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Hey, it's Nancy. Before we begin today, I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. On New Year's Day in 2009, a triple murder at a restaurant sparked outrage in Calgary. A high-ranking gang member and his associate were the targets.
But caught in the middle was an innocent victim, Kenny Sua. He was at the restaurant having a meal when gunfire erupted. He was shot and killed as he ran for safety. A lot of unrelated people in the restaurant panicking and fleeing. And again, here's a situation where somebody just trying to be safe, running out of the restaurant again gets shot and another innocent person is killed.
I'm Nancy Hixt, a senior crime reporter for Global News. Today on Crime Beat, I share the story of how one death became the tipping point in a decades-long gang war. One that led police to great lengths to try and end the violence, including making what some call a deal with the devil. This is part two of The Crossfire.
The triple homicide at the Bolsa restaurant brought the death toll up to two dozen over the first seven years of war between the FOB and FK gangs. And despite the increased spotlight, the violence wasn't slowing down. Here's Senior Crown Prosecutor Brian Holtby. It became really a series of tit-for-tat killings.
The FOB would seek revenge for a killing by the FK. The FK would seek revenge for a killing by the FOB. And eventually, between, say, 2000 and 2009, there were 25 killings that we attribute to either the FOB or the FK. Homicide detective Mike Schute has extensive experience dealing with gang members and gang investigations.
He said that over and over, investigators tried to intervene to stop the violence. We had knowledge and information at times that people were in significant threat and were being targeted. The rival group had a bead on somebody and were actively planning to murder him.
And we would go out. We've had times when we would literally go out and we were dealing with the family that day saying, we need to find this person. And we were held up a number of different times with trying to get us put in touch with that person to do a duty to warn or to let them know that they may become a victim of crime, that their rivals are honing in on them.
and only to be, you know, called later that night, 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning to come out and assist in a homicide investigation because that person we just spent hours and hours looking for had been the victim of a homicide. So, you know, it was frustrating work at the time, but I'd ask guys, you know, gang members, specifically heavy duty gang members, if you were in my shoes, how would you make this stop? And I was told a number of times from both sides, you will never make this stop. They killed my friends, we're going to kill their friends.
At the peak of the gang war, police estimate there were 12 key players on each side, plus their associates and low-level drug dealers. As new homicides happened, the older cases were going cold.
With the exception of the very first homicide which took place at a karaoke bar back in 2002, all of the other murders between the FOB and FK went unsolved. That's nearly two dozen unsolved cases.
Calgary Police Superintendent Cliff O'Brien said it was extremely frustrating for investigators who were working around the clock to bring the killers to justice and end the violence. Every single one of these homicides were investigated very thoroughly and the investigators did everything they could. But these files started to become cold. There wasn't new information coming forward. There were not new documents.
There were no new witnesses coming forward and it continued to escalate. And there was a retaliatory piece where they continued to kill each other. Back in 2009, Kurt Jacobs was a detective with the Homicide Unit. He's currently a staff sergeant with the Calgary Police Service. He said at that time, the forensic evidence was limited because the killers were careful.
If you're really savvy and you're trying to clean up, not leave anything behind, that often doesn't leave as much behind.
Further, if you have a disguise on, if you have a vehicle that's stolen, not registered to you, plates obstructed, and then that is discarded or destroyed at the end of the day, it's another way of discarding evidence. So those are some of the things that need to be covered off, but also things that pose a challenge for investigators.
Police worked closely with the prosecution, including Brian Holtby, to try and lay charges. They were careful on wiretaps. They were careful with DNA. I won't tell you how they were careful, but they were careful with DNA. And they were careful with fingerprints. So, unfortunately, not a lot of admissible evidence that would help the Crown was obtained despite all the effort the police put into it.
As they investigated, police were able to narrow down their list of suspects in the Boolsa Triple murder. But it seemed like there was never quite enough evidence. There's a big difference between knowing what happened and being able to prove what happened in court. And the police had information from confidential informants in most cases who were not gang members. Sort of the word on the street about who had done what.
