Brothers Keepers (gang)

Last updated
Brothers Keepers
Founded2017
Founder
  • Gavinder "Gavin" Singh Grewal
  • Barinder "Shrek" Singh Dhaliwal
Founding location Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Years active2017 – present
TerritoryControlled Territory:
Lower Mainland
Vancouver Island [1] [2]
Ontario [3] [4]
Alberta [5]
Areas of influence: Manitoba
Washington [6]
Minnesota
EthnicityMostly Punjabi Canadian
Membership
  • approx. 200 official members (2020) [7]
  • approx. 900 associates (2020)
Activities Drug trafficking, contract killing, money laundering, illicit cigarette trade
Allies Independent Soldiers [8]
Hells Angels
Driftwood Crips
Rivals Red Scorpions
United Nations
Kang crime family

The Brothers Keepers is an organized crime group based in British Columbia, Canada that is engaged in organized crime across Canada and abroad. Originating in the Greater Vancouver area, the gang has expanded across Canada since its founding, and has established relationships with other transnational organized crime groups.

Contents

History

Origins

The Brothers Keepers were founded in 2017 by Gavinder Singh Grewal; with most of the gangs membership and leadership formerly made up of former Red Scorpions. Grewal took the gang's name from a line uttered by Wesley Snipes’ gangster character in the 1991 movie New Jack City. [9] [10]

Assassination of Cetin Koç

Founding Brothers Keepers member Harpreet Singh Majhu and Orosman Jr. Garcia-Arevalo were hired by Iranian drug lord Naji Sharifi Zindashti to take out Iranian-born Turkish drug lord Cetin Koç in Dubai. On May 4, 2016 Majhu and Garcia-Arevalo ambushed Koç as he was sitting in a vehicle in downtown Dubai. Koç was shot nine times with two silenced pistols and was killed instantly. Majhu and Garcia-Areval then boarded a flight out of Dubai, departing before they were named suspects by the Dubai Police Force. Both men were murdered shortly after the assassination. On May 11, 2016, Garcia-Arevalo was found dead in a blueberry field outside of Abbotsford. On June 10, 2016, Majhu was found dead in a burned out vehicle just outside of Agassiz, British Columbia. [11] [12] [13] [14]

Death of Gavinder Singh Grewal

Brothers Keepers founder Gavinder Singh Grewal was found dead in his North Vancouver penthouse by his brother Manbir on December 22, 2017. [15] [16] The murder remains unsolved. [17]

In 2019, drill rapper Lolo Lanski (Ekene Anigbo) released a diss track titled "DEDMAN" in which he taunts the Brothers Keepers and the deceased Gavinder Grewal. One section of the song features excerpts from the 911 call made by Gavinder's brother Manbir after finding his body. Vancouver Police launched an investigation to discover how Anigbo acquired the 911 recording. Anigbo is associated with the Kang crime family, a historic enemy of the Brothers Keepers. [18] [19]

The death of Gavinder Grewal caused tensions within the Brothers Keepers; resulting in several members leaving to form the Kang crime group shortly afterwards. [20]

Conflicts with other gangs

The Brothers Keepers are currently in conflict with the United Nations gang and the Red Scorpions gang/Kang crime family coalition.

On October 18, 2018, Mandeep Grewal, brother of Brothers Keepers founder Gavinder Grewal, was shot dead in front of a bank in Abbotsford. [21]

In April 2019, Daniel Grewal, the cousin of Gavinder Grewal, was shot in the leg in north Surrey. This resulted in a car chase that ended with police arresting five suspects. Since the arrests, four of the five men have since been murdered: Austin Grewal (April 26, 2019), Iqubal Grewal (September 16, 2020), Julian Moya Cardenas (January 7, 2022), and Kevin Allaraj along with his associate Jeevan Saepan (June 4, 2022).

