GANGLAND GODFATHER

Thomas Crawford, who Kamloops Mounties used to believe was second-in-command in the local chapter of the Independent Soldiers, had his bail revocation overturned in B.C. Supreme Court. "I'm satisfied that the order that I made revoking Mr. Crawford's bail was an order made without any jurisdiction," said B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Preston, who pulled the 27-year-old's bail on Monday after he pleaded guilty to breaching his conditions."Mr. Crawford, you should take the order of revoking your bail as a preview of what's going to happen if you breach your conditions again."In pleading guilty, Crawford admitted to breaching bail conditions on which he was placed in 2007 after he was arrested and charged with a number of drug- and weapons-related offences.On March 20, he was out past his curfew with two other men, who are alleged to have been waving guns around at a pair of Sahali restaurants.He was also prohibited from being inside one of the resta...

The arrest outside of Kamloops's most notorious strip club last March was was sudden, loud and dramatic.With guns drawn, members of the RCMP detachment's elite emergency response team detonated concussion grenades then swarmed the parking lot of the Rendezvous Hotel before hauling off two unidentified men. Police refused to release names or charges and the city's media soon became impatient for answers. Expectations were high when, two days later, a news conference was called at the downtown detachment on Battle Street.Cameras flashed inside the packed room as Insp. Yves Lacasse, along with Supt. Jim Begley and Kamloops Mayor Terry Lake, announced that city police had dealt a decisive blow to the Kamloops chapter of the Independent Soldiers gang by arresting the men they suspected to be the gang's top two leaders.Arrested on drug and weapons charges outside of the Rendezvous Hotel two days earlier, Lacasse confirmed, had been 26-year-olds Jayme Norman Russell and Thomas...