The Independent Soldiers were never quite what their name suggested. Originally a loose-knit gang of Indo-Canadian criminals from Vancouver, they declared their autonomy from the city’s crime overlords in the late ‘90s—only to later become foot soldiers for the Hells Angels.
From the early days as street-level dealers for the Punjabi Mafia to their infamous nightclub shootout with the Angels, the Independent Soldiers climbed the criminal ranks—before inevitably folding under the weight of a larger machine.
Today, their name still carries weight in the Canadian underworld, though largely as a vestige of what was once a gang with real aspirations of independence.
Key Takeaways
The Independent Soldiers gang originated in Vancouver in the 1990s, starting as a street-level drug operation under the Punjabi Mafia.
After the murder of Bindy Johal in 1998, the gang rebranded itself as an independent force, distancing from its previous handlers.
By the early 2000s, the Hells Angels absorbed the Independent Soldiers, reducing them to a proxy gang for their operations in British Columbia and Alberta.
The gang was deeply involved in Vancouver’s 2009 gang war, aligning with the United Nations gang against the Red Scorpions.
In 2010, IS leaders helped form the Wolfpack Alliance, a crime syndicate that continues to operate across Canada.
Recent events, including the 2024 murder of IS veteran Donnie Lyons, suggest that while diminished, the group still plays a role in Canada’s criminal underworld.
From Street Dealers to a Criminal Empire
Like many criminal organizations, the Independent Soldiers were not born into power but clawed their way up from the gutters of Vancouver’s gangland.
They began as a ragtag collection of street dealers, working at the behest of more powerful figures in the Punjabi Mafia.
By the late ‘90s, they sought independence—hence the name—and set their sights on bigger profits, bigger risks, and inevitably, bigger enemies.
The Birth of a Gang
The Sunset Boys, as they were originally known, were a loosely connected group of Indo-Canadian youth from South Vancouver, congregating at the Sunset Community Centre.
Like many such groups, their ambitions grew with their access to violence and narcotics.
Bindy Johal, the infamous Vancouver gangster, had cast a long shadow over the city’s criminal underworld. When he was shot dead in 1998, his death left a power vacuum—one that the Independent Soldiers were all too eager to fill. You can read his full story here.
But in the world of organized crime, “independence” is a fleeting illusion. By the early 2000s, the gang was thriving—but not truly on its own.
Expansion & The Hells Angels Takeover
The Loft Six nightclub shootout in 2003 was a turning point. What began as a petty bar brawl ended with bullets flying and multiple dead. Among them was Mahmoud Alkhalil, a rising figure in the gang, and John "JJ" Johnson, an affiliate of the Hells Angels.
This was not a fight the IS could win alone—and they soon found themselves under the thumb of the very organization they had tried to defy.
The Hells Angels saw an opportunity. The Independent Soldiers had manpower, they had distribution networks, and—perhaps most importantly—they had a willingness to do the dirty work.
What they lacked was real muscle. The Angels offered protection, a bigger slice of the criminal economy, and a position as a puppet gang for their operations in British Columbia and Alberta.
By 2005, the Independent Soldiers were no longer truly independent.
The Rise & Fall of Randy Naicker: The Beginning of the End for the Independent Soldiers
If there was ever a moment when the Independent Soldiers (IS) truly had a chance to become more than a mid-tier gang, it was under Randy Naicker’s leadership.
A former street-level dealer turned kingpin, Naicker founded the IS in the early 2000s and led the group as it transitioned from a loosely affiliated crew to a structured criminal organization.
The Ambition of a Dead Man Walking
Naicker’s ambitions were clear and dangerous—he wanted to expand IS influence beyond Vancouver and form alliances with larger organizations.
In December 2006, he met with key figures in the Red Scorpions, including Jamie Bacon, Dennis Karbovanec, and Jeff Harvey, attempting to position the IS as a player in the city’s gang hierarchy.
This meeting, held at Castle Fun Park in Abbotsford, was later identified by law enforcement as a critical moment in the IS’s integration into the Wolfpack Alliance.
A Kidnapping That Exposed Naicker’s Flaws
Like many ambitious gang leaders, Naicker wasn’t just expanding operations—he was eliminating obstacles. One of those obstacles was Harpreet Singh.
Harpreet "Happy" Singh was not a member of any gang; rather, he was an associate involved in drug-related activities. In January 2005, he was kidnapped and assaulted by members of the Independent Soldiers gang, including Randy Naicker and Harpreet Narwal, after 136 kilograms of marijuana went missing.
The backfired spectacularly when Singh reported the crime to authorities.
Naicker was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for kidnapping and extortion.
His absence created a leadership vacuum in the IS, forcing them to rely on external alliances.
By the time he was released, the gangland landscape had changed—and Naicker was no longer the untouchable figure he once was.
Even behind bars, his reputation made him a marked man. His aggressive tactics had earned him enemies beyond just law enforcement—rivals and even former allies saw him as a liability.
