UN Gang leads infiltration of Vancouver Real Estate Companies

Michael Bradley Gordon was shot to death in Chilliwack on August 25th. One more sad death in a protracted vendetta which shows no sign of of running out of bullets. What distinguishes Mr. Gordon's case is that he was the second local realtor with known associations to the incredibly ruthless UN Gang to be executed over the summer. (The other was Elliott Castaneda, slain in Mexico on July 12.)

The Mike Gordon story took on a more sinister aspect when Kim Bolan posted a few provincial documents online which revealed that Mike Gordon wasn’t just a real estate salesperson like Castaneda, he was an Agent. While the public makes no distinction between the role of Salesperson and of Agent - the Tax Man does, and so does FINTRAC. "Agents" are owners who employ the licensed sales staff who provide service to the public. Agents train and supervise the sales force, they hold the deposits on Real Estate deals, they pay out the commission cheques to realtors, and much, much more. Agents are granted a higher level of discretion by the tax authorities, en par with accountants and lawyers, and if you have one in your pocket it’s a great assist to laundering money.

Mike Gordon was the owner of two companies - one the brokerage BEST BET REALTY registered on August 14, 2007 and the other a vehicle to spin real estate franchises, which was registered in April of 2008. Mr. Gordon was a personal friend of Clayton Roueche and he personally handled Roueche’s real estate portfolio. Roueche is the now infamous leader of the UN Gang, currently being held in a federal lockup in Seattle. Bolan, an investigative reporter for the Vancouver Sun, has interviewed both of Roueche’s parents at length. She taped an interview with Rupert Roueche, and the father is clearly getting frustrated that his own life is also becoming an open book. Roeuche's parents have been insisting for months that their son kept his activities separate from family life, and yet we now learn that father and sons had friends in common. "Rupert …confirmed that [Mike] Gordon was his real estate agent and a "good friend" and that he was advertising Gordon's company with a billboard on his property.”

It was Glenda Luymes, who covers the Fraser Valley beat for The Vancouver Province, who claims to have learned the reason why Mike Gordon was killed. She reported that “Murdered Chilliwack realtor Michael Gordon was buying and selling property for the UN Gang's jailed leader -- and hanging out with one of his sworn enemies.” Luymes seems very confident of her “source” but did not indicate whether the source was law enforcement or a gang associate. Her article implies that Rouche was displeased with Gordon and considered his behavior an actionable betrayal.
This begs the question of how Roueche could order a killing when he is in close confinement in Seattle? The SUN has reported that Roeuche used coded signals to issue orders from his cell last May, but surely he no longer has that ability. Is is not more likely that this killing has something to do with the ongoing investigation of the illicit income and spending habits of UN Gang associates, including realtors, which is being conducted by the Tax Man? Mark LaGrange (above) is also a key figure in this drama, and he is still alive. LaGrange, who refused to talk with reporters, is named on documents quoted in a SUN exclusive. The documents record the purchase of a Coquitlam condo by Clayton Roueche in 2007, before his arrest in the United States. LaGrange was also involved in recruiting salespersons for the company Mike Gordon set up in Surrey, B.C. At last count there were seventeen persons on staff in the BEST BET office.

Attempts were made to portray Gordon as a victim of circumstance but law enforcement wasn’t having any of that. A spokesman for the Chilliwack Detachment RCMP stated: "It may surprise you in what capacity or in what area that some of these individuals may work or operate, but definitely, this victim is known to police." Specific reference was made to “police intelligence” which means that Gordon may not have been charged with anything but he was an active investigation file. We already know that Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) grabs the curbside garbage of gangsters as often as they can, so one must assume that most of Mike Gordon’s waste paper is archived somewhere.

