GANGLAND GODFATHER

Joel Labossiere and his wife Magdalena were found in their home Sunday by a family member who called police.Owner of a local home construction company and his pregnant wife were found shot to death in their home Sunday afternoon Police and paramedics received a call around 1:30 p.m., that a man was seen lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. He didn't appear to be moving, according to the caller. Paramedics were told to wait before entering the home until police could arrive to ensure the situation was safe. Paramedics were finally cleared to enter at about 1:55 p.m. and both victims were found dead inside.Neighbours said police canvassing the neighbourhood asked them if they had heard gunshots anytime overnight."It's unbelievable," a neighbour said breaking down in tears. "He was a great guy and the lady was as friendly as he was. I'm just stunned." Labossiere, the owner of JDL Construction, is the grandson of Fernand and Rita Labossiere, who along wi...

Calgary police were appealing for tips following two shootings that injured two young men.Neither shooting was a random act, said Calgary police, who summed up the gunplay as just the latest example of the "blatant disregard gang members have for innocent members of the community who could have been hit by errant bullets." Michael Chettleburgh, author of Young Thugs: Inside the Dangerous World of Canadian Street Gangs, warns of a rise in the number of young people joining gangs and says the increasing gunplay on Canadian streets is a symptom of a burgeoning drug trade. "Where there are guns and gangs there are drugs," Mr. Chettleburgh says. "A lot of the violence you see right now across the country, and it is different in different cities, is driven by gang rivalry associated with protection of markets." Mr. Chettleburgh researched and wrote the 2002 Canadian Police Survey on Youth Gangs for the federal government and will release the results of a new sur...

Police are investigating a multiple shooting in a Winnipeg neighbourhood that has left three people dead and two others injured. Const. Jacqueline Chaput confirms two males and a female were found dead in a home from gunshot wounds on Saturday morning. Two other men and woman were wounded, but are in stable condition in hospital. The incident is Winnipeg's first triple-slaying since a gang-related killing of three men at a house in August 1996. "It's a very rare occurrence . . . it's very disconcerting to us," Chaput said. Chaput says a motive for the shootings isn't known and there are no suspects in custody. Jordie Williamson, 14, who lives next door to the house, said a family of "really kind people," including up to five children, have lived there for years. He said the home has no apparent ties to crime, although he said gangs are a problem in the district. "Gangs around here – they go from harsh to worse, and very deadly," said Willia...

Manitoba-based ephedrine smuggling ring were ordered yesterday to stand trial May 28 in Buffalo, N.Y. Hugh Stevens and Sandra Jacobi were caught up with dozens of others by RCMP and the Drug Enforcement Agency in the alleged smuggling scheme which was based in Winnipeg and Lac Du Bonnet.Stevens, 61, and Jacobi, 50, had originally agreed to plea bargains, but those deals fell apart over the last six months. Both will stand trial by jury. Stevens has been in custody since his arrest in September 2004.In Winnipeg, a preliminary hearing for two suspects continues at the Law Courts Building.The case centres on how bulk amounts of ephedrine ended up in a California meth lab controlled by the Mexican Mafia. The ephedrine was legally imported into Canada through a Thunder Bay, Ont., company, but allegedly diverted onto the black market. Ephedrine is banned in the U.S. Its sale is regulated in Canada by Health Canada. Two of the eight Canadian defendants are no longer alive to be prosecuted. La...

Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Robert "Eddie" Blake and his co-accused Nick Chyzy were in court this morning for the beginning of the scaled-down hearing to determine what evidence will be admissible in their case, and if there is enough evidence to go to trial, among other things. The hearing had originally been expected to take more than two weeks, but has now been reduced to only a handful of witnesses. A court-ordered publication ban prevents any of the evidence presented at the hearing from being published. Blake and Chyzy were among 17 people, including 10 Manitobans, arrested in September 2004 in a project called Operation Diversion. Police allege the accused were running a criminal network that smuggled ephedrine from a Thunder Bay, Ont., bodybuilding supply company called Pumpuii Energy Products through Winnipeg, Lac du Bonnet, and Hanna, Alta. From there, the ephedrine was allegedly repackaged for sale to underground drug labs in Vancouver, Buffalo and Sacramento, Cali...