Indo-Canadian organized crime
Founding location | British Columbia, Canada |
---|---|
Years active | 1980s–present |
Territory | Principle location:
Controlled Territory: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Yukon in Canada, Washington, Alaska in the US, Areas of Influence: Nova Scotia, California, Oregon, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona in the US, United Kingdom, Australia,[1] New Zealand, India |
Ethnicity | Mostly Punjabi-Canadian, other ethnicities include Indo-Fijian and Indo-Caribbean Canadians[2][3] |
Criminal activities | Assassination, firearms trafficking, Home invasion, money laundering, murder, illegal gambling, robbery, drug trafficking, chop shop, assault, loan sharking, racketeering, extortion, contract killing, kidnapping and bribery |
Indo-Canadian organized crime is made up predominantly of young adults and teenagers of Indian ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Collectively, these groups are among the top 5 major homegrown organized crime hierarchy across the nation in Canada, ranked alongside Asian Triads based in Canada, Outlaw biker gangs.[4] The 2004 RCMP British Columbia Annual Police Report ranked them third in terms of organization and sophistication in British Columbia, ranked behind outlaw motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels and aforementioned Chinese criminal organizations such as the Triads drug clans.[5]
History
Some of the young men involved today in crime may come from first-generation backgrounds but the majority are second and third-generation Indian Punjabi-Canadians. These individuals were initially involved in petty street crimes, but older and more calculating criminals from the community quickly saw opportunities to make a profit from the situation. Often using clan-based ties and connections in their ancestral homeland, mainly in the parts of the Punjab, organized criminals from there were able to build criminal empires making use of young street gangs.[5] During the period from 2006 to 2014, 34 South Asians made up 21.3% of gang-related deaths in British Columbia.[6]
One of the first Punjabi-Canadian Full-patch Hells Angels was Rajinder Singh Sandhu who became a full-patch member of the Nanaimo chapter in 2000 and would be convicted alongside another Hells Angel in 2015 for extortion, Rajinder would pave the way for more Punjabi Hells Angels Full-patch members such as other high-profile members such as Suminder Singh Grewal.[7] One man who led the gangster lifestyle was Gurmit Singh Dhak, leader of the once prominent Dhak group, which along with the Duhre group its ally, was considered to be a high-level organized crime group operating across BC and Alberta.[8] After being arrested in the early 2000s with kilos of drugs and a loaded firearm, Dhak was contacted by the Odd Squad of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about making an anti-gang video for high school students.[8] In a video made in the early 2000s, Dhak stated that to live the life of a gangster was to live in fear, never knowing when someone would try to kill him and never knowing who to trust.[9] Dhak stated: "...if I could turn back time, I would never do it again. Every day I've got to look over my shoulder; I've got to worry about my family, I've got to worry about, if I jump out of my car, am I going to get shot? Or, you know, I could be walking in the mall and walking out and getting shot. I don't know...Oh, I want to get out. But it's too late now to get out. I have too many enemies".[9] On October 16, 2010, Dhak was found shot dead in the driver's seat of his black BMW SUV, which was parked in the parking lot of the Metrotown Mall in Burnaby.[9] His murder remains unsolved but would ignite a gang-war which as of 2018, would still be raging.[10]
Rivals have posted rap songs advocating murder such as a young man from Surrey, alleged to have committed two murders and charged by RCMP, posted an online tribute to the murdered Gavinder Grewal, the deceased founder of the Brothers Keepers gang.[11] Tyrel Nguyen Quesnelle, using his rapper name "T-Sav", boosted in his rap song My Life that he was willing to both kill and die for his deceased gang-leader, Grewal.[11] T-sav rapped in his song: "They took GG from us, realest trapper ever living. I swear we riding out for you till they all ain't living." and "I caught my first body when you was in school...Brothers Keepers, that's a life contract, little nigga."[11] The police in the Lower Mainland maintain that songs glorifying violence and criminality while boasting about drug dealing and murder are increasing tensions between gangs.[11]