So how to attract sales people and gain some credibility for Gordon’s “instant” brokerage, and without spending too much money? Well he seems to have assigned that task to an assistant. Just ten days before the boss was murdered Mark LaGrange placed an Ad on Craig’s List attempting to entice sales people to come over to BEST BET.
“No monthly Fees
No Coffee Fund
No Desk Fee
No Joke
Don't lose your license during the hard times, you worked so hard to get it! Join Best Bet Realty Ltd. and get through the hard times. Take advantage of this offer now!!! Contact Mark LaGrange at Best Bet Realty Ltd. Toll Free 1 866 860 7117 or by email: XXXX @shaw.ca”

Lena Sin and Glenda Luymes shown in THE PROVINCE newsroom, September 2007. At the time they had just completed a two month investigation of gang culture in Vancouver.

Glenda Luymes, who handles the Fraser Valley beat for The Province newspaper, interviewed Integrated Gang Task Force spokesman Sgt. Shinder Kirk . He said "It's not surprising organized crime would turn to real estate. There would be a benefit to having someone in that profession as part of your organization." Kirk pointed out that gangs, "like any other business organization" must recruit members with a variety of skills.

I was curious to read the comments of Larry Buttress who answered the reporter's questions on behalf of the Real Estate Council of B.C. His remarks were so bland that they testify to a culture of neglect in the industry. “Certainly it's concerning to us when we hear about Realtors who are involved in things they shouldn't be . . . but it's not a perfect world." Mr. Buttress thought it was enough to assure the public that neither Gordon nor Castaneda had a disciplinary record with the council.

FINTRAC: I would like to see the SUN and the PROVINCE do some federal Access to Information searches for FINTRAC records which might reveal the extent of organized crime infiltration of the Industry in B.C. We are warned that the scale of illicit drug activity is now 'off the scale'. FINTRAC officers are constantly giving presentations to Real Estate companies in the Lower Mainland which scare the hell out of honest Realtors. They repeatedly warn salespeople that it's there legal duty to report all criminal activity they spot in the course of their daily work. (And risk what level of retaliation?)
[The CREA FINTRAC Compliance Page is here.] It would be instructive to learn if management level is taking any of the responsibility, or just contenting themselves with milking many thousands of Realtors of exorbitant fees.

For an interesting little sampling of how FINTRAC "compliance officers" actually go about their Intelligence gathering in the hunt for bad eggs among Vancouver Realtors, have a gander at "Dealing with FINTRAC" by Marty Douglas. It's posted on JUROCK.COM.

CBC British Columbia has an online scoreboard for 2007 & 2008 gangland hits. (Use the link at upper right) On Sept. 2 the board shows 18 "targeted shootings," the local euphemism for execution murders. Some of the pistol tags are actually sites of multiple killings. Each tag opens to a data card and also a link to a news story. Note - Mike Gordon is not listed.

Mike Gordon and Clay Roueche

The UN GANG lost its "Armourer" and its "Intelligence Officer" and on Friday we learned that it just lost its Real Estate Broker. What's next? I was going to do a Blog report today on the murder of Mike Gorden, the owner of BEST BET REALTY. The research was done and it would only take an hour to write and paste text and photos to Blogger. But then last night I read Kim Bolan's latest story on the UN Gang and Gordon's connection. I have a pretty good idea that one more realtor is going to be shot, (unless he's already left town) so it might be prudent to wait until the weekend and work that news into a lengthier Blog report.

Ms. Bolan's work was posted to the Vancouver Sun website just after midnight, along with a few pages of documents which confirm Gorden's corporate registrations. The SUN gave Bolan's work prominence but I was sorry to see that by 3PM this afternoon it had been bumped by an interactive piece on Employment Insurance statistics, designed to agitate another target audience.

I knew that Bolan keeps a Blog called The Real Scoop, but I hadn't read it. I did check out today's blog and I see that she discusses her interview with Clay Roueche's father, who we are told makes his living crushing cars. You might want to have a read. I have no interest in listening to her tape of the interview, which the SUN is hosting on its server, but I do agree with her conclusion about parents. Too often the families of gangsters go into deep denial when their offspring are identified as outlaws.

