Monday, August 8, 2011

Grisly details in Vernon Greeks trial



The Vancouver Province has been following the Vernon Greeks murder trial in Vancouver. Pretty bizarre details about one of the murders came out in court.

Ron Sparks, a former enforcer for the Greeks gang of Vernon, testified that gang members were angry and agitated when they couldn't reach one of their dial-a-dope lines. The gang tracked down Marnuik and took him to a building they called the office, said Sparks, 45, an enforcer for the gang from 2000 to 2003. (If he had stolen from them, he would have left town, but he didn't)

The office. I'm not sure where that was but we do remember that before the trial started the media reported Marniuk's death was linked to last year's extensive search of a Vernon warehouse that had links to the Hells Angels. The place on Fairweather Road is owned by Zenon Stepkowski whom police confirm is an associate of the Calgary chapter of the Hells Angels.

The media reported that warehouse was involved in the murder. I have no idea if that was the office they were referring to in the trial since I was not present and have heard nothing about the trial except what the newspapers have been reporting.

The court was told Sheldon O'Donnell, one of five members or associates of the Greeks standing trial for murder, taped Marnuik to a chair. O'Donnell - along with a second gang member who cannot be named because of a publication ban - and Sparks then started to punch Marnuik, Sparks said.

A second gang member who cannot be named due to a publication ban. What on earth is up with that. Why would one of the named suspects get a publication ban and not the others. That is very strange indeed. In fact, when I search the court registry for the other names of the accused, nothing shows up. Except for Zenon Stepkowski's 2011 assault charge when his co accused was charged with theft and a 2009 income tax case.

Anyways, Sparks claims they taped the guy to a chair and beat him with their fists, a pipe and a baseball bat. Sparks one of them seriously burned the guys hand with a blow torch. They then took the body into the bush near Enderby, set it on fire and ground it up. Enderby is the same town where Stepkowski had his income tax case.

The five originally charged are: Dale Sipes, Les Podolski, Sheldon O'Donnell, Peter Manolakos and Douglas Brownell. The trial is expected to hear from more than 100 witnesses and involve between 200 and 300 exhibits.

I think the main thing to remember when reading about the details of the Greek's trial is that they were affiliates of the Hells angels. They beat and murdered their own. Police claim one of the five victims was a Hells angels affiliate. Like I say, with friends like that, who needs enemies.



Andre Raymond has already plead guilty to being involved with four of the murders. In November 2004, Raymond helped lure 31-year-old Thomas Bryce, who had allegedly threatened to kill an associate of the Greeks, to a beach near Vernon.

As Raymond distracted the victim, an associate came up behind Bryce and struck him over the head with a baseball bat. Bryce was then repeatedly struck by the bat while lying on the ground. Wearing his Harley Davidson boots, Raymond then struck Bryce on the torso.

As they fled the scene, one of the Greeks used his vehicle to drive over Bryce's body. An unconscious Bryce was taken by ambulance to hospital where he died 17 days later, never having regained consciousness.

In April, Ken Beck pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the killing of Hewison and received a life term with no parole eligibility for 10 years.

William Mastop, a lawyer from Vernon, was charged by direct indictment, which alleges he took part in the activities of a criminal organization between August 2000 and December 2005.

7 comments:

  1. I too am following this trial and these guys are all total dirt bags and have no morals at all,I personally know some of them and my feeling is to :shoot on sight: metaphorically speaking.

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  2. Of course : ) Vernon is such a beautiful place. A handful of thugs can sure wreck paradise just like in Kelowna. It all revolves around crack. Eliminate that from the equation and the greedy pigs have to work for a living instead of using such extreme violence to satisfy their greed.

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  3. Agent K:

    "Vernon is such a beautiful place."

    OK, but...The Province newspaper quoted locals in Vernon as saying, "Mission Hill ( I guess, part of Vernon) is just crack addicts now, the whole place." Why does that make Vernon a "beautiful" place to live?

    Let's face facts; the days when a younger family could say, "Let's move to a (implicitly non-Vancouver-like) place in the Interior to raise our kids safely.".....is just totally GONE!

    The whole OK. valley is like the Enderby-Shuswap area; where we had a cabin; full of pot plants and grow-ops, full of cash from drugs and FULL of cocaine. My friends up the north Shuswap road, (to Anglemont) say the drug-dealers there compete by getting themselves bigger & bigger boats for the Shuswap. My friends are all dope growers; the woods are filled with plants, it's FAR too dangerous to go hiking, fishing or hunting up there; you'll be shot in an instant by the growers. Sub-divisions full of crack-heads, the bush full of illegal plants, guarded by shotguns...have fun, young families!

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  4. Mission Hill is full of crack addicts now? Wow, that’s just on the way to Kin Beach. Vernon is nice. Kal beach, Silverstar, the Best Western there has a beautiful courtyard with a real creek running through it. It’s sad how the Hells Angels can hold such a wonderful small town hostage by using violence to sell crack. Dawson Creek is another example of a small town getting ruined by the Hells Angels and their crack. Can’t we just deport the Hells Angels somewhere and keep all the nice hard working minorities?

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  5. Where can I read what has been happening lately in the trial of the vernon greeks. Is there a blog that people who are attending the trial might be sharing information.

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  6. Kim Bolan's blog also deals with gangs and the latest news about them. Most papers are following that trial but I haven't heard much lately. Just like Joey Verma's trial which is now under way, getting regular updates would be helpful. I'll keep my ear to the ground.

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