On January 7, 2021, Anees Mohammed, a drug dealer associated with both the Brothers Keepers and Wolfpack Alliance, was murdered in a shooting in Richmond. Police suspect that the shooting was retaliation for the murder of Kang crime family member Gary Kang the day prior. [22]

On April 17, 2021, Brothers Keepers member Harb Singh Dhaliwal was gunned down outside Cardero's restaurant on April 17, 2021. [23] Harb Dhaliwal's brother Meninder and another man chased the assailant, stabbing him repeatedly. [24] The assailant, Francois Gauthier, was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2022. [25] Meninder Dhaliwal would later be shot dead alongside Satindera Gill in Whistler in July 2022. [26]

Brothers Jaskeert Singh and Gurkeert Singh Kalkat were murdered only nine days apart in May 2021. Jaskeert was a prime suspect in the murder of United Nations gang member Karman Singh Grewal at Vancouver International Airport on May 10, 2021. [27] [28] [29]

On February 8, 2022, Brothers Keepers member Juvraj Jabal was shot. He succumbed to his injuries on the February 10th. His murder was suspected retaliation for the killing of United Nations gang member Jimi "Slice" Sandhu, who was shot at a villa in Phuket, Thailand earlier that month. [30] Former Canadian army corporal Matthew Dupre would be extradited to Thailand and convicted for the killing of Sandhu in 2024. [31] [32]

On September 12, 2022 Brothers Keepers member Sameh Ali Mohammed was gunned down in Brampton, Ontario. Police speculated that Mohammed's killing was retaliation for the murder of United Nations gang member Arman Dhillon in Oakville the month prior. [33]

In January 2024, Brothers Keepers affiliated rapper T-Sav (Tyrel Nguyen) was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of Kang crime family member Randeep "Randy" Kang, and university student Jagvir Singh Malhi, whose death is suspected to be a case of mistaken identity. [34]

Barinder "Shrek" Dhaliwal, a leading figure in the Brothers Keepers and a known figure in British Columbia's organized crime landscape, was the target of an assassination attempt, on September 21, 2024, in Langley, when assailants opened fire on Dhaliwal. [35] He was alleged to have returned fire, resulting in the death of one of the attackers named Johnathan Hebrada-Walters, 38, who was from Edmonton and was known to police. Dhaliwal sustained injuries during the incident but survived. Authorities believe this event is linked to the ongoing gang conflicts in the region.

Allies

The Brothers Keepers are currently allied to the Independent Soldiers and the Hells Angels 'Hardside' Chapter, located in Surrey. High ranking Brothers Keepers members Ty Quesnelle, Harb Dhaliwal, and Barinder Dhaliwal attended the funeral of Hells Angels member Suminder "Allie" Grewal after he was gunned down at a Starbucks drive-through in south Surrey on August 2, 2019. [36]

The Brothers Keepers also have a close relationship with the Driftwood Crips, based in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighborhood. [37] Several rappers associated with the Driftwood Crips have made references to the Brothers Keepers in various rap songs. [38]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sukh Dhaliwal</span> Canadian businessman and politician

Sukhminder "Sukh" Singh Dhaliwal is a Canadian businessman and politician, who has served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Surrey—Newton since 2015. He was previously the Member of Parliament for Newton—North Delta from 2006 to 2011.

The United Nations (UN) is a criminal gang that originated in the Vancouver, British Columbia area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Vancouver</span> Port in British Columbia, Canada

The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo, facilitating trade between Canada and more than 170 world economies. The port is managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, which was created in 2008 as an amalgamation of the former Port of Vancouver, the North Fraser Port Authority, and the Fraser River Port Authority. It is the principal authority for shipping and port-related land and sea use in the Metro Vancouver region.

The Independent Soldiers is an organized crime group based in British Columbia, Canada that is engaged in organized crime across the nation and in Canadian prisons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ranj Dhaliwal</span> Canadian author

Ranj Dhaliwal is a Canadian author.

