OK here’s one a reader sent in about a former Blackwater trainer named Slavko Ilic who was convicted of cocaine trafficking in Kitchener, Ontario back in 2008 after 35 kilograms of cocaine was found in the trunk of his car. The investigation of Ilic had all started after police had seized another 46 kilograms of cocaine and arrested two Kitchener men at the U.S. border in Sarnia two months prior. The size of the seizure and the location of the trafficking is one of those things that makes ya go hmmmmm. Or should I say aHA.
Well, guess what. The guy is out of prison already and according to the Cambridge Times holds one of two Adult Entertainment Licenses in Cambridge, just outside of Kitchener. He appeared before council’s general meeting on Monday, May 19th in hopes that Cambridge will enforce the bylaws and close down all the other unlicensed massage parlours. Trying to get a monopoly on the industry. Gee, where have we heard that before?
The question is, how on earth did this guy get a massage parlour license in the first place? Don’t they do criminal record checks in that shady industry controlled mostly by organized crime? That is suspicious indeed. He should not have a license for that anywhere in Canada.
Kristopher Pribic was later convicted of cocaine trafficking later on and was part of the same drug trafficking network in Kitchener. Kristopher's father Zivian, was a biker and cocaine dealer, an influence cited by the defence to help explain his career choice. A biker and a cocaine dealer in Ontario. Gee I wonder which club he was with. Sources claim Slavko was involved with Zivian Pribic. We know that Dominico Esposito is a Hells Angels associate in Kitchener. "When you arrest someone for drugs and ask who it's from, they say it's HA coke. Ninety per cent of the time it's HA coke," says a police officer in the Kitchener area, a Hells Angels stronghold.
Here’s a couple of links about Blackwater guys in Iraq doing steroids and cocaine.
New Alta. HA cocaine sentences;
ReplyDelete"Two Edmonton Hells Angels sentenced to 10 years for trafficking cocaine in Fort McMurray."
"...both men were involved with protecting the cocaine business from competitors and theft and were not directly involved in the purchase or distribution of the drugs."
“They brought not only their individual reputations, but brought the reputation of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in their protection of the organization,” said Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sheila Greckol."
"Greckol said the men were “motivated by greed” and “responsible for causing harm to the community of Fort McMurray.”
http://tinyurl.com/ck6oyhl (Edmonton Journal)
Wow. Great find, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis "news" is almost 10 years out of date. It is common knowledge that things were pretty crazy the first year or so of the war, not that it is any excuse but at that point contractors protecting convoy's etc. were being killed regularly and there was good reason to doubt that you'd survive to spend the money you were earning. "Live today for tomorrow you may die". Not unknown for life in a war zone to be this way.
ReplyDeleteThe excesses described are why companies quickly started administering a 5 panel drug screen for the recreational stuff, followed shortly thereafter by a steroid test. You pissed hot you were gone. I don't know what more you can expect. A couple of years later all the jobs went "dry" and security contractors are to this day prohibited from using alcohol as well. Get caught and you're gone, zero tolerance. Looks to me like problems were actually being corrected and problem individuals dealt with. Maybe the RCMP could learn something from PMC's......
"One of Lowry’s friends was Jerry Zovko, one of the four Blackwater contractors lynched in Fallujah in 2004".
Well, obviously he would not have been telling anyone about how things were after he was killed.....illustrating my point about the fact that this kind of activity was pretty much restricted to the initial period of a year when we were involved in actual combat here, tapering off very quickly as companies policed these problems themselves and the Coalition Provisional Authority ceded sovereignty back to the Iraqi government at the end of 2004.
So what if they were buying AK's over here to equip their employee's? They had contracts to protect government personnel while the same government is not expediting export permits for American M4's so they can actually do that job. That's how M4's wound up in bags of dog food sent over for the K9's who were out looking for IED's every day. Are you seriously expecting guys to go out and do that job unarmed?? "They were smuggling guns (gasp)!!!" How fucking hypocritical for someone who doesn't have the balls to go anywhere near a situation like that to attempt to sit in judgement of those who do. They're not relevant, but they can be if they can point their little finger and call "bad dog" on someone. They were getting the job done, piss off.
