They started as a ragtag group of teenagers in Aldergrove—loud, reckless, and mostly overlooked. The RCMP dismissed them as “punks”, little more than high school troublemakers tagging buildings and getting into fights. But no one saw what was coming.
Within a decade, the 856 Gang had transformed into a multi-million-dollar criminal empire, dominating the Lower Mainland and stretching into the Northwest Territories. Their trade? Cocaine, guns, and fear.
They infiltrated BC’s underworld, first aligning with Hells Angels, then turning against them in a murder that ignited a war. They left behind a trail of bodies, violent drug disputes, and a reputation for brutality that made even veteran gangsters wary.
This is the full story—names, dates, crimes, betrayals, and the bloody power struggles that turned the 856 Gang into one of the most feared criminal organizations in Canada.
856 Gang | Details |
Founding Location | Aldergrove, BC |
Years Active | 2003-Present |
Territory | Lower Mainland, Yellowknife |
Ethnicity | White Canadian |
Criminal Activities | Arms trafficking, Drug trafficking, Extortion, Murder |
Allies | Red Scorpions |
Rivals | Hells Angels, UN (gang) |
Rise to Power: The Making of the 856 Gang
It started as nothing more than a group of misfit teenagers—kids looking for trouble, scrawling their initials into lockers, smoking behind the school, and picking fights in the back alleys of Aldergrove, British Columbia. In 2003, the 856 gang—named after the area’s telephone prefix—was little more than a high school clique known for vandalism and petty theft.
But something changed in the mid-2000s.
A shift occurred, violent and fast, turning the group into something more dangerous than local law enforcement had ever anticipated.
The Langley RCMP dismissed them early on. Just another gang of punks—kids who would eventually outgrow their antics. That was the assumption.
But in September 2007, that assumption collapsed when Len Pelletier, a Hells Angels associate, was nearly gunned down in his vehicle. Suddenly, the 856 gang was under intense police surveillance. The incident linked them to organized crime in a way that couldn't be ignored.
Inspector Richard Konarski, a veteran with the Langley RCMP, took a personal interest in dismantling the gang. He compiled profiles on eight key members, all between the ages of 15 and 18—a group of tight-knit friends and relatives who were already entrenched in criminal activity.
That same year, the RCMP made a bold move, arresting all six core members in one coordinated sweep. Some were sent to juvenile detention, while others were transferred to separate schools, cut off from their network. Their former high school principal, Charlie Fox, believed that was the end of them.
He was wrong.
By 2008, Jason Francis Wallace, one of the gang’s rising figures, had been charged with attempted murder for a stabbing at a graduation party.
The gang had resurfaced, and they weren’t just vandalizing street signs anymore—they were building something.
With the Hells Angels backing them, the 856 gang had begun trafficking drugs into Northern British Columbia, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.
It was an arrangement that suited both sides: the Hells Angels supplied the product, and the 856 gang handled distribution in remote areas that were lucrative but too far from the Angels’ primary turf.
Their operations expanded rapidly. By 2013, the RCMP had uncovered a massive drug pipeline stretching from Alberta to Yellowknife, moving millions of dollars in cocaine, firearms, and cash. Six search warrants were executed that year, leading to the arrests of multiple gang members.
But the gang’s response was calculated. In early 2014, authorities charged 12 more individuals with drug trafficking on behalf of the 856.
That same year, police seized $400,000 worth of drugs in a raid on an apartment complex at 4600-block of 236th Street in Langley. The operation revealed the gang’s true level of sophistication—not just street-level dealers, but a fully functional drug reprocessing and repackaging facility.
The 856 gang was no longer a group of teenagers. They were becoming a criminal empire.
By August 2014, Project Gloom was launched. The RCMP’s special task force had been tracking the gang’s movements and uncovered evidence that a new crew had been dispatched to replace the members who had been arrested. They weren’t just looking to maintain their operation—they were expanding.
Then, in April 2015, it happened. A drive-by shooting, an internal betrayal, and two 856 members arrested for attempting to kill one of their own.
But even that didn’t stop them.
By July 2015, the RCMP executed two more search warrants, leading to 23 additional arrests. Firearms, cocaine, MDMA, heroin, and stacks of cash were seized in Whitehorse. But just like before, for every member they arrested, another stepped up to take their place.
