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191-573: The Independent Soldiers (otherwise known as the IS gang ) is an organized crime group based in British Columbia , Canada that is engaged in organized crime across the nation and in Canadian prisons. The Independent Soldiers are a gang , that was said to have been formed by a group of Indo-Canadians from South Vancouver and Metro Vancouver municipalities. ". They had come together during

382-633: A humid continental climate with widely variable precipitation. For example, the average daily low in Prince George (roughly in the middle of the province) in January is −12 °C (10 °F). Small towns in the southern interior with high elevation such as Princeton are typically colder and snowier than cities in the valleys. Heavy snowfall occurs in all elevated mountainous terrain providing bases for skiers in both south and central British Columbia. Annual snowfall on highway mountain passes in

573-468: A 21-year waitress, Leah Hadden-Watts, a quadriplegic as she took a bullet straight through her neck, severing her spinal cord. Black took two bullets through both her thighs, but unlike Hadden-Watts, she was able to walk again. Riarch fled from the scene, bleeding and in panic. Riarch ended up going to the Philippines under the grounds that Canada was too dangerous for him. Despite fleeing Canada, Riarch

764-567: A GPS tracking device on the bottom of Naicker's car. On 25 June 2012, Naicker was shot dead outside of a Starbucks in Port Moody. His killers were from the rival Dhak-Duhre group who following him via the GPS device and were waiting for a moment to get a clear shot at him. As Naicker left the Starbucks, the killers who were waiting outside shot him dead and then jumped into a SUV parked outside of

955-520: A competitive advantage for some groups; however, it is inaccurate to adopt this as the only determinant of classification in organized crime. This categorization includes the Sicilian Mafia , 'Ndrangheta , ethnic Chinese criminal groups , Japanese yakuza (or Boryokudan ), Colombian drug trafficking groups , Nigerian organized crime groups, Corsican mafia , Korean criminal groups and Jamaican posses . From this perspective, organized crime

1146-432: A degree of organizational rationality. Members saw themselves as organized criminals; gangs were formal-rational organizations, Strong organizational structures, well defined roles and rules that guided members' behavior. Also a specified and regular means of income (i.e., drugs). Padilla (1992) agreed with the two above. However some have found these to be loose rather than well-defined and lacking persistent focus, there

1337-513: A financial crime, counterfeiting also involves manufacturing or distributing goods under assumed names. Counterfeiters benefit because consumers believe they are buying goods from companies that they trust, when in reality they are buying low quality counterfeit goods. In 2007, the OECD reported the scope of counterfeit products to include food, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, electrical components, tobacco and even household cleaning products in addition to

1528-484: A given network), while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions (such as retrieval of stored confidential data, corruption of information, or interception of transmissions). Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Applying the Internet model of organized crime, the proliferation of computer viruses and other malicious software promotes

1719-408: A greater propensity for imitation. Gangs and traditional criminal organizations cannot be universally linked (Decker, 1998), however there are clear benefits to both the adult and youth organization through their association. In terms of structure, no single crime group is archetypal, though in most cases there are well-defined patterns of vertical integration (where criminal groups attempt to control

1910-626: A group of men armed with guns and baseball bats broke into the house of a small-time drug dealer Steve Bodie. Bodie was robbed and beaten bloody with the bones in his chest, hands and fingers all being broken. Bodie was dumped by a highway in the Rocky Mountains and finally had one of his hands run over by a truck. After Bodie went to a farmhouse to report the attack, the police entered Bodie's house and found two Independent Soldiers looking for drugs. The police charged Oldford together with Adam Colligen, Brett Haynes, Greg Brotzel and David Byford of

2101-703: A large presence in the Metro Vancouver region. The Franco-Columbian community is an officially recognized linguistic minority, and around one percent of British Columbians claim French as their mother tongue . British Columbia is home to at least 34 distinct Indigenous languages . Major sectors of British Columbia's economy include forestry , mining , filmmaking and video production , tourism , real estate , construction , wholesale , and retail . Its main exports include lumber and timber , pulp and paper products, copper , coal , and natural gas . British Columbia exhibits high property values and

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2292-636: A local convenience store. The clerk had mistaken Naicker for Raj Soomel. The two gunmen raced over to the convenience store and shot Soomel dead out of the belief that he was Naicker. Ken Yaretz was a drug dealer in Kamloops who during a police stop in August 2008 had been found inside of the car of Jayme Russell, the president of the Kamloops chapter of the Independent Soldiers. Yaretz together with his best friend Damien Marks had just moved into

2483-520: A nation-state to penetrate another nation's computers or networks with the intention of causing civil damage or disruption. Moreover, it acts as the "fifth domain of warfare," and William J. Lynn , U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense , states that "as a doctrinal matter, the Pentagon has formally recognized cyberspace as a new domain in warfare . . . [which] has become just as critical to military operations as land, sea, air, and space." Cyber espionage

2674-493: A new basement apartment when both men went missing on 17 April 2009. In May 2009, the corpses of Marks and Yaretz were found buried on grounds of the house at Knouff Lake owned by Roy Fraser. It was stated by locals that it was "common knowledge" that Fraser was a drug dealer whose remote house had a marijuana grow-opt owned by the Hells Angels. Fraser was charged with murder, but fled while on bail. On 14 December 2013, Fraser

2865-554: A particular territory, facility, or enterprise." Some reasons youth join gangs include to feel accepted, attain status, and increase their self-esteem. A sense of unity brings together many of the youth gangs that lack the family aspect at home. "Zones of transition" are deteriorating neighborhoods with shifting populations. In such areas, conflict between groups, fighting, "turf wars", and theft promote solidarity and cohesion. Cohen (1955): working class teenagers joined gangs due to frustration of inability to achieve status and goals of

3056-750: A passer-by noticed one of the men had a handgun on him. Also arrested at the Castle Fun Park meeting that evening were Jamie Bacon along with Anton Hooites-Meursing , Justin Prince, Dennis Karbovanec, and Jeff Harvey of the Red Scorpions. The Castle Fun Park meeting was a part of a take-over of the Red Scorpions by the Hells Angels with Bacon acting as their proxy. Langton wrote the Independent Soldiers were "...a gang that had once been all Indian Canadian, but had since become just another Hells Angel puppet club". Both Naicker and Espadilla were representing

3247-447: A pattern of maltreatment on their own children years later. Klein (1971) like Spergel studied the effects on members of social workers' interventions. More interventions actually lead to greater gang participation and solidarity and bonds between members. Downes and Rock (1988) on Parker's analysis: strain theory applies, labeling theory (from experience with police and courts), control theory (involvement in trouble from early childhood and

3438-562: A person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity. Official numbers of individuals in sexual slavery worldwide vary. In 2001 International Organization for Migration estimated 400,000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated 700,000 and UNICEF estimated 1.75 million. The most common destinations for victims of human trafficking are Thailand, Japan, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey and

3629-670: A politically motivated group. Notable groups include the Medellín Cartel , Corleonesi Mafia , various Mexican Cartels , and Jamaican Posse . Organized crime groups generate large amounts of money by activities such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, extortion, theft, and financial crime. These illegally sourced assets are of little use to them unless they can disguise it and convert it into funds that are available for investment into legitimate enterprise. The methods they use for converting its 'dirty' money into 'clean' assets encourages corruption. Organized crime groups need to hide

3820-726: A range of business and labor racketeering activities, such as skimming casinos, insider trading, setting up monopolies in industries such as garbage collecting, construction and cement pouring, bid rigging, getting "no-show" and "no-work" jobs, political corruption and bullying. The commission of violent crime may form part of a criminal organization's 'tools' used to achieve criminogenic goals (for example, its threatening, authoritative, coercive, terror-inducing, or rebellious role), due to psycho-social factors (cultural conflict, aggression, rebellion against authority, access to illicit substances, counter-cultural dynamic), or may, in and of itself, be crime rationally chosen by individual criminals and

4011-696: A result MS-13 is known to commit acts of violence against members of the Minutemen, to prevent them from interfering with their illegal immigration activities. Throughout the world there are various anti-gang vigilante groups, who profess to be fighting against gang influence, but share characteristics and acts similarly to gangs, including Sombra Negra , Friends Stand United , People Against Gangsterism and Drugs , and OG Imba . Gangs that are involved in drug trafficking often commit violent acts to stop or force out independent dealers—drug dealers with no gang ties—to keep them from taking customers. In America, there

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4202-605: A result, marine biologists say that the local fishery is recovering. In Mexico a vigilante group called Grupos de autodefensa comunitaria was formed to counter the illegal loggers , the La Familia Michoacana Cartel and a drug cartel/ cult known as the Knights Templar Cartel ; as they grew, they were being joined by former cartel members and as they got bigger they began to sell drugs in order to buy weapons. The Knights Templar Cartel

