Red Scorpion gang founder Michael Le says he met Corey Lal about two months before the Surrey Six murders in an attempt to resolve a conflict Lal had with Jamie Bacon.
Le testified that Lal contacted him on his blackberry to ask for the meeting, which only last about 15 minutes at a Starbucks in the Lougheed Mall.
Le said he had never before met the young man who would become one of six murdered ...
Accused Surrey Six killer Matt Johnston told his gang leader on the day of the Surrey Six murders that so many people died because “they saw our faces. We had no choice,” B.C. Supreme Court heard Tuesday.
Red Scorpion founder Michael Le testified that he got an urgent call from Johnston right after the Oct. 19, 2007 murders at Surrey’s Balmoral Tower.
They agreed to meet at a shopping plaza on the New Westminster – ...
Red Scorpion founder Michael Le fled to his native Vietnam in March 2008 fearing he was going to be arrested, he told B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday.
Le testified at the Surrey Six trial that he left the country right after he was arrested in a police sting in which he had unwittingly agreed to purchase cocaine from an undercover cop.
The murder trial of Cody Haevischer and Matt Johnston has already heard evidence of the ...
A man was shot in Richmond Friday night as he sat inside his vehicle.
Richmond RCMP Cpl. Stephanie Ashton said the police got reports of a shooting in the McNeely Drive area just before 10:30 p.m.
“The victim was able to get himself to hospital and is in stable condition at this time. Richmond RCMP Serious Crimes unit continues to investigate,” Ashton said in a news release.
“Anyone with information regarding this shooting can email ...
Red Scorpion gang founder Michael Le was scheduled to begin his cross-examination at the Surrey Six trial today after a two-week break.
But a last-minute publication ban application led to an adjournment of the trial until 9:30 am Thursday.
It’s not clear if Le will be on the stand Thursday as the ban issue has not yet been dealt with.
Details of the application for the ban are covered by an interim publication ban so ...
A Crown prosecutor has sworn a new direct indictment against Jimi Singh Sandhu, accused in the murder of Red Scorpion boss Matt Campbell in Abbotsford three months ago.
On the new indictment, Sandhu faces a single count of second-degree murder in the death of Campbell on Jan. 2, 2014 – the same charge originally laid Feb. 1 on which Sandhu has appeared several times in Abbotsford Provincial Court.
But the direct indictment means the case ...
Red Scorpion founder Michael Le lost a bid in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday to get a publication ban imposed on his identity mid-way through his testimony at the Surrey Six trial.
Le, a key Crown witness who struck a plea deal to testify against his former co-accused, had applied for the ban on the eve of his cross-examination in the trial of Matt Johnston and Cody Haevischer.
Le’s request for the ban on his name ...
Red Scorpion founder Mike Le told the Surrey Six trial Thursday that he read and watched videos of key Crown witness statements and police notes before he decided to sign a plea agreement last November and testify against his former co-accused.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Simon Buck, Le agreed that he made sure he was familiar with the evidence of “important” Crown witnesses, like Person Y, who testified last month.
“I am trying to ...
A lawyer for accused Surrey Six killer Cody Haevischer said Friday that Red Scorpion founder Michael Le is a tainted witness because he spent years reviewing evidence before agreeing to testify against his former co-accused.
Simon Buck told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge that he would be making later submissions about “the tainting of [Le’s] statements and the tainting of his evidence.”
Le has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy along with Haevischer ...
A Triad friend of Michael Le’s agreed to knock on Corey Lal’s door on the day of the Surrey Six murders to help the Red Scorpion gang get access to their victims, B.C. Supreme Court heard Monday.
The information was contained in a Crown document read to Le during his cross-examination by defence lawyer Simon Buck.
The document quoted a man who can only be identified as Person X telling police about a meeting at ...
Red Scorpion founder Michael Le testified at the Surrey Six trial that he pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the gangland case to take responsibility for his actions.
