Red Scorpion Dennis Karbovanec has pleaded guilty to three counts of secondt-degree murder in connection with the Surrey Six massacre

Red Scorpion gangbanger Dennis Karbovanec has pleaded guilty to three counts of secondt-degree murder in connection with the Surrey Six massacre on Oct. 19, 2007. Karbovanec pleaded guilty in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver Friday to the killings, as well as one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Three others were also to be charged, including Jamie Bacon, 23, Matt Johnson and Cody Haevischer and were being arrested by Emergency Response Teams.
All are linked to the Red Scorpion gang. Steve Brown, the brother-in-law of one man killed in the slaughter at the Balmoral Tower apartment 18 months ago -- said he was relieved at the charges.
Brown's friend and relative Ed Schellenberg was an innocent passerby on the 15th floor of the building fixing the gas fireplace when the killers arrived."I think credit has to go to the IHIT detectives. I know they have had two teams of detectives working full-time and all the credit goes to the police," Brown said. "We need to get justice for Ed so that his wife Lois and his two adult kids can have closure."A second innocent killed was Chris Mohan, a 22-year-old who lived across the hall from the death penthouse and was on his way to a basketball game when the killers arrived.
His mother Eileen has been a tireless crusader against gang violence ever since.

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Jamie Bacon alleged member of the Red Scorpion gang appears to be the intended target of an afternoon shootout in Abbotsford.

Jamie Bacon, 23, was wearing body armour when gunmen in another car opened fire on his black Mercedes at the corner of South Fraser Way and Sumas Way about 3:50 p.m., hitting the leased luxury sedan several times.

Jamie Bacon alleged member of the Red Scorpion gang appears to be the intended target of an afternoon shootout in Abbotsford. Around 4:00 pm Tuesday, police received several reports of gunfire near the intersection of South Fraser Way and Sumas Way. Witnesses reported two cars firing at each another. When officers arrived on scene they found one of the cars involved, a black Mercedes, had crashed into a concrete stairway leading to a Keg restaurant. Police say the intended target is well known to them and was wearing body armour. He was not seriously injured. Police won't confirm reports the man driving the car was known gang member Jamie Bacon.
Police questioned the driver before releasing him and are still looking for the passengers of the other car. The Bacon brothers -- Jamie, Jarrod and Jonathan -- are all well known to police. In 2006, Jonathan, the oldest brother, was shot several times outside the family's Abbotsford home on Strathcona Court. No charges have been laid in connection with the shooting. In 2008, police took the unusual step of setting up a 24-hour surveillance camera to monitor the house after death threats were made against their family by rival gangs.The youngest of a trio of notorious Abbotsford brothers narrowly escaped death Tuesday after his vehicle was targeted in a wild rush-hour shooting at a busy Abbotsford intersection.One bullet hit another car that happened to be passing, though no one was injured, Abbotsford police Const. Casey Vinet confirmed.Const. Vinet said it is amazing no one was hurt in the brazen shooting.

"We are concerned about the public nature of this shooting," he said. "It is intolerable...somebody could have easily been injured."

"There is a public safety issue absolutely," he said. "It is one of the main thoroughfares. At 10 to four in the afternoon, there would have been a fair bit of traffic coming and going."Abbotsford Mayor George Peary said he was in a police board meeting when he learned of the shooting, near a strip mall that houses a popular Save-On Foods. The public gunplay is extremely troubling, said Mr. Peary.
"It is a matter of great concern to myself and our citizens," he said. "This family of three boys seem intent on wreaking havoc."He pointed to the extraordinary public warning issued by the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force last May saying the Bacons were targets of death threats and anyone near them could get caught in the crossfire.
"It's frustrating because among our citizens, public safety is a very high priority," Mr. Peary said. "They want to be safe as they move about the community and of course, with bullets flying, there is trepidation." He said the police are doing everything they can to control the violence, including camera surveillance on the Bacon family home on Strathcona Crescent in Abbotsford."They are policed as much as possible," he said, adding he will get a full briefing from police on the incident, likely today.

Jamie Bacon, who is facing a series of gun and drug charges, was briefly detained after the shooting but is not cooperating with investigators. He was later released.