4393-595: A salt form that is white. The former is mainly produced in Afghanistan and some south-west countries while the latter had a history of being produced in only south-east Asia, but has since moved to also being produced in Afghanistan. There is some suspicion white Heroin is also being produced in Iran and Pakistan, but it is not confirmed. This area of Heroin production is referred to as the Golden Crescent. Heroin

4584-408: A sense of detachment between the perpetrator (whether that be the criminal organization or another individual) and the victim; this may help to explain vast increases in cyber-crime such as these for the purpose of ideological crime or terrorism. In mid July 2010, security experts discovered a malicious software program that had infiltrated factory computers and had spread to plants around the world. It

4775-528: A series of devastating epidemics of diseases the people had no immunity to. The population dramatically collapsed, culminating in the 1862 smallpox outbreak in Victoria that spread throughout the coast. European settlement did not bode well for the remaining native population of British Columbia. Colonial officials deemed colonists could make better use of the land than the First Nations people, and thus

4966-513: A shooting took place on Upland street in Prince George with a man, known as W.B. due to a court order, being seriously injured. Arrested and charged for the shooting were three Independent Soldiers, namely Jesse Bird, Eric West and Fabian Charlie while another three Independent Soldiers were arrested, but not charged. The fact that the three were who not charged were all white while the three who were charged were all First Nations people became

5157-838: A small island off the coast of Haida Gwaii . Many healthy populations of fish are present, including salmonids such as several species of salmon , trout , steelhead , and char . Besides salmon and trout, sport-fishers in BC also catch halibut , bass , and sturgeon . On the coast, harbour seals and river otters are common. Cetacean species native to the coast include the orca , humpback whale , grey whale , harbour porpoise , Dall's porpoise , Pacific white-sided dolphin and minke whale . Some endangered species in British Columbia are: Vancouver Island marmot , spotted owl , American white pelican , and badgers. White spruce or Engelmann spruce and their hybrids occur in 12 of

5348-605: A source of heroin." With respect to organized crime and accelerating synthetic drug production in East and Southeast Asia, especially the Golden Triangle , Sam Gor , also known as The Company, is the most prominent international crime syndicate based in Asia-Pacific . It is made up of members of five different triads. Sam Gor is understood to be headed by Chinese-Canadian Tse Chi Lop . The Cantonese Chinese syndicate

5539-643: A study, they estimated that in 2009, money laundering equated to about 2.7% of global GDP being laundered; this is equal to about 1.6 trillion US dollars. The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, has stated that "A sustained effort between 1996 and 2000 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to produce such estimates failed." However, anti-money laundering efforts that seize money laundered assets in 2001 amounted to $ 386 million. The rapid growth of money laundering

5730-660: A very wide range of birds, has long been popular. Bears ( grizzly , black —including the Kermode bear or spirit bear) live here, as do deer , elk , moose , caribou , big-horn sheep , mountain goats , marmots , beavers , muskrats , coyotes , wolves , mustelids (such as wolverines , badgers and fishers ), cougars , eagles , ospreys , herons , Canada geese , swans , loons , hawks , owls , ravens , harlequin ducks , and many other sorts of ducks. Smaller birds ( robins , jays , grosbeaks , chickadees , and so on) also abound. Murrelets are known from Frederick Island,

5921-455: A wholly unorganized area of British North America under the de facto jurisdiction of HBC administrators; however, unlike Rupert's Land to the north and east, the territory was not a concession to the company. Rather, it was simply granted a monopoly to trade with the First Nations inhabitants. All that was changed with the westward extension of American exploration and the concomitant overlapping claims of territorial sovereignty, especially in

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6112-462: Is Canada's third-largest province in terms of total area, after Quebec and Ontario . The first known human inhabitants of the area settled in British Columbia at least 10,000 years ago. Such groups include the Coast Salish , Tsilhqotʼin , and Haida peoples, among many others. One of the earliest British settlements in the area was Fort Victoria , established in 1843, which gave rise to

6303-649: Is a significant centre for maritime trade : the Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the most diversified port in North America . Although less than 5 percent of the province's territory is arable land , significant agriculture exists in the Fraser Valley and Okanagan due to the warmer climate. British Columbia is home to 45% of all publicly listed companies in Canada. The province's name

6494-496: Is also not uncommon for drug farms to also host livestock , both to have a legal source of revenue to help disguise the dirty money and so that the livestock can provide a source of organic fertilizer (such as manure ) for the drug crops. There are multiple instances where traffickers set up some of their drug farms, safe houses and drug labs in remote wilderness areas. Once produced, the fully processed narcotics are then transported to more populated areas to be sold. Oftentimes

6685-671: Is an animal welfare organization called Rescue Ink, in which outlaw biker gang members volunteer to rescue animals in need and combat against people who commit animal cruelty, such as breaking up cockfighting rings, stopping the killing of stray cats , breaking up dog fighting rings, and rescuing pets from abusive owners. In the American prison system, prison gangs are often known to physically harm and even kill inmates who have committed such crimes as child murder , serial killing , pedophilia , hate crimes , domestic violence , and rape , and inmates who have committed crimes against

6876-416: Is argued that rational choice is not represented in this. The choice to commit a certain act, or associate with other organized crime groups, may be seen as much more of an entrepreneurial decision - contributing to the continuation of a criminal enterprise, by maximizing those aspects that protect or support their own individual gain. In this context, the role of risk is also easily understandable, however it

7067-592: Is believed that the YouTube videos and news clips had drawn the attention of Deo's enemies. It remains unclear if his murder was work of the Musitano family or the Dhak-Duhre group. Deo's murder made the headlines of newspapers in his native India with The Times of India for example making his murder frontpage news under the headline "A Gangster and a NBA Fan". In 2018, Riach was convicted of drug trafficking in

7258-546: Is believed to have been the work of the Independent Soldiers. As the Hells Angels took control the Independent Soldiers, two members, namely Michael Justin Lal and his brother Corey Jason Lal, both left the Independent Soldiers to found their own gang, the Lal crew. The Lal crew were wiped out in the Surrey Six massacre of October 2007. On 15 April 2008, Joseph "J Money" Krantz, the owner and manager of World Extreme Fighting Club,

7449-419: Is commonly used interchangeably with "youth gang," referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet "gang" criteria. Miller (1992) defines a street gang as "a self-formed association of peers, united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization, who act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of

7640-583: Is considered "the first attack on critical industrial infrastructure that sits at the foundation of modern economies," notes the New York Times. Corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals that may be identified with a corporation or other business entity (see vicarious liability and corporate liability ). Corporate crimes are motivated by either

7831-481: Is currently debating whether such activities as commercial espionage or theft of intellectual property are criminal activities or actual "breaches of national security." Furthermore, military activities that use computers and satellites for coordination are at risk of equipment disruption. Orders and communications can be intercepted or replaced. Power, water, fuel, communications, and transportation infrastructure all may be vulnerable to sabotage . According to Clarke,

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8022-407: Is debatable whether the underlying motivation should be seen as true entrepreneurship or entrepreneurship as a product of some social disadvantage. The criminal organization, much in the same way as one would assess pleasure and pain, weighs such factors as legal, social and economic risk to determine potential profit and loss from certain criminal activities. This decision-making process rises from

8213-557: Is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime as "...the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a state party of which the person is not a national". This practice has increased over the past few decades and today now accounts for a significant portion of illegal immigration in countries around

8404-404: Is dependent on the types of crime the organization is involved in (as well as their organizational structure or cultural tradition) aggressive acts range on a spectrum from low-grade physical assaults to major trauma assaults . Bodily harm and grievous bodily harm, within the context of organized crime, must be understood as indicators of intense social and cultural conflict, motivations contrary to

8595-431: Is due to: Money laundering is a three-stage process: Means of money laundering: The policy aim in this area is to make the financial markets transparent, and minimize the circulation of criminal money and its cost upon legitimate markets. Counterfeiting money is another financial crime. The counterfeiting of money includes illegally producing money that is then used to pay for anything desired. In addition to being

8786-573: Is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy , literally meaning "rule by thieves". There are three major regions that center around drug trafficking , known as the Golden Triangle (Burma, Laos, Thailand), Golden Crescent (Afghanistan) and Central and South America. There are suggestions that due to the continuing decline in opium production in South East Asia, traffickers may begin to look to Afghanistan as

8977-561: Is generally in the subarctic climate zone, but even there, milder air can penetrate far inland. The coldest temperature in British Columbia was recorded in Smith River , where it dropped to −58.9 °C (−74.0 °F) on January 31, 1947, one of the coldest readings recorded anywhere in North America. Atlin in the province's far northwest, along with the adjoining Southern Lakes region of Yukon , get midwinter thaws caused by

