Guns, cocaine, cash found in gangster’s Yaletown penthouse, court hears
Guns, cocaine, cash found in gangster’s Yaletown penthouse, court hears
BY KIM BOLAN, VANCOUVER SUN OCTOBER 6, 2009 11:54 PM
METRO VANCOUVER — When the Integrated Gang Task Force raided a Yaletown condo last year, one officer found a loaded Glock stuffed under the mattress of gangster James Riach, B.C. Supreme Court heard Tuesday.
RCMP weapons expert Const. Frank Grosspietsch pulled the Glock out of a plastic evidence bag and showed it to Justice Terry Schultes.
“Yes it is the same gun,” Grosspietsch told prosecutor Catherine Fedder. “I took the firearm from the slats under the mattress.”
Riach and co-accused Barry Gene Espadilla, who are facing a series of weapons and drug counts after the April 2008 raid, whispered non-chalantly as Grosspietsch pulled out more of the firepower police found at the condo.
Grosspietsch said he saw three firearms in the front closet of the penthouse condo at 1221 Homer St.
He held up a Remington pump action shotgun, a Bushmaster semi-automatic with a collapsible stock and scope, and a metre-long Savage rifle with a scope — which he said were all stuffed in the closet along with shoes and a suit bag with two bullet-proof vests inside.
“None of the firearms in the residence were secured in a safe manner,” Grosspietsch testified.
Police say they found eight guns in all, cocaine packaged for sale and tens of thousands of dollars in the two-level condo.
Both Espadilla and Riach are linked to the Independent Soldiers and attended a controversial gathering at Abbotsford’s Castle Fun Park in December 2006 with Jamie Bacon and other members of the Red Scorpion gang.
Also at the meeting, busted up by police after patrons called 911, was Randy Naicker, the purported IS founder who was living in a halfway house connected to last week’s deadly shooting of a rival gang member.
Naicker has now been moved out of the community for his own safety.
Another person in attendance at the Castle Fun Park was Anton Hooites-Meursing, an admitted killer linked to both gangs.
Schultes heard Tuesday that police found a framed photo of Hooites-Meursing on a shelf in Riach’s bedroom.
There was also a photo of Riach, wearing a black shirt and ball cap, and sitting in a Porsche.
They also found paperwork related to a Suburban leased by Riach in November 2007. Less than a month later Vancouver police seized the SUV after they said they saw a handgun being thrown from it.
They found it had been modified to make it highly secure, including lights and sirens like those in an unmarked police car, a camera connected to the rear licence plate with a monitor inside the car, steel plate armouring and bullet-proof glass.
The dash had been cut out to accommodate the thickness of the bulletproof windshield, according to a suit later filed by the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office.
“The plaintiff says the defendant Riach does not have any sufficient source of income to account for his possession of the Chev Suburban,” the suit said.
It also described Riach as a member of the Independent Soldiers, a gang that originated in south Vancouver in 2004.
Both Riach and Espadilla have been in custody since their arrest the night of the police raid 18 months ago.
They wore suits to their trial at the Vancouver Law Courts.
There were extra sheriffs present in the courtroom, but none of the fanfare of two floors below where Bacon had appeared Monday for a constitutional challenge of the pre-trial conditions under which he is being held while awaiting trial in the Surrey Six slayings.
Grosspietsch testified about a Ruger Mark 1 automatic pistol equiped with a silencer that was also located in the Riach/Espadilla condo. The serial number had been obliterated.
“There was a round inside the chamber,” he testified.
He said investigators also found a “Glock converter kit.”
“The converter kit converts any model of Glock to a fully automatic capable of firing 1,300 rounds per minute,” Grosspietsch explained.
The trial is expected to end next week.
The Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Guns+cocaine+cash+found+gangster+Yaletown+penthouse+court+hears/2073215/story.html
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