The Brothers Keepers are not the only gang threatening their enemies musically as in the fall of 2019, after he was released from jail, the rapper Lolo Lanski, who is an alleged member of the Kang Crime Group (BIBO Gang), posted his song Dedman to SoundCloud and YouTube.[11] As of January 24, 2020, the song had 80,000 downloads.[11] The song denounces the Brother Keepers and describes how Grewal was shot inside his penthouse home in 2017.[11] The lyrics of Dedman admiringly declare that the killer "sent lead to his head" and the assassination was "trying to put a BK [Brother's Keeper] on TV."[11] In a bizarre note, Dedman includes an audio excerpt of the 911 call made by Grewal's brother Manbir after he found his brother's corpse in the penthouse.[11] The use of rap in the present underworld conflict between the Brothers Keepers vs. both the Kang group and the United Nations gang is new, but police in B.C. have stated they have witnessed an overlap between rap and the underworld subcultures before.[11]
A major drug bust conducted in April 2021 broke up an Indo-Canadian trafficking network primarily based in Brampton, Ontario. Of the 28 arrested, the majority were India-born Punjabi men. Police seized $2.3 million worth of drugs including 10 kilograms of cocaine, eight kilograms of ketamine, three kilograms of heroin and 2.5 kilograms of opium. Additionally, 48 firearms and $730,000 in Canadian currency were seized as part of the bust.[12] This criminal network was reported by York Regional Police, Toronto Police Services, Peel Regional Police, RCMP and the DEA to operate as far as Western Canada, California and India.[13]
Activities
Gangs and criminal organizations within the Indo-Canadian community have also been noted for adopting the rigid structure and rules of the Punjabi Mafia, with strict rules against talking to police and against any kind of drug use amongst members and associates aside from alcohol or cigarettes use, though excessive use of these substances is also allegedly met with punishment within the gangs.[14][15][16] The main trade of the Indo-Canadian crime groups are murder-for-hire operations, along with arms trafficking, racketeering, extortion, assassinations, and eventually the indo-Canadian groups delved into the trafficking of cocaine, heroin, MDMA, methamphetamine and cannabis.[17][18]
Punjabi-Canadian crime bosses initially used their family connections in the Punjab to bring in the heroin drug from the "Golden Crescent" nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran where much of the world's heroin was once produced and where they worked with the government officials of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan to smuggle drugs.[17] However, in the late 1990s, Pakistani and Afghan heroin suppliers Mohamed Shafiq and Mohammed Yusuf Khan became DEA informants causing the extradition of crime boss Ranjit Cheema to a California prison.[19] This caused Punjabi-Canadian crime bosses to stop doing any business in Pakistan and the Middle East and instead they began importing heroin from the "Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)" nations of Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, where the heroin quality is also much higher.[19][17][18]
Indo-Canadian crime groups widened the reach of their activities and delved into other crimes such as kidnapping, loan sharking, money laundering and chop shop.[17][20] Organized gangs from the community were alleged to use the local transportation business, setting up connections with Mexican drug cartels and using truck drivers to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States and Canada, in exchange for MDMA, Methamphetamine, Cannabis (drug) and hashish for the cartels.[21] The profits of drug dealing allow for contract killing.
Criminal groups
Most Indo-Canadian crime groups in Ontario and Alberta are either several clans controlled by one family with friends and relatives associated with the group or sometimes networks of truck drivers involved in cross-border drug smuggling that are classified as gangs. The largest organized Indo-Canadian gang presence is in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.[22]
The largest crime groups are:
- Brothers Keepers Gang: Founded by Gavinder Singh Grewal and Barinder "Shrek" Dhaliwal, most of the gang's members and leadership formerly made up the Red Scorpions leadership and Wolfpack Alliance, but split off from the Red Scorpions to form its own group and allegedly targeted remaining Red Scorpions members across British Columbia cities beginning in Spring 2016 and heating up in Fall 2017, such as Red Scorpion gang founder and leader Konaam Shirzad who was murdered in Sept 2017, despite the conflict with the Red Scorpions the BK would remain a part of the Wolfpack[23] whereas the Red Scorpions under Jamie Bacon and Sam Kang would leave the Wolfpack Alliance.[24][25] This organization is active mainly in Metro Vancouver but is believed to have made inroads into all across British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Minnesota and Montana.[26] The brothers keepers gang is believed by police in BC to be among the most "prominent and violent" gangs on the west coast[27], investigations also highlighted the gang's strategy to expand into new markets within the province, utilizing tactics such as reduced drug prices, branded products (like purple fentanyl), and increased potency of drugs they supply.