The Daylight Execution: Naicker’s Death Shattered the Independent Soldiers
On June 25, 2012, in broad daylight, 34 year old Randy Naicker was gunned down on a busy street in Port Moody near St. John's and Queens Street, close to a Starbucks and a thrift store.
The masked shooter fired multiple rounds, shattering the window of Naicker’s Infiniti SUV.
Witnesses described chaos as bullets tore through the air—it was a public execution designed to send a message.
Vancouver Police later confirmed it was a targeted gang hit, though no suspect was immediately identified.
His murder was the final nail in the coffin for any notion of IS independence.
With no strong leadership, the IS was fully absorbed into the Wolfpack Alliance.
Hells Angels handlers took direct control over the remnants of the gang.
The IS lost its identity, transforming from a mid-level force into a group of disposable foot soldiers.
Rival gangs, including the Dhak-Duhre group and the Brothers Keepers, began picking off IS members one by one.
Drugs, Murders, and the Wolfpack Alliance
By the late 2000s, the Vancouver gang war was in full swing. The Independent Soldiers, the Red Scorpions, and the Hells Angels consolidated their power under a new banner—the Wolfpack Alliance.
It was a strategic move: rather than fighting for scraps, these groups aimed to dominate the Lower Mainland’s drug trade together.
For a while, it worked. Cocaine flooded the streets, violent enforcement kept rivals in check, and the alliance gave the IS more protection and resources than ever before. But such arrangements never last.
The Wolfpack's Fall & the Fate of the Independent Soldiers
There is a particular inevitability to organized crime: alliances are fragile, betrayals are inevitable, and everyone eventually meets the wrong end of a gun.
The Independent Soldiers, once a burgeoning force in Vancouver’s criminal ecosystem, spent the last two decades serving, rather than leading. Their merger into the Wolfpack Alliance seemed, at first, to offer strength in numbers. In reality, it only delayed the inevitable.
The Kelowna shooting in 2011, which killed Red Scorpions leader Jonathan Bacon and left Hells Angels enforcer Larry Amero wounded, was the beginning of the end.
The Wolfpack's enemies—most notably the Dhak-Duhre gang—smelled blood in the water.
Amero, a central figure in the Hells Angels-Wolfpack connection, was sentenced in 2022 to 18 years for conspiracy to murder rivals Sandip Duhre and Sukh Dhak.
His arrest severed a critical link between the IS and their benefactors in the Angels. Without protection, many former Independent Soldiers were left vulnerable, forced to either align with new factions or disappear entirely.
And then, of course, there was Don Lyons.
The Execution of Don Lyons: A Message to the IS
Donald Bryce "Donnie" Lyons had spent a lifetime in crime, but he clearly overstayed his welcome.
The 51-year-old gangster, one of the original members of the Independent Soldiers, was found murdered on a property near Princeton, BC, in June 2024.
Before his violent demise, he had been key figure in the Independent Soldiers (IS) since its inception.
In the early 2000s, when the IS transitioned from a loose street gang into a structured criminal enterprise, Lyons was among its most influential members. His connections ran deep—he worked closely with the Hells Angels and was a known associate of Wolfpack figureheads Larry Amero and Sukh Deo.
Lyons was no stranger to law enforcement. In 2007, he was arrested as part of ‘Project Drill,’ a large-scale investigation into organized crime that linked him to high-level cocaine trafficking. Convicted in 2009, he served time in prison, but his release saw him return to the same world of violence and betrayal that had defined his life.
Lyons had spent a lifetime in crime, but he clearly overstayed his welcome. The 51-year-old gangster, one of the original members of the Independent Soldiers, was found murdered on a property near Princeton, BC, in June 2024.
To those still clinging to the Independent Soldiers' name, his death was a clear warning:
He was tied to the crumbling Wolfpack Alliance, which made him a liability.
He was close to Amero, a man now rotting in prison.
He had survived too many betrayals, a dangerous trait in the criminal world.
His violent history made him impossible to trust, even among his own.
The gang isn't what it once was, and those who refuse to adapt or disappear will be buried instead.
The Independent Soldiers Today: A Gang Without Direction
The Independent Soldiers exist today in name only. Their leadership is gone, their alliances are shattered, and their most notorious members are either dead, imprisoned, or lying low.
Some IS members have joined surviving Hells Angels chapters, still serving as low-level enforcers.
Others have disappeared into the shadows, avoiding the fate of Lyons, Bacon, and Dhak.
The few who remain independent? They’re on borrowed time.
Unlike their early days, when they were feared as a rising force in the Vancouver underworld, the Independent Soldiers are no longer making history.
They’re merely another name in the long, bloody list of gangs that once mattered—until they didn’t.
💡 If you have any tips about Vancouver gangs, or Vancouver crimes, contact me or leave a comment.
Stay safe!
Related reading:
Comments