Skip to content

UN gangster pleads guilty to conspiring to murder the Bacons

Dan Russell was among nine charged with the offence in January 2011.
58564abbotsfordDanRussell
Dan Russell

A high-ranking member of the UN Gang pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manslaughter in the death of Jonathan Barber of Langley and to conspiring to murder the Bacon brothers and their associates.

Dan Russell, 31, is slated to be sentenced Friday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

The murder-conspiracy charges relate to the period from Jan. 1, 2008 to Feb. 17, 2009, when the Bacon brothers lived in Abbotsford.

This span was marked by warnings from the Abbotsford Police Department that anyone associating with the Bacon brothers – Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie – was putting their life at risk.

On New Year's Eve 2009, Bacon associate Dennis Karbovanec survived a targeted shooting in Mission.

On Jan. 20 of that year, Jamie Bacon escaped with his life following a drive-by shooting at the busy intersection of South Fraser Way and Sumas Way in Abbotsford at about 4 p.m.

The following month, another Bacon associate, Kevin LeClair of Abbotsford, died in a hail of gunfire while in his vehicle outside an IGA store in Walnut Grove.

Ten days later, Red Scorpions Tyler Willock and Fraser Sutherland survived a targeted shooting outside the T-Barz show lounge in Surrey.

Stereo installer Jonathan Barber, 23, of Langley was an innocent victim in the gang wars in May 2008, when he was driving a Porsche Cayenne owned by the Bacons to have a stereo system equipped.

He was killed when the vehicle was sprayed with gunfire as he was driving in Burnaby. His girlfriend, who was traveling behind him, was wounded when shots were also fired at her vehicle.

Russell was among nine people charged in January 2011 with conspiring to murder the Bacon brothers.

Two of these men – Conor D'Monte, described as the leader of the UN Gang at the time, and Cory "Frankie" Vallee – were also charged with LeClair's murder, and have been at large ever since.

Seven of the nine were charged with Barber's murder and the attempted murder of his girlfriend.

The other accused are still scheduled to go on trial.

Russell also faces charges in the U.S. of conspiring to distribute and export cocaine, and conspiring to engage in money laundering.

He was charged in 2007 with several others, including former UN Gang leader Clay Roueche, who received a 30-year sentence, and Doug Vanalstine, recently sentenced to 10 years for a 2009 drug conspiracy in Abbotsford.

Russell's criminal history includes charges and/or convictions in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Maple Ridge, Mission and Vancouver.



Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
Read more