McGeer's War on Crime

McGeer's war on crime also targeted Chief Constable John Cameron. Cameron was charged with Celona of “to effect a public mischief by perverting the course of justice.” Colonel W.W. Foster (remember him from the post office sit down strike?) and he led the investigation.

For the first time, the Vancouver Police Department used a wire tap. The officers were stationed at the Carter-Cotton building, listening in on Celona's telephone conversations. The detectives heard conversations between Celona and police officers and Colonel Foster stated the officers were advising Celona how to avoid conviction. Unfortunately, the sound quality was so poor the tapes weren't able to be used as evidence.

Prosecutors had other evidence against Cameron. He partied with Celona at Cameron's ranch, Celona's house and on the police boat on a cruise in Howe Sound. Officers took the stand and stated it was necessary to occasionally mix with criminals to gather information. There was no evidence that Cameron had gained monetarily through his connection with the Italian immigrant or any sort of agreement between the two so John Cameron was acquitted.

Unfortunately, Joe Celona wasn't so lucky. He was charged with running a disorderly house at the Maple Hotel on Hastings Street and procuring girls for prostitution. However, what really rankled the prosecutor, Dugald Donaghy, was that Chinese men frequented the hotel.

“There are no words in the English language to describe the abhorrence of [white girls] being procured exclusively for the yellow men from China,” Donaghy told the court. “That these girls should be submitted to crawling yellow beasts of the type frequenting such dives.”

Celona was sentenced to 22 years in prison but an appeal reduced the sentence to 11 years. In five years, with good behaviour, Joe Celona was paroled and out on the streets. However, his freedom didn't last long. There was a public outcry and a campaign led by Mayor Lyle Telford saw Celona re-arrested and sent back to the BC Penitentiary in New Westminster. 

Many people felt that Celona's political connections got him out early but there was nothing unusual about his case. Celona did have a nefarious reputation and that was probably one factor that helped send him back to prison. The other was the fact that the year was 1940 and he was Italian. Many felt he should be deported back to fascist Italy. 

What an interesting segment of Vancouver history. I am grateful to the Past Tense website for the above information. I will tell you more on Friday.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Ladies of the Night

My latest book, Missing Flowers, has been published in eBook format. Here is a blurb on what this book is all about.

When psychic Julie Seer moves to Vancouver, her dreams are filled with visions of women being murdered. She doesn’t know who is being killed, or why, until the day Julie goes to a press conference held by the Vancouver Police Station: a press conference to announce the formation of a special task force that will investigate the case of the prostitutes who have gone missing from Vancouver’s East Side. 

 Detective Constable Santoro Ricci, an officer with the Vancouver Police Department, wants on the special task force. When he happens upon Julie at the press conference, Ricci finds himself unofficially investigating the case. Julie also finds herself having visions where she is transported back in time into the body of a Chinese prostitute in the late 1800s. Through these visions, and stories told to her by long time residents of the city, Julie learns more of the history of Vancouver. 

With the help of Francine, an east side prostitute, Julie and Santoro work together to solve the mystery of the missing women. When Francine and Julie are taken by the killer, Santoro must find the missing answers fast. 

If you are interested, click here to buy it on Amazon.

In honour of this release - my first with a traditional publisher - I am going to write on certain events in the book. Today it will be the history of prostitution in Vancouver.

In case you aren't aware, prostitution is legal in Canada. However, aspects associated with it are not. A person is not allowed to run a bawdy house, solicit or live off the proceeds from prostitution.Therefore, a woman, or a man, can sell their body for but they can't do anything with the money. At least those were the laws when I wrote Missing Flowers.

Back in 1906, the police chief - C.A. Chisholm - reported that there were 41 brothels in operation and 153 prostitutes working on the street in what is now Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. This led to a vice crackdown which closed all the bordellos and left about 64 prostitutes on the streets.

According to an article I read in an older edition of The Georgia Straight, in 2006 there were about 2,000 sex-trade workers that worked out of various enterprises in the city and around 150 that worked the dangerous are of the Downtown Eastside.

The author of The Georgia Straight article - Terry Glavin - referred to a book published by Daniel Francis, Red Light Neon: A History of Vancouver's Sex Trade.

During the first half of the 1900s, there were attempts to clear city of these 'women of ill repute'. There were intense,sweeps where those connected with prostitution were arrested followed by periods where the so-called good folk would turn a blind eye to the activity around them.

There was a long gap between crackdowns during the 1950s and 1960s, which ended in 1975 with a raid on the Penthouse Nightclub.

Suddenly, instead of so many prostitutes conducting their business behind closed doors, the ladies of the evening were once again pushed out onto the streets.

Hookers were everywhere. Especially along places like Davie Street. Then the women were moved from the West End to Richard's Street and from there to Strathcona. Finally, in the 1980s, the prostitutes had been driven to the dark, bleak streets of the Downtown Eastside. Ironically, this is the area where Vancouver's first red light district was. It had come full circle.

Missing Flowers is fiction. I do not have any stories that I have been told and are relating nor am I trying to make a statement here. Red Light Neon: A History of Vancouver's Sex Trade is a nonfiction book that educates and informs. My work entertains.

Wednesday I will write on another aspect of Missing Flowers. Could it be psychic phenomena or perhaps serial killers or something totally different? I haven't decided.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Georgia Straight, history, prostitution, British Columbia