The Red Scorpions is a gang based in British Columbia, Canada. It was formed in 2003 by Quang Vinh Thang Le, Tejinder Malli, Konaam Shirzad, Matthew Johnston, and one other un-named young offender. Michael Le testified at the Surrey Six trial that he and Shirzad formed the Red Scorpions after meeting in a youth detention centre facility. Le said the name Scorpions was a tribute to his "older brother who was killed and his nickname used to be Scorpion". The gang "used the word Red to symbolize blood" he said. Le said Jamie Bacon and his brothers were not founders but joined the gang a few years later.

In early 2009, a series of gang-related shootings occurred due to what police describe as a gang war in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Alleged participants include the Independent Soldiers, the Sanghera Crime Family, the Buttar Crime Family, the United Nations Gang, the Red Scorpions, and the Vancouver chapters of the Hells Angels.

The Bacon Brothers, Jonathan, Jarrod, and Jamie, are a trio of gangsters from Abbotsford, British Columbia who are suspected of multiple firearms and drug trafficking charges and implicated in a rash of homicides that took place in the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver area. Jonathan, the oldest brother, was murdered in Kelowna on August 14, 2011.

Indo-Canadian organized crime is made up predominantly of young adults and teenagers of Indian ethnic, cultural and linguistic background. Collectively, these groups are among the top 5 major homegrown organized crime hierarchy across the nation in Canada coming in 3rd place, after the Asian Triads and White biker gangs. The 2004 RCMP British Columbia Annual Police Report ranked them third in terms of organization and sophistication in British Columbia, ranked behind outlaw motorcycle clubs and aforementioned Chinese criminal organizations such as the Triads drug clans.

The 856 Gang is a gang active in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia area. The gang is named after a telephone prefix of Aldergrove, BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ranjit Cheema</span> Canadian gangster and drug trader (d. 2012)

Ranjit "Ranj" Singh Cheema was a Vancouver-based Sikh-Canadian gangster, drug trader and longtime under-world rival of notorious gangster and former Cheema disciple, Bindy Johal. He was involved in organized crime for over two-decades in Vancouver and also in cocaine trafficking.

Lawrence Ronald Amero is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster affiliated with the Hells Angels and the Wolfpack Alliance.

Gurmit Singh Dhak was a Canadian gangster who served as the co-boss of the Dhak-Duhre group in Vancouver.

The Alkhalil family is a Palestinian Canadian family of gangsters.

Barzan Tilli-Choli is an Iraqi Gangster who served as the leader of the United Nations gang in 2008–2009, Originally from Zakho, Kurdistan, Iraq.

The Wolfpack Alliance is a Canadian organized crime group. The Canadian journalist Peter Edwards and the Mexican journalist Luis Horacio Nájera wrote that the Wolfpack Alliance were "...a loosely allied and multi-ethnic group of mostly Millennial-aged gangsters who operated across the country". The police described the Wolfpack as not a single group, but rather a consortium that united several organized crime groups together.

Anton Brad Kornelius Hooites-Meursing is a Canadian former gangster who was a senior member of the Red Scorpions gang of Vancouver before turning Crown's evidence.

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC), an international outlaw biker gang, has been involved in multiple crimes, alleged crimes, and violent incidents in British Columbia since its establishment in the province in 1983.

The Surrey Six massacre was a gang-related massacre that occurred in Surrey, British Columbia on 19 October 2007.