The Mercedes, which was riddled with bullet-holes, was found a few blocks from where the shooting occurred, crashed into the concrete stairs in front of a Keg restaurant. Mr. Bacon had apparently bailed out of the car to flee his attackers.Vinet said he could not identify the intended shooting target, but The Sun has learned it was Jamie, who with middle brother Jarrod is facing 24 firearms and drug counts laid last May 31 -- the same day as the police warning was issued.
"We do have a male well-known to us being questioned," Const. Vinet said before Bacon was released. As one of his bail conditions, Mr. Bacon must live at his parents' Strathcona Court home, where shootings occurred in 2002 and 2006. Eldest brother Jonathan was nearly killed in the 2006 shooting.A Surrey shooting in 2007 also targeted the brothers.Just last Friday, Jamie and his two brothers, as well as an associate, were stopped by Abbotsford Police at the busy Sevenoaks Mall after mall security thought one of them had a gun. No weapon was found, but one of the brothers was wearing body armour.The brothers, who are closely aligned to the Red Scorpion gang, have been the target of death threats by rivals in the United Nations gang. Just three weeks ago, an associate named Dennis Karbovanec was wounded in a New Year's Eve shooting.

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Philbert Truong was gunned down outside the Red Jacket nightclub

The two young men charged in last month's shooting death of Victoria student Philbert Truong were among the 11 suspected associates of the violent Red Scorpion gang identified by Victoria police during a recent drug sting, sources close to the investigation said yesterday.Dubbed Operation Mongoose, the initiative kicked into gear on July 22, three days after Mr. Truong was gunned down outside a View Street nightclub.On Tuesday, police said they had seven of the 11 alleged Red Scorpion affiliates in custody. They later acknowledged that only five of the people arrested in the sting have been linked to the gang.On condition of anonymity, sources close to the investigation acknowledged that the other two who are "believed to have some affiliation with the Red Scorpion gang" are the suspects in Mr. Truong's death. They were taken into custody minutes after the shooting. Victoria police Constable Colin Brown refused comment Tuesday when asked about possible links between Mr. Truong's murder and the wave of drug arrests.Yesterday, Victoria police Sergeant Grant Hamilton called the murder investigation "completely separate" from Operation Mongoose."It's before the courts, and it would be inappropriate to speculate on any association between these arrests and the incident on View Street," Sgt. Hamilton said.He declined to specify which suspects are believed to be Red Scorpion affiliates, noting that police departments can be sued for incorrectly identifying someone as a gang member.Mr. Truong was gunned down in the early morning hours of July 19 as he and a group of friends were leaving the Red Jacket nightclub.
Two other young men believed to be friends of Mr. Truong were wounded in the attack.
Somphavanh Chanthabouala, 22, of Surrey and a 16-year-old who can't be named are facing charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with the shooting.The seven people facing drug possession or trafficking charges, or both, as a result of Operation Mongoose are: Mark Hubahib, Kurtis Schmidt, John Supena, Ashley Appolinario, Raphael Jose Blanco, Hisham Bennink and Justin Houchen. The suspects range in age from 18 to 23. Mr. Houchen was convicted of selling crack cocaine outside Victoria City Hall in July and sent back to the Lower Mainland. He is a under court order to stay away from Victoria.Victoria police said on Tuesday that Red Scorpion affiliates began aggressively targeting the local drug trade this spring.
Red Scorpion district "managers" had equipped junior drug runners with vehicles and cell phones as part of a dial-a-dope drug-dealing business, similar to Red Scorpion operations on the Lower Mainland, police said.
The Red Scorpion gang formed in 2000 inside a youth detention centre. Upon their release, the group of Asian males began a "dial-a-dope" operation in the Coquitlam area. In 2006, RCMP officers arrested several Red Scorpions and charged them with drug trafficking.
The investigation, titled Project E-Poison, produced 10 guilty pleas.
"That was the project that was thought to have really brought about the demise of the early manifestation of the Red Scorpions," said Sergeant Shinder Kirk of the Lower Mainland's Integrated Gang Task Force. "But again, given the drug situation not only within the Lower Mainland but the province and certainly nationally, we had a coalescing of people under that name and off they went again. That speaks to the draw of the drug trade."
Police don't know how many members the Red Scorpion gang has, or how far the gang's reach is.Sgt. Kirk said the "franchising" model used by the Red Scorpions to bully their way onto the Victoria drug scene is nothing new to the B.C. drug trade.
"We've seen it in organized crime," Sgt. Kirk said. "They may have an individual who has ties there that's already part of the group, or there's somebody already in the community who's engaged in the drug trade who sees an opportunity to now connect with someone who has the capacity to import or move larger shipments. We have a two-way street."

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