Clay Roueche may have been arrested just last year, but the cracks in his United Nations gang started surfacing in early 2005.That's when UN helicopters flying clandestinely across the border hit the radar of police in both Washington state and British Columbia.According to U.S. court documents filed for Roueche's sentencing hearing Wednesday, Chilliwack RCMP were already following around some of Roueche's UN associates by the third week of 2005.They tracked a Robinson R22 helicopter to a hangar at the Chilliwack Airport on Jan. 24, 2005 that was rented by Joe Curry, who had used his credit card to purchase chopper fuel. Like Roueche, Curry was later charged with conspiracy to traffic in the U.S., but he remains in Canada.
A day later, RCMP surveillance followed a car to the same hangar and later to a meeting with someone driving a vehicle registered to UN gang member Daryl Johnson. Johnson's car then was driven to UN Gang member Douglas Vanalstine's business in Abbotsford, B.C., where Vanalstine's car also was parked.Late last month, both Vanalstine and Johnson were charged in B.C. with conspiracy to traffic cocaine after an undercover operation by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement. Vanalstine is charged on the same indictment in Washington state to which Roueche has pleaded guilty.The U.S. Attorney is asking for a 30-year-sentence for Roueche, but his lawyer Todd Maybrown says that is unfair and disproportionate to others already convicted in the same international drug conspiracy.And there are many.Roueche may be the top-ranking UN gangster to go down on drug charges, but a whole string of his mules and smugglers also was arrested, charged, convicted and jailed in the U.S., according to courts.B.C. resident Alexander Swanson was arrested on Aug. 12, 2005 — off-loading UN pot in Washington state. Calgary brothers Zachary and Braydon Miraback were arrested in Puyallup on Sept. 21, 2005, with 453 kilograms of B.C. bud that had been flown across by helicopter earlier that day.U.S. warrants were issued for the arrests of two Fraser Valley men — Trevor Schoutens and Brian Fews — who had been followed across the border by U.S. agents several times as they facilitated the movement of marijuana.On Dec. 1, 2005, B.C. resident Greg Fielding got nabbed with 148 kilograms of pot stuffed into hockey bags that had been dropped off by a white float plane on Soap Lake, near Spokane.Three months later, on March 14, 2006, B.C. pilot Kevin Haughton was arrested by the Colville Tribal police after he abandoned a float plane with 142 kilograms of marijuana and 24,000 ecstasy pills.Haughton told police that he worked for Duane Meyer, a UN gangster based in Abbotsford who was gunned down last year in a targeted hit.Nine days later, two Vancouver women — Sharmila Kumar and Shailen Varma — were picked up at Soap Lake where they had also picked up marijuana that had been flown in to the remote spot.On Sept. 25, 2006, Joshua Hildebrandt and Nicholas Kocoski were busted near Rimrock, Wash., after flying undetermined contraband in a rented Piper Cherokee from Chilliwack, B.C.Two days later, B.C. man Daniel LeClerc was arrested near Yreka, Calif., with 144 kilos of cocaine in his aircraft. He was en route to Chilliwack.On Oct. 3, 2006, Chilliwack realtor and close Roueche associate Michael Gordon as well as Alexander Kocoski crossed into Washington state to bail the Kocoski's brother and Hildrebrandt out of jail. Gordon was later shot to death in Chilliwack on Aug. 20, 2008.Many of the Canadians arrested in the U.S. co-operated and pleaded guilty, providing information about their links in Canada. Others claimed not to know those behind the shipments they were ferrying or hauling across the border.But police in both Canada and the U.S. knew the common denominator was Clay Roueche and the UN gang. And they set their sights on bigger fish.The Americans recruited an informant named Ken Davis who had agreed to be one of Roueche's men in the U.S., according to public documents filed in a Seattle court.
Davis gathered incriminating evidence linking the UN leader to marijuana and cocaine smuggling and money laundering in the millions of dollars.Davis visited Roueche in Abbotsford and was given Roueche's contacts in California to which he was asked to deliver about $500,000 a week in drug profits and return to Seattle with 25 kilos of cocaine per trip.When Roueche was away in Mexico or in Asia, he got Davis to call Dan Russell for orders, the court documents say. Russell is now charged in B.C. with conspiring to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates.Roueche was indicted in Washington by a grand jury in October 2007. But the U.S. file remained sealed until Roueche was nabbed after being turned away from Mexico on May 17, 2008, and forced to land in Texas where the warrant was waiting.
The breadth of his operation and the violence both threatened and inflicted are the reasons why the U.S. attorney wants Roueche locked away for 30 years."The affidavits of the various co-operators paint the picture of a controlled, powerful man who appeared willing to take whatever necessary steps in order to continue his lucrative drug-trafficking business," the U.S. attorney's office says in its sentencing memo."The UN Gang is the type of organized, sophisticated drug trading group that presents a significant danger to the safety, peace and security of the United States."But Maybrown is arguing that the myth of Clay Roueche is bigger than the man himself.
He said that while the U.S. attorney claims in its sentencing documents that UN gang members "have become known for their reputation of extreme violence," no evidence of Roueche using violence has been entered.Two of Roueche's young daughters wrote letters to the judge, pleading to let "Daddy come out because we had lots of fun together."Maybrown pointed Roueche's own words as indication the gang leader has changed.
"Until recently, I did not even think about, let alone understand, the consequences of my actions," Roueche said in a letter to the court."I now understand that I have hurt myself, my family members and others because of my foolish actions. For all of this, I am truly sorry."