And Superintendent O'Brien said there was also a code of silence that investigators had to contend with. I can tell you that one particular file that the victim was sitting with his very best friends. His best friends, Ed was murdered and the best friends refused to cooperate. And even when the suspect himself was murdered,
We were able to go back to those friends and say, "Okay, suspect's dead, not going to court. Tell us what happened." And only two of them told us what happened. And the question that we asked was, "What could we have said at the time that would have given you a sense of comfort that you could share with us what you saw?" And what they said was nothing.
While these gang members were fearless in their pursuit of opposing gang members, they feared retribution for themselves and their families if they cooperated with police. And so they would rather say nothing and watch their best friend die and the killer continue to be in the community
That's difficult. That is a difficult thing for investigators and we're not going to solve those cases unless we're doing something absolutely creative or we get community help. So that's what police did. And behind the scenes, they began a covert operation. Police targeted a key suspect in the Bolsa Triple murder using a Mr. Big Sting.
In the operation, an undercover officer played the role of a criminal kingpin, or a so-called Mr. Big, to try and elicit a confession from the target. That's how investigators got their first real break. It was a full confession. Here's an excerpt of that confession by Riel Honorio. You need to listen carefully because the audio quality is not great.
According to court documents, back in 2008, Onorio was a member of a Calgary street gang called the 403 Soldiers. But he was looking to align himself with the FOB to secure a source of drugs, guns, and bulletproof vests.
As he tried to prove his loyalty to the FOB, Onorio volunteered to be a shooter at the Bolsa restaurant.
When speaking to the undercover officer, Honoreo detailed each of the murders that happened on New Year's Day, including the death of Kenny Sua, the innocent bystander. They hid, moved the chairs, moved the table, seeing the police asking for his life. Boom, boom, boom. Kid that was the cinema, boom, boom, boom. Their buddy, the supposed to be the bystander, got out of the table, ran behind us. He ran out of the door, boom, boom, boom.
The kid looked like a skimpy, trying to hustle his way out of there. I just fucked it. It was the quickest thing I've ever seen in my life. Real Honorio was taken into custody on June 9th, 2009, charged with three counts of first-degree murder. But this wasn't his first arrest. It turns out Honorio was arrested on December 22nd, 2008, 10 days before the Bolsa Triple murder.
He was taken into custody during a raid of a home south of Calgary, where investigators told me they seized an arsenal of guns and drugs. Seven days later, the 25-year-old was released on $2,000 bail, and three days after that, police alleged he killed three people.
And that wasn't the only break in the case. Two other key players in the FOB, Michael Roberto and Nathan Zuccarato, were also arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Kenny Sua's ex-wife told me the news gave her some relief.
To me, closure is all the people arrested and charged and convicted and punished. You know, to me, that would bring closure. But the sad thing is that none of that will bring Kenny back. In the fall of 2011, the first of a series of trials related to the Bolsa triple murders got underway.
Michael Roberto and Nathan Zuccarato were both accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of opposing gang member Sanjeev Mann and one of his associates, Aaron Bendel, along with the innocent victim, Kenny Sua. Today, the jury heard eyewitness accounts from people who were inside of the Bolsa restaurant at the time of this shooting. This was the first time details of the deadly New Year's plot were made public.
Here again is prosecutor Brian Holtby. The FOB decided that they would wreak revenge by killing Sanjeev Mann. The plan they developed was that they would kidnap Aaron Bendel, who was a low-level drug dealer who was supplied by Sanjeev Mann, and force Aaron Bendel to take them to Sanjeev Mann where they would kill him.
That's exactly what happened. Aaron Bendel took a group of people to the Bolsa restaurant on New Year's Day in 2009. One of the FOB members killed Sanjeev Mann. Another killed Aaron Bendel so that he could not be a witness against them. And Kenny Sua was a totally innocent bystander who was caught up in what happened.
Key evidence came from a Crown witness, someone with inside knowledge of the murders. The man can only be referred to as MM. He's been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony in this trial. MM was, he was a low-level member of the Fresh Off the Boat, the FLAW. Jurors heard about the fear the survivors of the New Year's Day shooting felt.