[28] The BK gang was suspected to have up to 200 "official" members as of mid-2020, while their unofficial associates numbered up to 900 associates[29] spanning several provinces and into the United States, meanwhile police consider the leadership to be the dozen or so core membership which were also the founders. The high-profile killing of Harp Uppal along with his 11-year-old son, who was an innocent bystander, in Edmonton in 2023 made national headlines in Canada and also outlined the national reach of the BC gang conflict as the killing was suspected to be retaliation for the killing of UN gangster Parmvir Chahil in Toronto the day earlier, Edmonton police would confirm that Harp Uppal was a "high-level organized crime figure in Alberta" and that he was connected to the Brothers Keepers.[30] The Brothers Keepers are known to be closely aligned with the Driftwood Crips of Toronto and according to the Vancouver Sun: "The Driftwood Crips, who have been active in the drug-and-gun trade since the mid-1990s, have aligned with, and are running, drug lines for the Brothers Keepers, a B.C. outfit that is locked in a bloody Lower Mainland gang conflict with rivals from at least two other groups."[31] Since the founding of the gang, some prominent high-level figures and some low-level members have been targeted and slain including founder Gavinder "Gavin" Grewal whose brother Manbir found him dead at his North Vancouver apartment on December 22, 2017.[32] One of the founding BK members, Harpreet Singh Majhu, was found dead in a burned out vehicle just outside of Agassiz in June 2016. He had just committed a trans-national hit along with another Kang associate Orosman Jr. Garcia-Arevalo, both Majhu and Garcia were under the Kang faction which was still a part of BK at the time. The pair were hired by Notorious Drug Lord Naji Sharifi Zindashti to take out fellow Drug Lord Cetin Koc as a revenge hit in Dubai. They snuck up on and blasted Koc as he sat in his vehicle, motor still running. The two sped away and made it out of the country only to meet their demise just a few weeks later as Garcia-Arevalo would later be found dead in an Abbotsford blueberry field on May 11, 2016, alleged to be ordered by the leader of the gang, Gavin Grewal who was rumoured to keep a larger than anticipated portion of the 2 million dollars paid for the Dubai hit by Zindashti to the alleged shooters, potentially leading to the split and formation of BIBO gang by the Kangs and those working for them and the feud with the Brothers Keepers.[33] Matthew Navas-Rivas was on the annual BK boat cruise just days before he was shot to death on July 25, 2018. He and his crew of Troy McKinnon and Cody Sleigh were Independent Soldiers members, who along with the rest of Independent Soldiers and Wolfpack would become rivals with the Red Scorpions and BIBO gang while aligning themselves with the Brothers Keepers gang.[34] Troy McKinnon and Cody Sleigh were also found gunned down on January 15, 2018, and July 21, 2020, respectively.[35] On February 1, 2019, a former associate of Manny Buttar, Bicky Khakh was gunned down in Surrey. He was with fellow friend and gang associate Harb Dhaliwal when the two were shot at in Richmond on December 21, 2018.[36] In April 2019 Daniel Singh Grewal, the cousin of founder Gavin Grewal was shot and injured. This resulted in a car chase that ended with paramedics arriving and police arresting the five suspects. Since the arrests four of the five men have since been murdered; Austin Singh Grewal on April 26, 2019, Iqubal Singh Grewal on September 16, 2020, Julian Moya Cardenas on January 7, 2022, and Kevin Allaraj along with his associate Jeevan Saepan on June 4, 2022.[37] Suminder Grewal of the Hells Angels Hardside Chapter was gunned down at a Starbucks on August 2, 2019.[38] He along with Hardside Prospect Gurpreet Singh Dhaliwal of Mission are the alleged connections between the Hells Angels and the Brothers Keepers. High-ranking Keepers members; Harb Singh Dhaliwal and Barinder Singh Dhaliwal alongside hitman Tyrel Nguyen Quesnelle were photographed attending the funeral of Full-patch Hells Angel member Suminder Singh Grewal.[39] Anees Mohammed, a former associate of Jujhar Singh Khun-Khun and the Dhak Group, who had switched to the Wolf Pack/Brothers Keepers side years ago, was gunned down in Richmond on January 7, 2021. This was suspected retaliation for the Gary Kang murder just one day prior.[40] Harb Singh Dhaliwal was gunned down outside Cardero's Restaurant on April 17, 2021, in a brazen shooting.[41] His brother Meninder, chased the assailant and stabbed him in the eye.[42] Brothers Jaskeert Singh and Gurkeert Singh Kalkat were murdered only nine days apart in mid-May 2021.[43][44] Jaskeert was a prime suspect in the murder of high profile and long-time United Nations gangster Karman Singh Grewal at YVR on Mother's Day. Juvraj Singh Jabal fell victim to an alleged revenge hit on February 8, 2022, and succumbed to his injuries on the 10th.