Le says Johnston and Haevischer confessed their roles in Surrey Six

Le says Johnston and Haevischer confessed their roles in Surrey Six

April 8, 2014. 4:45 pm • Section: The Real Scoop

Accused Surrey Six killer Matt Johnston told his gang leader on the day of the Surrey Six murders that so many people died because “they saw our faces. We had no choice,” B.C. Supreme Court heard Tuesday.
Red Scorpion founder Michael Le testified that he got an urgent call from Johnston right after the Oct. 19, 2007 murders at Surrey’s Balmoral Tower.
They agreed to meet at a shopping plaza on the New Westminster – Burnaby border, Le told Justice Catherine Wedge.
He said the first thing Johnston did was apologize for killing Eddie Narong, a friend of Le’s who got caught in the slaughter.
“I asked him well `what the f-k happened?’ and he explained to me the story about the murder,” Le told a packed courtroom.
Johnston focused on what happened with Narong, who arrived at the penthouse suite of victim Corey Lal after the killers were already there, Le said.
“Eddie opened the door later. He saw what happened inside. He started running. Matt said he chased Eddie down and brought Eddie back to the apartment,” Le said. 
Le, a key Crown witness at the trial of Johnston and co-accused Cody Haevischer, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in the plot to kill Lal, a rival trafficker.
The trial has heard how the plot against one spun out of control, ending with the deaths of Lal, his brother Michael, Narong, Ryan Bartolomeo and bystanders Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg.
Le testified that Johnston told him how Haevischer and a Scorpion identified only as Person X were the shooters.
“He didn’t tell me who shot who,” Le said. “I told him that `you’re a f–king idiot. Why you guys killed so many people?’ And his exact words to me were: `Mike – they saw our faces. We had no choice.’”
Le said he got a call from X the same day and they met at X’s Coquitlam apartment some time after 9 p.m. 
“He was pretty shocked. He had a shocked look on his face. He was pretty distressed about what happened,” Le said of X, who earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Le also said Haevischer admitted his role in the murders a few days later when they met at the Richmond apartment of another Red Scorpion member.
Haevischer wrote on an eraser board that “sh-t got really f–ked up…six people got killed,” Le testified.
He said Haevischer admitted he shot three and X shot the other three. 
Earlier Tuesday, Le said he met Corey Lal about two months before murders in an attempt to resolve a conflict Lal had with Jamie Bacon, then a newly minted Red Scorpion boss.
Le testified that Lal contacted him on his blackberry to ask for the meeting, which only last about 15 minutes at a Starbucks in the Lougheed Mall.
Le said he had never before met Lal, but knew he ran dial-a-dope lines with Narong, who Le had known since middle school.
“I told him just basically don’t talk shit about Jamie and his guys no more and I’ll talk to Jamie for you and try to resolve the problem,” Le said.
He said he told Bacon about the meeting with Lal within a day or two.
“He was kind of upset that I met Corey without him being present,” Le said. “Jamie said to be basically that kid’s a little zeek, he’s a little bitch. I’m going to jack him…He shouldn’t be working in our town. We run this town.”
Le’s testimony began under tight security at the Vancouver Law Courts. Plainclothes police officers and extra sheriffs patrolled the lobby outside courtroom 20.
Le admitted under questioning that he is a Triad member. He also said his friend Sophon Sek, charged with manslaughter in the Surrey Six case, was also in a Triad.
Sek’s alleged to have helped the killers get access to the Balmoral Tower by setting up a heroin delivery to Lal, who was a regular customer.
Crown Geoff Baragar questioned Le about his family history. Now 29, he was born in Vietnam and came to Vancouver with his family at age nine. 
He met Narong in middle school and both would later be convicted for their roles in the beating death of a teen outside a karaoke club in Coquitlam.
While serving a youth sentence, Le met Konaam Shirzad and others who he would form the Red Scorpion gang with.
“ I had an older brother who was killed and his nickname used to be called Scorpion,” Le testified of the gang’s name.
They used the word Red to symbolize “blood.”
Gang members got tattoos, Le said.
When a new member joined, they would have a ceremony.
“We would cut our hand and put our blood together and we would burn incense to the God of Guan,” Le said, explaining that Guan is the God of gangsters.
Le began dial-a-dope lines in Surrey and New Westminster when he was just 18, buying cocaine wholesale from the Triads, he said.
Just the New Westminster drug line was earning between $125,000 and $150,000 a month, Le testified.
During a stint in jail for trafficking, Le met Bacon, who is also charged in the Surrey Six case, but being tried separately at a later date.
They agreed to do business together and Bacon’s crew joined Le’s Red Scorpions in the summer of 2007, Le said.
The gang started to disintegrate after the Surrey Six murders, he testified, because “more police attention and a lot of heat started coming around the whole group.” 
Le is expected to finish his direct examination Wednesday and will begin cross-examination next Monday.
The trial continues.