'Wolfpack' gang moves into Kamloops

RCMP are worried about increased gang activity in Kamloops as a group calling itself "the Wolfpack" moves in to take control of the city's drug trade.

Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of the RCMP's Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said the group is a coalition of existing gangs that includes members of the Hell's Angels, the Red Scorpions and the Independent Soldiers.

Houghton said rates of gang violence in Kamloops have dropped dramatically since 2009, when the city last saw a rash of gang activity, but said that violence is possible when gangs move into new territory.

"[Gangs like the Wolfpack] look at where they can potentially exert their influence and take control over the street-level drug trade," Houghton told Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce.

"That oftentimes comes with violence and conflict between groups who may already be established, or who may be looking to also exert control or influence at the same time."

Old alliances, old rivalries

Houghton said the Wolfpack has roots inKamloops as far back as 2011, around the time high-ranking Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon was killedin Kelownain a shooting that also involved the Hell's Angels and the Independent Soldiers.

He said those allegiances have continued until today and the grudges, too.

"We still see some of those old beefs, those old conflicts, working and playing themselves out in our communities," he said.

Houghton encouraged anyone with information that could help the RCMP make arrests to contact Crime Stoppers.

With files from CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.