VANCOUVER — Three people linked to the United Nations gang, including a senior ranking member, have been charged with attempted murder in connection with a targeted hit on a Bacon brothers’ associate outside a Surrey strip club Feb. 16.
The weekend arrests and charges are the first related to a series of brazen 2009 shootings that have left a trail of dead and wounded across Metro Vancouver.
Longtime 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 Monday morning.
Extra security was in place for the appearance, including metal detectors at the front door, and additional police in the courthouse.
The trio 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.
But The Sun has learned that 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.
All three were remanded in custody until March 10, when they will have a bail hearing.
Trebble was released from custody on the weekend with a promise to appear later in March. She has no previous charges nor convictions, according to court files.
Willock, the intended victim of the Feb. 16 hit, is also facing five gun charges laid in December after an incident last July in Langley. The counts include: careless use of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm and ammunition and occupying a vehicle in which there is a firearm. He was released on $1,000 bail on Dec. 18.
The feud between the Bacons, their Red Scorpion associates and the rival UN gang has been brewing for almost a year. Police have issued four public warnings —including two last month — telling the public to steer clear of the Bacons or risk getting caught in the crossfire.
UN member Duane Harvey Meyer was shot to death on the steps of an Abbotsford home May 8, 2008. Hours later, a young stereo installer named Jonathan Alex Barber was gunned down by mistake as he drove one of the Bacons’ vehicles along Kingsway in Burnaby. Police said the suspects are from the UN and that Barber was completely innocent.
UN associate Mike Gordon was murdered in Chilliwack in August and Bacon associate Dennis Karbovanec was shot twice Dec. 31, 2008, but recovered. Jamie Bacon was shot at Jan. 20, but was uninjured.
Former Red Scorpion associate Raphael Baldini was gunned down outside a Surrey mall Feb. 3, three days before close Bacon associate Kevin LeClair was killed Dec. 6 in a hail of automatic gunfire outside a Langley mall.
Baldini associate Nikki Alemy, whose husband Koshan has UN gang links, was shot to death in front of her four-year-old Feb. 16 — hours after the T-Barz shooting.
The rash of shootings, many in daylight hours in crowded public places, have prompted a flurry of political reaction, including proposed changes to the Criminal Code to toughen laws against gangs and other organized crime groups.
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