Rupert Roueche's calling Bolan a "cop lover" for the manner in which she covers the UN Gang story is nothing short of galling, and I for one will be incensed if any police officer is shot by these nuts racing around town with loaded guns under their seat. One does sense that the father's hatred for police may have a vintage which predates his son's run in with the law.

The U.N. Gang - news on its "armourer"

Enlarged detail of a photo we ran on June 26. Clayton Roueche is being held in a Seattle detention facility. Police have revealed that they believe JIN BON CHAN (see photo) is now defacto leader of the U.N. Gang.

My June 26th Blog on the UN Gang was well received and some of you have been checking back for updates.

In truth, local law enforcement is just holding its breath, waiting to swarm the location of any fresh incidents of gunplay. Cordon and search seems effective downtown amid the towers, but it has not been as effective enough in the Fraser Valley. What little action there is, plays out in the Vancouver courts. Yesterday for example, Kim Bolan reported on two bail initiatives, one successful. "Gun Dealer Supplied arms to U.N. Gang"

Last week in Surrey, B.C., notorious bad boys Jarrod and Jamie BACON managed to secure bail on 24 weapons charges. Meanwhile in a Vancouver court Jong Ca John LEE (see photo) had his bail blocked by the Crown. John Lee is currently serving five years for weapons offences and it is now widely accepted that he was "armourer" to the U.N. Gang. The irony of course is that weapons supplied by one bail applicant have been used to try to murder the other bail applicants.

To refresh memories on Jong Ca Lee, I quote Ms. Bolan in yesterday's edition of the Vancouver SUN: "Lee's armoury, on the 21st floor of an apartment building at 1128 Quebec St., was found incidentally by Vancouver police when they got a 911 call to the apartment on April 26, 2007 and stumbled on the cache. A Nazi flag was hanging on the wall. "

Now while I have the greatest admiration for Ms. Bolan's work, both on the organized crime file and on Sikh Terrorism, I still find I must quibble. Bolan, and her editor, understand that SUN readers are averse to legalize. They will not swallow lengthy extracts from court documents, but there is no call for boilerplate which only distracts concerned citizens from the real issue of a drug culture which has a taste for blood, and is capable of evading prosecution.

At no time have the police proved that John Lee was a "Gun Dealer" or that he was an "armourer" in the accepted definition of the word. What he was doing was simply fencing stolen firearms. The Vancouver Sun has the name and address of every licenced firearms dealer in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Why? Because several years ago the SUN ran a major story on the lawful selling of firearms in the region. The underhand goal of their piece was to influence public policy. They were encouraging municipalities to ban lawful dealers in the region. And because local news media do not investigate each other, we will never know which, if any, of the lawful firearms dealers identified in the story were robbed as a result of the SUN's "outing" them. It is quite possible the paper contributed to the proliferation of guns on our streets.

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Further, reference to the U.N. Gang "armourer" having "mines" and "grenades" and a "Nazi flag" in his apartment are all typical examples of gun porn. DEWAT objects [Deactivated War Trophies] are the sort of dangerous looking clutter which accompany many seizures of stolen weapons collections. It is what criminals expect to encounter when they smash into the home of an American who combines an interest in guns and military history. DEWATS are popular eye candy when police assemble a display of seized weapons for the TV cameras, but they are of no particular use to the bad guys. Such objects have no use in staging a typical ambush killing.

The V.P.D. has long acknowledged that most local firepower has been looted from gun collections in the United States. Television news showed us that Mr. Lee had a German MG 42 in his downtown apartment, matched with a Nazi flag. The tripod mounted MG 42 is a highly effective weapon, but my suspicion is that his was a DEWAT. Just for show. The Nazi flag is of course always associated in Canada with White Supremacists, but the U.N. Gang is, by definition, multi-ethnic and colour blind. [B.C.'s school curriculum does work its magic sometimes!] Mentioning that Jong Ca John Lee had a Nazi flag on his apartment wall does not advance the story, and what is really needed is a full profile of his background and his training in firearms.