The owners of the Bolsa Vietnamese restaurant told court they hid inside of their walk-in cooler until the sound of gunfire stopped. In the end, the jury took just over seven hours to reach verdicts in the case. Both were found guilty of all charges. First-degree murderer carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Just a few months later, in early 2012, there was a second trial. This one was for Rial Honorio. In this case, in addition to the key evidence from MM, videotaped recordings from the Mr. Big Sting operation were played in court. Here are some of the other statements Honorio made to undercover officers. That piece of that, he didn't know what to do. Just shot this...
didn't know it was us, but he knew what was coming. The ice does it all when he, that's it, when he knows he was going to get it. That's the ice that he ate. They didn't say nothing, they didn't scream, just knew it. Just froze. A jury convicted Real Honorio of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sanjeev Mann and Aaron Bendel, and one count of second-degree murder for the death of Kenny Sua. But then, in an unexpected twist...
Nancy Hicks has been working on this story and Nancy, the defense wants answers. Well, the defense lawyer for Real Honorio calls the confession a game changer. MM confessed to being the sole shooter. He made an admission to an RCMP officer in Saskatchewan last July. But that information was never passed along to the prosecution and defense here. The implications, including the potential financial costs, could be huge.
The credibility of the Crown Star Witness, M.M., came into question. And he stated things to the police in Saskatchewan while he was intoxicated that were inconsistent with what he had told the police and what he had testified to. Justice for Kenny Sua and the other two victims of the Bolsa shooting was in jeopardy. After they appealed, it was apparent that
The inconsistent statements of MM changed the entire complexion of the Crown's case, and the Court of Appeal granted new trials for all three of the accused. With convictions overturned and new trials ordered, it seemed justice might never be served. We needed to do something different, and I think we needed to do something radical.
Then, another unexpected and shocking development. Nancy Hickst is at the Calgary Court Centre downtown. And Nancy, this plea bargain deal announced late this afternoon may shock a lot of Calgarians.
Well, Roberto has basically made a deal that trades in a life sentence for much less time in jail. Now he will serve 16 years in jail, but with credit for time already served and time in remand, that goes down to seven years and nine months left. And of course, he would be eligible for parole in less time than that. He would be eligible for parole in under three years. I don't think characterizing as a deal with the devil would be unfair.
It's something that we don't like to do. It's very rare. But in this case, we felt we had no other alternative. As a part of the deal, Michael Roberto pleaded guilty to lesser offenses. That included three counts of conspiring to commit murder. Now,
Now the Crown wanted to make sure everyone knows that they don't pay for evidence. However, there is a slight financial benefit to Roberto in this case. They're saying that because of security issues he will likely spend his jail time in a jail outside of Alberta. So they're offering, the Calgary Police Service will pay him up to $100 a month for phone calls, long distance phone calls. They will also pay up to $8,500 a year for friends and family to visit him.
The Crown admits that security will be a big issue. They, of course, want to keep him safe so he can testify in all of the trials that he's agreed to testify in. They say they're not going to disclose how they plan to keep him safe, but they do have a plan in place. It turned out the code of silence wasn't that strong after all.
I think it's a little bit Hollywood, but really the subculture in itself is, you know, protect your brothers. You will do anything, you know, to protect your brother from being charged or investigated. When you talk to some of these guys, it's, "I'll take a bullet for this person." The reality of it is that is so far from the actual truth. When it comes down to self-preservation,
And they see that, you know, each person would really be into it for themselves. It's just what's the outward push is we got to protect each other. But the reality is everybody is trying to swim upstream when it comes to organized crime. And they would sell each other out in a heartbeat. This break was all a part of a lengthy police operation called Decino. Here's Detective Mike Schute. Yeah, Decino is Latin for cease and desist.
It's important to note this operation began long before Michael Roberto's plea deal was announced. I think there was some probably impression upon the public that as a result of Bolts said that the police had now finally, you know, heard the bell ring and now the police are going to do something magnificent to try to quell the violence that had been occurring and make this stop.
That's not the case. The reality is that there was a lot of officers doing a lot of fantastic work throughout mid-2000. And we had developed a lot of relationships with a number of gang guys that
Detective Mike Schute, along with several other gang investigators, laid the groundwork for many years.