Nobody was "lynched" in Fallujah. They were shot and killed, their unarmored vehicle set on fire, and later the burned bodies were dragged through the streets and strung up from that bridge. "Lynched". Yeah, I guess it sounds more sensational that way. Accurate no, but why worry about that. Sort of like a lot of other stuff. Stuff like not mentioning that Cannon was fired by the company he worked for in Baghdad, he got another job in Afghanistan, was involved in the incident in Afghanistan, was fired by his employer in Afghanistan for cause and managed to get a guard job in Kosovo where he lasted about a month before he was fired there as well and returned to the US to be arrested by the FBI at his home shortly thereafter. His misconduct aside, he's actually a good example of contracting companies getting rid of problem employee's rather than protecting them and covering up for them as all the "whistleblowers" like to claim. It sounds very "sexy" to allege that they do this as a matter of course, but the truth is that guys like this can cost a company the contract they're working on, and there is too much money involved for that to be allowed.
Convicted in 2008 with 35 kilo's of coke, and out of prison in 4 years, then holding an adult entertainment license?? Seriously?
There's a joke here, but it's the Canadian justice system rather than PMC's. Four years for 70 plus lbs. of cocaine. It bogles the mind. I'd be investigating the judge that handed this sentence down. Wonder how much he was paid.....
I figured you’d have something to say about this one. I agree Blackwater buying AK 47s is not a big deal. They are a private military Organization. Strange how their weapon of choice is the Russian AK 47 not the American M 16. Back in the day, all the Israeli soldiers would carry M 16’s. Just who is all this arms dealing really trying to support?
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6BpI3xD6h0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VRrc2n0NXg
We agree that Slavco getting four years for trafficking 35 kilos of cocaine then getting a Adult Entertainment license when he gets out of prison is bizarre. Only in Canada. Pity.
You admit things were pretty “crazy” with Blackwater in Iraq in the first year. So here we have the invasion of a foreign country base don a lie, WMD, coupled with PMO profiting greatly from the war, privatized soldiers making more money than regular army, with cocaine using, steroid pumping hillbillies, committing atrocities on a regular basis. Present company excluded. That doesn’t paint a very good picture.
You say your PMO has mandatory drug testing now. I’d be surprised to find Blackwater does. Slavco was actively shown as a Blackwater trainer in promotion videos in 2006. His drug bust was 2008. That is a small and suspicious window. Nevertheless, we agree what he did was wrong as well as who he did it with and the penalty he received and the license he was able to obtain after his release from prison all shows something is very wrong with the system here in Canada.
The AK-47 is NOT the weapon of choice, but it is what the IA(Iraqi Army)was using, they were all over the place and easily available. It's not a bad system of course, very reliable under the worst of conditions but the same loose tolerances that allow it to function when dirty/full of sand are not conducive to accuracy, nor are it's sights and trigger. The M4 (M16) is a much better weapon for a operator who is trained in it's use and care and actually uses the sights, which many third world types do not. Much more accurate, which is important since we use single aimed shots (often lots of them of course) rather than spray and pray, which just wastes ammo which you might need later. Why do you think BW was sending M4's over in bags of dog food? They were NEEDED over here, a busted-ass AK with iron sights and two mags only puts you on the same level as the opposition. Fuck that. I want my M4 with EOTECH holographic weapon sight and all the other unfair advantages I can get.
DeleteYou need to read a book called "The Human Factor" by "Ishmael Jones". It is highly critical of the CIA, which means you should enjoy it..... ;) "Jones" was a case officer for many years.
One point he makes that you will be better able to take to heart if you read the whole book and gain full context is as follows:
"During the post war debate, many people accused President Bush of lying about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and leading us into a war there based on that lie.
But no one was lying. There weren't any human sources to tel us about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The information sent to President Bush was all guesswork. All the analysts at HQ, all the layers of managers, were making guesses based on zero information from human sources."