9168-485: Is home to First Nations groups that have a deep history with a significant number of indigenous languages. There are more than 200 First Nations in BC. Prior to contact (with non-Aboriginal people), human history is known from oral histories, archaeological investigations, and from early records from explorers encountering societies early in the period. The arrival of Paleoindians from Beringia took place between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago. Hunter-gatherer families were

9359-533: Is no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism . Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (e.g., neutral military personnel or civilians ), and are committed by non-government agencies. Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and war, especially crimes against humanity ( see

9550-566: Is not a modern phenomenon - the construction of 17th and 18th century crime gangs fulfill all the present day criteria of criminal organizations (in opposition to the Alien Conspiracy Theory). These roamed the rural borderlands of central Europe embarking on many of the same illegal activities associated with today's crime organizations, with the exception of money laundering. When the French revolution created strong nation states,

9741-447: Is not always apparent and academics continue to debate the matter. For example, in failed states that can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or governance (usually due to fractious violence or to extreme poverty), organized crime, governance, and war sometimes complement each other. The term " oligarchy " has been used to describe democratic countries whose political, social, and economic institutions come under

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9932-414: Is not restricted to these activities. The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, government officials have broad or poorly defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone

10123-519: Is not the only drug being used in these areas. The European market has shown signs of growing use in opioids on top of the long-term heroin use. Drug traffickers produce drugs in drug laboratories and drug farms. A drug lab can range in size from small workshops to the size of small towns (such as Tranquilandia ). A drug farm is a place where drug crops are grown before being made into illegal narcotics. A drug farm can range in size from smallholdings to large plantations. In addition to drug crops, it

10314-543: Is now the United States include Vancouver, Washington ( Fort Vancouver ), formerly the "capital" of Hudson's Bay operations in the Columbia District, Colville, Washington and Walla Walla, Washington (old Fort Nez Percés ). With the amalgamation of the two fur trading companies in 1821, modern-day British Columbia existed in three fur trading departments. The bulk of the central and northern interior

10505-399: Is primarily for prostituting women and children into sex industries . Sexual slavery encompasses most, if not all, forms of forced prostitution. The terms " forced prostitution " or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions but have been insufficiently understood and inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" generally refers to conditions of control over

10696-562: Is primarily involved in drug trafficking, earning at least $ 8 billion per year. Sam Gor is alleged to control 40% of the Asia-Pacific methamphetamine market, while also trafficking heroin and ketamine . The organization is active in a variety of countries, including Myanmar, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China and Taiwan. Sam Gor previously produced meth in Southern China and is now believed to manufacture mainly in

10887-469: Is the only province in Canada that borders the Pacific Ocean. British Columbia's highest mountain is Mount Fairweather ; the highest mountain entirely within the province is Mount Waddington . British Columbia's capital is Victoria , located at the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island . Only a narrow strip of Vancouver Island, from Campbell River to Victoria, is significantly populated. Much of

11078-433: Is the practice of obtaining confidential, sensitive, proprietary or classified information from individuals, competitors, groups, or governments using illegal exploitation methods on internet, networks, software or computers. There is also a clear military, political, or economic motivation. Unsecured information may be intercepted and modified, making espionage possible internationally. The recently established Cyber Command

11269-404: Is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright , infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights , such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works . Whilst almost universally considered under civil procedure , the impact and intent of organized criminal operations in this area of crime has been the subject of much debate. Article 61 of

11460-513: Is to prevent heavy levels of community policing , that could be harmful to their illicit businesses; additionally the vigilante acts could help the gangs to ingratiate themselves in their communities . In the US during the roaring twenties, the anti-catholic and anti-semitic Ku Klux Klan was known to be a staunch enforcer of prohibition, as a result Italian , Irish , Polish and Jewish gangsters would at times have violent confrontations against

11651-699: Is vast, including but not limited to pharmacies, import-export companies , check-cashing stores , tattoo parlors, zoos, online dating sites, liquor stores, motorcycle shops, banks, hotels, ranches and plantations, electronic stores, beauty salons, real estate companies , daycares, framing stores , taxicab companies, phone companies, shopping malls, jewelry stores, modeling agencies, dry cleaners, pawn shops, pool halls , clothing stores, freight companies , charity foundations , youth centers, recording studios, sporting goods stores, furniture stores, gyms, insurance companies, security companies , law firms , and private military companies . Labor racketeering, as defined by

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11842-605: The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires that signatory countries establish criminal procedures and penalties in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale. More recently copyright holders have demanded that states provide criminal sanctions for all types of copyright infringement. Organized criminal groups capitalize on consumer complicity, advancements in security and anonymity technology, emerging markets and new methods of product transmission, and

12033-560: The British Isles , many British Columbians also trace their ancestors to continental Europe , East Asia , and South Asia . Indigenous Canadians constitute about 6 percent of the province's total population. Christianity is the largest religion in the region, though the majority of the population is non-religious. English is the common language of the province, although Punjabi , Mandarin Chinese , and Cantonese also have

12224-1059: The Chinook effect, which is also common (and much warmer) in more southerly parts of the Interior. During winter on the coast, rainfall , sometimes relentless heavy rain, dominates because of consistent barrages of cyclonic low-pressure systems from the North Pacific. Average snowfall on the coast during a normal winter is between 25 and 50 centimetres (10 and 20 in), but on occasion (and not every winter) heavy snowfalls with more than 20 centimetres (8 in) and well below freezing temperatures arrive when modified arctic air reaches coastal areas, typically for short periods, and can take temperatures below −10 °C (14 °F), even at sea level. Arctic outflow winds can occasionally result in wind chill temperatures at or even below −17.8 °C (0.0 °F). While winters are very wet, coastal areas are generally milder and dry during summer under

12415-581: The Columbia in the name Columbia Rediviva came from the name Columbia for the New World or parts thereof , a reference to Christopher Columbus . The governments of Canada and British Columbia recognize Colombie-Britannique as the French name for the province. British Columbia is bordered to the west by the Pacific Ocean and the American state of Alaska , to the north by Yukon and

12606-646: The Dakelh (Carrier) and the Tsilhqotʼin . The inlets and valleys of the British Columbia coast shelter large, distinctive populations, such as the Haida , Kwakwakaʼwakw and Nuu-chah-nulth , sustained by the region's abundant salmon and shellfish. These peoples developed complex cultures dependent on the western red cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and war canoes and elaborately carved potlatch items and totem poles . Contact with Europeans brought

12797-597: The Fraser Canyon , close to the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson rivers, where the terrain is rugged and covered with desert-type flora. Semi-desert grassland is found in large areas of the Interior Plateau , with land uses ranging from ranching at lower altitudes to forestry at higher ones. The northern, mostly mountainous, two-thirds of the province is largely unpopulated and undeveloped, except for

12988-605: The Golden Triangle , specifically Shan State , Myanmar , responsible for much of the massive surge of crystal meth in recent years. The group is understood to be headed by Tse Chi Lop , a Chinese-Canadian gangster born in Guangzhou , China. Tse is a former member of the Hong Kong-based crime group, the Big Circle Gang . In 1988, Tse immigrated to Canada. In 1998, Tse was convicted of transporting heroin into

13179-467: The Inside Passage 's many inlets provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery, which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and ecotourism industry. 75 percent of the province is mountainous (more than 1,000 m [3,300 ft] above sea level ); 60 percent is forested; and only about 5 percent is arable. The province's mainland away from

13370-528: The Musitano family of Hamilton, who saw him as an intruding on their own territory. In March 2014, Deo was arrested for smuggling cocaine, but was able to post bail. After posting bail, Deo went into hiding. On 23 May 2016, Deo made the news when he was attended a Toronto Raptors basketball game and started to abuse the referees for supposedly favoring the Cleveland Cavaliers so violently that he

13561-531: The North Coast just south of Southeast Alaska . The exception to British Columbia's wet and cloudy winters is during the El Niño phase. During El Niño events, the jet stream is much farther south across North America, making the province's winters milder and drier than normal. Winters are much wetter and cooler during the opposite phase, La Niña . There are 14 designations of parks and protected areas in

13752-694: The North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), effectively established a permanent British presence in the region. The Columbia District was broadly defined as being south of 54°40 north latitude, (the southern limit of Russian America ), north of Mexican-controlled California, and west of the Rocky Mountains . It was, by the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 , under the "joint occupancy and use" of citizens of

13943-658: The Northwest Territories , to the east by the province of Alberta , and to the south by the American states of Washington , Idaho , and Montana . The southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, although its history is tied with lands as far south as California . British Columbia's land area is 944,735 square kilometres (364,800 sq mi). British Columbia's rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres (17,000 mi), and includes deep, mountainous fjords and about 6,000 islands, most of which are uninhabited. It

14134-602: The Nuremberg Trials ), Allied authorities deeming the German Nazi Party , its paramilitary and police organizations, and numerous associations subsidiary to the Nazi Party "criminal organizations". The use of similar tactics by criminal organizations for protection rackets or to enforce a code of silence is usually not labeled terrorism though these same actions may be labeled terrorism when done by