There was times I sat down with gang guys at our arrest processing unit that may have gotten arrested because they had cell phone breaches and now they're being processed for that and we get called out, we go down and talk to all gang guys that were arrested at that point in time we were called out to talk to and there's times I sat across and said, you know, I don't have a crystal ball to look into to put a fix to what's going on here. How would you do it? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
It was later revealed that Michael Roberto wasn't the first high-ranking gang member to cooperate with police. Here's prosecutor Brian Holtby. We gave consideration to two individuals who had clearly committed first-degree murder. One of those is a person we cannot name, and the other was Michael Roberto.
The identity of the first gangster to turn is protected by a court-imposed publication ban. And unlike Roberto, who received a reduced sentence in exchange for his cooperation with police, this unnamed gang member received full immunity, no time in jail. Detective Schuette said the full immunity deal was essential for his cooperation.
Of course, if you're first one on the bus, you're going to get the best deal. So with this individual in particular, he was the catalyst for starting that major project that we undertook for a couple of years. So this individual was, he had been involved in a group from the start back in the early 2000s. He was part of the drug network. He was selling drugs at the time as a drug trafficker.
selling and he was uplining to people. So he was involved heavily with the drug network. He was an original member who went through that period of the fights, the assaults, the stabbings. My friend got shot, I'm gonna go back with my guys and see if we can go back and cause harm to the other group. And he was part of that. And that morphed into a position where he was okay with committing violence.
as others were. And for him and some other members, they became essentially hitmen for the FOBs. Their role was to do surveillance, go around looking for individuals to shoot or murder. Detective Schuette, along with Staff Sergeant Sean Gregson, convinced him to help police during one of his prison terms. I went with him on one of our first visits to go
discuss this and I can recall driving up together typing up our operational plan what we proposed to do here which you know was started off as a two-page document and then eventually progressed to be in a multi-year operation focusing on ending the violence between these two gangs.
He was agreeing to work with me in looking back at some cold case files and providing information to structured organized crime groups, all the things that they've been involved in, all the things that that person's been involved in, and also what everybody else had been involved in, and providing intimate details on murder. I think there was quite a bit of disbelief because of the position that this person held. I mean, you're looking at somebody who we knew had been involved in
Violence had been involved in homicides. We didn't know exactly at the time to what extent, but we knew that that person had been involved in murders and they were one of the original members. The cooperation from these two gang members allowed police to push forward in a number of other cases that investigators say would have likely gone unsolved. It's not going into a crime scene.
pulling a piece of hair and sticking it into a machine is going to spit out a name. It's extraordinarily difficult and sometimes you have to work with people who have been involved in those crimes specifically to be able to give you that backdrop so you can push those files forward. Kurt Jacobs was the primary homicide detective assigned to Operation Decino. It's not an optimal situation. I think the important thing is this wouldn't be entertained
if we had the evidence to proceed in another fashion. If we had the evidence to proceed in charging cooperative witnesses, everyone else, by all means, that's our first choice and that's our first duty of business. However, when we're stuck and we're not moving forward and we know the chances of this being solved is slim to none, then that's when we entertain these types of things.
One of the cases police were able to push forward was the shooting at the Food in East restaurant that happened in October of 2008. You'll remember, that's where the first innocent bystanders in the gang war were killed: Tina Kong and Kevin Sess. Sarath Kuhn was also caught in the crossfire and suffered life-altering injuries.
According to court documents, the original high-ranking gang member who turned on his friends, the one we can't name, was there that night and was involved in the shooting. His cooperation led to several guilty pleas by Nathan Zuccarato. Zuccarato admitted he fired at least 10 shots from a semi-automatic handgun into a group killing Cess and Kong.
He also confessed to being the one who fired the three bullets that hit Sarath Kuhn and left him paralyzed. I was in court when the guilty pleas were entered and spoke with Sarath afterwards. It's very emotional, very sad. Zuccarato also admitted to being one of the gunmen in the Bolsa restaurant shootings. He pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Aaron Bendel.
After learning Michael Roberto cooperated with police, Riel Honorio also admitted to his role in the Bolsa Triple murders. He pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of innocent bystander Kenny Sua.
