Udam Sanghera, 58, and co-accused Gordon Taylor, 42, are charged with multiple weapons offences.Judge Jeanne Watchuk placed a ban on publication of evidence on the bail application for Sanghera.Police allege the gang he ran is in a bitter turf war with the rival Buttar-Malli gang.Sheldon Goldberg said police are using his client as a scapegoat because they have not found the people responsible for the Lower Mainland's recent string of killings. (CBC)"Udham Sanghera is the head of the 15-member Sanghera crime group, which operates in southeast Vancouver," Vancouver police Insp. Mike Porteous said during a news conference last Friday."That family is in direct conflict with the Bhuttar-Malli group and this conflict has over the past couple of years resulted in close to 100 shootings in that area of the city."
Sanghera has not been charged in connection with any shootings.There were no publication bans issued on Taylor’s bail hearing because his lawyer, Sheldon Goldberg, contends Taylor has nothing to hide.“They’re looking for a scapegoat,” Goldberg said. “They haven’t found the persons who have committed all these murders in the Lower Mainland — they’re not even close, it looks like.”In court, a special gang prosecutor alleged Taylor attended a meeting to bomb a rival gangster’s home and also arranged to buy four handguns in February.Goldberg countered that his client was set up by police and lured into buying the guns.Wally Oppal, B.C.’s attorney general, said he is hoping the judge will take the charges of each of the men into consideration when making a decision on whether to grant bail.
“If a person has seven or eight or nine outstanding charges and some of those involve weapons, then I think the judges have to look carefully about the reputation of the system,” Oppal said.The men remain in jail while they await their next hearing, scheduled for Wednesday

Vancouver police identified a man shot in a targeted hit in a Nanaimo Street basement suite last week as 24-year-old Nicholas Gordon Smith. According to court files, Smith has faced production of narcotics and trafficking charges over the last two years. He won acquittals on several of those charges in the fall of 2007.

Three bullet casings were found at the scene of the shooting, which happened just before 4 a.m. on Northeast 29th Circle. Residents at a home in the area said they saw someone fire a handgun out the window of the car as it drove by the home.Vancouver police detectives are investigating a drive-by shooting that may be gang-related.After the shooting, the car's information was relayed to Portland police, who stopped the car within an hour.Three people were detained. As of early Saturday morning, there had been no arrests made. The names of the people involved have not been released. Police said the shooting was possibly gang-related.

Mandeep Kumar Ranga thought he was being kidnapped when plainclothes RCMP officers arrived at his parents' Vancouver house Thursday.He began screaming that it was an abduction attempt and his panicked folks called Vancouver Police's emergency line.In fact, Ranga, 26, was being arrested on a U.S. extradition warrant after being charged in the U.S. with Conspiracy to Import a Controlled Substance, Importation of a Controlled Substance and Conspiracy to Possess the Proceeds of Crime.The RCMP officers wore clothing with the force's initials clearly identified, media relations officer Cons. Annie Linteau said in a release."During the arrest, Ranga became confrontational with arresting officers and began screaming for help and yelling that he was being kidnapped," she said. "A physical confrontation ensued requiring several officers to subdue Ranga."The RCMP had already informed the city force about their impending arrest, but the VPD still responded to the 911 call."The family members present were not involved in the physical aspects of the arrest, but remained uncooperative with the police," RCMP said.Neighbours and Ranga's friends soon arrived and began shouting, inflaming the situation more.The colourful young gangster already has a long history with police for his activities on this side of the border.While still a teen, Ranga was charged along with Peter Adiwal, one of the founders of the Independent Soldiers, with kidnapping a former high school friend Steven Sadurah "to extort from him information about his parents' jewelry store," a provincial judge recounted at the time."After being grabbed, bound and struck, the Crown alleges that Sadurah was taken away in the Adiwal family van and confined in several locations, ending up at the unoccupied basement suite at the Adiwal family home, from which Sadurah escaped."Ranga was convicted, but the judge said the Crown's case against Adiwal fell "just short" and he was acquitted.Ranga's name surfaced again in connection with Adiwal when the latter pleaded guilty to another brutal drug kidnapping in the fall of 2005. The sentencing hearing heard how Adiwal sent his cousin to talk to Ranga to pressure the kidnap victim to recant his story in court. And Ranga also got a call from Adiwal's mom telling him to get the victim to change his evidence, the court heard.Ranga was charged with extortion in Vancouver in 2004, along with two associates, but a few months later, the charges were stayed. He was charged last April with possession of a controlled substance and flight from a peace officer, but those charges were also stayed a month later.