14325-581: The Oroville–Osoyoos Border Crossing , is one of several wine and cider -producing regions in Canada. Other wine regions in British Columbia include the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island and the Fraser Valley . The Southern Interior cities of Kamloops and Penticton have some of the warmest and longest summer climates in Canada (while higher elevations are cold and snowy), although their temperatures are often exceeded north of

14516-507: The Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains , the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains. British Columbia borders the province of Alberta to the east; the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north; the U.S. states of Washington , Idaho and Montana to

14707-620: The Search Bloc , which would eventually lead to the dismantling of the Medellín Cartel and the death of Pablo Escobar. Because of the high levels of corruption, the Oficina de Envigado would do things to help the police and vice versa, to the point where the police and the cartel would sometimes do operations together against other criminals; additionally the leaders of La Oficina would often act as judges to mediate disputes between

14898-514: The Sinaloa , Jalisco New Generation , Juárez , Gulf , Los Zetas , and Beltrán-Leyva cartels as the six Mexican TCO with the greatest influence in drug trafficking to the United States. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 has a target to combat all forms of organized crime as part of the 2030 Agenda . In some countries, football hooliganism has been linked to organized crime. Various models have been proposed to describe

15089-1170: The black market can avoid, or at least receive early warnings about, investigation and prosecution. Activities of organized crime include loansharking of money at very high interest rates, blackmailing , assassination , backyard breeding , bombings , bookmaking and illegal gambling , confidence tricks , forging early release prison documents, copyright infringement , counterfeiting of intellectual property, metal theft , fencing , kidnapping , sex trafficking , smuggling , drug trafficking , arms trafficking , impersonating armored truck drivers, oil smuggling, antiquities smuggling , organ trafficking , contract killing , identity document forgery , money laundering , bribery , seduction , electoral fraud , insurance fraud , point shaving , price fixing , cargo theft via fictions pickup, illegal taxicab operation , illegal dumping of toxic waste, illegal trading of nuclear materials, military equipment smuggling, nuclear weapons smuggling, passport fraud , providing illegal immigration and cheap labor, people smuggling, trading in endangered species, and trafficking in human beings . Organized crime groups also do

15280-509: The elderly , animals , the disabled , the poor and the less fortunate. In many minority communities and poor neighborhoods, residents often distrust law enforcement, as a result the gang syndicates often take over to "police" their neighborhoods by committing acts against people who had committed crimes such as bullying , muggings, home invasions , hate crimes, stalking , sexual assault , domestic violence and child molestation , as well as mediating disputes between neighbors. The ways that

15471-628: The fur trade , rather than political considerations. In 1794, by the third of a series of agreements known as the Nootka Conventions , Spain conceded its claims of exclusivity in the Pacific. This opened the way for formal claims and colonization by other powers, including Britain, but because of the Napoleonic Wars , there was little British action on its claims in the region until later. The establishment of trading posts by

15662-552: The hit man has been generally consistent throughout the history of organized crime, whether that be due to the efficiency or expediency of hiring a professional assassin or the need to distance oneself from the commission of murderous acts (making it harder to prove criminal culpability). This may include the assassination of notable figures (public, private or criminal), once again dependent on authority, retribution or competition. Revenge killings, armed robberies, violent disputes over controlled territories and offenses against members of

15853-565: The united colony's capital. In 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation as the sixth province of Canada, in enactment of the British Columbia Terms of Union . British Columbia is a diverse and cosmopolitan province, drawing on a plethora of cultural influences from its British Canadian , European , and Asian diasporas , as well as the Indigenous population . Though the province's ethnic majority originates from

16044-1101: The 14 biogeoclimatic zones of British Columbia . Common types of trees present in BC's forests include western redcedar , yellow-cedar , Rocky Mountain juniper , lodgepole pine , ponderosa or yellow pine , whitebark pine , limber pine , western white pine , western larch , tamarack , alpine larch , white spruce , Engelmann spruce , Sitka spruce , black spruce , grand fir , Amabilis fir , subalpine fir , western hemlock , mountain hemlock , Douglas-fir , western yew , Pacific dogwood , bigleaf maple , Douglas maple , vine maple , arbutus , black hawthorn , cascara , Garry oak , Pacific crab apple , choke cherry , pin cherry , bitter cherry , red alder , mountain alder , paper birch , water birch , black cottonwood , balsam poplar , trembling aspen . First Nations peoples of British Columbia used plants for food, and to produce material goods like fuel and building products. Plant foods included berries, and roots like camas . Environment Canada subdivides British Columbia into six ecozones : The area now known as British Columbia

16235-582: The 14 different designations that includes over 800 distinct areas. British Columbia contains seven of Canada's national parks and National Park Reserves: British Columbia contains a large number of provincial parks , run by BC Parks under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment. British Columbia's provincial parks system is the second largest parks system in Canada, the largest being Canada's National Parks system. Another tier of parks in British Columbia are regional parks , which are maintained and run by

16426-609: The 1990s under the name "Sunset Boys". The Sunset Boys were a group of mostly Indo-Canadians whose favorite meeting was the Sunset Community Centre and Sunset Park. One of the founding members of the Sunset Boys who later became the leader of the Independent Soldiers was Randy Naicker. The gang were initially petty criminals, but started to work for the Punjabi mafia in the 1990s as street level drug dealers. As

16617-739: The American Jewish community to help defend against the Nazi bund, even going as far as attacking and killing Nazi sympathizers during bund meetings. Vigilante groups such as the Black Panther Party , White Panther Party , and Young Lords have been accused of committing crimes in order to fund their political activities. While protection racketeering is often seen as nothing more than extortion, criminal syndicates that participate in protection rackets have at times provided genuine protection against other criminals for their clients,

16808-696: The Angels at the Castle Fun Park meeting. On 9 August 2007, the Fortune Happiness Restaurant in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Vancouver was the scene of a shooting. Two masked gunmen stormed into the Fortune Happiness and opened fire on a group eating at a table. Two men were killed while six were wounded. The well known gangster Hung Van "Sonny" Bui took six bullets in his chest, but survived his wounds. The attack

16999-693: The Game Tight Soldiers. The Game Tight Soldiers disbanded with some joining the Renegades with the rest moving to Winnipeg to join the Rock Machine. The first leader of the gang, Sukhvinder Singh Dosanjh, was killed in an automobile accident in 2005. By 2005, the IS were operating across British Columbia and Alberta . The IS was mainly made up of Punjabi-Canadians but over the years they became more multicultural and accepted other ethnicities in

17190-455: The Hells Angels had the Independent Soldiers establish a chapter in Prince George as the replacement puppet gang for "the Crew". The Prince George chapter of the IS were made up of mostly white or First Nations people. The Independent Soldier chapter in Prince George came to dominate the drug trade in that city alongside the Renegades who were also "Hells Angels flunkies", which led to a rivalry with

17381-501: The Independent Soldiers in the Loft Six nightclub were involved in a shoot-out with the Hells Angels on the dance floor sparked by the presence of John "JJ" Johnson, a man associated with the Hells Angels who had beaten up an Independent Soldier earlier that year. One witness recalled: "A fight broke out, and all of the sudden bullets started flying. We just ran. We were right in the line of fire. We couldn't see anybody; we didn't know who

17572-466: The Independent Soldiers' Kamloops chapter. In 2010, Naicker together with another Independent Soldier, James Riarch, became a founding member of the Wolfpack Alliance alongside Larry Amero of the Hells Angels and Jonathan Bacon of the Red Scorpions. On 16 October 2010, Gurmit Singh Dhak , the co-boss of the Dhak-Duhre group was murdered with his corpse being found in his BMW automobile in

17763-545: The Independent Soldiers, Parminder Singh "Peter" Adiwal was shot several times and badly wounded in an attack by a member of the Red Scorpions gang in April 2009 that left him a paraplegic. In April 2009, Naicker became the new leader of the Independent Soldiers. While in jail following his arrest at the Castle Fun Park meeting, he had a member of the United Nations gang beaten in his cell block. Following his conviction for

17954-665: The Interior during mid-summer, with the record high of 49.6 °C (121.3 °F) being held in Lytton on June 29, 2021, during a record-breaking heat wave that year . The extended summer dryness often creates conditions that spark forest fires, from dry-lightning or man-made causes. Many areas of the province are often covered by a blanket of heavy cloud and low fog during the winter months, in contrast to abundant summer sunshine. Annual sunshine hours vary from 2200 near Cranbrook and Victoria to less than 1300 in Prince Rupert , on

18145-582: The KKK. On one occasion FBI informant and mobster Gregory Scarpa kidnapped and tortured a local Klansmen into revealing the bodies of Civil rights workers who had been killed by the KKK. During World War II, America had a growing number of Nazi supporters that formed the German American Bund , which was known to be threatening to local Jewish people, as a result Jewish mobsters (such as Meyer Lansky , Bugsy Siegel and Jack Ruby ) were often hired by

