Clayton Roueche

Clayton "Clay" Franklin Roueche (born May 31, 1975) is a Canadian gangster best known for founding the United Nations gang of Vancouver.

Early life Roueche was born into an upper-middle-class family in Chilliwack. His family owned a scrapyard and recycling business that made a profit of $1 million per annum. Roueche grew up surrounded by Vietnamese Canadians and Laotian Canadians. He came to develop an Asian fetish as he was described as spending much of his time in Abbotsford's Vietnamtown where he loved: "...the fortunetellers he'd find there, grainy bootlegged kung-fu movies and Vietnamese girls". A Lebanese UN gang member, Ahmed "Lou" Kaawach, whom Roueche described as "wannabe ladies man" and a terrible rapper, was deported back to Lebanon, where Roueche visited him several times. As Kaawach could not return to Canada, Roueche send him to live in Guadalajara, where he served as his liaison with the Sinaloa Cartel, working out deals to exchange the prized B.C. Bud for cocaine. Kaawach was murdered in Guadalajara alongside another UN gang member, the Guatemalan-born Elliot "Taco" Castañeda on 12 July 2008.

Roueche became the principal player in smuggling marijuana into the United States, smuggling about 20 tons of marijuana per annum usually by helicopter, making a profit of about $120 million U.S. dollars. Detective Andrew Wooding of the Abbotsford police stated: "It became clear from our surveillance that these guys were actually working with Roueche and taking direction from Roueche. At the time, we believed the FK were adopted by the UN and they were benefiting by getting better access to cocaine through the UN supply lines and the UN were bringing that sort of oversight and organization and the threat of a larger group that are looking after you." The police in the United States started an investigation of Roueche code-named Project Frozen Timber. Police wire-tapes showed that Roueche was notably unwilling to travel to the United States as he stated in a wire-tapped phone call to a friend, Pam Lee, that: "I'll never come back. I wouldn't even get down there; they'd throw me in jail". Roueche's passport showed that he frequently visited Vietnam, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Lebanon, Thailand, Macao and Hong Kong, but most notably he never visited the United States.

Arrest and conviction In May 2008, Roueche went to Mexico to attend a wedding. On May 19, 2008, Roeche landed in Mexico and was refused admission, causing him to take the next flight to Vancouver. At the request of the American authorities, the flight was diverted to Dallas, where the U.S. Customs arrested Roueche upon landing. Roueche was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and marijuana into the United States and was denied bail. After his arrest, Roueche was replaced as UN gang leader by an Iraqi immigrant, Barzan Tilli-Choli. The RCMP performed a search of Roueche's house and found what they called "a kit for kidnapping or murder" that comprised handcuffs, masks, night-vision goggles, bulletproof vests and a handgun. In what was described as a "bold move" designed to discredit the claims of the prosecution that he was a millionaire, Roueche claimed to be unable to afford an attorney and asked for a public defender to represent him.

In April 2009, Roueche pled guilty to the charges. On December 15, 2009, Roueche was sentenced in Seattle to 30 years in prison. According to the Bureau of Prisons inmate locater, "Clay Roueche" is currently serving his sentence at FCI Edgefield in Edgefield, South Carolina, and is due to be released on November 25, 2027. In May 2010, Roueche attracted media attention when it was learned that he was using his Facebook profile to sell his artwork as he took to painting Asian-themed paintings in his prison cell, which he sold for a premium on the internet. Roueche has made further attempts at getting his sentence reduced or to be released early.

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