[45] It was suspected retaliation from the Jimi Sandhu murder one week prior in Thailand. On July 25, 2022, Meninder Singh Dhaliwal and friend Satinder Singh Gill were gunned down outside a busy hotel in the Whistler Ski Village of B.C. Meninder along with his brother Barinder were put on a list along with four others as gangsters who pose a risk to themselves and to the public. He was the second main suspect along with Jaskeert Kalkat the man who murdered Karman Grewal. Meninder's alleged killers were apprehended by RCMP within a couple of hours. One of them Gursimran Sahota had close ties to Karman.[46] Both Sahota and Tanvir Khak are alleged UN members.[47] On September 12, 2022, Sameh Ali Mohammed was gunned down in Brampton, Ontario. He was the older brother of higher-profile BK member Naseem "Lil' Man" Mohammed. The OPP and RCMP believe this to be a retaliation hit for the murder of UN member Arman Singh Dhillon in August in Oakville, Ontario.[48] The RCMP's 18-month investigation into the Brothers Keepers gang led to eight members being charged with various drug and firearms offences, including the dismantling of a large-scale drug lab. The probe uncovered a murder plot conspiracy by alleged high-level BK gangster Michael Manpreet Johal which was allegedly targeting rival UN gangster Gagandeep Sandhu who ended up being killed, leading to additional conspiracy charges for Johal and 3 of his alleged lower-rank BK hitmen tasked with the alleged hit job. A significant seizure included 356,000 pills containing fentanyl and other substances, pill presses and an "industrial-sized drug lab in South Surrey which could produce 60,000 pills an hour, meaning its operators were likely involved in exportation to other countries on top of production for the domestic market. Police also seized four illegal firearms, over 1,500 rounds of ammunition, and 168 kilograms of precursor chemicals containing fentanyl, benzodiazepines, methamphetamines and carfentanil"[49], highlighting the operation's scale and its conspiracy for international drug exportation into Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the US.[50] All of the 8 members of the drug production and distribution rings arrested in the FSOC probe and the spin-off "Project High Table" which uncovered the murder conspiracy, are all known members of the Brothers Keepers , and a few of the 8 members caught had switched from the rival UN gang some years ago.[51]
- Dhak-Duhre Group: This group was alleged to supply and was aligned with the United Nations as a part of the coalition and this group was alleged to be active across British Columbia and Alberta.[52][53] Although some of the original leaders such as Sandip Singh Duhre, Gurmit Singh Dhak and Sukhveer Singh Dhak have been killed, the associates of the murdered leaders are suspected by RCMP to remain connected to crime groups themselves and continue supplying the remaining UN gang.[54] The Dhak-Duhre coalition is known to have strong ties the UN gang and is known to have waged a war against the Wolf Pack alliance, a gang alliance composed of the Independent Soldiers gang, the Red Scorpions gang and the Hells Angels.[55]
- Dhaliwal Crime Family: Operating across the cities of Toronto, the greater Toronto Area and the major cities of Quebec, by a family, originally from Mississauga; the Dhaliwal crime family has been raided numerous times, first in 1996 for running a $45 million a year organized crime group which according to crown prosecutors at the time; heavily engaged in everything from armed robberies to importing cocaine and heroin for trafficking, extortion, arms trafficking, murder, armed thefts of cars and kidnapping rival drugs and firearms traffickers, police alleged.[56][57] The Dhaliwal crime family founded and led by patriarch Balwinder Singh "Bill" Dhaliwal, 65 years old as of 2022, who was infamously dubbed the "King of Car Thieves" in an episode of the Canadian TV Series Masterminds as there was a smaller faction of the crime family which made $16 million a year solely from the stolen vehicle operations. The crime family has been raided a total of five times by the RCMP and Toronto Police Services, with $15 Million in stolen wholesale goods being seized in the fourth and second-last police operation in 2016. They are currently estimated to be making a profit of 170–280 million on an annual basis from the exportation of cannabis into the US, as well as the sales of firearms, meth, heroin, cocaine and MDMA across Ontario and Quebec, the drug and firearm organization within the family was suspected of being controlled by purported kingpin Sukhjit Dhaliwal, who had been arrested in numerous police investigations dating back to the early 2000s, in the most recent, in 2021, named "Project Southam", Sukhjit would be accused to be the head of two separate organized crime groups importing large scale drugs shipments from Colombia and Central America and exporting cannabis into the United States in bulk and firearms back into Canada, in a over $10 million bust.[58][59][60][61][62]