References

  1. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2019-05-31). "Metro Vancouver gang expands to Vancouver Island". Times Colonist . Victoria . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  2. ↑ Seymour, Bailey (2024-03-26). "Notorious Lower Mainland gang infiltrating Greater Victoria schools: Police". Victoria News. Victoria . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  3. ↑ Bolan, Kim. "Surrey rapper, gang associate facing charges in Ontario". Vancouver Sun.
  4. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2022-09-13). "B.C. Brothers Keepers gangster shot dead in Ontario". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  5. ↑ Sangha, Nav (15 November 2023). "Retribution likely for killing of father and son at Edmonton gas station, expert says". CTV News Edmonton.
  6. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2024-08-18). "Surrey Brothers Keepers gangster released from U.S. prison, turned over to immigration". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  7. ↑ Bolan, Kim. "Task force targeting Brothers Keepers gang has reduced violence, police say". Vancouver Sun.
  8. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2021-06-05). "Man shot to death in south Vancouver had been sued over alleged drug money". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  9. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2019-05-31). "Metro Vancouver gang expands to Vancouver Island". Times Colonist . Victoria . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  10. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2018-01-27). "Feuding 'Brothers Keepers' escalate Metro's gang war". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  11. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2018-07-27). "Slain B.C. gangsters allegedly caught up in international murder plot". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  12. ↑ Henderson, Paul (2018-07-31). "Gangster involved in international hit found dead in B.C. blueberry field in 2016". Langley Advance Times. Langley . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  13. ↑ "Slain Canadian gangsters caught up in international drug hit". National Post . 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  14. ↑ Duhaime, Christine (2023-12-09). "New twists in the alleged Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. assisted murders in Vancouver". Duhaime's Anti-Money Laundering & Financial Crime News. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  15. ↑ Eagland, Nick (2017-12-23). "IHIT investigating death of gang-linked Gavinder Grewal in North Vancouver". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  16. ↑ Hopes, Vikki (2017-12-27). "Man killed in North Vancouver had strong links to Abbotsford gang activity". The Abbotsford News. Abbotsford . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  17. ↑ Hopes, Vikki (2018-06-06). "Surveillance footage captures suspects in Gavin Grewal murder". Surrey Now Leader. Surrey . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  18. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2020-01-25). "Violent rap lyrics escalate gang tensions". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  19. ↑ "Dedman". genius.com. Genius. 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  20. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2019-06-25). "Brothers' battle: Guilty pleas in attack after split in Brothers Keepers gang". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  21. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2018-10-19). "Abbotsford murder victim was brother of gang boss slain last December". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  22. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2021-01-09). "Richmond murder is suspected retaliation for Kang hit, sources say". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  23. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2021-04-18). "Brothers Keepers gangster killed in Coal Harbour shooting". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  24. ↑ Steacy, Lisa (2022-08-17). "Gangster's execution outside of a busy Vancouver restaurant was carefully planned: court documents". CTV News. Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  25. ↑ Hopes, Vikki (2022-06-30). "Killer gets life sentence for shooting Abbotsford man in Coal Harbour". North Delta Reporter. Delta . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  26. ↑ Mangione, Kendra (2022-07-25). "Murder charges in Whistler shooting; long-standing conflict between gangs involved, police say". CTV News. Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  27. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2021-05-14). "B.C.'s Lower Mainland gang war erupts with another public shooting". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  28. ↑ "Police renew call for info on 2021 gang killing in southwest Calgary". CTV News. Calgary. 2024-08-19. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  29. ↑ Carrigg, David; Bolan, Kim (2021-05-10). "Gang member shot dead at Vancouver airport". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  30. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2022-02-10). "Surrey gang shooting now a homicide after one victim dies in hospital". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  31. ↑ "Killer of Canadian gangster in Phuket pleads guilty". Bangkok Post. Bangkok. 2024-07-03. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  32. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2024-07-02). "Former Canadian soldier pleads guilty to murdering B.C. gangster Jimi Sandhu in Thailand". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  33. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2022-09-13). "B.C. Brothers Keepers gangster shot dead in Ontario". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  34. ↑ Proctor, Jason (2024-01-13). "Rapper handed life sentence for two B.C. murders in case featuring musical confession". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . British Columbia . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  35. ↑ Bolan, Kim. "Langley shooting: Brothers Keeper gangster shot twice, suspected gunman killed". Vancouver Sun.
  36. ↑ Bolan, Kim (2019-08-16). "Hells Angels pay respects to slain B.C. biker Suminder Grewal". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  37. ↑ Brown, Scott (2020-03-04). "Three boys, all 16, busted in Kelowna with drugs, guns and stacks of cash". Vancouver Sun . Vancouver . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  38. ↑ Why G. and Wlatt Twotimes. Wlatt Season 1 . Retrieved 2024-11-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.