VANCOUVER – A high-ranking member of the United Nations gang pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to murder the Bacon brothers, as well as manslaughter.
Daniel Ronald Russell appeared in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday morning for the guilty plea.
Russell, who has been in jail for four years, pleaded to charges on a new indictment sworn last month that said between January 1, 2008 and February 17, 2009 he conspired to commit the murders of Jonathan Bacon, James Bacon and Jarrod Bacon and their associates.
He also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in relation to the death of Jonathan Barber on May 9, 2008.
Russell was arrested in May 2009 with several other members of the UN gang and charged with conspiring to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates.
Then in January 2011, police announced that the original defendants, as well as two new accused – Conor D’ Monte and purported hitman Cory Vallee – were also being charged with murder for the shooting death of Barber.
Barber, a stereo installer with no gang links, was driving a Porsche Cayenne owned by Jamie Bacon along Kingsway in Burnaby when the vehicle was riddled with bullets. His 17-year old girlfriend, driving a vehicle behind him, was wounded. Barber had just picked up Bacon’s vehicle to work on it.
D’Monte and Vallee have never been captured and are believed to have fled the country.
Russell, now 32, was also charged south of the border for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. His co-accused in the Washington State case, UN gang founder Clay Roueche, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years.
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