They were becoming a force that even the Hells Angels had to take seriously. And soon, blood would be spilled.
856 Gang vs Hells Angels
For years, the 856 gang and the Hells Angels had an unspoken understanding. The Angels let them operate in northern territories, a region the bikers had little interest in, and in return, the 856 gang stayed out of the Angels' primary turf in Metro Vancouver. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement—until it wasn’t.
The tipping point came in 2016.
At the time, Bob Green, a high-ranking Hells Angels member, was considered one of the key figures responsible for keeping the peace between the two groups. Green had been with the Angels for over 20 years, an enforcer and strategist who helped broker drug distribution deals.
His murder in October 2016, at the hands of Jason Francis Wallace, shattered that peace in an instant.
The killing took place at a party in Langley, a Hells Angels clubhouse, where Green and Wallace—both heavily intoxicated on cocaine, alcohol, and nitrous oxide—had an altercation that ended with a single gunshot. Witnesses reported that Green repeatedly taunted Wallace, telling him he couldn’t kill him, until Wallace pulled the trigger.
Wallace realized almost immediately that he had made a mistake—a mistake that could cost him his life.
Hours after shooting Hells Angel Bob Green, Jason Wallace sat alone, strung out and spiraling. The drugs, the booze, the weight of what he had done—everything crashed down at once.
He drove to the remote woods near Harrison Lake, a place he had camped before, but there was no comfort in familiar ground.
Desperate, he called his friend Justin. This time, Justin answered. But before Wallace could get a word out, another voice took over the call.
The stranger didn’t waste time. Wallace had two choices: take his own life or turn himself in to the Hells Angels, who would handle it for him.
If he refused? His family would be executed.
Wallace sat with the weight of that threat, the world closing in. But by the next morning—October 17, 2016—he made a different choice.
At 9:30 a.m., he dialed 911. His voice was raw, panicked, barely holding together. He confessed to killing Green during the 19-hour, drug-fueled party inside a makeshift gang clubhouse. And he told police his family was in danger.
His arrest may have saved his life, but the same couldn’t be said for his closest friend, Shaun Clary—the man who had brought the gun to the party.
Ten days later, Clary’s dismembered body was dumped on Robertson Crescent in Langley. A message. A warning. A promise that the killing wasn’t over.
Authorities immediately suspected the Hells Angels. Clary had been a well-connected 856 gang member, and his brutal murder sent a ripple effect through the gang’s structure. For years, the Hells Angels had tolerated them, allowed them to grow and expand—but that alliance was over.
From that moment on, the 856 gang became one of the most targeted groups in British Columbia.
The gang, already reeling from 23 major arrests in 2015, suddenly found itself at war with a much larger, more powerful organization. The balance of power had shifted—and 856 was on the losing end.
Law enforcement saw an opportunity.
With the Hells Angels hunting them down, the RCMP intensified their crackdown. Within six months, multiple 856 associates were arrested. More than 126 grams of crack cocaine, ecstasy, firearms, and cash were seized in a series of raids across Yellowknife and Whitehorse.
But the real blow came in 2017. Wallace, now facing trial, pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm. In an emotional courtroom hearing, his lawyer claimed he was wracked with guilt over Green’s death, insisting the shooting was an accident fueled by drugs and alcohol.
Despite facing a second-degree murder charge, he was sentenced to six years in prison.
For the Hells Angels, that wasn’t justice—it was an insult.
With Wallace behind bars, the Hells Angels’ vendetta against the 856 gang didn’t stop. Violence escalated. The 856 gang’s strongholds in northern British Columbia and the Yukon became battlegrounds, with police noting a spike in retaliatory attacks and disappearances.
Even with their leadership in shambles, the gang refused to die.
They adapted, shifted their operations, brought in new recruits, and continued trafficking drugs across Western Canada. But they would never again operate with the same level of impunity.
By 2018, authorities declared that the 856 gang had been “crippled”. Their network was fractured, their leadership diminished, and their alliance with the Hells Angels completely severed.
But like a snake shedding its skin, the 856 wasn’t gone—just evolving.
The Next Chapter: Rebuilding from the Ashes
By 2018, the 856 gang was in shambles.
