REAL SCOOP: Another UN gangster pleads guilty to conspiracy
Credit to Author: Kim Bolan| Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 02:29:27 +0000
Since the first charges were laid in April 2009 against members and associates of the UN gang for plotting to kill the Bacon brothers and other Red Scorpions, there have been several successful prosecutions. Some of the accused – like Barzan Tilli-Choli, Karwan Ahmet Saed, Ion Kroitoru, Yong Sung John Lee and Dilun Heng – pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Hitman Cory Vallee was convicted of murder. Others – who I can’t name – agreed to cooperate in exchange for lesser sentences and in some cases – cash. Just one – Troy Tran – was acquitted. Charges were stayed against Calgary’s Billy Ly.
And now – the last man charged – Kreshnik Ismailaj – has also pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
That doesn’t mean the case if over. Police are still hunting for Connor D’Monte, who has been a fugitive for eight years.
Here’s my story:
Kreshnik Ismailaj was arrested in Ontario in July 2018 and charged with one count of first-degree murder. But he only admitted to participating in the plot to kill Red Scorpion gangster Kevin LeClair after a deal was reached with prosecutors.
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes accepted a joint Crown and defence lawyer submission and sentenced Ismailaj to nine years and six months in jail, minus 21 months credit for time served in pretrial custody. His remaining term is seven years, nine months.
Dressed in red prison garb, Ismailaj declined to address the court.
But through his defence lawyer Kevin Westell, he expressed remorse for helping others in the UN gang find and gun down LeClair in a busy Langley mall parking lot on Feb. 6, 2009.
Westell said he didn’t want to comment in detail about his client because of “security risks.”
But he said that Ismailaj “is a 38-year old man with no criminal record who quite obviously fell into a pretty egregious and horrifying period of time in his life where he was a member of a gang, and a very dangerous gang at that.”
He said Ismailaj has “insight into the massive amount of pain he has contributed to.”
Crown Gordon Matei read the agreed statement of facts — that Ismailaj started hanging around with UN gangsters in 2004 or 2005 “and became involved in the drug business. Eventually, Ismailaj became a member of the UN gang.”
Between May 2008 and February 6, 2009, the UN hunted rival Red Scorpions gangsters, including Jamie, Jarod and Jonathan Bacon.
Ismailaj assisted in scouting for the UN targets, “driving around areas where members of the Bacon-RS gang were known to frequent,” Matei said, as well as sharing photos and details of their residences and vehicles.
Ismailaj stayed involved in the conspiracy even after others in the gang mistakenly killed stereo installer Jonathan Barber on May 8, 2008 as he drove Jonathan Bacon’s vehicle in Burnaby. Barber’s girlfriend was also wounded.
On Feb. 6, 2009, Ismailaj and another UN gangster were hunting for LeClair, a senior Red Scorpion. They spotted him and watched him go into a Browns Socialhouse in a busy shopping plaza.
Jamie Bacon (left) and Kevin LeClair (right) in undated photo.
Ismailaj and the other man contacted UN hitmen Cory Vallee and Jesse “Egon” Adkins to plan the murder of LeClair after he exited the restaurant, Matei said.
Ismailaj was in a Nissan Murano, parked so he could see the Browns entrance and message Vallee and Adkins when LeClair left. The two shooters were armed and in position, and started firing at LeClair after he got into his truck.
They fled in a Dodge Caravan, followed by Ismailaj in the Murano. The killers dumped their van in a church parking lot and got into the Murano. Ismailaj “later destroyed the communication devices they were using.”
After Ismailaj’s 2018 arrest, “he provided an in-custody statement stating his involvement in the conspiracy and the LeClair murder and expressed his remorse,” Matei said.
The Crown also handed an envelope to Holmes and asked her to read the document inside before sealing it and marking it “other relevant considerations.”
Holmes said murders and violence “that result from gang warfare have far-reaching negative effects for the community we all live in.”
Several other UN gangsters have already pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy to murder their rivals. And Vallee was convicted last year of the first-degree murder of LeClair. Adkins fled to Mexico where he is believed to have been murdered.
UN gang boss Conor D’Monte is also charged with first-degree murder in LeClair’s slaying and remains a fugitive.
Several RCMP officers who worked on the lengthy investigation sat in Courtroom 53 for Thursday’s proceedings.
Supt. Dave Chauhan, who heads the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said afterwards that “this guilty plea comes 10 years after the homicide of Mr. LeClair and speaks to the determination of IHIT investigators” who worked with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit and the B.C. Prosecution Service on the case.
“These partnerships are key to ensuring a successful conclusion to events that impact the safety of our citizens throughout the Lower Mainland, from our specialized units to our frontline officers,” Chauhan said.
CFSEU Supt. Paul Dadwal said Ismailaj and the UN “are responsible for an unprecedented level of gang violence in the history of British Columbia.”
“With this latest conviction and sentencing, it should, yet again, send the message to individuals involved in organized crime-related violence that police will relentlessly pursue justice, regardless of how long it takes.”