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WHAT IS THE WARRIOR INVOLVEMENT IN WEAPONS SMUGGLING? In 1980, Bill Sears (Mohawk) was a vigilante against the Mohawk Raquette Point encampment. The Chiefs and Clan Mothers had rallied to protect Loran Thompson from arrest. Sears was against the traditionalists. He stated on tape that it is dangerous to teach "the religion, the political stuff" of Mohawk culture to the young. He rode around the rez with Major Schneeman, head of the New York State Police in support of the elective system over the traditionalists. Ten years later, Sears became a casino operator at Akwesasne and was said to be helping to arm the warriors in order to protect his operation. He and Loran Thompson became "partners" in these ventures to illustrate how much influence the gaming money in making people from all camps change their beliefs. Guns have been an essential part in the growth of gaming among the Haudenosaunee. Most of the time the warriors have pointed those guns at their own people. Just where did those guns come from? Wayne Reed is an Abenaki Indian who says that he met with Mohawks at Ganienkeh to arrange the deal to sell guns to the Mohawks warriors. Reed is now a convicted dealer in illegal weapons in Vermont who claims that he has personally sold about 900 weapons to Mohawks who then smuggle the guns across the border from New York to Quebec. The routes used by the cigarette and liquor smugglers serve the weapons smugglers as well. He claims that two Mohawks from Kahnawake approached him in 1991 to buy guns that they could smuggle into Canada. Guns traced back to Reed have been found with drug dealers, robbers and street thugs from Toronto to Vancouver. The warriors smuggled guns have been used in five murders, eleven robberies, two assaults, nine attempted murders, twelve narcotics violations, two suicides and two death threats. Another 41 of his guns have been seized by police searches. Reed told a reporter that Mohawks fill out fake U.S. Federal firearms transaction forms, purchase the guns, bribe border custom agents and carry the guns from the U.S side of Akwesasne to the Quebec side. Reed cooperated with the ATF on their investigation. A 1994 Bureau of AFT reports from Burlington, VT show that 67 weapons from Reed ended up in crimes in Canada: One 9mm pistol he sold to James Eugene "Gar" Cross in 1992 surfaced as the weapon used to kill four in Broussard, Quebec. Cross purchased more than 300 guns from Reed according to ATF agents. An undercover informant purchased five pistols from Arthur Montour, Jr. of Akwesasne. James Eugene Cross testified that Montour was sent to Reed to pick up guns that James Cross had purchased. Another 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol sold to Kevin Onerahtase Phillips of Kahnawake in 1992 was used by a Montreal gang in a Vancouver jewelry store heist in 1993. The pistol had armor-piercing ammunition. Two suspects fired shots during a robbery of an armored car. One was wounded and one had previously been arrested for smuggling cigarettes near Kahnawake. Miguel Gomez, arrested in Montreal with 14 firearms and $300,000 worth of cocaine and hash oil told police that three of his guns were obtained from Indians at Kahnawake. Weapons from another dealer named McGarghan were also predominate in the crimes in Ontario in the same report. In March 1993, Kevin Onerahtase Phillips, Tyler Hemlock, Veronica Hemlock and her husband James "Gar" Cross were arrested for illegal weapons buying. They were arrested and convicted in Vermont. At least 115 of those guns came from Reed. The Hemlocks and Cross lived at Ganienkeh. Reed sold a .50 calibre sniper rifle to Cross. Fake names were used for the federal gun purchase forms. 102 of the 400 weapons sold to them have been recovered from crime scenes in Canada. These guns contributed to five murders, 12 armed robberies, and one suicide. Tyler Hemlock (Karoniaktatie) had purchased more than 75 hand guns from Reed.Police wiretaps of Tyler Hemlock and Onerahtase Phillips showed that many of the guns were going to Oneida Reserve near Southwold, The Oneidas in Wisconsin and the Six Nations Reserve. Phillips had been previously charged with obstruction of justice following the downing of the National Guard Helicopter over Ganienkeh in 1990. He had pulled a shot gun on police as they unsuccessfully tried to arrest him. Hemlock had also been arrested for the Helicopter shooting, but was found not guilty. Akwesasne Mohawks Clyde and Kenneth Cree, Jason Ingle, and Allen Peters purchased more than 200 Cobray Mach II automatic weapons. In March 1994, Clyde Cree and Jason Ingle were arrested for trying to sell 25 automatic weapons to undercover agents at Akwesasne. They were known smugglers and also sold cocaine to the undercover agents. Kenneth Cree, Clyde's 17 year-old brother, was also charged with selling firearms. Gun dealer Randy Carney, who sold some 250 to 300 guns to Kenny Lazore without reporting the transactions to the proper authorities, was imprisoned. Many of the guns altered by Lazore were sold to Hell's Angles in Montreal. Lazore has since confessed that he converted their weapons to make them fully automatic. He served 36 months in prison for gun running convictions. Four members of Lazore's extended family were killed in a series of package bombs in 1993. It is unknown to what extent these killing were related to the fact that Lazore refused to continue to be involved in the illegal gun smuggling and re-tooling. On June 13, 1997, seven people, some known warriors, were arrested for possessing illegal weapons, after raids at Oneida First Nations territory uncovered the weapons which included hand grenades. Arrested and charged with conspiracy to traffic in illegal firearms were: Natalino Rattazzi, 36 |