The Hells Angels had severed all ties, turning their former allies into targets. RCMP-led crackdowns had resulted in dozens of high-profile arrests, including Jason Francis Wallace’s six-year manslaughter sentence.
Drug operations in Yellowknife, Whitehorse, and northern British Columbia were crippled by consecutive multi-million-dollar seizures.
Yet, despite the heavy losses, the gang refused to dissolve.
Instead, they adapted.
By 2019, intelligence reports indicated that new leadership had stepped in. Many of the old guard had been arrested, killed, or had gone into hiding, but the organization itself remained intact.
The next generation of 856 members wasn’t interested in rebuilding old alliances. They had a different strategy—diversification and expansion.
Shifting Territories & New Alliances
With Langley and Aldergrove under intense law enforcement scrutiny, the 856 gang began shifting its base of operations further east.
Intelligence reports linked them to drug networks in Alberta, particularly in Edmonton and Calgary, where police noted an increase in 856-affiliated dealers moving cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine.
But the biggest shift came with new alliances.
Rather than trying to rekindle ties with the Hells Angels, the 856 gang began working with independent traffickers and smaller organized crime groups.
One of the most notable connections was with the Red Scorpions, a notorious Lower Mainland gang that had been at war with the United Nations (UN) gang for years.
The Red Scorpions were weakened by internal betrayals and leadership assassinations, leaving them in need of reliable enforcers and drug runners—roles the 856 gang quickly stepped in to fill.
This new partnership allowed 856 members to operate in Metro Vancouver once again, using their experience in northern territories to push drugs through remote communities where law enforcement was stretched thin.
But expansion came at a cost.
The Rise of New Rivals: The UN Gang & Other Enemies
With their increasing footprint in Alberta and Metro Vancouver, the 856 gang found themselves clashing with another criminal powerhouse—the United Nations gang.
The UN gang, long considered one of British Columbia’s most powerful multi-ethnic organized crime groups, was known for its brutal enforcement tactics and connections to international drug cartels.
Unlike the Hells Angels, who had rules and preferred to keep alliances intact, the UN gang had no such hesitations about wiping out competition.
By late 2019, authorities linked several shootings in Surrey, Abbotsford, and Burnaby to a growing turf war between UN affiliates and 856 members.
Some 856 dealers were found executed, their bodies dumped in remote logging roads and industrial areas, a calling card of the UN gang's enforcement crews.
But 856 wasn’t backing down.
Rather than retreating, they brought in fresh recruits—young, desperate, and willing to take bigger risks for fast cash. Many of these new members were barely in their twenties, recruited from low-income neighborhoods in Langley, Surrey, and Edmonton.
RCMP surveillance caught several high-ranking 856 members training new recruits in weapons handling, drug distribution, and evasion tactics. The gang was militarizing, preparing for what was quickly becoming an all-out war.
2020-2021: The Fentanyl Expansion & Increased Police Crackdowns
By 2020, 856 had fully embraced fentanyl trafficking.
Previously, their primary focus had been cocaine and methamphetamine, but the fentanyl epidemic presented a new, highly lucrative opportunity.
Unlike cocaine, which required complicated supply chains, fentanyl could be sourced in bulk from international suppliers and then cut, pressed into fake oxycodone pills, and sold at massive profit margins.
Police investigations linked 856 operations to fentanyl labs in BC and Alberta, with Edmonton becoming a key hub for distribution.
By this point, law enforcement considered 856 one of the most dangerous mid-level crime groups in Western Canada. Between 2020 and 2021, coordinated RCMP raids in Alberta and British Columbia resulted in the seizure of:
Over $1.2 million in cash
More than 10 kilograms of fentanyl (enough for thousands of lethal doses)
Large quantities of cocaine, MDMA, and heroin
Military-grade firearms, including semi-automatic rifles and handguns with extended magazines
But despite the arrests, the gang continued to operate.
Every time a high-ranking member was taken down, another stepped in to replace them.
2022-Present: A Gang That Won’t Die
Today, the 856 gang remains active, but its future is uncertain.
From a small group of high school punks to a fully operational drug empire, they’ve rebranded, rebuilt, and retaliated time and time again.
The RCMP considers them one of British Columbia’s most persistent organized crime groups—a reminder that in the criminal underworld, power never truly disappears … it just shifts hands.
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