Clayton Roueche

Roueche was born into an upper-middle-class family in Chilliwack.[1] His family owned a scrapyard and recycling business that made a profit of $1 million per annum.[1] Roueche grew up surrounded by Vietnamese Canadians and Laotian Canadians,[2] and he came to develop an Asian fetish as he was described as spending much of his time in Abbotsford's Vietnamtown where he loved: "...the fortunetellers he’d find there, grainy bootlegged kung-fu movies and Vietnamese girls".[2] A Korean Canadian said of him: "Clay was never white. Maybe he was born white, but his soul was never white."[2] Roueche loved karate and his childhood hero was Bruce Lee.[2] Roueche's sister, Sherry, stated: "Clay was a popular guy growing up. But he didn’t have any big plans to, like, take over the world or anything."[2]

As a high school student, Rouche frequently used drugs.[1] He was described as a rambunctious and adventuresome youth who loved camping by the Fraser River and underage drinking in local bars, which he entered with false identity cards.[2] Rouche did not wish to follow his father into the scrap business as his father recalled: "If we went out to eat after work, he’d sometimes refuse to get out of the car, because he wouldn’t go into a restaurant looking dirty".[2] Rouche graduated from high school in 1993 and worked at a variety of sales jobs.[1] He was first arrested in 1994 after he was seen visiting the home of a drug dealer, but not charged.[1] Rouche opened up a restaurant, which failed.[1] In 1997, Roueche met James Coulter, who became his best friend.[1] Rouche had connections through his Lao Canadian girlfriend with various Asian organized crime figures in Vancouver, and soon began to sell drugs to Coutler and his friends.[1] Rouche began to work for a Vietnamese organized crime figure known as Vu.[2] Roueche came to see Vu as a surrogate father, saying in 2013: "He was the type of guy who did what he said he’d do, and I respected that. He wasn’t a paper tiger."[2] Roueche saw Vu as his dai lo (Cantonese for "big brother").[2] Vu introduced Roueche to Buddhism.[2] Roueche came to be fascinated by the Japanese concept of kaizen (continual improvement), and under the influence of Buddhism believed he was a reincarnated samurai.[2] Roueche began to sell drugs for Vu, which made him a profit of about $1,000 per day.[2]

The organized crime scene in the Lower Mainland was dominated by the Hells Angels, who had a whites only admission policy.[3] Rouche and Coulter founded a multi-cultural gang in opposition to the Hells Angels.[3] The United Nations gang was founded on May 25, 1997.[2] The name United Nations was coined at a party hosted by Rouche in Richmond when somebody commented upon the racially diverse crowd by saying: "What the fuck is this, a United Nations meeting?"[2]

Rouche discovered that the Kootenays region was where most of the marijuana in British Columbia was grown and starting in 1997 began to export marijuana to the United States.[2] The B.C Bud strain of marijuana is very popular in the United States, becoming the United Nations gang's principle source of revenue.[4] Rouche made an offer to the best growers of marijuana in the Koootenays, offering to pay generously even if the crop was seized by the police or ruined by an early frost, provided the growers sold exclusive to him.[2] As Rouche sold the best strains of B.C. Bud strain of marijuana, he came to be the most successful and wealthiest marijuana dealer in British Columbia.[2] Roueche opened up grow-ops all over Abbotsford to grow marijuana.[2] Rouche stated: "The weed business touched everyone in Abbotsford. We’d get schoolteachers, old ladies, college kids. I was allergic to the shit – my face would blow up like fucking Garfield – so I couldn’t really be around it much. But I’d come around every once in a while just to check in."[2] In turn, Roueche was allegd to have used his profits to purchase cocaine from Mexico to smuggle into Canada.[5]