18336-645: The Medellín Cartel's war against the Colombian government, both the Norte del Valle Cartel and Cali Cartel formed and operated a vigilante group called Los Pepes (which also comprised members of the Colombian government, police and former members of the Medellín Cartel) to bring about the downfall of Pablo Escobar; they did so by bombing the properties of the Medellín Cartel and kidnapping, torturing and killing Escobar's associates as well as working alongside

18527-785: The North Fraser Pretrial Center jail and is now a free man. Organized crime Other organizations—including states, churches, militaries , police forces , and corporations—may sometimes use organized-crime methods to conduct their activities, but their powers derive from their status as formal social institutions. There is a tendency to distinguish "traditional" organized crime such as gambling , loan sharking , drug-trafficking , prostitution , and fraud from certain other forms of crime that also usually involve organized or group criminal acts, such as white-collar crime , financial crimes , political crimes , war crimes , state crimes, and treason . This distinction

18718-544: The Pacific Ocean, inscribing a stone marking his accomplishment on the shoreline of Dean Channel near Bella Coola . His expedition theoretically established British sovereignty inland, and a succession of other fur company explorers charted the maze of rivers and mountain ranges between the Canadian Prairies and the Pacific. Mackenzie and other explorers—notably John Finlay , Simon Fraser , Samuel Black , and David Thompson —were primarily concerned with extending

18909-587: The Philippines and sentenced to life imprisonment. Since 29 June 2021, Amerco and another Wolfpack leader Rabih "Robby" Alkhalil have been on trial in Vancouver for the murders of Sandip Duhre and Suhhveer Dhak with the Crown alleging the two hired the hitman Dean Michael Wiwchar to kill Dhak and Duhre. On 11 May 2017, Alkhalil and Wiwchar were both convicted of first-degree murder for the 2012 murder of Toronto gangster Johnny Raposo. In July 2022, Alkhalil escaped from

19100-446: The Starbucks to flee the scene. On 19 November 2012, Suhhveer "Sukh" Dhak and his bodyguard Thomas Mantel were murdered in Vancouver. In January 2014, Riarch was arrested in the Philippines on charges of smuggling drugs into the Philippines from Mexico. An Independent Soldier and Wolfpack member, Sukhvir Singh Deo moved to Toronto to escape the hitmen of the Dhak-Duhre group, but remained active in smuggling cocaine, causing tensions with

19291-463: The United Nations gangs are one of the largest gangs in the Vancouver area. Totten noted the Independent Soldiers were an unstable gang with a "fluid" membership and frequent leadership changes. The gang is organized in cells and primarily sells cocaine. By the early 2000s, the favorite meeting place for the leaders of the Independent Soldiers were the Loft Six nightclub in Gastown . On 16 August 2003,

19482-517: The United States Department of Labor, is the infiltrating, exploiting, and controlling of employee benefit plan, union, employer entity, or workforce that is carried out through illegal, violent, or fraudulent means for profit or personal benefit. Labor racketeering has developed since the 1930s, affecting national and international construction, mining, energy production and transportation sectors immensely. Activity has focused on

19673-455: The United States and served nine years behind bars. Tse has been compared in prominence to Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Pablo Escobar . The U.S. supply of heroin comes mainly from foreign sources which include Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle , Southwest Asia, and Latin America. Heroin comes in two forms. The first is its chemical base form which presents itself as brown and the second is

19864-797: The United States and subjects of Britain (which is to say, the fur companies). This co-occupancy was ended with the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The major supply route was the York Factory Express between Hudson Bay and Fort Vancouver . Some of the early outposts grew into settlements, communities, and cities. Among the places in British Columbia that began as fur trading posts are Fort St. John (established 1794); Hudson's Hope (1805); Fort Nelson (1805); Fort St. James (1806); Prince George (1807); Kamloops (1812); Fort Langley (1827); Fort Victoria (1843); Yale (1848); and Nanaimo (1853). Fur company posts that became cities in what

20055-532: The United States has been Cosa Nostra ( Italian-American Mafia ), but other transnational criminal organizations have also risen in prominence in recent decades. A 2012 article in a U.S. Department of Justice journal stated that: "Since the end of the Cold War, organized crime groups from Russia, China, Italy, Nigeria, and Japan have increased their international presence and worldwide networks or have become involved in more transnational criminal activities. Most of

20246-410: The United States provided by Hannigan, et al., marked an increase of 35% between 2002 and 2010. A distinctive gang culture underpins many, but not all, organized groups; this may develop through recruiting strategies, social learning processes in the corrective system experienced by youth, family or peer involvement in crime, and the coercive actions of criminal authority figures. The term "street gang"

20437-437: The United States, according to a report by UNODC . People smuggling is defined as "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries laws, either clandestinely or through deception, such as the use of fraudulent documents". The term is understood as and often used interchangeably with migrant smuggling, which

20628-543: The United States, the Organized Crime Control Act (1970) defines organized crime as "[t]he unlawful activities of [...] a highly organized, disciplined association [...]". Criminal activity as a structured process is referred to as racketeering . In the UK, police estimate that organized crime involves up to 38,000 people operating in 6,000 various groups. Historically, the largest organized crime force in

20819-785: The area east of the Rockies , where the Peace River Country contains BC's portion of the Canadian Prairies , centred at the city of Dawson Creek . British Columbia is considered part of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion , along with the American states of Alaska, Idaho, (western) Montana, Oregon , Washington, and (northern) California . Because of the many mountain ranges and rugged coastline, British Columbia's climate varies dramatically across

21010-426: The assault and kidnapping of Harpreet "Happy" Singh in 2005, Naicker was sentenced to a prison term. Naicker admitted while applying for parole that he was the man behind the Independent Soldiers clothing brand, but he denied being a gangster, saying that his business had been "ruined" when Independent Soldiers gangsters starting wearing his branded clothing without his permission. Naicker was able to make day parole, but

21201-604: The blocking presence of successive mountain ranges, the climate of some of the interior valleys of the province (such as the Thompson, parts of the Fraser Canyon, the southern Cariboo and parts of the Okanagan) is semi-arid with certain locations receiving less than 250 millimetres (10 in) in annual precipitation. The annual mean temperature in the most populated areas of the province is up to 12 °C (54 °F),

21392-479: The bodies in trash or landfills, feeding the bodies to animals (such as pigs or rats ), destruction by industrial process (such as machinery, chemical bath, molten metal or a junked car), injection into the legitimate body disposal system (such as morgues, funeral homes, cemeteries, crematoriums, funeral pyres or cadaver donations) or covert killings at health care facilities, disguising as animal flesh (such as food waste or restaurant food), creating false evidence of

21583-595: The bodies of their victims on display as a form of psychological warfare against their enemies. Criminal syndicates often commit acts of vigilantism by enforcing laws, investigating certain criminal acts and punishing those who violate such rules. People who are often targeted by organized criminals tend to be individualistic criminals, people who committed crimes that are considered particularly heinous by society, people who committed wrongdoings against members or associates, rivals or terrorist groups. One reason why criminal groups might commit vigilantism in their neighborhoods

21774-585: The circumstances of death and letting investigators dispose of the body, possibly obscuring identity, abandonment in a remote area where the body can degrade significantly, while exposure to elements (such as rain, wind, heat, etc.) as well as animal activity (such as consumption by scavengers ) can contaminate the crime scene or destroy evidence before being discovered, if ever, such as a wilderness area (such as national parks or nature reserves) or an abandoned area (such as an abandoned building, well or mine). However, there are also many instances of gangsters putting

21965-666: The city of Victoria, the capital of the Colony of Vancouver Island . The Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) was subsequently founded by Richard Clement Moody , and by the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment , in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush . Moody selected the site for and founded the mainland colony's capital New Westminster . The colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were incorporated in 1866, subsequent to which Victoria became

22156-836: The civilian realm is also at risk, noting that the security breaches have already gone beyond stolen credit card numbers, and that potential targets can also include the electric power grid, trains, or the stock market. The term "computer virus" may be used as an overarching phrase to include all types of true viruses, malware , including computer worms , Trojan horses , most rootkits , spyware , dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software (though all are technically unique), and proves to be quite financially lucrative for criminal organizations, offering greater opportunities for fraud and extortion whilst increasing security, secrecy and anonymity. Worms may be utilized by organized crime groups to exploit security vulnerabilities (duplicating itself automatically across other computers

22347-601: The coast in 1775. In doing so, Pérez and Quadra reasserted the Spanish claim for the Pacific coast , first made by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513. The explorations of James Cook in 1778 and George Vancouver in 1792 and 1793 established British jurisdiction over the coastal area north and west of the Columbia River. In 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to journey across North America overland to