That admission gave Sua's former wife, Leni Folden, some comfort in knowing there was finally justice for his death. It's been a long seven years to get to this day. It does bring some closure. However, you know, I don't think there'll ever be full closure. And it won't bring Kenny back. He's still gone.
Rial does seem remorseful, and I do hope that he does turn his life around. But at the same time, I still feel that he did something terrible. He took somebody's life, and a person should pay for that. In 2015, six years after the triple murders at the Bolsa restaurant, former high-ranking FOB Michael Roberto did an interview with Detective Schutt from his jail cell.
That interview was shared with Global News. It's ruined my life. I'm sitting in prison. You know, I've lost close friends. You know, I've hurt a lot of people that are close to me, family members, just from being in here. Having my name slurred all over the news and everything like that. So, yeah, my life is completely ruined because of all this. Michael Roberto confirmed how the deadliest gang war in Calgary's history began. It basically started when I was a young kid.
just growing up in our neighborhood and the schools that we went to. It was a group of friends. We grew up together selling drugs and then kind of broke off into two factions and we started fighting each other. And at that point in my life, I was just filled with pure hate and that's all I wanted to do was get these people. He spoke about the killings he was involved in. Five and four of them
where because of the war that I was involved in, because I lost friends, one was having to do with business. And it was always to get revenge. That was because I lost people, lost friends, and I knew they were coming after me. So I wanted to get them first. Roberto offered insight into what life was like as a part of a deadly gang war. Well, I fear for my life every day. Just always looking over my shoulder, you know, just making sure
There was not someone there that was going to shoot me. I wore a bullet-resistant vest everywhere I went. I had a gun with me everywhere I went. Slept with it beside my bed. You know, I was doing multiple shootings, even if I wasn't shooting, if I wasn't killing someone, you know, like I was trying to, you know, so it was a horrible way to live. You know, I knew eventually something was going to happen, either jail or dead. In July of 2020, Michael Roberto was denied parole.
The Parole Board of Canada deemed him likely to commit an offense causing death or serious harm to another person before the expiration of his sentence. In April of 2021, he was released from prison on his warrant expiry date, which means Roberto served every day of his sentence that totaled seven years, nine months, and one day.
Here are Detective Schuette and Prosecutor Brian Holtby. Both those individuals, you know, they're going to be forever worried about their safety and rightfully so. We paid a price in that perfect justice was not done. The price they pay is that because they did cooperate with the Crown and with the police, they will be in danger for the rest of their lives.
Out of all of the prosecutions that stemmed from Operation Decino, one man, who police allege is one of the kingpins of the FOB, has eluded multiple serious convictions.
His name is Nick Chan. The 40-year-old was arrested following the largest gang investigation ever undertaken by Calgary police, and now he is a free man. On what was supposed to be the first day of Chan's jury trial, the judge instead said his charges are stayed because he wasn't tried within a reasonable amount of time.
Our ultimate goal was to dismantle the Fresh Off the Boat, to cause so much turmoil and internal strife that they essentially became defunct. And to a large part, but not entirely, we succeeded in that. There were 25 murders attributed to the war between the FOB and FK between 2002 and 2009.
All but one remained unsolved until Operation Decino, when the two FOB turned on their friends. I would say we pared it down by six. So we were able to essentially solve the murders of Kevin Anaya, to solve the murders of Tina Kong and Kevin Says, and to solve the murders of Sanjeev Mann, Aaron Bendel, and Kenny Sua.
Now we believe, although I can't prove it, that many of the people who killed the other 19 have now been murdered themselves on both sides. Although DeSino quelled some of the violence, it didn't stop altogether. But Superintendent Cliff O'Brien said it did change the landscape of criminal investigations in the city.
there's a little bit of mistrust. There's a middle, you know, they're looking over their shoulder. They're wondering if that person sitting beside them that clearly is involved in the same crime they are, if they might go to the police one day. If that person that you think is your best friend and the best person in your organized crime group, if one day they're going to say, "No, I've had enough and I'm going to go to the police and I'm going to make a deal."