Rouche became the principle player in smuggling marijuana into the United States, smuggling about 20 tons of marijuana per annum, making a profit of about $120 million U.S. dollars.[2] Peter Ostrovsky of the ICE stated: "In 1997, a big B.C. Bud load was 15 pounds, then it went to a hundred pounds But once they started flying it across in helicopters, it jumped to multihundred-pound loads. They were flying million-, million-and-a-half-dollar loads. The goal became to move as much weight across the border as possible. There were other groups that did helicopters too, but nobody did it to the extent Roueche did."[2] The journalist Ian Mulgrew stated: "There’s no doubt Clay Roueche changed Vancouver. Before, it was this hippie-dippie place. But the level of violence and the way people started to look at drugs and policing changed. He ushered in a new era...Clay was a product of his time. You’ve got to understand, California growers had the same level of sophistication, but no one was doing it on the same scale as B.C. When he was coming up, the weed business was bigger than agriculture, bigger than mining. He rode the crest of that."[2] Roueche avoided the rigid hierarchy of the Mafia, instead having a more informal approach, saying "It’s not like all these people they say who were in the UN worked for me. They might have worked with me, but that’s different."[2] Rouche normally woke at about 5 pm, and spent his nights visiting various nightclubs and strip clubs all over the Lower Mainland.[2]

Rouche was the object of an assassination attempt, being shot at while eating at a restaurant.[2] Rouche believed he survived because of the Buddhist prayer beads he had with him at the time, inspiring him to convert to Buddhism.[2] Roueche crafted for himself a philosophy based upon the various Asian martial arts films he had seen. Rouche stated: "I wanted to be the biggest drug dealer in Canada. I wanted to make history."[2] On trips to Hong Kong and Vietnam, Roueche visited ancient temples and Buddlhist monasteries, looking for inspiration.[2] With his new wealth, Rouche married a Lao-Canadian woman in 2001 and purchased an expensive house.[2] Rouche opened up a new restaurant called the Millennium Cafe and purchased real estate all over the Fraser river valley.[2] Roueche stated: ""I was in this for the long haul. I didn’t want to be one of those guys who makes a bunch of money and blows through it all in a couple of years."[2] Roueche came to be a surrogate father for his gang, recalling: "I had girls I didn’t know calling me because their fucking boyfriends were abusive, all that kind of shit. I had to deal with it, and it would get under my skin. It was fucking exhausting."[2] Rouche purchased a gym, which he turned into a training for aspirating MMA fighters and frequently attended MMA fights in the Vancouver area.[2]

Roueche adopted his wife's daughter by a previous marriage and fathered two more daughters.[2] Fatherhood led Roueche to tone down his hedonist lifestyle as he spent his weekends with his family.[2] Roueche's marriage came to be a strained one as his wife flew into rages.[2] Roueche came to be involved in a feud with the Bacon brothers for the control of the drug trade.[2] Rouche had little respect for the Bacon brothers, saying: "To me they were just little errand boys."[2] Roueche was forced to tighten discipline, admitting that he ordered the beatings of errant members, through he claimed not to enjoy it.[2] In 2007, Rouche's wife filed for divorce.[2] In October 2007, Roueche was convicted of assault after he beat another man at a party.[5]

Police wiretaps of Roueche's phone calls in 2007 and 2008 showed he lived by a set of rules, saying in a phone call that UN gang members must never have sex with another gang member's wife; must never eat "dog, cat or snake,"; must never "let anyone touch your head"; and must never walk under a clothesline as he stated "All those things take away the power".[6]

In May 2008, Roueche went to Mexico to attend a wedding.[7] On May 19, 2008, Roeche landed in Mexico and was refused admission, causing him to take the next flight to Vancouver.[7] At the request of the American authorities, the flight was diverted to Dallas, where the U.S. Customs arrested Rouech upon landing.[7] Rouche was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and marihuana into the United States and was denied bail.[7] In April 2009, Roueche pledged guilty to the charges.[8] On December 15, 2009, Roueche was sentenced in Seattle to 30 years in prison.[7] Roueche is currently serving his sentence at a federal prison in Lee, Florida and is due to be released in 2039.[7]

• Langton, Jerry (2010). Showdown: How the Outlaws, Hells Angels and Cops Fought for Control of the Streets. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470678787.
• Langton, Jerry (2013). The Notorious Bacon Brothers Inside Gang Warfare on Vancouver Streets. Toronto: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9781118404577.