Hundreds of members of the notorious biker gang are gathering at the Hells Angels clubhouse in Langley, B.C., this weekend to mark the anniversary of the chapters in Vancouver, Nanaimo and White Rock.The Hells Angels are celebrating their 25th anniversary in parts of B.C., and an expert in biker gangs says they're still at the top of the criminal pack.The B.C. Lower Mainland has recently seen a wave of gang violence that has left dozens dead, but author Yves Lavigne says those killings have largely involved fledgling Asian street gangs.Lavigne, who's written several books on the Hells Angels, says newer gangs are far more violent than an established group like the Angels, who prefer bribes and intimidation over guns to solve their problems.But just because the Hells Angels have a lower profile, Lavigne says the public shouldn't think the bikers aren't a menace.He says the group has learned to keep its activities under the public radar and learn from their mistakes, allowing them to evade the law and maintain their power.

Police allege that the Hells Angels have been involved with agencies that supply exotic dancers to strip clubs. A former Cecil bouncer, Michael Plante, had been a Hells Angels enforcer and later infiltrated the East End chapter as a paid police agent. Plante is now in witness protection."It was a crazy scene . . . fists, chairs, bottles were flying inside the bar," said Const. Tim Fanning of the Vancouver police department.A 30-year-old Richmond man was shot dead and a second man injured after a "wild west" fight broke out at Cecil strip club in downtown Vancouver Wednesday.According to police, the fight broke out around 10:30 p.m., and involved between 20 and 30 men.
The Cecil is slated for redevelopment with a 22-storey residential tower proposed for the site.Minutes later, a single shot fired inside the bar sent panicked patrons and staff running out into the parking lot at the rear of the building at 1336 Granville.Outside, gunfire again erupted with bullets striking at least two men, killing one.Police -- who'd received several 911 calls -- arrived on scene at 10:40 p.m. to find the body of a man lying near the dumpsters near the back door.
A second man, a 32-year-old Surrey resident, was shot in the leg. He was taken to hospital for treatment and released early Thursday.Police were not releasing the name of either shooting victim Thursday. Fanning said both are known gang associates, but declined to identify the gang.
He said it remains unclear what started the fight."We don't know if someone looked at someone the wrong way or a beer was knocked over, but, suffice to say, it had very tragic consequences," he said.Suspects in the shooting have yet to be identified.Investigators have, so far, interviewed dozens of witnesses and seized hotel security videos.Four vehicles were also towed from the club parking lot, including the dead man's car and three vehicles police believe may provide valuable clues in the shooting, such as DNA or fingerprints.The club remained shut Thursday, surrounded by yellow police tape and uniformed police officers.A man answering the phone at the bar said no one was available to comment on the incident. He said it was uncertain when the business would re-open.Fanning said VPD's gang suppression task force regularly patrols the Cecil, among other clubs along Granville Street club strip.
The Cecil is not a member of the Vancouver Barwatch program. Barwatch chair John Teti said Cecil owners had, in the past, expressed an interest in joining the society, but were turned down.
"We weren't ready to have a strip bar as a member," Teti said.
To qualify for the program, bars must be approved by the Vancouver Police, have metal detectors and identification scanners and have agreed to allow the police to enter the bar and remove patrons without permission.

Ruben Molina, a prosecutor in Honduras, told media yesterday that the gangs are extremely violent - MS-13 particularly. They're known to dismember their victims and a candidate must commit a robbery and murder just to gain entry into the organization.
violent Central American gangsters turning up on Metro Vancouver's streets.
Supt. John Robins, the officer in charge of the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, said police have seen several members of MS-13 and M18 - two of Central America's biggest gangs - in B.C., but stressed that the organizations haven't set up shop here.
"It's been an ongoing trend over the last number of years," he said. "We want to make sure it doesn't develop into a huge significant problem in Canada. We have enough of a gang problem as it is."
To get a leg up on the groups, RCMP invited prosecutors from Honduras and Guatemala - where there are up to 200,000 members among the two gangs - to Vancouver during this week's Western Gang Conference.
Insp. Dean Robinson, the officer in charge of the Lower Mainland Violence Suppression Team, said the problems these gangs cause in Central America are "staggering" and reiterated that gang violence has risen to the top of the RCMP's national priority list

