Sanctuary Denied Life in Canada was good. Even better，it was safe – no more threatening phone calls, no pressures and best of all, Lynda was comfortable and stress-free living close to her family. Her mom and dad had just retired from 15 years of operating a convenience store in Toronto and her sister was a well known piano prodigy in Toronto’s Asian community. They lived in a modest apartment in the heart of Mississauga, once the largest suburb in Canada, an 18 minute drive to downtown Toronto. Our son Vince was the pride and joy of our family and life centered around him. Watching a baby grow up is pure entertainment and we were relishing every moment of it. Thankfully Vince made us all forget the terror and anxiety we were all subjected to back in America. It was even easy to forget about the horrible fate of Al Chalem. Indeed the birth of my first son was a turning point in my life and I decided within myself to bury the contempt and bitterness I felt for my corrupt government. Lynda convinced me to abandon this book project and to focus on the future - the past. And right now our family had a personal crisis developing… My elderly mother-in-law was experiencing some serious 591
didn’t help, we knew we had a serious problem. She had been complaining about this growing pain for six weeks in Ohio and it was also a key reason Lynda wanted to get back to Canada with mom, where doctors and hospitals were free of charge thanks to their great social programs. Overall I would live 8 years in Canada and eventually had to conclude it is the best country on Earth to raise a family. Granted the pace my be slower than America or Germany, but it is safe and very clean country with minimal crime (compared to America) and an environment the people really try hard to protect. Canadians themselves are friendly folks with big hearts and high ethical standards, except for a handful or greedy politicians who make headlines from time to time. Their hockey craze is well-justified in my opinion and their beers are some of the best in the world. Most of I think their political and government structure is one that should serve as model for the world. Voters can vote out any scoundrel at any time Parliament convenes for a “no confidence” vote instead of having to wait four years for a new election or starting an impeachment process that will cost over a hundred million in tax dollars and consume 1-2 years. But best of all, I truly appreciate Canada’s non-invasive and respectful foreign policies. They seldom if ever invade foreign countries unless part of a NATO or UN coalition. I truly admired Prime Minister Jean Chretien when he said “No Thank You” to W’s demand for Canadian troops to invade Iraq. The social programs of Canada are the best in the world and even their jails and prisons are the most humane and dignified. Canada is a young country but for the most part, they do things right and proper with the least deceptions (varies according to the leadership however). I only had one gripe with Canada, and that was how their Ministry of Justice is often told what to do by the U.S. government, and the complicity of covering up massive drug smuggling operations that involved corrupt rogue agents of both the FBI & RCMP (FBI Agent Terry Nelson & RCMP Colonel Pierre Jeanette) 592
wanted for questioning in a stock fraud case. In reality, I was wanted to be a potential witness against two friends of mine including my son’s godfather Charles Arnold and one of my newest associates Michael Vax and his brother Boris. I had actually been told so by FBI agent Greg Coleman when I had called my ex wife Maggie before I had left to visit my own mom who was in the ICU unit of Parma General Hospital. In fact, when I called Maggie, it was Greg Coleman who snatched the phone out her hands and said “Listen Bruce, we need to talk and you only have two choices. You can talk with me as a witness, or as a defendant, what’s it going to be?” I just wanted to talk with Maggie to make sure she got the $25,000 I sent her. I would be going to Ohio to take care of my mom and I needed to know that she had enough money to take care of our daughter Nicky for the next 6 -12 months. With an FBI agent sitting in her living room I did not have to explain to her that I had a legal issue on my hands as well a very ill mother. Maggie knew me well and knew my mom would take priority over a bully FBI agent. We later decided that Nicki who was 10 at the time would join me on the trip to see my mom as it would really boost her spirits. It did. (You can read the sworn affidavit Maggie provided me as attached exhibit W and take note that it was completely ignored, along with 11 other statements by Canadian authorities in the months that would follow) I had managed to come to Canada with about $150,000 cash that I was paid for a commission on a private yacht sale I had brokered in Miami for a wealthy Venezuelan. It would be enough to start a new life in Canada and with my mom gone and Globus Group operations suspended, I had no reason to go back South any time soon. Since mortgages were being given out like candy in those days, we decided to look for our first home since we had been staying in a serviced apartment since we arrived. In less than a month Lynda and I looked at a dozen different homes before one caught her eye and escaped my own. Strangely it was being sold by the Crown Attorney’s office of the 593