- Independent Soldiers Gang: Consisting of Canadians of Punjabi-Canadian, Euro-Canadian and Indo-Fijian ethnicities, which make up most of the gang, the gang was to be founded in the Sunset neighbourhood in South Vancouver.[63][64] This organization is part of the Wolf Pack and was founded as the "sunset boys" and this gang was involved in the 2009 Vancouver gang war.[65] On May 26, 2009, former leader and founder of the Independent Soldiers, Parminder "Peter" Adiwal was ambushed and shot 26 times in the parkade of his Burnaby condo by a rival gang. He miraculously survives and would later allegedly leave the gang "lifestyle".[66] High-profile gangster of the Independent Soldiers in Randy Naicker was gunned down in Port Moody, B.C. on June 24, 2012.[67] High-profile leader and Wolfpack member Sukhvir Deo was found slain in Toronto, Ontario on June 7, 2016. Two weeks prior he had been ejected from a Toronto Raptors playoff game. His face was all over multiple TV outlets making it easy for rivals to locate him.[68] Duncan Bailey a member of the Independent Soldiers, was one of victims in the airplane crash that killed fellow hit man Gene Lahrkamp.[69] The gang is believed to now be led by founders Harjit Singh Deo and Garinder Singh Deo, who took control after the death of their older brother Sukhvir, as well as after the retirement of the Adiwal twins.[70][71]
- Kang Crime Family: Formerly a part of the Brothers Keepers organization but due to differences between members over financial disputes, has splintered and formed a new organization which is also called the "BIBO" Gang(Blood In, Blood Out Gang).[72] The name of the gang "Blood In, Blood Out" signifies that in order to join the gang one must spill blood for the gang(commit murders) and the only way out of the gang is death, as the BIBO gang is known to commit murders on orders from leaders rather than for money through a contracted killing, as payment for killings are against the alleged rules of the gang, supposedly the name of the gang also pays tribute to the 1993 film Blood In Blood Out.[72] The Kang Crime Family was founded by brothers Sameet Singh "Sam" Kang and Gary Singh Kang after a fallout with the Brothers Keepers gang. The group is similar to the "Sanghera Crime Family" in that they use many different family members as well as associates.[73][74] The group is known to be in a war with the Brothers Keepers for control of territory in Metro Vancouver, across British Columbia and Alberta.[75] This organization is thought to be based in Burnaby, British Columbia but its presence is thought to extend throughout British Columbia and Alberta.[76] According to court witness testimony along with police surveillance and drug seizures throughout "Project Territory"; detectives, intelligence analysts and prosecutors concluded that the Kang Group had been a supplier for the Red Scorpions gang and had been suppliers for the leader of the RS Gang outside of prison, Kyle Latimer.[77] Some of the founding members are in jail. Randy Kang along with his younger brother Gary Kang were shot on October 27, 2017. The two along with Camilo Alonso had been setup by former BK associates Hardii Cheema and Rohit Kumar.[78] Randy died on the scene while Gary lived. This is what police believe caused the revenge killing of Gavin Grewal. On January 6, 2021, Gary Kang was murdered inside his South Surrey home of the Morgan Creek Neighbourhood.[74] Sameet (Sam) Kang is suspected of controlling the gang from prison through his lieutenants outside of prison and in other prisons.[79]
- Malli-Buttar Coalition: This coalition is made up of two groups, one was founded and led by Tejinder Singh Malli prior to his death and the other was led by the Buttar brothers; Baljit(Bal-deceased), Manjit(Mani-retired) and Kuljit(Kelly-deceased), operating across British Columbia and Alberta, the group is known to operate at a high level and was alleged to supply the Red Scorpions gang prior to the Wolfpack formation.[80][81] This group was almost semi-defunct after the imprisonment of most of its members, however after they're prison releases, most of the crime group was eventually absorbed into the Brothers Keepers gang/Wolfpack or its rival the Kang Crime group/Red Scorpions gang and some simply retired. This organization was the other group involved in the 2009 Vancouver gang war.[80]