More gangland killings this weekend both victims ambushed outside their homes have provoked what has become a dreary mantra by police spokesmen: a targeted killing, victim known to the police,On Friday, just before midnight, an armed assailant walked up to a Mercedes SUV parked in the driveway of a Surrey home in the vicinity of 90th Avenue and 141A and opened fire on Nhant Truong (Joe) Tran, 23, as he sat in the driver's seat.Tran was killed in his own driveway, in his own car, shortly after arriving home.Surrey RCMP spokesman Sgt. Roger Morrow said Tran appeared to be waiting for someone. Police were called to the home by people who heard shots fired.
"The lone victim was known to police, and while at the initial stages of this investigation, investigators are of the belief that this is a targeted attack.
While IHIT tries to put it all together on the Tran murder, Vancouver homicide detectives are busy trying to solve the murder of 20-year-old Kyle Richard Wong, cut down in a hail of gunfire from an assault rifle in front of his family's townhouse carport in the 8600-block Aqua Drive at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
The weapon believed to have been used to kill Wong, who Vancouver police said had gang connections, was found a block away, apparently discarded by his killer.A fully automatic rifle is an unusual weapon for such a killing, said Vancouver police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning. Most of the recent gang-style murders have involved the use of semi-automatic handguns, he said.Since 2006, Wong had accumulated 10 charges, all motor vehicle infractions, and was due to appear in court Wednesday on a charge of driving without a valid driver's licence.
Witnesses could only give police a vague description of the vehicle that raced away from the scene. On Monday, Fanning said investigators were re-interviewing witnesses in the hope of getting a more detailed description.According to police only a fraction of gang-related murders are ever solved.
Fanning said the solve rate averages 35 to 40 per cent, whereas in other types of murder, police expect at least a 60-per-cent rate in identifying killers
"The reason for the low rate is that these are premeditated murders that have taken time to plan. The perpetrators disguise their appearance and lurk in the shadows. It usually takes a year to solve a murder like this and we have found that in some cases the victim of one murder was a suspect in another," he said.Fanning would not say if this was the case with Wong.While police intelligence sources close to the gang world might be able to identify a suspect in a targeted killing "the tough part was getting the evidence to lay a charge," said Fanning.
The department is compiling a report on the numbers of solved homicides relating to gangland slayings, which is expected to be released within the next few months, he said.

Kyle Richard Wong was the ninth murder since the new violence suppression team was unveiled last fall.In November, police across the region joined forces to set up the 60-member VST.One month later, during a news conference to update their efforts, Sergeant Shinder Kirk said established gangs like the “Hells Angels”, the “UN” gang, the “Independent Soldiers” and “Red Scorpions” now have competition from smaller players.
"That’s the fluidity of groups we're dealing with. You have groups that are operating in this lifestyle that don't have a name and they do come together and break apart almost as quickly."Vancouver police have confirmed a gun was found near Wong’s body on Sunday morning and they're looking for the driver of a light-coloured import vehicle.

- Testimony has concluded in a trial for a leading member of the Hells Angels accused of cocaine trafficking.
The trial was conducted without publicity because Justice Anne MacKenzie of the British Columbia Supreme Court barred news media from reporting on it, the Vancouver Sun reported. The ban was partly lifted after a challenge by the Sun and other media companies.
David Francis Giles, 58, a member of the motorcycle gang, is charged with trafficking "for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, to wit: the East End chapter of the Hells Angels."
The testimony still cannot be published. MacKenzie imposed the ban to protect the rights of other Hells Angels members scheduled for later trials
A two-year police investigation included infiltrating a nightclub bouncer, Michael Plante, into the organization. Plante was promised $1 million Canadian ($994,000) for his efforts

On trial is David Francis Giles, 58, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels East End chapter, who is accused of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking "for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, to wit: the East End chapter of the Hells Angels."
The case stems from a two-year, $10-million police investigation that resulted in charges against 18 men, including six Hells Angels, in July 2005.
It was the largest police probe in B.C. to target the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, long considered to be the wealthiest and most sophisticated biker gang in the province.
The central issue at trial is whether the chapter is a criminal organization, which was alleged in an indictment filed July 11, 2005, by Canada's deputy attorney general.
If the Crown succeeds in its criminal-organization prosecution, it could put the assets of all the chapter's members - real estate holdings, cars and motorcycles -- at risk of seizure under B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Act.
It could also make it easier to seize property in future trials involving Hells Angels and other gangs, although the criminal-organization case would have to be made each time.
In their investigation, code-named Project Epandora, police used a nightclub bouncer to infiltrate the motorcycle club.
The man, Michael Plante, applied to become a Hells Angels member and was accepted "in the program" as an official friend of the club.
Mr. Plante, who was promised $1 million by police, testified at an earlier trial that he was given keys to the East End chapter's clubhouse and carried out illegal activity on behalf of Hells Angels members.
Mr. Plante now lives under a new name but is not in witness protection. When he surfaced in 2006, he was 30. He has been paid half his fee -- $500,000 -- and will get the other half after he finishes testifying in various trials.
The charges alleged in the indictments include methamphetamine production and distribution, cocaine trafficking, weapons offences, explosives offences, assaults, extortions and possession of proceeds of crime.
In total, police seized more than 20 kilograms each of methamphetamine and cocaine; more than 70 kilograms of marijuana; restricted and prohibited weapons, including five handguns and fully automatic weapons with silencers; 11 sticks of dynamite with detonation cord and blasting caps; four grenades and an assortment of ammunition.
Police also seized more than $200,000, 250 kilograms of methylamine, a precursor chemical for the production of ecstasy, and two methamphetamine laboratories.