the home looked rather plain and nothing special but the land it was sitting on caught my attention since it was a huge and heavily wooded lot. But once we entered the home, we knew someone very wealthy with dogs (the home smelled like a kennel!) lived there before. The home had 5 fireplaces and the three bathrooms were all custom designed with Italian marble and there was over 1,000 square feet of mirrors everywhere in the house. The three bedrooms would allow the entire family to move in. We loved it and wanted it. The house was appraised at over $500,000 for mortgage purposes but we put in a bid of $400,015, just in case another party bid $400,000 (Lynda’s idea). We then learned that the house belonged to some co n artist that had been peddling low-quality diamonds and had been snagged by the cops. The home was confiscated during the legal proceedings that followed, and to make a long story short, it became ours in less than a month of placing the bid. We moved in and scrubbed, steamed, and cleaned for two weeks and I planted some Japanese Cherry Blossom and fruit trees in the back yard after my father-in-law and I cleared over 300 square meters of scrub. We loved our new home, and raising Vince in our new home gave us a sense of progress. It was the new life my wife and I both wanted so badly. She too had suffering in her life to overcome including an 8 year engagement with the famous Chinese singer/actor Andy Lau. In fact she had been only months away from marrying him when we met in Hong Kong on January 19, 1998, the luckiest day of my life. (See Chapter 32) I now needed a new job or at least a new source of income. I decided to look up some old friends from Canada that I had met when I worked at American Financial Group – the Sanchez family. Although Ed Chism Jr. was convinced their wealth must surely be drug related, I had learned otherwise. I went to the address on their old business card at 365 Evans Avenue and found their office 594
AFC. I made a surprise visited and received a warm welcome by Juan Pablo Sanchez, his wife Conchita, and their two sons John and Javier. Their daughter did not work for their family business which was factoring. Juan Pablo was especially appreciative of my visit since it was I who secretly called him and stopped him from making their first initial $7 million investment with AFG. The total investment would have been $20 million. I made this warning call less than a month before I resigned from AFG and about two months before I contacted the FBI and debriefed SA Maury Berthon. Of course, until now, Chism never really understood why the Sanchez deal went South. I explained my situation to Juan Pablo and we had agreed to have a dinner to meet my wife and new son. Afterwards he offered me and my wife a marketing contract to help him expand his business. I had no other prospects and aside from brokering some databases on the side I had no other income that Uncle Sam wasn’t grabbing. I took the job. About this time we received the bad news. After weeks of testing at Trillium Hospital and after consulting the neurological and oncologist experts, we learned that “Mommy” had a brain tumor growing in her head and the growth of that tumor what was causing her migraine. It was growing slow but sure and would have to come out. But the placement of the tumor was on top of a very key nerve that affected all motor nerves in the human body. The operation would be extremely delicate and if not done exactly right could result in total paralysis. Of course Mommy did not want the surgery and it would take two weeks to convince her she really did not have a choice. In the spring of 2000 just as my new Cherry Blossom trees began to bloom, I got a call from my best friend Mike Tober back in Ohio. He had been diligently baby-sitting our house for us. “We have a problem Brucie” (He kept using my 595
gave up scolding him and just accepted his bad habit that he used for all of our childhood friends. He then went on to explain that there were some heavy rains recently and he discovered a leak in our roof that had penetrated the house and destroyed some ceiling panels and that the dehumidifier in the basement had stopped working and he was sure mold would result. We agreed that I would drive down and help him fix the damage which he said he did not know who to do himself and when he called a roofing expert, he refused to believe the $5,000 quote. So I took off for a weekend and drove with my wife and father-in-law in his Toyota down to Ohio. I was still in a bonding process with him and we were starting to really appreciate each other’s company. Plus he was a pretty handy guy like myself who could fix just about anything. But he also enjoyed traveling so we decided to make the trip together. This trip would prove to be very crucial later in a twisted legal proceeding. We arrived at our Parma home and I was amazed that Mickey (Mike Tober) had kept the yard neat and trimmed. We had left 5 electrical timers in the house so lights and a TV would randomly turn on and off at night to discourage burglars from the city that were prowling the suburbs at night and especially in the summer when people usually took vacations. Mickey showed us the leak and it looked worse than it was. About 5 ceiling panels absorbed most of the water and then grew heavy from the extra weight of the water and collapsed. Upon examining the dehumidifier in the basement we realized that the water tray merely reached it’s maximum capacity of 1 gallon and the auto switch kicked in and turn the unit off. We only had to empty the tray and the machine started right back up. It amazed me that this one “Oasis” brand dehumidifier had been working in our basement for over 30 years of my life and never once malfunctioned. If that company is still in business, let this be a testimonial for them! The next day, I made a trip to Parma Hardware on Pearl Road and bought a 5 gallon bucket of roofing tar for $120. My father-in-law and I agreed 596
