Red Scorpions

Red Scorpions
FoundedEarly 2000s
Founders
  • Quang Vinh Thang (Michael) Le
  • Konaam Shirzad
  • Tejinder Singh Malli[1]
  • Matthew Johnston
  • One other un-named young offenders
Founding locationVancouver, British Columbia
Years active2000s – present
TerritoryLower Mainland
EthnicityVarious
ActivitiesArms trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal immigration, money laundering, murder, kidnapping
Allies
Rivals

The Red Scorpions is a gang based in British Columbia, Canada. It was formed in 2003 by Quang Vinh Thang Le (known as Michael Le), Tejinder Malli,[2] 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.[3] Le said Jamie Bacon and his brothers were not founders but joined the gang a few years later.

Red Scorpions have been running "dial-a-dope lines" – (drug trafficking operations) in the suburbs of Vancouver since 2005 . Gang members can be identified by "RS" tattoos on their arms and necks; any forms of skull tattoos usually indicates a member who has carried out a murder for the gang. The Red Scorpions come from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, as they consider race secondary to loyalty and respect.[4][5]

The Red Scorpions have been involved in an increasing number of well-publicized incidents of gang violence in the Vancouver area, in part due to their bitter rivalry with the United Nations gang. The Red Scorpions-United Nations relationship worsened after the infamous Bacon brothers left the UN to join forces with the Red Scorpions.[6]

  1. ^ "Vancouver police think Malli killers were laying in wait". vancouversun.
  2. ^ "Vancouver police think Malli killers were laying in wait". vancouversun.
  3. ^ Kim Bolan (September 22, 2017). "Red Scorpion founder killed in Kamloops". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  4. ^ Bolan, Kim (May 30, 2008). "Who are The Red Scorpions?". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on March 12, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  5. ^ "Violent Red Scorpion gang busted in Victoria". CBC News. August 19, 2008. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  6. ^ "Alleged gangster pleads guilty in Surrey high-rise slayings". CBC News. April 3, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2009.