He added, there were a lot of lessons learned throughout the operation. What we have done internally is we've done some restructure of our organization. We know that we still need guns and gangs to investigate. They have a much closer relationship to our homicide unit, much closer relationship to our operations center. And the other thing that we're constantly looking for is opportunities to suppress violence.
So we weren't really doing that back then. I mean, we knew that we needed to if information came forward, but I would say we weren't being as proactive as perhaps we are now. So we're looking for information where if we think that there's going to be a shooting, if we think there's going to be some type of violence, we're trying to react well before that violence takes place. And again, using our operation center, that's part of what's changed over the last 10 years.
Police told me from 2009 to 2023, there have been another 25 homicides in Calgary and surrounding areas directly related to the FOB-FK gang war. During that time, many remaining FOB and their associates have been targeted and killed.
Nancy, I know the details are still coming in, but what is the latest? Well, homicide detectives are here on the scene right now and they are trying to piece together exactly what transpired tonight. And sources confirm two people are dead after a shooting here at about 8 o'clock tonight. To make matters worse, police say the suspect remains on the loose. This all started with a 911 call from a woman who told police that she was hurt. When police and EMS arrived, one person was found dead at a home
and a woman was rushed to hospital. Sources tell us that she has since died from her injuries. Investigators told me there have been several operations that have targeted the FK over the years. One of those resulted in charges being laid in relation to the deaths of three people. At the time of the release of this episode, approximately 40 homicides from this deadly gang war remain unsolved.
Prosecutor Brian Holtby told me the problem is the FK are still very much active. I think it's fair to say that the FK have transformed themselves into a very sophisticated and successful criminal organization. Well, the FK, in my opinion, is still actively involved in the drug trade, not just in Alberta, but in other provinces of Canada and also overseas.
They have not forsaken violence, let me put it that way. And they continue to engage in violent acts separate and apart from their drug deal. In late 2022, police were called to a homicide at a home located about 15 to 20 minutes drive east of the Calgary city limits in the hamlet of Langdon. Truong Nguyen, a long-time high-ranking FOB, was killed.
He was only released from prison a few months earlier. A graphic video of the execution was posted online. In the recording, a white SUV driven by Nguyen pulled into the driveway. Almost immediately, two men approached the driver's side of the vehicle and began shooting through the front driver's window. A woman got out of the front passenger door. She was also shot.
Police said she was airlifted to hospital and survived her injuries. Witnesses told the RCMP they saw a black truck fleeing the scene. Police later found the vehicle abandoned and fully engulfed in flames. When Nguyen was released from prison in April of 2022, the RCMP put out a media release with his photo.
Officers detailed that he had completed his sentence for several charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, and had previously been convicted for firearms offenses, assaulting a peace officer, and failing to comply with conditions of his release. Police warned he was considered a high risk to reoffend. Six months later, he was murdered.
Here again is prosecutor Brian Holtby. There is evidence that the vendetta is continuing, but it appears to be much more one-sided now because the FOB has been effectively dismantled and just does not have the resources to respond. I think with the FK, we just need one breakthrough. We were fortunate to get a breakthrough with the FOB
We have all sorts of intelligence regarding many murders committed by the FK. We're a hair's breadth away from charging many people with those deaths, and I hope to see the day when that happens. So while the war, as it existed back in the early 2000s, has ended, the violence continues.
And as long as there's a vendetta between these two groups, the risk to the public and innocent bystanders is always present. I just hope that something like this would never happen to anyone else.
Thank you for joining me. Crime Beat is written and produced by me, Nancy Hixt, with producer Dila Velasquez. Audio editing and sound design is by Rob Johnston. Special thanks to photographer-editor Danny Lantella for his work on this episode. And thanks to Chris Bassett, the VP of Network Content Production and Distribution and Editorial Standards for Global News.
I'd love to have you tell a friend about this podcast, and you can help me share these important stories by rating and reviewing Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can find me on Twitter at Nancy Hixt, on Facebook at Nancy Hixt Crime Beat, and you can join me on Instagram at nancy.hixt. That's N-A-N-C-Y dot H-I-X-T. Thanks again for listening. Please join me next time.