So, take that for what it's worth, but consider that the first time this guy submitted his manuscript pre- publication, it was returned with the entire thing blacked out. The second time, the entire thing except for one paragraph. Finally he published it anyway and as you can easily see by google'ing, his ass is in the wringer these days because of it.
I submit to you that he's a better source for the truth than hysterical left wing Bush hater's who have never shrunk from making up a story if it demonized the guy.
Certainly the rest of the book will be an eye opener as to the true level of dis-functionality, bureaucracy and fraud/waste that actually exists at CIA now, as opposed to shit that happened 50 years ago. Relevancy and all that.
It would surprise you, huh? Well, you are surprised then. Blackwater does, as do ALL PMC's on USG contracts. For a long time now. Like I told you, this shit is years in the past. But hey, what do I know, I'm only actually here doing this stuff, don't take my word for anything....continue to listen to people who don't know WTF they're talking about and wrote a book or a magazine article. Journalists suck, they do equally as much harm as they do good by slanting stories for what I call the "breathless" factor, or telling only half of it when the half they leave out would completely change the perception of the half they tell.
Delete2006. Yeah, lets see, that's coming up on 7 years back. And 2006 is only 2 years after 2004. And who knows when that video was actually shot. See what I mean? This shit changes so fast out here that you go on leave for a month and come back a dozen things are being done differently. I say this to help illustrate the speed of development/refinement of what happens out here, and to show that if you aren't part of this it's hard to appreciate exactly how far back even a couple of years really is when discussing these kinds of things. That may not be as clear as you'd like but I'll not illustrate further than to say that these days (and really for all the years I've been doing this) the slightest misconduct can and will get you sent home/fired. If it's bad enough, you WILL be blackballed officially and never work another USG contract ever again. Not as sexy as what you believe about BW, but there it is.
Yeah there was a lie. A big fat lie and that is what the unlawful invasion was based on. He said Iraq had WMD. He said he knew it. MI6 were caught red handed giving false information to the press in Operation Mass appeal pretending Iraq had WMD when they knew they didn't. Then when the British weapons inspector blew the whistle and said they knew Iraq didn't have WMD and MI 6 were lying to the media, he dies of a suspicious suicide. We have to be honest about the facts. Twisting that is no better than Hitler's Nazi's. Blind devotion to a lie: http://www.peacecandy.com/gwbush/remindus
DeleteI still recommend that you read the book. Plenty of grist for your mill as it were.
DeleteI will have a look. I'm just having a hard time keeping up with the blog as well as work and real life.
DeleteThe Kelowna Summer Jam keeps on rolling, along with this summer's temperatures...:
ReplyDeleteHells Angels associate could see millions forfeited to B.C. in Civil Court.
"Millions of dollars used by the Hells Angels to buy cocaine from undercover police came from the ill-gotten assets of Osoyoos resident Kevin Van Kalkeren, according to new court documents filed by the B.C. Director of Civil Forfeiture."
"And the director wants properties, bank accounts and cash linked to Van Kalkeren, his company and family members forfeited to the government, alleging the assets are the proceeds of crime."
"Since Van Kalkeren and seven others linked to the Kelowna Hells Angels were arrested last month, the government agency has filed three separate claims against the Osoyoos man, who is scheduled to appear in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday."
and much more...
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/looks+c
Off topic but does anyone know where those leaked Surrey Six documents, as reported by the Sun, can be found? I'd love to read them.
ReplyDeletehttp://s1058.photobucket.com/albums/t418/BaconIsBadForU
ReplyDeleteI doubt the link will last long. They'll likely get it shut down pretty fast. I didn't write about it because I wasn't sure about leaking that kind of information. I didn't realize it was part of court documents in a trial. Kim is arguing it's sensitive information until the jury has decided the case. I think more court records should be made public. If you have to wait until the trial is over, then so be it but evidence presented at trial is public unless a publication ban is in effect. Then that ban is supposed to end when the trial is over. It's not supposed to continue indefinitely.
I read all the documents, put out by someone who hates the Bacons, no...? A lot is about Bacon's alleged statements to Police, must be all taken from Police reports. But nothing new or startling.
ReplyDelete