Greeks gang leader Peter Manolakos on Thursday received a sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years for the murder of a rival drug dealer.
Manolakos also received a sentence of 15 years in prison for the manslaughter of a former drug runner for the Vernon gang.
The sentences imposed on Manolakos by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bill Smart are to be concurrent.
The judge also imposed a 17-year jail term on gang associate Douglas Brownell, for two counts of manslaughter, but had the sentence reduced to five years after giving him credit for pre-sentence custody.
Smart declared that the Greeks were a criminal organization, an aggravating factor on sentencing, and said Manolakos ran a relatively sophisticated drug business.
"He is an intelligent man. He retained control of his gang, and expanded his drug business, through the use of violence and intimidation. He ran the business with an apparent indifference as to the consequence of the drugs he sold and the violence he incurred in the community."
The judge noted that prior to the slayings, Manolakos had served a lengthy jail term for drug trafficking.
After he got out of jail, he continued to run the dial-a-dope cocaine and heroin operation - purely for profit, he said.
In addition to the use of violence and threats of violence, Manolakos controlled the gang through the force of his personality and by the financial rewards and sense of belonging and friendship he offered to senior members of the gang.
"He also kept a lawyer on retainer to act for members of the Greeks. This not only provided an apparent benefit to members but also a means for Mr. Manolakos to better control them."
The mandatory life sentence on Manolakos was imposed in relation to the May 2005 first-degree murder of rival drug dealer Ron Thom.
The 15-year jail term for the manslaughter of former drug runner Dave Marnuik will be reduced to 19 months after pre-sentence
custody.
Smart noted that although Brownell had a lengthy criminal record, he accepted that he was sincerely remorseful, had accepted responsibility for his actions and had taken steps to rehabilitate himself.
The judge said that on almost a weekly basis the public sees and hears of the threats imposed on public safety by gang involvement in the drug trade.
"Such gangs challenge the rule of law and create fear in law abiding citizens."
Brownell received seven years in jail for the November 2004 manslaughter of Thomas Edward Bryce and 10 years in jail for the manslaughter of Thom.
Those sentences ran consecutively but after credit for pre-sentence custody - including an unusual 2 1/2-for-one credit for a year Brownell spent in isolation due to safety concerns - Brownell's sentence was knocked down to five years in jail.
The two men had little reaction to their sentences.
Thom, who was mistakenly believed to be a police informant, was lured to a location outside Vernon and shot to death. His body was left by the side of the road.
Marnuik was hunted down after he let the drug line down and disappeared with a small quantity of drugs and money.
Inside a Vernon building the gang dubbed "The Office," Marnuik was beaten and tortured to death. The gang took his body to a remote location near Enderby and set it ablaze.
Bryce was lured to a Vernon beach and beaten with a baseball bat. As the gang fled the scene, a vehicle ran over Bryce's body.
Manolakos and Brownell are the last two Greeks gang members or associates to be sentenced in what was B.C.'s longest-running jury trial.
Three other accused - Dale Gordon Sipes, Leslie Podolski and Sheldon Richard O'Donnell - were found guilty of first-degree murder and received the mandatory sentences of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Sipes has filed an appeal of his murder conviction, and in interview with The Province, Manolakos said he is doing the same.