Bacon admits guilt in murder plots
Gangster to serve up to 6 more years for ordering hit that led to Surrey Six killings
Eleven years after his arrest in the Surrey Six murders, notorious Red Scorpion gangster Jamie Bacon finally admitted Thursday he was behind the plot that triggered B.C.’s worst gangland slaughter.
Bacon calmly and clearly uttered the word “guilty” when asked in B.C. Supreme Court if he conspired with others to kill rival Corey Lal on Oct. 19, 2007.
And Bacon repeated the word “guilty” when asked if he counselled someone to kill his former associate Dennis Karbovanec a year later.
Bacon appeared in Courtroom 55 by video link from his pretrial jail and told Justice Kathleen Ker that he was pleading guilty voluntarily and without pressure. A family member of Lal’s wept quietly as Bacon spoke.
Earlier this week, Postmedia revealed that the gangster’s lawyers had reached a surprise plea deal with prosecutors in both his outstanding criminal cases. As a result of the deal, a first-degree murder charge laid against Bacon on April 3, 2009 will be stayed.
Bacon’s lawyer Kevin Westell said the plea agreement means his client should serve another five to six years in jail after he’s sentenced on July 23.
Prosecutor Bob Wright told Ker that a joint sentencing agreement had been reached calling for an 18year term on the conspiracy count, plus 10 years concurrently for the counselling conviction. But Bacon will also get 12 years pretrial credit toward that sentence, Westell explained.
Eileen Mohan, whose son Christopher was a bystander caught in the slaughter, said she would be devastated if Bacon had to serve only a few more years.
“It breaks my heart,” she said on the steps of the Vancouver Law Courts.
And she said she’ll be in court at the sentencing hearing to read her victim impact statement in person.
“I will have my day in court with him. He will not escape me. He has escaped me for 13 years, not on the 23rd,” she said.
The hit on Lal by Red Scorpions Cody Haevischer, Matt Johnston and a man known as Person X spun out of control and ended with five others dead — Lal’s brother Michael, associates Ryan Bartolomeo and Eddie Narong, Mohan, and bystander Ed Schellenberg.
Mohan was leaving his family home across the hall from Lal’s Suite 1505 when he was dragged inside by one of the killers.
Schellenberg was servicing his last fireplace of the day inside Lal’s unit. The Crown provided the court with agreed statements of fact about each crime Bacon committed.
More information will be presented at the sentencing, Wright said.
The first statement said Bacon was the head of the Red Scorpions in fall 2007 and “operated an illegal drug business throughout the Lower Mainland.” Corey Lal, then just 22, was a rival dealer who had refused to pay Bacon a $100,000 tax.
“Bacon told his fellow Red Scorpion gang members that Mr. Lal had to be killed because of his failure to pay the tax. Mr. Bacon secured the agreement of Mike Le, a co-leader of the Red Scorpions, that Mr. Lal had to be killed.”
The first plan was to have an associate who can only be identified as Person Y kill Lal, but he later withdrew his offer.
“Bacon then directed Person X and Matthew Johnston to murder Mr. Lal at his ‘stash house’ in the Balmoral Apartment building,” the statement said.
Wright filed a separate statement for the New Year’s Eve 2008 Karbovanec shooting.
It said Bacon first discussed plans to kill Karbovanec with two associates who turned Crown witnesses — known as CD and AB — in December 2008.
He said “Karbovanec had been slacking at his job and wasn’t earning the profits that he should have been earning. He also indicated that Mr. Karbovanec was wasting time doing pills and sleeping with girls and this was affecting Mr. Bacon’s business,” the statement said.
Bacon and the two men “developed a plan to kill Mr. Karbovanec.”
The gang boss told CD to use Bacon’s .45 calibre Glock.
“Mr. Bacon insisted he wanted his own gun used as Mr. Karbovanec wore a vest and .45 calibre Glock was a more powerful handgun.”
Karbovanec was lured to a dead-end street in Mission on the pretext of doing a “grow rip,” the statement said.
“CD retrieved the Glock handgun from his vehicle and began firing at Mr. Karbovanec and then Mr. Johnston. Mr. Karbovanec escaped with two injuries, an abrasion to the right side of his scalp and a bullet wound to the right side of his lower back.”
Both Haevischer and Johnston were found guilty in 2014 of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the Surrey Six slayings. They are appealing.
Person X pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving life with no parole eligibility for 15 years.
Le pleaded guilty to conspiracy and got 12 years minus time served.