22538-548: The coastal regions is somewhat moderated by the Pacific Ocean. Terrain ranges from dry inland forests and semi-arid valleys, to the range and canyon districts of the Central and Southern Interior , to boreal forest and subarctic prairie in the Northern Interior. High mountain regions both north and south have subalpine flora and subalpine climate . The Okanagan wine area , extending from Vernon to Osoyoos at

22729-424: The consistent nature of these provides a stable financial basis for other areas of organized crime. Cyberwarfare refers to politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage and espionage . It is a form of information warfare sometimes seen as analogous to conventional warfare although this analogy is controversial for both its accuracy and its political motivation. It has been defined as activities by

22920-487: The context of organized crime, both may serve as means through which other criminal activity may be successfully perpetrated or as the primary goal themselves. Email fraud , advance-fee fraud , romance scams , employment scams , and other phishing scams are the most common and most widely used forms of identity theft, though with the advent of social networking fake websites, accounts and other fraudulent or deceitful activity has become commonplace. Copyright infringement

23111-439: The continuation of their operations. Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name. Victims of identity theft (those whose identity has been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer adverse consequences if held accountable for

23302-418: The control of a few families and business oligarchs that may be deemed or may devolve into organized crime groups in practice. By their very nature, kleptocracies , mafia states , narco-states or narcokleptocracies , and states with high levels of clientelism and political corruption are either heavily involved with organized crime or tend to foster organized crime within their own governments. In

23493-805: The criminal gangs moved to other poorly controlled regions like the Balkans and Southern Italy, where the seeds were sown for the Sicilian Mafia - the linchpin of organized crime in the New World. While most of the conceptual frameworks used to model organized crime emphasize the role of actors or activities , computational approaches built on the foundations of data science and artificial intelligence are focusing on deriving new insights on organized crime from big data . For example, novel machine learning models have been applied to study and detect urban crime and online prostitution networks. Big data has also been used to develop online tools predicting

23684-604: The entrepreneurial efforts of the group's members, their motivations and the environments in which they work. Opportunism is also a key factor – the organized criminal or criminal group is likely to frequently reorder the criminal associations they maintain, the types of crimes they perpetrate, and how they function in the public arena (recruitment, reputation, etc.) in order to ensure efficiency, capitalization and protection of their interests. Culture and ethnicity provide an environment where trust and communication between criminals can be efficient and secure. This may ultimately lead to

23875-489: The eventual decision that the costs outweigh the benefits) and conflict theories. No ethnic group is more disposed to gang involvement than another, rather it is the status of being marginalized, alienated or rejected that makes some groups more vulnerable to gang formation, and this would also be accounted for in the effect of social exclusion , especially in terms of recruitment and retention. These may also be defined by age (typically youth) or peer group influences, and

24066-497: The gang wear red and black clothing in public together the initials I.S. stamped on their jackets and baseball hats. Naicker founded the Independent Soldier clothing brand in 2004. Naicker, an Indo-Fijian immigrant always insisted that the Independent Soldiers were just a clothing line he had started and he had nothing to do with crime. The Canadian scholar Mark Totten wrote the Independent Soldiers gang were typical of

24257-481: The gangs in the Lower Mainland which started out as an ethnocentric gang and became more diverse with the passage of time. Totten wrote the Independent Soldiers were mostly a single-generational gang, were not especially territorial and did not have the elaborate rituals that other gangs had. Totten wrote the Independent Soldiers were a mid-level gang in the Lower Mainland, and together with the Red Scorpions and

24448-422: The gangs would punish such individuals could range from forced apologies, being threatened, being forced to return stolen objects, vandalizing property, arson, being forced to move , bombings , being assaulted or battered , kidnappings, false imprisonment , torture or being murdered. Some criminal syndicates have been known to hold their own "trials" for members of theirs who had been accused of wrongdoing;

24639-493: The general rigidity of their internal structures. They focus more on how the operations works, succeeds, sustains itself or avoids retribution, they are generally typified by: However, this model of operation has some flaws: While bureaucratic operations emphasize business processes and strongly authoritarian hierarchies, these are based on enforcing power relationships rather than an overlying aim of protectionism, sustainability or growth. An estimate on youth street gangs in

24830-400: The government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery , extortion , cronyism , nepotism , patronage , graft , and embezzlement . While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking , money laundering , and human trafficking , it

25021-426: The group chose to assert its independence after the murder of Bindy Johal in 1998, the name Independent Soldiers was chosen as a way to emphasis their independence from the Punjabi mafia. Like most gangs in the Lower Mainland, the members of the Independent Soldiers came mostly from middle-class families, which was not the norm with the rest of Canada. The colors of the Independent Soldiers are red and black. Members of

25212-408: The groups they form. Assaults are used for coercive measures, to "rough up" debtors, competition or recruits, in the commission of robberies , in connection to other property offenses, and as an expression of counter-cultural authority; violence is normalized within criminal organizations (in direct opposition to mainstream society) and the locations they control. Whilst the intensity of violence

25403-499: The importation of cheap or unfree labor , involvement with union and public officials ( political corruption ), and counterfeiting . Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality , is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with

25594-432: The individuals desire or the corporations desire to increase profits. The cost of corporate crimes to United States taxpayers is about $ 500 billion. Note that some forms of corporate corruption may not actually be criminal if they are not specifically illegal under a given system of laws. For example, some jurisdictions allow insider trading . The different businesses that organized crime figures have been known to operate

25785-532: The influence of stable anti-cyclonic high pressure. Southern Interior valleys are hot in summer; for example, in Osoyoos , the July maximum temperature averages 31.7 °C (89.1 °F), making it the hottest month of any location in Canada; this hot weather sometimes spreads towards the coast or to the far north of the province. Temperatures often exceed 40 °C (104 °F) in the lower elevations of valleys in

25976-474: The insurgent groups were trying to steal land, kidnap family members, and extort money from the drug barons. As a result the drug lords of the Medellín Cartel formed a paramilitary vigilante group known as Muerte a Secuestradores ("Death to Kidnappers") to defend the cartel against the FARC and M-19 , even kidnapping and torturing the leader of M-19 before leaving him tied up in front of a police station. During

26167-640: The islands of southern Alaska and northern British Columbia. The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia: the Dene of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration from Asia to North America. The Interior of British Columbia is home to the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap (Secwepemc) , Okanagan and Athabaskan language groups, primarily

26358-486: The land should be owned by the colonists. To ensure colonists would be able to settle properly and make use of the land, First Nations were forcibly relocated onto reserves , which were often too small to support their way of life. By the 1930s, British Columbia had over 1500 reserves. Lands now known as British Columbia were added to the British Empire during the 19th century. Colonies originally begun with

26549-431: The legal economy. Launderers will also co-mingle illegal money with revenue made from businesses in order to further mask their illicit funds. Accurate figures for the amounts of criminal proceeds laundered are almost impossible to calculate, rough estimates have been made, but only give a sense of the scale of the problem and not quite how great the problem truly is. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime conducted

26740-737: The likelihood of criminals to participate in tax evasion. As most organized crime is perpetrated in the liminal state between legitimate and illegitimate markets, these economic factors must adjusted to ensure the optimal amount of taxation without promoting the practice of tax evasion. As with any other crime, technological advancements have made the commission of tax evasion easier, faster and more globalized. The ability for organized criminals to operate fraudulent financial accounts, utilize illicit offshore bank accounts, access tax havens or tax shelters , and operating goods smuggling syndicates to evade importation taxes help ensure financial sustainability, security from law enforcement, general anonymity and

26931-529: The lower ranks as the Independent Soldiers. In January 2005, Randy Naicker along with Harpreet Narwal, Roman Narwal and Sarpreet Johal had kidnapped and beat Harpreet Singh after he refused to pay extortion money to the Independent Soldiers. On 7 December 2006, Naicker together with Independent Soldier Barry Espadilla were arrested attending a gang meeting at the Castle Fun Park in Abbotsford after

27122-559: The main social structure from 10,000 to 5,000 years ago. The nomadic population lived in non-permanent structures foraging for nuts, berries and edible roots while hunting and trapping larger and small game for food and furs. Around 5,000 years ago individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Coast Salish peoples had complex land management practices linked to ecosystem health and resilience. Forest gardens on Canada's northwest coast included crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherry species. Thus with

27313-490: The middle class; Cloward and Ohlin (1960): blocked opportunity, but unequal distribution of opportunities lead to creating different types of gangs (that is, some focused on robbery and property theft, some on fighting and conflict and some were retreatists focusing on drug taking); Spergel (1966) was one of the first criminologists to focus on evidence-based practice rather than intuition into gang life and culture. Participation in gang-related events during adolescence perpetuate

