Truemors
Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
Does it really come as a surprise that the second victim in last weeks Gangland hit outside a popular downtown eatery was involved in criminal activity? Families and friends of the two deceased vouch for their kindness and loving nature towards their own families. Tragic as this scenario played out in the deaths of two young men in the prime of their life, the Public have to ask themselves, what about the loving nature and kindness to their potential drug addled victims. Victims who most likely will be children, Your Children. Perhaps their tragic demise stopped your children from being a statistic on the Coroners notepad, and a much feared phone call all parents dread to recieve to come identuify their childs body who died of an overdose. Possibly an overdose caused if these two men were alive to carry out the manufacturing of these drugs.
In Ending
The media have been playing out the tragic tale of a (reported) inebriated and drugged 15 year old child who was incarcerated and mistreated by Victoria Police.
Police could not find the mother or other family contacts, Police bound her and put her in a cell. It is said she was roughed up by Police, but it can be safely assumed this young teen learned her lesson. The Mother of this Teen should thank Police for saving her daughter and not bringing a lawsuit. Why? There are many youmg teens (Drugged and/or Drunk) in similar situations that are found raped or murdered by those who know full well how to take advantage of a teen in that condition. Perhaps the Victoria Police intervention in taking her into custody before she did herself harm or became a statistic saved the Mother a coroners phone call. One cannot tell the future, but rest assured this teen is alive and hopefully Mother and Daughter learned their lesson.
My Final Thought
As the media have not posted photos on the chemicals found. I am taking the liberty of apprising our readers of my world, and am posting recent photos of my activities involving my investigation in Illegal drug manufacturing activities in the lower mainland. You will see Real photos of Real events in the making. My role once officers remove criminal evidence is to catalogue, test and sample Chemicals, some were mixed which will KILL you in an instant if not properly handled by myself and my partner. Chemicals which by the way were sampled and residue was found in public elevators and hallways of this upscale apartment complex, where condo average 500K and up. This complex is occupied by young children playing in the hallway, Children and public who can bring these chemical residues on their feet into their own home and cause serious if not fatal consequences.
Our Provincial and Federal Government needs to get off it's ass, tell the Port Unions to go to hell, implement criminal background checks and put "trained and armed" Government Port Officers in place at seaports to ensure all these chemical coming into this country is stopped. These chemicals reportedly found in Delta are never available to the public.
The only way they got in was by smuggling, smiggling I can assure you most likely through our SeaPorts via shipping containers from Offshore Ships. Armed Port Officers are the answer, we have armed Transit Police, but for some reason our Ports are open borders.
VANCOUVER - More than 100 drums of precursor chemicals for making ecstasy and crystal meth were found this week at the Delta business of Gilles LePage, who was gunned down in Vancouver last Saturday with long-time gangster Ricardo Scarpino.
The Vancouver Sun has learned that LePage's landlord in the River Road business, David Lloyd, went to check out the premises Wednesday after hearing that LePage was likely the second victim in a targeted hit outside the posh Gotham Steakhouse on Seymour Street Jan. 19.
Lloyd told The Sun on Friday that he found the suspicious barrels of chemicals, including 71 15-kilogram drums of sodium borohydride, 30 15-kg containers of methylamine hydrochloride and 23 larger containers of a third chemical. He called police, who immediately called in fire-department emergency vehicles to secure the scene and remove the volatile chemicals.
He speculated the chemicals might be related to the motive for the brazen downtown Vancouver shooting that killed Scarpino and LePage as they pulled up outside the restaurant for Scarpino's engagement party.
Scarpino was a well-known Lower Mainland gangster who had been involved in drug trafficking for years. Vancouver police said this week LePage had no criminal record and was known only for his association with Scarpino.
"The placement of these drugs or precursor chemicals was such that I'm sure they were not intended to be there for any length of time," Lloyd said, "that they were obtained from somewhere by someone who wasn't in a position to deliver them to where they were ultimately destined for and just dropped them there for a few days."
He said there were rooms in the unit in which LePage could easily have hidden the barrels if they were going to be there a while.
"The fact that they didn't do that leads me to believe the chemicals were there for a very short period of time. Obviously, whatever plan they had was interrupted," Lloyd said. "The quantity of these chemicals was not something I would attribute to a single small lab."
Lloyd said he was surprised when police told him he would be sent the bill for destroying the brand new, unopened drums of chemicals, expected to be tens of thousands of dollars.
Drug investigators in B.C. have complained about methylamine hydrochloride and sodium borohydride remaining legal in Canada even though they are being used in the manufacture of illicit chemical narcotics.
But Lloyd said that aside from the initial response, no investigators from either Delta police or the Vancouver police department have returned to search the 1,800-square-foot unit in which LePage had lived and built go-karts for several years.
"There are bits and pieces of paper scattered all over the place. ... Not one piece of that paper has been touched. I think if you search through the papers, there might be something," Lloyd said. "[LePage] was not only running a business from these premises, but he was also living there as well. All his personal stuff is there. So if there is anything that was in his possession that would help with the investigation - it is still there."
Vancouver police Const. Tim Fanning said major crime investigators are aware of the discovery at LePage's business. He said he couldn't comment "for investigative reasons" on whether the chemicals could be the motive for the murder.
Delta police Insp. Lorne Pike said Lloyd was not cooperative in allowing the fire department into the unit once he learned he would be responsible for the costs of removal.
"I can confirm that the police were investigating the complaint. It was quickly determined that there was no criminal act on the premises," he said, given that the chemicals are technically legal to own and the tenant was dead.
The information was passed to Vancouver police, Pike said.
LePage appeared to be struggling with his go-kart business of late, Lloyd said, and was sometimes unable to pay his rent on time. He speculated the 38-year-old murder victim might have been used by Ricardo Scarpino.
Lloyd said he had never met Scarpino, but rents office space in the same building to Scarpino's older brother Mario, who he described as "just a great guy" and a decent, hard-working, legitimate businessman.
"He is really broken up about this," Lloyd said of Mario Scarpino. "He is just a perfect gentleman."
As family members prepared for Ricardo Scarpino's funeral, documents released by the National Parole Board on Friday say the 37-year-old gangster had admitted he was involved in "large-scale drug dealing."
And he was believed to be involved in trafficking inside a federal prison during a three-year sentence for an armed robbery of two drug dealers who he claimed owed him money. The parole board told Scarpino that he must attend counselling "to continue addressing issues revolving around your use of violence to meet your goals."
"You were also described as extremely egocentric, manipulative and deceptive," the parole board said in a 2002 decision. "The psychologist described you as showing a high need for excitement and sensation seeking, having high needs for affiliation and as being overbearing and controlling. He described you are being drawn to danger and to extending your power through the use of weapons."
The board let him out on day parole, only to revoke it a month later when Scarpino was caught again "in the company of a drug dealer while in possession of cellular telephones, a pager, $2,000 in cash and a large quantity of ecstasy."
kbolan@png.canwest.com
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