at not drawing attention to themselves.  If their vehicle has 
been searched or they think they are being followed, these 
criminals will literally search their entire car for police 
bugs.  They are very patient and have even been known to desist 
from a plot when they feel at risk of being detected.  In such 
cases, though, they always have another plan, as each 
organization is capable of carrying out several different plots. 
 These groups are perhaps the boldest of all in dealing with 
authority-the VPD officer we contacted said that some gangsters 
under investigation have been known to phone police officers 
asking why they are being investigated.  Linguistic barriers, 
the sophisticated nature of their crimes, and the domestic and 
international mobility of actors make it hard for police to 
investigat EEOC roups 
 
ndepenen Organzed Crime 
10. (SBU) Independent Organized Crime (INDP).  The greatest 
numbers of organized crime groups are local, independent 
organizations frequently associated with regional drug networks 
and violent and financial crimes.  ICE staff told us that these 
groups also carry-out human trafficking schemes of Canadian 
women, sometimes to Las Vegas or New York.  An RCMP Combined 
Forces Special Enforcement Unit official told us that many of 
these groups do business with the Hells Angels, while remaining 
autonomous.  This provides them access to profitable business 
while avoiding the special attention police give to Hells 
Angels.  INDP groups are very successful in the province, 
profiting from their lucrative crime schemes while essentially 
operating under the radar screen of the police much of the time. 
 
Conclusion and Comment 
 
11. (SBU) The province has not had much success combating 
organized crime, and future prospects do not look brighter. 
Nobody knows the true extent of organized crime in the province, 
as the sophisticated organizations make it their business not to 
be discovered.  Even when police know about a group and its 
activities, they lack the manpower to properly investigate and 
prosecute the group and, as reported, many of the groups are 
adept at changing their structure and fleeing when they feel 
that police are on to their schemes.  RCMP estimate that all of 
B.C.'s law enforcement combined will only be able investigate 30 
groups, leaving 78 groups or 72% of the province's known 
criminal organizations unaccounted for. 
 
12. (SBU) A VPD official explained to Consulate staff that BC is 
a natural draw for organized crime.  He indicated that Canada's 
single criminal code, while more functional in other provinces, 
does not work well in B.C. Strong ethnic communities have 
created a "victim's mentality" for many ethnic organized crime 
members which often translates into weak penalties for the 
severity of the crime.  As a result, law enforcement is less 
willing to make arrests and prosecute crimes because the weak 
jail sentences do not make their time and resource investments 
worth pursuing - only a small percentage of grow op busts 
actually result in jail time for example.   The official further 
noted that Vancouver has become one of the top 15 cities in the 
world for organized crime, and is almost unique in North 
America, housing almost every kind of organized crime.  He 
expressed appreciation for the U.S. agencies that cooperate with 
VPD, saying that the US has been more successful in bringing 
these criminals to justice than Canada has. 
LUKENS