notorious crime boss Manny Buttar arrests include 12 gang associates of Buttar's

notorious crime boss Manny Buttar arrests include 12 gang associates of Buttar's, as well as a woman who allegedly hired one of gangsters to kill her ex-husband and was charged last fall.Buttar, 35, is a former associate of the late Bindy Johal, who once bragged in a drunken rant to a stranger that he killed Johal, though he has never been charged in the case.Desmarais said the Buttar gang is led 'by men who have a socio-pathic disregard for morals, right and wrong, and common decency."
He singled out Buttar and his right-hand man Bobby Gill as "reputedly two of Vancouver's most notorious gangsters.""They are willing to commit any crime, resort to mindless violence and impose any toll on their victims as long as it makes them money," he said Wednesday.Buttar is charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Gill faces the same two charges plus assault, extortion, conspiracy to extort and five other counts.Desmarais stood in front of a table with 14 guns seized during the investigation, called Project Torrent, including a handgun with silencer, as well as body armour and a jacket with Integrated Gang Task Force printed on it.He said the crudely put together jacket was particularly disturbing to investigators."Our theory is that the targets that we were investigating at that particular moment were utilizing that material to portray themselves as police officers," he said.Demarais said Buttar and Gill are the leaders of the gang that has six or seven core members and many more associates that have been sub-contracted for specific crimes.One of those charged, Brandon Monette, is facing a new count of conspiracy to commit murder. The other charges range from driving offences and breaches of probation to firearms offences, extortions and assaults.Another gang leader who was not charged Wednesday is Tejinder Singh Malli, who was one of the founders of the Red Scorpions a decade ago.None of the charges include trafficking, though Desmarais said the group is involved in the drug trade as well as other criminal enterprises.
"They will commit any crime that will make a buck. It could be drug-trafficking, but in this case you see multiple extortions. You see murder for hire. You see a plethora of criminal code offences," he said.
The extortion allegations involve doing debt collections for customers, using threats, violence and intimidation, Desmarais said."We have concentrated on the crimes that hurt real people," he said, adding that it was hard to get victims to cooperate."They have raised [extortion] almost to an art form. And virtually every victim we came in contact with...was scared stiff of these people. That represents a significant challenge."Also charged Wednesday were: Amandeep Manj, who is facing seven firearms charges and two assault counts, Bimal Datt Sharma, who is charged with uttering death threats to police officers, Richard Thomas, Matthew Arsenault, Bikramjit Biky Khakh, Christopher Barr and Anthony Christensen, all facing firearms counts, as well as Jasdeep Dhaliwal, Jordan Doiron and David Laidlaw who are all charged with extortion.
Laidlaw and Doiron were also charged last fall, along with Liza Belcourt, with plotting to kill her former spouse.Desmarais said about 100 more charges are coming as part of Project Torrent, which began last April as an earlier investigation called Project Rebellion was winding down."I would say right now the gang is effectively disabled and I would say in March, April, they will effectively cease to exist," he said.
Rebellion focused on a south slope Vancouver gang dubbed the Sanghera Family, which police said was effectively dismantled by arrests of most of its member.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson called the arrests "a very significant advance in this fight against the gangs .""Rather than waiting for these crimes to be committed, the VPD now targets the most violent criminals pro-actively hitting them with as many charges as they can," he said.He said the arrests were not timed to clean up the streets for the Olympics.
"The timing is fortuitous really given that the world is at our doorstep," Robertson said."But this work has been going on for years now."
Supt. Dan Malo, who heads the Gang Task Force, praised the efforts of the VPD for making so many arrests. The GTF, part of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, assisted in Torrent in a supporting role."Over the past several months, together and united in dealing with issues of gang crime, we have announced over 50 significant arrests," Malo said. "The result is a lowering in gang conflict and, therefore, safer communities. Our work isn't done."