Crime Correspondent: Vancouver

Donald Seymour,pleaded guilty earlier this week to trafficking unstamped tobacco and to possession of cocaine.

Donald Seymour, 40, pleaded guilty earlier this week to trafficking unstamped tobacco and to possession of cocaine. It was the day his trial on several drug charges was set to begin in provincial court.Mr. Seymour was ordered to pay $26,946 to the federal and provincial governments for violating the Excise Act by being in possession of 160,000 illegal cigarettes for the purpose of trafficking. The smokes were found in his vehicle when he was pulled over by RCMP officers last year. Narcotics officers also found 28 grams of cocaine and a few grams of marijuana, for which he was also charged. He was fined $1,000 for possession of cocaine, but all other charges were withdrawn in exchange for his two guilty pleas. Mr. Seymour, the former head of a cocaine gang in Vancouver in the mid-1990s, along with a brother and two cousins, was shot by a former Hell’s Angels associate in 2005 over a drug debt. His older brother Kenny was killed in the shooting, outside their Glace Bay home, and Mr. Seymour was seriously injured in that shooting. A bullet struck several of his organs, and he requires a cane to walk. Nelson MacPhee of Dominion was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison for the shootings. Mr. Seymour has two years to pay the fine. If he doesn’t pay, he could face more jail time. "Given his finances, it’s unlikely he’s going to pay the fine," Crown attorney Dave Iannetti said.

Donald Seymour,pleaded guilty earlier this week to trafficking unstamped tobacco and to possession of cocaine.

Donald Seymour, 40, pleaded guilty earlier this week to trafficking unstamped tobacco and to possession of cocaine. It was the day his trial...

Graeme Ferguson died after being chained and beaten in a Montreal warehouse four days earlier

Robin Cote, 42, was arrested by Montreal Police on March 27 on a Canada-wide warrant for the 2005 slaying of 27-year-old Graeme Ferguson, said an Ottawa police news release issued late Thursday afternoon.Cote is to appear in court on Friday. Ferguson died outside an Ottawa bus station in July 2005 due to blood clots caused by being chained and beaten in a Montreal warehouse four days earlier. The beating took place after he agreed to carry $500,000 worth of cocaine in a suitcase from Vancouver to Montreal, but showed up in Montreal without it. Ferguson said he had left the cocaine behind in Ottawa after he saw police at the bus station. Four men were sentenced in August 2006 to two to nine years in prison each for their role in the beating. At the time, police were still looking for Cote and 29-year-old Paul Layoun.Layoun remains at large, wanted for first-degree murder. In addition to first-degree murder, Cote has also been charged with conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping, extortion, aggravated assault with a weapon and conspiracy to traffic cocaine.

Graeme Ferguson died after being chained and beaten in a Montreal warehouse four days earlier

Robin Cote, 42, was arrested by Montreal Police on March 27 on a Canada-wide warrant for the 2005 slaying of 27-year-old Graeme Ferguson, sa...

Kai Ming Fung,Ka Wah Chan, Patrick Dan Chang ,Tik Sheun Dison Ngai guilty.

50-year-old Kai Ming Fung, 47-year-old Ka Wah Chan, 34-year-old Patrick Dan Chang and 32-year-old Tik Sheun Dison Ngai - guilty.The four have now been given heavy sentences.Chang, who was found guilty of two counts each of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking, along with one count of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, has been in custody since his arrest.He got an eight-year jail sentence, with credit for 58 months already served. According to Brad Smith, a federal Crown lawyer, this is the longest jail term ever given for this type of offence.Crown asked for six years for Ngai, who was found guilty of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and production of a controlled substance, but the judge sentenced him to five years.Similarly for Fung and Chan, the judge gave sentences of one year less than the five years that Crown asked for. Both of them had been found guilty of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and production of a controlled substance.A fifth man has been acquitted of all charges. The waterfront joint forces operation is a team of officers from the Vancouver and Delta police departments, the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency. In this case, in addition to the Burnaby RCMP, they were helped by Richmond RCMP, Transport Canada, the Richmond Fire Department, the Lower Mainland Forensic Identification Unit, the B.C. Ambulance Service, the RCMP's major crime unit, the RCMP clandestine lab team, the Vancouver Police drug section, the Department of Public Prosecutions and Health Canada.

Kai Ming Fung,Ka Wah Chan, Patrick Dan Chang ,Tik Sheun Dison Ngai guilty.

50-year-old Kai Ming Fung, 47-year-old Ka Wah Chan, 34-year-old Patrick Dan Chang and 32-year-old Tik Sheun Dison Ngai - guilty.The four hav...

