Bacon Brothers (gangsters)

The Bacon Brothers, Jonathan (died August 14, 2011), Jarrod, and Jamie Bacon, are a trio of gangsters born in Abbotsford, British Columbia,^[1] suspected of multiple firearms and drug trafficking charges and implicated in a rash of homicides that have occurred in the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver area. They are under police protection, and have filed a complaint against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Current status

• Jamie Bacon awaiting trial in the Surrey Six murders.^[2]
• Jarrod Bacon sentenced to 14 years for conspiracy to traffic in cocaine.^[2]
• Johnathan, the eldest of the trio, murdered in Kelowna in 2011.^[2]

In 2005, an attempted murder charge against Jarrod Bacon was stayed after the victim refused to testify at trial. In 2005, police seized more than 700 marijuana plants and various pieces of pot-growing equipment and charged Jarrod and a friend with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Jamie pleaded guilty to robbery in 2007 in connection with a 2005 home invasion where a man was confined in his Abbotsford home and robbed of marijuana plants and growing-operation equipment. He was sentenced to time served.^[3]

Association with the Red Scorpions

In 2006, the brothers partnered with the Red Scorpions, another Vancouver gang. The aim of their association was to help the Bacons compete with the United Nations. The authorities believed that the brothers took leadership control of the Red Scorpions shortly thereafter.^[4]

Arrests of Jamie and Jarrod Bacon

The Balmoral Tower Highrise building

On April 3, 2009, Jamie Bacon was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Emergency response team for his alleged involvement in the October 19, 2007 slayings of the 'Surrey 6' which included two innocent victims: Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg at the Balmoral Tower Highrise building in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.^[5] This development occurred after an associate of the Bacon brothers, Dennis Karbovanec, pleaded guilty to his participation in the slayings.

Jarrod Bacon, arrested in May 2009 on weapons charges, was found guilty on February 2, 2012 of several charges relating to cocaine trafficking. On May 4, 2012, Jarrod was sentenced to 12 years in prison for conspiracy to traffic cocaine. The sentence was then reduced to seven years and two months after time served was taken into consideration.^[6][7]

In September 2009, the Integrated Gang Task Force reported that eight associates had been murdered since the public warning by police that those associated with Jon, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon avoid the trio or be potentially marked for death by rival criminals.^[8]

While awaiting trial, Jamie Bacon and his co-accused were being held in isolation. B.C. Corrections Service said this measure was for their own protection because other rivals are also in custody awaiting several trials. In what legal observers said was an unusual request, Jamie Bacon applied to the Supreme Court of British Columbia to end his solitary confinement as a violation of his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.^[9] The Court found that James Bacon had been subjected to cruel and unusual treatment while in custody, contrary to section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that he had been subjected to such treatment for the purpose of furthering the police investigation. His conditions of confinement were also found to constitute a deprivation of liberty and security of person that was not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice, contrary to section 7 of the Charter. During the course of the hearing, the court learned that Mr. Bacon's privileged telephone calls with his counsel had been unlawfully recorded. This matter remains before the Court. Mr. Bacon was released into the general prison population and the restrictions on his visits and telephone communications removed. ^[10][11]

In May 2010, the court convicted Jamie Bacon of all 11 charges related to the April 2007 discovery of a gun cache but acquitted the older brother Jarrod of all charges.^[12]

Death of Jonathan Bacon

On August 14, 2011, Jonathan Bacon was murdered via gunfire outside the Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna, BC. Larry Amero, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels, was also critically injured in the attack^[13] Jason McBride, Jujhar Khun-Khun and Michael Kerry Hunter Jones are now charged in connection with the shooting.

Superintendent Pat Fogarty of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, suggested that the eldest Bacon's death and the incarceration of the other two brothers, will create such turmoil among the leadership of the gang that the popularity and influence of the Red Scorpions will decrease within the British Columbia gang world.^[4]

Publications

• The Notorious Bacon Brothers: Inside Gang Warfare on Vancouver Streets, By Jerry Langton. Published March 2013. ISBN 978-1118388679

References