The dismembered body found at the side of a rural Langley road on Wednesday was dumped just blocks away from an address used by an upstart gang whose member is charged with murdering a prominent Hells Angel.
The 856 gang – named for a telephone prefix in the Aldergrove area – was once mentored by Hells Angel Bob Green, sources say, from a band of punks into a dial-a-dope network that reaches as far east as Ontario.
But police have charged 856 gang member Jason Wallace with Green’s death, suggesting authorities believe Wallace turned on his former ally.
Mayor Jack Froese dismissed suggestions that Langley would soon be the epicenter of a gang war, saying the problem is regional.
But he asked citizens to help officers out.
“It’s important that people are vigilant. If they see something suspicious, call the police,” Froese said.
The 856 gang began in and around Langley schools, including DW Poppy Secondary. The young boys joined an older man, 49-year-old Len Pelletier, who was described years ago by police as a Hells Angels associate.
“They started out as thugs, punks, some are family members, high school buddies,” said S/Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of B.C.’s anti-gang squad, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU).
“First it was petty crime, and then jacking people, robberies, and it escalated to violence,” he said.
“They tattoo the numbers 8,5,6 inside their bottom lip,” Houghton said. “They get the tattoo '8' when they’re initiated into the gang and start dealing drugs. Then they get the five when they’re in control of the local network of dial-a-dopers, and they get the final six when they control of a whole territory or community.”
The gang members were victims too: Pelletier was shot at in his Hummer while dropping his son off at school in 2007.
But the group recovered and developed a knack for moving in and taking over street level drug distribution networks all over B.C., the Yukon, Alberta, and as far east as Thunder Bay, Ont.
In July 2014, Wallace and Pelletier were arrested and B.C.’s gang unit shut down a drug making facility at a mansion on an acreage in the 4600-block of 236 Street.
The CFSEU seized $400,000 worth of cocaine, meth, heroin and oxycontin from the rented home, as well as “buffer” – something to dilute the mix so the dealers could profit more.
The buffer was phenacetin, a carcinogenic chemical used to deworm pigs.
The dismembered body was dropped off on Robertson Crescent and 240 Street – just blocks away from that address. It’s not yet clear who that man is or what, if any, his relationship is to these gangs.
Another reported Hells Angel was shot outside his home in Burnaby Wednesday, in a car that swerved into a house, nearly killing the woman inside. It’s not clear yet who is behind that attack.
But as ferocious as these attacks have been, Houghton said it pales in comparison to the drug war around seven years ago, where bodies were piling up every week.
Still, he said the gang life means you are looking over your shoulder all the time and never know whether you can trust even your closest friends.
“Individuals involved in this lifestyle put themselves at extreme risk of violence at any given day. And people need to understand that if you’re involved in this lifestyle, you’re going to get hurt eventually and it’s not going to end well for you, your families, your friends, your loved ones,” Houghton said.
“It’s not necessarily the enemies you need to worry about, it’s your friends,” he said.
