Court report details how 2019 murder triggered gang war in Regina
A report submitted during a recent attempted murder trial in Regina reveals the history and fluid relationships between street gangs in the city.
It details how an uneasy truce between two major gangs — Indian Mafia (IM) and Native Syndicate Killers (NSK) — fell apart after a shooting four years ago.
"In June 2019, when members of the two gangs were travelling in the same vehicle, Denny Jimmy (also known as 'Cash'), a high ranking NSK member, was shot and killed by two prominent IM members," Cst. Trevor Weir wrote in a "Street Gang Opinion Report."
"This ended the truce and gang violence erupted between the NSK and the IM."
Weir joined the Regina police street gang unit in 2012. He prepared the report for a trial that involved one gang member (C.S.) allegedly being involved in the shooting of another (J.M.) in September 2019. They cannot be identified beyond their initials because of a court-ordered publication ban.
A history of violence
Weir said police noted the emergence of the Native Syndicate in 1994. He called it "by far the largest gang in terms of its strength, membership and geographic reach."
A decade later, a rival group known as the Native Syndicate Killers emerged, he said. In around 2005, the rival gangs were at war, fighting for control of the city's drug trade.
In 2014 a new gang called Indian Mafia surfaced. A 2016 policing operation called Operation Shred lead to the arrest of much of the Native Syndicate leadership, and the remaining NS members were absorbed into the Indian Mafia, according to Weir.
Following the fatal shooting of Denny Jimmy, "the gangs were at war, competing against each other for memberships, control of territory and business, and violent acts between rival gang members were on the rise," Weir said.
"If a gang member ran into a rival gang member, some form of violence or aggression was expected … Jimmy's killing triggered a war between the NSK and the IM, where rival gang members would shoot at each other on sight."
The trial heard how J.M. had originally been a member of the Indian Mafia, but was expelled after a dispute with its leader. He then joined NSK.
The man charged with shooting J.M. had been waiting outside an NSK apartment in a truck with two other men because, "they had agreed they would shoot up the NSK apartment," Weir wrote.
Instead, they shot J.M.
"C.S. testified that they were not expecting to find (J.M.) that night, but they were all gangsters and knew what to do. If they encountered (J.M.), they expected a soldier to kill him," Weir wrote.
Court heard that an Indian Mafia member with the proper licence had legally bought the gun, a Siminov SKS 7.62 caliber, used to shoot J.M. at the Cabela's store in Gordon Road.
J.M. recovered from his wound.
