Canada, Gangland killings grow

OFF THE WIRE
Many of the fatalities, disappearances remain unsolved

Winnipeg has seen numerous deadly gang-related hits over the past decade and beyond, as well as disputes between gang members that have escalated to murder attempts or murder.

Winnipeg’s most recent homicide victim, Daniel Kachkan, 34, was reported to have been a high-ranking member of the Zig Zag Crew, a support club for the Winnipeg chapter of the Hells Angels gang. He was charged but acquitted in a recent fatal run-in between street gang members.

Many of the gangland fatalities and disappearances remain unsolved.

June 2, 2005: Aaron Hannibal, a 31-year-old drug dealer with the Zig Zag Crew, was found face down in a pool of blood outside an Elmwood 7-Eleven. The killing was believed to be the result of deep-seated animosity between two members of the Zig Zags, the street gang controlled by the local Hells Angels. Daniel Kachkan, 29, was charged with second-degree murder but in September 2007 was acquitted in court.

March 20, 2005: David Tavares, a 40-year-old Stony Mountain Institution inmate with ties to the Native Syndicate street gang, was found assaulted at the prison and pronounced dead a short time later. Four fellow inmates were charged for his death but a mistrial was declared in their trial last spring. Charles Coaster, Evan Myran and Alvin Cote were charged with second-degree murder and Victor Ryle was charged with manslaughter. A new trial is not expected to be set before 2012.



Sept. 16, 2004: Wilson Martinez, a 20-year-old independent drug dealer with links to the former MIR gang, was taken to the playground at Heritage School in St. James and shot execution-style. Clayton Thomas Korski, a 22-year-old with alleged ties to the LHS (Loyalty, Honour, Silence) street gang, was convicted of first-degree murder for the murder and is serving a life sentence.

Aug. 27, 2004: Sirak (Shaggy) Okbazion, a 14-year-old member of the Mad Cowz street gang, was shot at least three times in the chest on Sherbrook Street. Street gangster Lance William Laquette, 20, pleaded guilty in April 2006 to manslaughter for Okbazion’s death and was sentenced to six years in prison. Charges against three co-accused were dropped. All had ties to the B-Side street gang.

May 12, 2003: Kevin Tokarchuk, 24, was shot in the head in the garage of his family’s Churchill Drive home in Fort Rouge in what is believed to be retaliation for the fatal shooting of a Hells Angels associate one year earlier — a murder for which Tokarchuk’s brother, Daniel, was convicted. The prime suspect in the Kevin Tokarchuk slaying committed suicide in March 2004, according to sources.

Dec. 15, 2002: Vitalijus Kilikevicius, a 32-year-old Hells Angels associate, was found shot to death just west of the Perimeter Highway in the RM of Rosser. The Lithuanian immigrant was slain as a result of a “drug deal gone bad,” sources said. His murder is unsolved.

May 12, 2002: Trevor (Boss) Savoie, a 25-year-old high-ranking Zig Zag, was shot three times in the chest on Fleet Avenue in River Heights. Daniel Tokarchuk, who sold cocaine for Savoie and racked up a $15,000 debt after becoming addicted to the drug, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.

Nov. 23, 2001: The body of Benjamin Metcalf Marshall, 20, was found wrapped with plastic and duct tape, near the River Oaks Golf Club. Marshall was affiliated with two street gangs — Deuce and the Zig Zag Crew. In 2006, Derick Joel Zarichanski pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years. Luke Paul Pujol pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill and sentenced to seven years in prison.

June 21, 2001: Former Spartans gang member Kevin Sylvester was charged with attempted murder for a failed hit on Hells Angels member Rodney Sweeney, whom he shot five times as he sat in a tow truck with his young son on an Elmwood street. Sylvester was sentenced to less than two years in jail after striking a controversial deal with the Crown. Sylvester claimed Sweeney was responsible for the disappearance of his older brother, Darwin, in May 1998. Rodney Sweeney’s brother Dale, a Hells Angels member, was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the drive-by shooting of rival biker Kevin Sylvester.

April 8, 2001: The body of drug dealer and street-gang affiliate Kiet Trau, 21, was discovered in a ditch along Oak Point Highway near Inkster Boulevard in the RM of Rosser. The case remains unsolved. Trau and Benjamin Marshall were allied with Brad Anderson.

Jan. 14, 2001: Bradley Russell Anderson, 31, was found on a road near Stony Mountain. A former member of the now-defunct Redliners biker gang, Anderson had been involved in disputes with a man tied to the Hells Angels, police said. No arrests have been made.

Jan. 19, 1999: Robert Glen Rosmus, 34, was found on a remote road northeast of Winnipeg. The high-ranking member of the Spartans outlaw motorcycle gang had been shot execution style. Rosmus was with Darwin Sylvester in May 1998, when the Spartan president disappeared. The murder is unsolved.

May 1998: Former Spartan motorcycle gang leader Darwin Sylvester went missing, the suspected victim of rival bikers. His body was never found and he was legally declared dead in July 2005. Sylvester’s disappearance is unsolved.

— Winnipeg Sun

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