27504-673: The mildest anywhere in Canada. The valleys of the Southern Interior have short winters with only brief bouts of cold or infrequent heavy snow, while those in the Cariboo , in the Central Interior , are colder because of increased altitude and latitude, but without the intensity or duration experienced at similar latitudes elsewhere in Canada. Outside of the driest valleys, the Southern and Central Interior generally have

27695-544: The money's illegal origin. This allows for the expansion of OC groups, as the 'laundry' or 'wash cycle' operates to cover the money trail and convert proceeds of crime into usable assets. Money laundering is bad for international and domestic trade, banking reputations and for effective governments and rule of law. This is due to the methods used to hide the proceeds of crime. These methods include, but are not limited to: buying easily transported values, transfer pricing, and using "underground banks," as well as infiltrating firms in

27886-478: The native population of what became British Columbia. The arrival of Europeans began around the mid-18th century, as fur traders entered the area to harvest sea otters . While it is thought Sir Francis Drake may have explored the British Columbian coast in 1579, it was Juan Pérez who completed the first documented voyage, which took place in 1774. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra explored

28077-437: The object of some dispute in the Prince George media. Two of the witnesses to the shooting, Garret McComb and his girlfriend, Brittany Giese, were found murdered inside their house on 7 October 2008, being shot several times. In October 2009, Justice Karen Walker dismissed the charges against West, Bird and Charlie after W.B. refused to testify while she found that the Crown's sole remaining witness to be unreliable. The leader of

28268-536: The parking lot of the Metrotown Mall in Burnaby. The cause of Dhak's death was being shot in the face. Kim Bolan , the crime correspondent of The Vancouver Sun newspaper wrote in 2018: "Dhak’s execution was the flashpoint for a near decade-long war that has raged across the province and left many dead and wounded in its wake. Few of those behind the violence have been held to account." Suhhveer "Sukh" Dhak,

28459-412: The parole board did not accept his claim his claim to be an innocent businessman who was only guilty of only making clothing popular with gangsters, denying him full parole. While Naicker was living at a half-way house in Vancouver as part of his day parole, two armed men burst into the house on 29 September 2009 and stated that they were looking for Naicker who just left accordingly to the sign-out book for

28650-584: The passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization with a more sedentary lifestyle . These indigenous populations evolved over the next 5,000 years across a large area into many groups with shared traditions and customs. To the northwest of the province are the peoples of the Na-Dene languages , which include the Athapaskan-speaking peoples and the Tlingit , who live on

28841-606: The permanence or consistency of their criminal activity. These groups also form their own symbolic identity or public representation which are recognizable by the community at large (include colors, symbols, patches, flags and tattoos). Research has focused on whether the gangs have formal structures, clear hierarchies and leadership in comparison with adult groups, and whether they are rational in pursuit of their goals, though positions on structures, hierarchies and defined roles are conflicting. Some studied street gangs involved in drug dealing - finding that their structure and behavior had

29032-406: The perpetrator's actions, as can organizations and individuals who are defrauded by the identity thief, and to that extent are also victims. Internet fraud refers to the actual use of Internet services to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme. In

29223-401: The province that reflect the different administration and creation of these areas in a modern context. There are 141 ecological reserves, 35 provincial marine parks, 7 provincial heritage sites, 6 National Historic Sites of Canada , 4 national parks and 3 national park reserves. 12.5 percent of the province's area (114,000 km or 44,000 sq mi) is considered protected under one of

29414-536: The province's regional districts . The Ministry of Forests operates forest recreation sites. In addition to these areas, over 47,000 square kilometres (18,000 sq mi) of arable land are protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve . Much of the province is undeveloped, so populations of many mammalian species that have become rare in much of the United States still flourish in British Columbia. Watching animals of various sorts, including

29605-489: The province. Coastal southern British Columbia has a mild and rainy climate influenced by the North Pacific Current . Most of the region is classified as oceanic , though pockets of warm-summer Mediterranean climate also exist in the far-southern parts of the coast. Precipitation averages above 1,000 mm (39 in) in almost all of the coastal region, and Hucuktlis Lake on Vancouver Island receives an average of 6,903 mm (271.8 in) of rain annually. Due to

29796-515: The public must also be considered when looking at the dynamic between different criminal organizations and their (at times) conflicting needs. After killing their victims, the gangsters often try to destroy evidence by getting rid of the victims remains in such a way as to prevent, hinder, or delay the discovery of the body, to prevent identification of the body, or to prevent autopsy. The different ways that organized criminals have been known to dispose of dead bodies include but are not limited to hiding

29987-499: The punishments that the accused member would face if "found guilty" would vary depending on the offense. In addition to what is considered traditional organized crime involving direct crimes of fraud swindles, scams, racketeering and other acts motivated for the accumulation of monetary gain, there is also non-traditional organized crime which is engaged in for political or ideological gain or acceptance. Such crime groups are often labelled terrorist groups or narcoterrorists . There

30178-494: The reason for this is because the criminal organization would want the business of their clients to do better so that the gang can demand even more protection money, additionally if the gang has enough knowledge of the local fencers , they may even be able to track down and retrieve any objects that were stolen from the business owner, to further help their clients the gang may also force out, disrupt, vandalize, steal from or shutdown competing businesses for their clients. In Colombia

30369-420: The rest of the world's population in history. Most are debt slaves , largely in South Asia , who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders , sometimes even for generations. It is the fastest growing criminal industry and is predicted to eventually outgrow drug trafficking . British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC ) is the westernmost province of Canada . Situated in

30560-1356: The risk for an individual to be a victim of online sex trade or getting drawn into online sex work. In addition, data from Twitter and Google Trends have been used to study the public perceptions of organized crime. Organized crime groups provide a range of illegal services and goods. Organized crime often victimizes businesses through the use of extortion or theft and fraud activities like hijacking cargo trucks and ships, robbing goods, committing bankruptcy fraud (also known as "bust-out"), insurance fraud or stock fraud (insider trading). Organized crime groups also victimize individuals by car theft (either for dismantling at "chop shops" or for export), art theft , Metal theft , bank robbery , burglary, jewelry and gems theft and heists, shoplifting , computer hacking , credit card fraud, economic espionage , embezzlement , identity theft , and securities fraud (" pump and dump " scam). Some organized crime groups defraud national, state, or local governments by bid rigging public projects, counterfeiting money, smuggling or manufacturing untaxed alcohol ( rum-running ) or cigarettes ( buttlegging ), and providing immigrant workers to avoid taxes. Organized crime groups seek out corrupt public officials in executive, law enforcement, and judicial roles so that their criminal rackets and activities on

30751-428: The same time, the Independent Soldiers became more multi-ethnic with the influx of new members. The Independent Soldiers were reduced down to being a puppet gang for the Hells Angels. Randy Naicker was one of the pro-Angel leaders of the Independent Soldiers and emerged as a major force within the gang by 2005. When a puppet gang for the Hells Angels in Prince George known as "the Crew" were broken up by police arrests,

30942-415: The security of the public, and other psycho-social factors. Murder has evolved from the honor and vengeance killings of the yakuza or Sicilian mafia which placed large physical and symbolic importance on the act of murder, its purposes and consequences, to a much less discriminate form of expressing power, enforcing criminal authority, achieving retribution or eliminating competition. The role of

31133-444: The south, and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of over 5.6   million as of 2024, it is Canada's third-most populous province . The capital of British Columbia is Victoria , while the province's largest city is Vancouver . Vancouver and its suburbs together make up the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada , with the 2021 census recording 2.6   million people in Metro Vancouver . British Columbia

31324-424: The southern Columbia Basin (within present day Washington and Oregon ). In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the territory along the 49th parallel to the Strait of Georgia , with the area south of this boundary (excluding Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands ) transferred to sole American sovereignty. The Colony of Vancouver Island was created in 1849, with Victoria designated as the capital. New Caledonia, as

31515-404: The southern interior rivals some of the snowiest cities in Canada, and freezing rain and fog are sometimes present on such roads as well. This can result in hazardous driving conditions, as people are usually travelling between warmer areas such as Vancouver or Kamloops , and may be unaware that the conditions may be slippery and cold. Winters are generally severe in the Northern Interior which

31706-403: The structure of criminal organizations. Patron–client networks are defined by fluid interactions. They produce crime groups that operate as smaller units within the overall network, and as such tend towards valuing significant others, familiarity of social and economic environments, or tradition. These networks are usually composed of: Bureaucratic/corporate organized crime groups are defined by

31897-482: The supply and demand), as is the case in arms, sex and drug trafficking. The entrepreneurial model looks at either the individual criminal or a smaller group of organized criminals, that capitalize off the more fluid 'group-association' of contemporary organized crime. This model conforms to social learning theory or differential association in that there are clear associations and interaction between criminals where knowledge may be shared, or values enforced, however, it

