(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
Sept. 10, 2003)
Investigation stalls over money
By Leo Knight
MURDER is the most foul of crimes.
When a life is taken at the hands of another, it is the duty of those who protect us to do everything in their power to avenge the killing by bringing those responsible before the bar of justice.
Even when the victims are less than desirable members of society, someone has to speak for the dead.
And that job falls to the police.
And so it was on a rainy night in January 2001, when a gunman knocked on the door of Wally Dekanich at his townhouse near Capilano College.
According to the tape recordings entered into evidence at trial, Mickie Phillip Smith said to an undercover Mountie, "I walked up to the door and I knocked on the door. I said his name and I saw the eyes light up so there's recognition. I know I have the right guy."
Smith said he wanted to make sure no one else was home.
He told Dekanich he'd like to speak with both him and his wife together.
"He said he's alone. I (Smith) said 'That's too bad.' I pulled it out of the briefcase. The first one got him in the chest.
"Then he screamed because it's only a 22. Then it's 'Oh my God' and he's trying to get by me. It's bang, bang, bang. . . .
"He was lying on the front step.
"His head's over the front step. I didn't know what happened. I just walked away. . . . There's a pathway. I walked 50 yards and went down the street to meet the driver. We were in Vancouver in three minutes."
Smith also told the cop how he'd been stupid and shot himself in the thumb as Dekanich struggled.
The bullet travelled through and hit Dekanich in the ear prior to the gunman delivering the coup de grace with a final shot to the head.
(This information is key when considering the testimony of an inmate who tried to claim he did the killing.)
As I write this, all the evidence in the case has been presented.
The trial was held before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Stewart without a jury in Vancouver.
Stewart has reserved judgement in the matter and will return a verdict this fall.
The question was asked why there was no one else charged, considering evidence indicating the murder was a contract killing and that Smith claimed to the undercover Mounties posing as organized crime figures that he was paid $30,000 through a middleman called Ron Teti.
He also said he got the silencer used for the killing from a man he called "the mechanic," later identified as Ido Zamai.
Then there was the getaway car driver, Robert Ward, and Wally Butler, the man who owns the property in Port Kells where Smith led Mounties to the murder weapon, a business called B.C. Heavy Haulers.
By definition, a conspiracy is where two or more persons engage together for a criminal purpose.
In this case, it would appear on the surface that there is the killer, the man who paid for the hit, the man who made the silencer, the getaway driver, not to mention the individual who ordered the contract killing.
From the undercover operation, Mounties learned the identities of all but the man who ordered the murder.
But even without the name, they had information to go on to try and identify the individual.
So, why was Smith the only man before the bar of justice?
Certainly, the evidence of the tape recordings alone was not enough to charge others.
But why wasn't the investigation broadened to try and develop more evidence?
After all, the opportunity to go after what certainly appears a case of a contract killing doesn't often present itself.
In this case the file investigators tried.
A plan was prepared and presented to develop the file by using wiretaps and surveillance.
The intent was to draw the perceived co-conspirators into the net and bag the lot.
I've written a great deal about the cost of targeting crime figures.
It takes money and it takes manpower. The plan in this case suggested the wiretap costs alone would be approximately $500,000.
A police officer close to the investigation told me the plan was nixed at provincial RCMP headquarters because they couldn't free up the necessary money to continue the file.
In essence, the investigators were told they had the shooter, be happy with that.
This is where the rubber meets the road when you consider the wasted money in the billion dollar failure called the gun registry.
Or the money thrown away in the scandal dubbed Shovelgate. Or the fountain in the river in Shawinigan.
When it comes time to step up to the plate and take on criminal conspiracies, the feds stand mute.
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