Murder trial informant says he was paid by police
Former gangster tells murder trial he needed funds to start new life
A former United Nations gangster turned Crown witness at the murder trial of Cory Vallee was paid more than $300,000 by police to co-operate, B.C. Supreme Court heard Tuesday.
The man, whose identity is shielded by a sweeping publication ban, told Justice Janice Dillon that when he started as a police informant, he didn’t care if he was paid.
But the more he co-operated with police, the more he realized his entire life would be turned upside down.
“It became evident that what they were asking me to do was going to have a massive effect on my life. That I was going to potentially lose my entire network — both legitimate and illegitimate — in the Lower Mainland and Canada, which is exactly what happened. I was putting myself in danger,” said the man, who can only be called D.
So he asked the police for compensation “to be able to set up a new life.”
Money wasn’t the only reason he wanted out of the UN gang, D told Crown prosecutor Alex Burton.
“I had become disillusioned with the criminal organization I was in, with the individuals in the criminal organization, the lifestyle, what I was doing at the time, things that had occurred in my life and I wanted to get out of that lifestyle and do it in a way — that knowing myself — would ensure that it would be virtually impossible for me to go back,” D explained.
“So co-operating with the police was a one-way ticket if you will?” Burton asked.
“Yes,” D replied.
He said he was also worried that some in the UN were under police investigation and he didn’t want to end up in jail.
“I was quite certain at the time that police were interested in our group and, although I wasn’t certain I was personally being investigated, that was a concern,” he said.
Vallee is charged with conspiracy to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates over several months in 2008 and ’09. He’s also charged with first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Bacon associate Kevin LeClair in a Langley parking lot in February 2009.
D said another reason he turned to police is because he was upset about the murder of a young man he knew only as “Whitey.”
(Ryan “Whitey” Richards, 19, was found slain in Abbotsford on March 30 2009. No one has been charged in his murder.)
“He was a young kid in the Abbotsford area,” D testified. “I blamed certain individuals within our group for his death.
“I felt that I had some responsibility, although I was no way involved in his murder. I felt that steps I had taken could have put him on the path to what happened. That didn’t sit well with me.”
D testified that he got to know members of the UN gang in the early 2000s when he was running a dial-a-dope line in Abbotsford.
“Clay Roueche is someone I was starting to see more and more frequently,” he testified, describing Roueche as the leader of the UN gang.
D said the boss of his drug line was “getting his supply from Clay.”
Before long, he was clubbing with Roueche and other UN gangsters. He was invited to house parties and restaurants. He started working for Roueche.
“I looked up to them. They were what I wanted to be. They had nice cars, they had girls. They had money. They had respect. It was a fast life and I wanted a part of it,” D said.
By hanging around with Roueche and others in the UN, he could increase his status, D said.
“If I’m being introduced to people, if someone like Clay is doing the introduction, how they refer to me, how they are introducing me, that plays a significant role,” he said.
Roueche eventually gave D two gold bands with the words United and Nations on them. He was in the gang.
He spent part of Tuesday going through pages and pages of photos of UN gang members and associates, naming the people when he knew full names and providing nicknames when he didn’t.
When he got to Vallee’s photo, he provided his name, as well as the nicknames, “Panther” and “Frankie.”
The trial continues.
They had nice cars, they had girls. They had money. They had respect. It was a fast life and I wanted a part of it.