last another 3-5 years before we’d replace all the roofing shingles. Of course there’d be a big black spot on our roof. So we climbed up on the roof and made the repair in less than an hour and saved ourselves $4,500. We then inspected the house for any other maintenance issues and when we found none invited Mickey to go have dinner at his favorite restaurant. Mickey never charged us a dime for looking after the house although I would send him $200 a month for his trouble. Mike unexpectedly died 3 years ago from Cancer and I could never possibly have a better friend in my life than him. When FBI agents tried to intimidate one time suggesting I was an “armed and dangerous wanted gangster”. He replied to them (according to his brother) “Either your lying or you looking for the wrong guy here.” Mickey was neither stupid, naïve, nor as gullible as many of my other neighbors demonstrated to be. My father-in-law and I returned home but not after he insisted on stopping at a bar. He always wanted to drink a “Shlitz” beer in America. Don’t ask me, I don’t know, but I made his wish come true. “Well, how do you like it?” “Not bad but I still prefer Molson” he replied. Also during this time, Lynda received an offer through her old entertainment contracts to be a TV host with Rogers Cable TV. It was a part time gig that only required her to tape program intros for 6 hours every Saturday. It would be a fun distraction for her and some extra cash for our family so she accepted. Her exposure on that cable channel would also give her some Canadian exposure and later we would decide to film a pilot for her own weekly entertainment show “Manzei!” (“Hurray” in Korean). Although I decided not to finish writing this book, I did promise myself to file a report with Amnesty International about the human rights violations and murder of Ralph Steele and negligent manslaughter of Udhisti Diciarian at MCC Miami. My summary report was hand delivered to a lady named 597
marked for Nancy Cameron and her director in Ottawa. The complaint was dated June 20th, 2000. But only 2 or 3 days later, in June of 2,000 our happiness and peaceful life was rudely interrupted. Lynda had just dressed up in costume to go do an audition for yet another show they wanted her for while I was working in my little bedroom office on the backside of the house. From that desk I could only look out the window and see our wooded lot and our two Mastiff puppies playing in the back yard and Grandma working in her beloved garden. Our telephone rang but before I could answer it the answering machine did and there was no message. I assumed it must have been a telemarketing call. Then about 15 minutes, I got a call on my cell phone from Lynda. How strange I thought she did not even say good bye before she left. But I knew instantly when I heard her voice that something was terribly wrong “You need to come to the front door and don’t freak out”. When I rushed to the front door, I saw my wife standing on our lawn and no less than 20 men in police uniforms and swat gear all pointing guns at me with a police helicopter hovering at about 3,000 feet. One of the plain clothes coppers hollered over to another police officer “Nobody touch him or talk to him, this has to be an immigration arrest”. Although I was shocked at the scene I immediately knew this was something orchestrated by the U.S. government. The only man not pointing a gun at me told me to step outside with my hands behind my back and walk backwards five steps. Of course I asked for an explanation as did my wife. Constable Robert Bonnefant of the Toronto Police department ignored me but told my wife “Shut up cunt or we’ll arrest you too”. Finally the immigration guy (I forget his name at this time) says “You are being detained for immigration violations and investigation” What the hell was this guy talking about? I had always 598
more than the six months allowed by law. My wife and son are both Canadian citizens, and I was not an employee working in Canada without a work permit. For sure this was ruse and I had no choice but to submit now that I was in handcuffs as all my neighbors surely must have thought a serial killer was just arrested. Later I would learn they were all told something very similar after they saw 7 police squad cars on our small street that only had seven single family homes on it. Not one of them were told I was being detained for “immigration violations and investigation.” I now instantly realized the U.S. government had orchestrated this show and in time I would learn they even tried to deceive the Canadian Ministry of Justice. Now the legal games would begin. It would truly be a legal chess match, but one played not in a court of law but in private hearing rooms with “Immigration Adjudicators” (the decision making judge and jury in Canadian immigration hearings). Thankfully, my loyal and now angry wife was no longer intimidated by police 599
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