Vancouvers drug capital of Canada starts CONAIR

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vwIq84v3nVVUgkuTbaKsAf3G2Vba10yFeTjc3B9rtVF3NGMjE4lN9WdokZ1E8D8SdnZ_0vF7x6nrAV_Th7jdTgW2NZF6DA26KehpAZaCDiBVyD2kKdGsNu7NpS3dDLmqKQu0vUjsd6s/s1600-h/conair.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164630826404692754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1vwIq84v3nVVUgkuTbaKsAf3G2Vba10yFeTjc3B9rtVF3NGMjE4lN9WdokZ1E8D8SdnZ_0vF7x6nrAV_Th7jdTgW2NZF6DA26KehpAZaCDiBVyD2kKdGsNu7NpS3dDLmqKQu0vUjsd6s/s320/conair.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> The Vancouver Board of Trade is urging residents to donate frequent- flier miles so that people who are accused of crimes outside British Columbia can be returned to those provinces. Vancouver has about 2,500 fugitives who are wanted on low- priority arrest warrants for crimes ranging from fraud to assault that were committed in other regions, police say. The suspects' jurisdictions aren't willing to spend the estimated C$2,500 ($2,480) it would take to fly them back. ``We're sending a message that fleeing to Vancouver is no longer a low-risk endeavor,'' said Bernie Magnan, an assistant managing director of the Vancouver Board of Trade who is responsible for the ``Con Air'' Appeal. Vancouver is a magnet for suspects on the run because winters are mild in Canada's third-most-populous metropolitan area and it is a hub of drug abuse, said Mariana Valverde, a professor of criminology at the University of Toronto. ``Vancouver is the drug capital of Canada,'' she said, with the city's Downtown Eastside district known for illicit drug use, prostitution and violence. Vancouver Police support the project and are eager to get more people to justice, said Constable Tim Fanning, a spokesman. A better solution would be to speed up the court process and bring more suspects to trial, Valverde said. She predicted that businesses will pressure the city to clean up the Downtown Eastside before the Winter Olympics in 2010. The Board of Trade kicked off the appeal for donations from the public last month by pledging more than 1 million of its directors' own reward miles. So far, no point-paid flights have got off the ground. Airline miles programs aren't endorsing the campaign nor agreeing to cash in points to move fugitives. ``It's a novel concept, but it's really a public policy issue that needs to be resolved by provincial and federal governments, as well as local authorities,'' said Mitchell Merowitz, a spokesman for Toronto-based Air Miles, a loyalty rewards program used by about 9 million Canadian households. Michele Meier, a spokeswoman for Air Canada's Aeroplan program, said she doubts that the Vancouver appeal for points would qualify under the airline's policy on points donations. ``Sending back suspects is not a charitable cause,'' she said. Montreal-based Air Canada is the country's biggest airline. Magnan said the group is in talks with several loyalty programs that are considering accepting donated miles to fly suspects home. ``The wheels of progress can turn slowly,'' he said. Ultimately, Vancouver hopes to spearhead a cross-country suspect-exchange system that might charter entire planes, Fanning said. For now, police would be happy to defray the cost of flying a suspect to another province by returning with someone wanted for crimes in Vancouver, he said. ``What we're trying to do is bring people to justice whether they end up staying here or going back to where they came from,'' Fanning said. ``It's about victims having their day in court.''

Vancouvers drug capital of Canada starts CONAIR

The Vancouver Board of Trade is urging residents to donate frequent- flier miles so that people who are accused of crimes outside British Co...

Ricardo Francis Scarpino had New York Mafia connections

Ricardo Francis Scarpino was shot to death Saturday night as he arrived at his own engagement party at an upscale Vancouver restaurant. Scarpino was parking his 2007 Land Rover outside Gotham Steakhouse at Seymour and Dunsmuir when gunmen raced across the street and filled the black SUV with bullets. A close friend of Scarpino's, who was sitting behind the convicted drug trafficker, was also killed. Scarpino's 37-year-old's fiance watched in horror from the front passenger's seat as her future husband died. Neither she nor a fourth person in the vehicle were injured. Scarpino had only got out of jail on Jan. 12 after a series of run-ins with the law going back 14 years on both sides of the border. His brother Mario Scarpino said Sunday his whole family is distraught at the news, especially given that Scarpino was about to get married and start his life fresh. The uninjured man in the vehicle was also known to police, while the second victim, who like Ricardo Scarpino lived in West Vancouver, was not on the police radar. Ricardo Scarpino was convicted in 1999 in Victoria of being the ringleader in a cocaine importation scheme. He later won an appeal and the Crown stayed the charges. However, he was recently convicted of possession of a firearm and sentenced to another nine months in jail. He was previously involved in a shooting death in 1993 when he was working as a bounty hunter in California, but convinced a court it was a matter of self-defence and was sentenced to 27 months for firearms violations.Scarpino has also worked with a variety of criminal groups, including prominent gangsters linked to Ranjit Singh Cheema, who was recently extradited to the U.S. to face trafficking charges. Scarpino told Lower Mainland associates that he had New York Mafia connections.

Ricardo Francis Scarpino had New York Mafia connections

Ricardo Francis Scarpino was shot to death Saturday night as he arrived at his own engagement party at an upscale Vancouver restaurant. Scar...

Yong Long Ye

Yong Long Ye, alleging he imported drugs from the U.S. and Southeast Asia and exported it across North America and to Australia. One of Mr. ...

Marc Emery

Emery is scheduled for an extradition hearing. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency wants to take him across the border and try him on charges relating to the marijuana seed business he ran flagrantly and successfully in Vancouver for years. A conviction for selling seeds to U.S. customers would likely land him in prison for a number of years. That's an outcome he publicly dreads, but has been courting for ages. His arrest almost three years ago at the request of the DEA is payback for all the embarrassment he's created. After years of advocating legalized pot, smoking joints in front of TV cameras and making a pile of money selling seeds around the world, he was busted and his business was raided by Canadian police acting on the request/order of the DEA. Extraditions are based on a treaty in which Canada and the U.S. agree to deliver suspects across the border when the offence is considered a crime in both countries. A judge will take a look at the evidence and probably conclude there's a case to be made against Emery. The federal justice minister can intervene and there are routes of appeal, so the case will likely continue for years. Selling marijuana seeds might be a crime in both countries. But in Canada, and particularly in B.C., it's considered a trivial offence, on a par with jaywalking. The law is enforced haphazardly and rarely. Emery went out of his way to get arrested countless times in B.C. and was snubbed by the authorities. He listed his occupation as marijuana seed vendor on his income tax returns. His Vancouver shop was a fixture on the dope scene. Vancouver police politely looked the other way while various major U.S. media showed up and did profiles on the wondrous Canadian attitude toward pot. He led the B.C. Marijuana Party into several elections and no one raised an eyebrow.

Marc Emery

Emery is scheduled for an extradition hearing. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency wants to take him across the border and try him on charges r...