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UN gang member Barzan Tilli-Choli, 27, and associates Nicola Cottrell and Aram Ali, made their first appearance behind bulletproof plexiglass in Surrey Provincial Court's room 107 Extra security was in place for the appearance, including metal detectors at the front door, and additional police in the courthouse.The three each face two counts of attempting to kill Fraser Sutherland, 40, and Tyler Willock, 27, with a firearm.Tilli-Choli was charged in Vancouver in 2007, along with UN gangmates Thanh Kiet Kha and Koth Gott Chanthapathet, with assault and uttering threats, but was convicted only of a breach.Two other threatening charges laid in Vancouver in 2006 were dismissed.Cottrell has no other charges in B.C. according to a provincial court database search.Ali, 23, was already facing a series of drug trafficking and stolen property charges in North Vancouver when arrested in the attempted murder.
A fourth accused, Sarah Trebble, was also charged over the weekend with being in the vehicle knowing there was a firearm inside.
Trebble is the former live-in girlfriend of full-patch White Rock Hells Angel Larry Amero, The Vancouver Sun has learned. She and Amero share a car lease for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade, according to personal property records.Prosecutor Ralph Keefer refused to comment on the case outside court Monday. Willock is a close associate of Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon and the Red Scorpion gang, and was the intended target of the shooting outside T-Barz strip club on East Whalley Ring Road and 104th Ave. But Sutherland, who was driving his leased Range Rover with Willock in the back, is the one who ended up wounded when the bullets started flying.Surrey RCMP said at the time that Sutherland's vehicle left the scene and headed for Langley but couldn't make it home. An ambulance attended to him at 216th and Fraser Highway about 12:40 a.m. Feb. 16.
Tilli-Choli has assumed a greater role in the UN gang since leader Clay Roueche was arrested in the U.S. last May on cocaine and marijuana smuggling charges. Roueche remains behind bars in Seattle awaiting trial in April.Tilli-Choli is also close to Mike and Peter Adiwal, twins convicted of a gangland kidnapping who have played leading roles in the Independent Soldiers.Tilli-Choli, Cottrell and Ali were still wearing their street clothes when they were led into court Monday and placed in separate prisoners' boxes.A tattoo reading "Barzan" with a Chinese character underneath could be seen on the back of Cottrell's neck.A young woman in the public gallery began weeping uncontrollably when she saw Ali, gesturing to him through the glass. A sheriff had to calm her down as tears streamed down her face.

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UN gang leader Clay Roueche starting buying his cocaine directly from South America after more than 200 kilos and $750,000 cash were seized in the U.S., according to court documents filed Wednesday.In one bugged telephone call, Roueche agreed to "test the water" of a new cocaine route by smuggling more than 50 kilos and said he had a "bunch in Venezuela I've already paid for," the documents say.
Roueche has been held in segregation near Seattle since his arrest last May on international drug-trafficking charges. His lawyer wants a judge to allow the Fraser Valley native into the general prison population pending his trial in January.
But the U.S. Attorney says Roueche is far too dangerous and could retaliate against other inmates who are cooperating with the government in the criminal case.
"Because of Roueche's leadership position in the UN gang, his previous use of another inmate's phone, his gang's violent tendencies toward those who might testify against other gang members and the necessity to separate him from a number of cooperators and co-defendants in the general population, administrators at the Federal Detention Centre made the decision to house the defendant at the Special Housing Unit," says the U.S. Attorney's response to Roueche's motion for free-range status.A major issue is how Roueche behaved in jail when he was briefly held in Oklahoma last May before being sent to the SeaTac Federal Detention Centre, making several illegal calls or getting other inmates to do it for him, the U.S. Attorney said."Oklahoma prison officials realized that he was speaking in code on the phone so denied him phone privileges," the documents say. "At the SeaTac FDC, the defendant convinced another inmate to let him use that inmate's telephone call number."Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies have been following Roueche and his UN underlings since 2005 as part of a massive cross-border investigation, the documents say."Working together, the agencies have found evidence of nearly two dozen cocaine exporting trips from the U.S. into Canada and the seizure of three separate cocaine loads," the U.S. Attorney said, adding that 2,000 pounds of B.C. bud was also seized."Clay Roueche is the operational leader as well as the public face of the UN gang. ... Its operations, mostly importing and distributing marijuana, have spread east across Canada to Toronto, Hamilton and Montreal. Working in cells, the organization has become powerful and violent in Canada."The U.S. Attorney also cited information from the B.C. agency investigating the UN, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit."In 2007, after a series of shootings in Chilliwack, Roueche's vehicle was stopped and found to contain a sophisticated hidden compartment in the centre console of the passenger area. That centre console was full of handguns, including an illegal and loaded pistol, several clips from a Sig firearm and a photograph of rival gang members," the documents say."CFSEU has surveilled Roueche consistently for the past few years and found that he routinely has armed body guards. One associate ... was found to have a hidden compartment in his car with a loaded handgun and oversized magazines. This gun was registered to a law enforcement agency in the United States."Roueche's application to get out of segregation has not yet been heard by a judge.The Canadian's lawyer argues that Roueche's ongoing segregation amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment.""He is housed in his cell 23 hours a day. The only time he is allowed out is for one hour each morning at 6 a.m. Other than that, my client is completely isolated, except for visitation by legal counsel or family, who reside in British Columbia, Canada," lawyer Lee Covell said. "I have never known such housing to extend beyond 30 days."

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