Le was grilled by defence lawyer Simon Buck, who suggested the 29-year old had a motive to kill victim Corey Lal and was minimizing his involvement in the botched Oct. 19, 2007 plot that left six dead.
“I do have involvement and that’s the reason I pled guilty ...
A defence lawyer at the Surrey Six trial suggested Wednesday that the murders were plotted and carried out by three Red Scorpion gangsters who have already admitted to involvement in the slayings.
Simon Buck, who represents accused Surrey Six killer Cody Haevischer, shifted responsibility away from his client and co-accused Matt Johnston during spirited cross-examination of key Crown witness and gang founder Michael Le.
Buck said Le was the one who arranged for a last-minute ...
A man gunned down in Vaughan, Ontario Sunday has been identified by York Regional Police as Ritesh Thakur, 41.
Thakur was charged 11 months ago along with Vancouver’s Philipos Kollaros and two others in a multi-million dollar drug ring busted by officers from Toronto Police Organized Crime Enforcement and Drug Squad Major Project Section.
Police seized 62 kilograms of cocaine, three kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and a small quantity of liquid GHB which they estimated
...
A key Crown witness at the Surrey Six trial testified Tuesday that he hates the person he was when he founded the Red Scorpions and regrets the deadly violence linked to the gang.
Michael Le told defence lawyer Mike Tammen that he knows there’s blood on his hands for the Oct. 19, 2007 slayings of six at Surrey’s Balmoral Tower even though he didn’t order the hit.
Tammen, who’s representing accused Surrey Six killer Matt ...
A defence lawyer at the Surrey Six trial grilled a key Crown witness about a dramatic comment he attributed to accused killer Matt Johnston about why so many people were killed.
Michel Le testified earlier that just hours after the Oct. 19, 2007 slaughter of six Johnston told him “they saw our faces. We had no choice.”
Tammen said Wednesday that while Le claimed in his testimony the quote was verbatim, in a police statement ...
Red Scorpion founder Michael Le admitted Thursday that he threatened to shoot accused Surrey Six killer Matt Johnston in text messages some time after the Oct. 19, 2007 murders.
Le told Johnston’s lawyer Mike Tammen that he and Johnston got into a fistfight at an apartment where co-accused Cody Haevisher and his girlfriend were living at the time.
Le testified that Haevischer and another gang member broke up the fight and that Le headed to ...
Finally, after months of research and interviews, we’re launching our database on unsolved murders on the Lower Mainland from 2002 to 2013. I have been working on this project with Sun reporter Mike Hager. It originated from an idea I had been kicking around since Jan. 2012 that there should be a database with all unsolved murder cases listed just so people can read about them and possible provide tips.
Getting it all put together ...
Twenty years ago, a judge sentencing Vancouver teenager Phouvong Phommaviset for a drive-by shooting at a city school called gang violence “a very dangerous and very unhappy development.’’
Eight years later, Phommaviset’s charred remains were found by the Fraser River in Richmond — at 26 a victim of the same violence he used on others.
Phommaviset, whose body was found Jan. 2, 2002, is the first case in The Vancouver Sun’s comprehensive database of unsolved
...
For nine long years, Juliet Andalis has been waiting for justice for her murdered daughter Mayvette.
She has called Vancouver police regularly to pass along tips that she’s uncovered in her pursuit of the killer.
Now the anguished retired nurse and community activist has one wish:
“Whoever knows anything — I am begging you whoever you are, please come forward and say something,” Andalis said in a recent interview, her voice breaking.
“Don’t you know
...
BY MIKE HAGER AND KIM BOLAN
Late one Sunday night in the fall of 1989, an intruder knocked on the sliding glass door of Diane Corkum’s Shaughnessy basement suite and killed the 35-year-old Vancouver mother with a gunshot to the chest.
Investigators suspected Corkum’s custody battle with her estranged partner, and father of one of her three children, may have led to her death.
...