- Punjabi Mafia: Was alleged to be made up of the Dosanjh group, Johal group and Buttar group.[15] Parts of it other than the Buttar and Johal group are considered to be somewhat dismantled, with factions of the Johal and Buttar groups allegedly still operating. The Punjabi Mafia was originally founded by Ranjit Cheema, the Dosanjh Brothers and Robbie Kandola with a rival faction being controlled by Ranjit Chema and Bindy Johal before his death.[15] Former Const. Doug Spencer, who worked for years as a Vancouver Police Department gang specialist stated that the faction of the Punjabi Mafia controlled by Bindy Johal and Baljit (Bal) Buttar were "the first that went right out there and was ripping off other drug dealers on a regular basis,” Spencer stated. "They also started a taxing thing — if you didn’t pay them tax, you couldn’t sell drugs in their area." Spencer also stated that “I know he was an extremely violent hitman who did all of Bindy’s collecting and killing — self-admitted — he carried a reputation all over the Lower Mainland. Everyone knew him,” Spencer said about Buttar.[82]
- The Ruffians: A gang made up entirely of international students from Punjab, India, some of whom had travelled to Canada for studies and job opportunities, this gang is claimed by police to have been founded in Abbotsford while operating across British Columbia municipalities in criminal activities such as contract killing, Drug trafficking, money laundering, murder, weapon trafficking, illegal gambling, robbery, chop shop, assault, loan sharking, extortion and kidnapping.[83][84] The Ruffians is alleged to have up to 300 members and was founded in 2019 by international students with purported ties to the UN gang, according to Vancouver police.[83]
- Sanghera Crime Family: Founded by Uddham Singh Sanghera, this crime family is believed by police to be responsible for over 100 shootings in the 2009 Vancouver gang war in Vancouver.[18][85] The Vancouver Police Department has targeted and for the most part been able to capture members of the group. The courts have sentenced members of the Sanghera family to prison terms although the large remnants of the organization are alleged to be active.[86] On March 8, 2017, Harjit Mann and Navdip Sanghera were shot at it in East Vancouver. Harjit died at the scene while Navdip succumbed to his injuries a day later.[87]
- Sandhu-Sidhu Crime Family: Founded by leaders Jimi "Slice" Sandhu and Sandeep Sidhu, this group is mostly based out of the Townline Hill Neighbourhood of Abbotsford B.C. They have mostly been at odds with the Dhaliwal-Grewal-Kang coalition that was part of the Red Scorpions before splintering themselves. They remain at odds with the Dhaliwal-Grewal group a la the "Brothers Keepers" and the Red Scorpion "Kang-Latimer" faction. They are well-known allies of the remnants of the UN gang along with the remaining members of the Dhak-Dhure and Manj groups, as well as the Ruffians. On January 2, 2014, Red Scorpion acting leader Matt Campbell was stabbed in the neck by Sandhu as they bumped into each other coincidentally at the Abbotsford Auto Mall.[88] He was charged with second-degree murder but the charges were later stayed.[89] Sandhu was deported to India in early 2016 but was still making appearances in Canada while deported. Navdeep Sidhu, the younger brother of Sandeep, and his associate Harman Mangat were fatally wounded on January 12, 2017. The two were gunned down in Edmonton, Alberta thus spanning the Dhaliwal-Grewal-Kang rivalry with the Sandhu-Sidhu-Chahil group out of province.[90] On February 4, 2022, Sandhu was gunned down outside his Thailand Villa by two ex-infantry members; Matthew Dupre and Gene Lahrkamp of the Canadian Military.[91] Jimi Sandhu was considered a leading figure and leader in the United Nations gang at the time of his death.[92][93]
- Manj Crime Group: This group founded in the mid-2000s by brothers Jodh, Aman & Sonny Manj. This was one of the major groups involved in the 2009 Vancouver Gang War. They had been aligned with the Adiwal Brothers prior to Peter Adiwal being shot in May 2009 which the Manj's had been accused of being involved in. They then aligned themselves with the Dhak Brothers after Mike Adiwal and the Deo brothers took over the Independent Soldiers and joined Larry Amero to form the Wolfpack.[94][95] The main rival of the Manj Group was initially the Sanghera Crime Family and later the Wolfpack.[96] The two constantly hunted each other through the streets of East Vancouver along with another group the Malli-Buttar Coalition in 2009 and prior.[97] This group is considered to be semi-defunct as both leaders of the group have been murdered however majority of the group continues supplying the UN gang and is closely aligned with the remainder of the Dhak-Duhre coalition and the Sidhu-Sandhu crime group. Jodh Manj was found slain in Mexico on December 2018 after being suspected by both Mexican police and Canadian RCMP of being involved in the murder of Hells angel associates Gussiuppe Bugge and Nabil Alkhalil of the Wolfpack, both of whom were killed in Mexico.[98] Aman Manj would go on to supply the United Nations gang in weapons and drugs and later be found gunned down on September 15, 2021, in Downtown Vancouver.[99] By the times of Jodh and Amandeep's deaths, they were suspected to be high level exporters and importers of drugs into and out of Canada and Mexico, working closely with Mexican cartels.[100]
See also
References
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