Gangster turned informant wins deportation stay

Testimony deal included remaining in Canada, he says

TORONTO • A former gangster who became a police informant and star witness against gang friends says he was promised he wouldn’t be deported as part of a deal with prosecutors. Authorities, however, were perilously close to doing just that until a last-minute reprieve from the Federal Court deemed his imminent deportation unreasonable.

The timely intervention brings only temporary relief; Raoul Burton was given a fresh immigration hearing where he will again argue his case.

Mr. Burton came to Canada from Jamaica in 1993 when he was 10 years old but never became a Canadian citizen. In Toronto, he fell into a life of drugs, guns and gangs.

He joined the Malvern Crew, a local street gang involved in a deadly feud with rivals the Galloway Boys and, in 2004, like most of the gang, he was arrested in a large police sweep.

In deals with authorities, he agreed to plead guilty to being a member of a criminal organization, co-operate with police and testify for the government against former gang friends. In return, he had other charges dropped and authorities agree they were not seeking his deportation.

“This guy made some really poor decisions growing up, he got involved with some really bad people,” said Anthony Navaneelan, Mr. Burton’s lawyer. “And he paid a criminal price for that. That’s what we ask people to do.

“But he also did something really good for the community at enormous risk to himself. He put away a murderer. He was the star witness that put a murderer behind bars.”

Mr. Navaneelan said deporting Mr. Burton puts him in grave danger and sends a negative message about the protection and safety of those who refuse to stay silent.

“It says: ‘ Now we got what we want out of him, he’s disposable. He’s no longer of use to the Canadian government and now we’re going to kick him out.’ The promises being made are not being fulfilled — that message is not lost on young men on the streets of Toronto.

“Can we really send this guy to Jamaica where we’ve already deported other members of the gang and where there’s a culture of, well, where snitching is quickly snuffed out. Some of the guys he worked against … are waiting for him down there.”

The case remains a quiet coda to the splashy police probe that grabbed headlines a decade ago.

Mr. Burton was one of 65 people arrested in the Toronto area in 2004 during a police sweep dubbed Project Impact, then the largest anti-gang operation in Ontario’s history.

Police said the Malvern Crew terrorized east-end Toronto with violence, drugs and extortion.

It was the first use in Canada of the anti-organized crime laws, designed to tackle motorcycle gangs and the Mafia, against a street gang.

After the door-smashing dawn raids and crowded press conferences showing off seized guns, drugs and money, investigators started interrogating those they had arrested.

Mr. Burton had no previous criminal record and police had no evidence he was directly involved in any shootings. He agreed to help police and prosecutors. Rumours of his cooperation leaked out in the Malvern neighbourhood and he had death threats shouted out at him, Mr. Burton says in court documents.

He found it hard to leave his old life and, a year after Project Impact, he was arrested again and pleaded guilty to drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.

At the 2007 first-degree murder trial of Malvern Crew gangster Warren Abbey, Mr. Burton testified he dropped his gangmate off where a suspected member of the Galloway Boys had been spotted in Malvern’s territory and, the next day, Abbey told him he had shot the outsider at a bus stop.

He also testified about others accused in Project Impact. The highprofile trial, however, ended in acquittal after a judge refused to allow the jury to hear testimony from gang experts. A government appeal brought a new trial.

Before the second trial, the Toronto Star published Mr. Burton’s name as a witness in violation of a publication ban, court heard, prompting a new deluge of warnings against Mr. Burton.

At Abbey’s retrial in February 2011, Mr. Burton provided three days of eyewitness testimony. This time, Abbey was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Afterwards, Mr. Burton and his Canadian wife, who have a child together, continued to receive warnings and threats, he said.

Two months after his testimony, Mr. Burton faced an immigration hearing.

The government sought to deport him, deeming him inadmissible to Canada on the grounds of being involved in organized crime and for serious criminality because of his convictions.

The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled his agreement with the

The promises being made are not being fulfilled — that message is not lost

government was “couched in ephemeral terms” and did not explicitly say deportation would “never” be an option, just not one “at this time.” The agreement was also brokered before his second conviction. He was deemed inadmissible to Canada and scheduled for deportation.

At a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA), he said sending a known police informant, prosecution witness and former gang member to Jamaica would expose him to grave danger, especially given a lax attitude by Jamaican authorities to inter-gang violence.

That PRAA accepted that Mr. Burton faced a risk of harm from gang members in Jamaica, but said the government there could protect him. An appeal to the Federal Court overturned that decision and sent it back for clearer reasoning.

The second PRAA was even harsher. It said Mr. Burton was not in danger at all. That prompted the recent appeal to the Federal Court.

In overturning the second PRAA decision, Judge Mary Gleason said the government’s assessment lacked “adequate reasoning and reached an unacceptable result.”

A fresh assessment of danger must now be made focusing on “the availability of adequate state protection for Mr. Burton in Jamaica in light of his profile as a former gang member, turned informant, whose testimony led to a murder conviction of a fellow gang member,” ruled Judge Gleason.

In his arguments on Mr. Burton’s behalf, Mr. Navaneelan said the case is important to more than just Mr. Burton and his family.

“This case concerns the utmost important duty of the Crown to protect individuals who have become police informants and witnesses in dangerous criminal investigations in Canada,” he wrote.

It is not known when a new decision will be scheduled.