For example, I have seen no published evidence that Lee is a weapons tech, is capable of converting weapons to full auto without damaging them, or is competent to manufacture an effective gun silencer. If we continue to term him an "armourer" without proof, we risk enhancing the status of the gang as some sort of para-military organization, and that will certainly feed egos.

The UN Gang - Vancouver's graveyard dawgs

Is the UN Gang out of business? Unlikely, but at least its leader is buried in a holding cell down in Seattle. As widely reported by Vancouver media, Clayton "Clay" Roueche was scooped up in a slick three way operation mounted by U.S., Mexican and Canadian law enforcement. Roueche is fond of foreign travel and his ability to organize gang R&R activities offshore. He tripped up on a recent junket to Cancun Mexico, where he was to attend a wedding. The attendees included twenty UN Gang members, their wives and girlfriends. His mistake was in thinking there was safety in overflying the United States. Millions of dollars worth of close surveillance and wiretapping paid off, and he was coolly diverted into U.S. custody.

A bonanza of personal material including bank records and private photographs of gang activities were seized when police raided his house in Coquitlam, B.C. It's a tantalizing preview of what was in Clay Roueche's personal scrapbook. A copy set of the Intelligence booty was provided to the Americans and a small sample was offered by federal prosecutors in Seattle at Roueche's arraignment on June 9, 2008.

Several events led to police capture of Roueche. One key development was arrest of Jong Ca John Lee, who is believed to have been the armourer to the UN Gang. Lee's highrise Vancouver apartment was stormed by Vancouver police on June 9, 2007. (Local TV broadcast a police display of automatic weapons and drugs seized. It included a German MG42 belt-fed machine gun). Lee had no previous criminal record but pleaded guilty in September 2007 to 10 counts, including possession of 3.5 kilograms of ecstasy (estimated value $400,000) 900 grams of marijuana, an arsenal and three stolen Canadian passports. He is now in prison.

Criminal yearbook photo - seventy members of the UN Gang formed ranks for a recent photo. Note some wearing sweatshirts or T's with their "UN" logo. The boss, Clayton Roueche, is currently in U.S. custody.

Clayton Roueche, sporting a custom embroidered hoodie, makes his way to the graveside to burn joss for a fallen UN soldier.

Roueche, born and raised in Chilliwack and Abottsford, B.C., is a devotee of Asian martial arts and enjoys all the trappings, including gaudy insignia and Buddhist ceremonial.

This grave of a UN Gang member boldly proclaims him to be a "Warrior of the United Nations". The stone and burial were paid for by gang leader Clayton Roueche.

Another key factor was the fallout from the Apt 1505 murders in Surrey B.C. Public outrage over the fact that two of the six men executed were innocent bystanders, led to an intensified investigation. Police task forces received rare cooperation from gang associates who had previously maintained steadfast loyalty to Roueche, and were thus able to mount the tri-nation operation which culminated in his arrest. It remains to be seen if Roueche's lieutenants will successfully hold the distribution territory in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver suburbs which their boss assembled hit by hit.

At the pre-trail hearing in Seattle Roueche's lawyer offered a raft of testimonials including a statement from his family which claims he is a dutiuful father of three girls. A Buddhist temple in Langley, B.C. (a registered charity) provided a reference letter written by its President, Savath Homsab, which claims Roueche "regularly volunteered in fund-raising and doing all variety works to build up our temple." Roueche's father, Rupert, also provided a letter of support. The UN Gang leader is said to be his "only son," a good boy who in 1993 graduated from Sardis Secondary School in Chilliwack. Roueche put his son Clayton in Tae Kwan Do classes at age 12, with no thought of him using that discipline for criminal purposes.