32088-418: The support of the Hudson's Bay Company (Vancouver Island, the mainland) were amalgamated, then entered Confederation as British Columbia in 1871 as part of the Dominion of Canada. During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30 percent of the Pacific Northwest First Nations . This devastating epidemic was the first in a series; the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic killed about half to two-thirds of

32279-433: The surrounding terrain and local wildlife might serve to deter or impede either investigative authorities or rival gangs if the location of the clandestine compound were revealed. While usually thought of as an urban issue, drug trafficking is also known to be a problem in both suburban and rural areas as well. Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a major cause of contemporary sexual slavery and

32470-409: The traffickers stationed in these remote criminal settlements, sustain themselves with a combination of survival skills and with food, supplies and workers being brought to them by associates. The reason that traffickers have been known to establish such remote compounds is so that the surrounding area can help to provide varying degrees of natural cover. Additionally the traffickers may also hope, that

32661-542: The usual films, music, literature, games and other electrical appliances, software and fashion. A number of qualitative changes in the trade of counterfeit products: The economic effects of organized crime have been approached from a number of both theoretical and empirical positions, however the nature of such activity allows for misrepresentation. The level of taxation taken by a nation-state, rates of unemployment, mean household incomes and level of satisfaction with government and other economic factors all contribute to

32852-411: The various different drug gangs throughout Colombia, which according to some helped prevented a lot of disputes from turning violent. On Somalia coastline many people rely on fishing for economic survival, because of this Somali pirates are often known to attack foreign vessels who partake in illegal fishing and overfishing in their waters and vessels that illegally dump waste into their waters. As

33043-438: The western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by temperate rainforest . The province's most populous city is Vancouver, which is at the confluence of the Fraser River and Georgia Strait , in the mainland's southwest corner (an area often called the Lower Mainland ). By land area, Abbotsford is the largest city. Vanderhoof is near the geographic centre of the province. The Coast Mountains and

33234-453: The world's major international organized crime groups are present in the United States." The US Drug Enforcement Administration 's 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment classified Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) as the "greatest criminal drug threat to the United States," citing their dominance "over large regions in Mexico used for the cultivation, production, importation, and transportation of illicit drugs" and identifying

33425-418: The world. People smuggling generally takes place with the consent of the person or persons being smuggled, and common reasons for individuals seeking to be smuggled include employment and economic opportunity, personal or familial betterment, and escape from persecution or conflict. The number of slaves today remains as high as 12 million to 27 million. This is probably the smallest proportion of slaves to

33616-457: The younger brother of Gurmit, believed that the Wolfpack gang and that Amero and Bacon in particular were the ones responsible for his brother's murder. Amero had called a summit of the Wolfpack leaders at the Grand Delta Okanagan Resort and Hotel in Kelowna for the weekend of 13–14 August 2011 that was attended by Bacon and Riarch. Amero, Bacon and Riach had a brunch at the Grand Delta on 14 August and had decided to leave via Amero's Porsche. Amero

33807-438: Was arrested by the police. Found inside of his home were 4.5 ounces of cocaine, 2 ounces of heroin, 8.7 ounces of crack, a .380 handgun, a 9mm handgun plus clothing and paraphernalia bearing the logos of the Independent Soldiers and the Hells Angels. It was later confirmed that Krantz was a member of the Independent Soldiers and that his World Extreme Fighting Club was popular with the Independent Soldiers. On 20 October 2008, Krantz

33998-441: Was chosen by Queen Victoria , when the Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) , i.e., "the Mainland", became a British colony in 1858. It refers to the Columbia District , the British name for the territory drained by the Columbia River , in southeastern British Columbia, which was the namesake of the pre- Oregon Treaty Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company . Queen Victoria chose British Columbia to distinguish what

34189-481: Was convicted of Irving's murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison with no chance of parole. Verma broke down hysterically in tears as the guilty verdict was announced in the courtroom. After Russell was arrested, the new president of the Independent Soldier Kamloops chapter was Jeffery Oldford. Oldford had been convicted of theft in April 2010 while also facing charges of sexual assault laid in December 2010 and another for trafficking in April 2011. On 5 August 2011,

34380-497: Was convicted of one count of first degree murder in regard to Yaretz's death and one count of second degree murder in regard to Marks's death. Brittney Irving of Kelowna was a 24-year old healthcare professional who was addicted to Oxycontin. To pay for her addiction, she worked as a marijuana dealer for both the local chapters of the Independent Soldiers and the Hells Angels. On 6 April 2010, she went to meet an Independent Soldier drug dealer, Joelon "Joey" Verma and vanished. Her corpse

34571-429: Was discovered by the police on 25 May 2010. During the police investigation of Irving's murder, Verma rammed a gun into the belly of another man, Mike Roberts, and told him: "You have to take the fall for this [Irving murder]...If you don’t I have no choice but to kill you, your wife, your children and your grandchildren. I’m sorry, that’s just how we do business." Verma was charged with her murder. On 17 October 2013, Verma

34762-428: Was driving with Bacon besides him in the passenger seat and Riach in a rear seat together with two women Leach Hadden-Watts and Lyndsey Black. At about 2: 45 pm on 14 August 2011, Amero's Porsche Cayenne was leaving the parking lot of the Delta Grand Hotel, when a group of four masked gunmen opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles. The gunmen fired at least 30 shots into the Cayenne, killing Bacon, wounding Amero, and leaving

34953-599: Was ejected from the Rogers Center. Deo's abuse of the referees led to several YouTube videos being made about him as an example of an obnoxious Toronto Raptors fan. On 7 June 2016, Deo was murdered in Toronto by two killers disguised as construction workers. Deo had parked his automobile in the alley known locally as Cowbell Lane at the corner of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue and seemed to be waiting for someone. Two men dressed as construction workers appeared to be deep in conversation as they walked down Cowbell Lane and then suddenly opened fire on Deo, putting 14 bullets into him. It

35144-447: Was eventually defeated and dissolved by the vigilantes' actions but they ended up forming their own cartel called Los Viagras , which has links with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel . The Minuteman Project is a far-right paramilitary organization that seeks to prevent illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border ; however, doing so is detrimental to gangs like Mara Salvatrucha , who make money through people smuggling , and as

35335-435: Was locking the doors of his Extreme Fighting Club in Abbotsford at about 9 pm when he was shot dead. It is believed he was killed out of the fear that he might make a plea bargain with the Crown for a reduced sentence in exchange for testifying against his suppliers. During the ensuring gang war for control of the drug trade in the Lower Mainland, the Independent Soldiers served as proxies for the Hells Angels. On 6 August 2008,

35526-505: Was organized into the New Caledonia district, administered from Fort St. James. The interior south of the Thompson River watershed and north of the Columbia was organized into the Columbia District, administered from Fort Vancouver on the lower Columbia River. The northeast corner of the province east of the Rockies, known as the Peace River Block, was attached to the much larger Athabasca District , headquartered in Fort Chipewyan , in present-day Alberta. Until 1849, these districts were

35717-415: Was promoted up from the Independent Soldiers to join the Hells Angels. On 17 January 2012, Sandip "Dip" Duhre, the co-boss of the Dhak-Duhre group was shot dead while leaving a Vancouver hotel in a revenge attack for the Delta Grand Hotel incident. Two hitmen from the Dhak-Duhre organization were able to enter the underground parking lot of the apartment complex that Naicker lived via an access fob and placed

35908-547: Was relatively low cohesion, few shared goals and little organizational structure. Shared norms, value and loyalties were low, structures "chaotic", little role differentiation or clear distribution of labor. Similarly, the use of violence does not conform to the principles behind protection rackets, political intimidation and drug trafficking activities employed by those adult groups. In many cases gang members graduate from youth gangs to highly developed OC groups, with some already in contact with such syndicates and through this we see

36099-400: Was shooting, and people began crawling over top of each other to get out of the way". When the shoot-out was over, 3 people had been killed and 8 were wounded. Johnson was killed alongside Mahmound Alkhalil of the Independent Soldiers and Jon Popovich, the DJ at the club who was killed in the crossfire. The Independent Soldier Gerpal Singh "Paul" Dosanjh, the first cousin to the Dosanjh brothers,

36290-505: Was shot in the head, but survived his wound, albeit with serious brain damage. Dosanjh was murdered in March 2004 while eating at the Gourmet Castle Restaurant in Vancouver. After the Loft Six incident, many of the original members of the gang ended leaving the gang as it was felt to be too dangerous. The new members who joined the gang were much willing to work for the Hells Angels and the journalist Jerry Langton wrote "...the Independent Soldiers steadily became less and less independent". At

36481-404: Was the British sector of the Columbia District from the United States' ("American Columbia" or "Southern Columbia"), which became the Oregon Territory on August 8, 1848, as a result of the treaty. Ultimately, the Columbia in the name British Columbia is derived from the name of the Columbia Rediviva , an American ship which lent its name to the Columbia River and later the wider region;

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