Well-planned gangland hits are making murders tougher to solve, says B.C.'s top cop.
"The gangs are very sophisticated," Solicitor-General John Les said yesterday. "They use up-to-date equipment. Our job is to make sure police have the right tools.
"[But] these targeted gang-related shootings can be very hard to investigate."
Les said he is not concerned about falling success rates at a regional homicide unit based in Surrey.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says its success rate has dropped from 80 per cent in 2003 to 62 per cent in 2006. Success is defined when charges are laid.
"The province needs more integration in respect to homicides," Les said.
He'd like to see Vancouver's large homicide unit join forces with IHIT, which has 17 member jurisdictions from Sechelt to Hope.
Vancouver Police Department's success rate was almost identical with IHIT's in 2006, even though Vancouver's staff isn't as large.
Const. Tim Fanning said charges were laid in 12 of the city's 19 homicides, which works out to a success rate of 63 per cent, one per cent better than IHIT. Investigations are continuing in the remaining seven.
"VPD homicide and IHIT investigate the same types of murders, often related, all within the same regional district," said Fanning.
VPD has two sergeants and 18 investigators, plus five assistants for a total of 25; IHIT, which investigated 43 murders in 2006, has 76 investigators and a total of 96 staff.
Fanning said IHIT has roughly twice as much staff available for each homicide.
Delta's police force has a 75-per-cent success rate investigating a small number of homicides since 2003.
Charges have been laid in six of eight investigations.
"We're very lucky a lot of the gang stuff hasn't happened here," said Const. Paul Eisenzimmer. "If it was, that would affect our stats. They are harder to prove."
Delta police have a proposal before council which recommends joining forces with the regional unit.
"Ultimately, more resources are available to throw at a homicide," said Eisenzimmer. "The gang stuff may not stay away forever."
West Vancouver has left IHIT and assigned its one investigator to Vancouver's homicide team.

Scarpino, 37, was gunned down Saturday night as he pulled up to a downtown steak house. The Vancouver man, who had been linked to gang activities, was shot dead in an SUV by at least two men. A passenger seated behind Scarpino was also killed. Scarpino's fiancée and another man survived the ambush at what was to have been an engagement celebration. The streets were busy blocks from a Vancouver Canucks hockey game that had let out.Fifteen years after Ricardo Scarpino pulled a gun and killed a man sitting across the table from him at a busy restaurant, it was his turn at the other end of the barrel.
Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu, meeting reporters at a previously scheduled press conference to unveil plans to cut violent crime by 10 per cent, instead found himself answering questions about the city's latest gang-style hit and residents' fears over the public gunplay.
"People can walk the streets of Vancouver," Chu said yesterday. But he added: "They need to be vigilant and be aware of their surroundings.
"Overall, the majority of the streets are safe."
Scarpino, recently released from jail after two decades of scrapes with the law, shot and killed a 24-year-old man in a Los Angeles restaurant in 1993 but faced only firearms charges because he claimed self-defence.
Vancouver's first homicides of 2008 continue a trend that has plagued the Vancouver area. The toll includes six people found dead last October in a Surrey apartment – including two innocent bystanders – and four men killed in three public shootings in one week.
Area police forces and the RCMP formed a task force last fall to try to stop the gang-related bloodshed.
Chu said he wants to stop criminals from carrying guns but stopped short of a calling for a city-wide handgun ban, a move Toronto Mayor David Miller is advocating for his city.
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, however, said he would support such a ban. "The fact is criminals are still going to do what they can to get illegal guns," Sullivan said.