Conspirators plotted murders ‘with glee,’ B.C. court hears

A statue of Themis, Goddess of Justice, in the B.C. Supreme Court building in downtown Vancouver on June 26, 2024 (Zak Vescera / Investigative Journalism Foundation and CTV News)

A B.C. man who was one of the “masterminds” of thwarted conspiracies to kill three people was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison, according to a recently published court decision.

Gavin Leznoff, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and the judge’s reasons for sentencing were posted online Friday.

“It is a miracle that you are not being sentenced for life today. That miracle has nothing to do with you. You were so caught up in the idea of making money you would have gone to any length to make sure that people were murdered,” Justice Catherine Murray wrote in her sentencing decision.

“Do know that you would have been just as culpable if the murder had happened as the people who actually pulled the trigger. You do understand that, don’t you?” Murray asked Leznoff.

Leznoff was accused, along with Sylvester Raju and Cory Grosskleg, of plotting to kill a Vancouver couple and a man who lived in Surrey in 2022.

Raju and Grosskleg were arrested in Vancouver while they were “on their way to commit a murder,” Murray’s decision said.

Their cellphones were seized, and police found hundreds of text messages about the conspiracy—which led them to Leznoff.

“Mr. Leznoff with Mr. Raju were the masterminds of the two plots to kill a total of three people. They worked as a team. They planned the murders together and did so with glee,” Murray wrote.

In this case, the judge said, the conspiracy was “lengthy” and Leznoff and Raju were undeterred by the arrests of two would-be hitmen.

“They immediately went about looking for new killers,” according to the decision.

The conspiracy involved encrypted messages and communication using code names, stolen guns and cars were obtained, payment was negotiated, the intended victims’ movements and vehicles were tracked, the court heard.

“He encouraged the shooters and promised them more work after the assigned jobs were completed. He was the one who would pay the killers after a successful hit,” the judge wrote, referring to Leznoff.

The motive, the judge said, was purely financial.

“Mr. Leznoff was clearly interested in making a business out of killing,” Murray wrote.

“Mr. Leznoff clearly felt no remorse about murdering people. In fact, he seemed to not think about the targets as people, just as money,” Murray wrote.

The fact the murders were not carried out was “pure happenstance,” the judge said. The hit on the couple was called off once when they did not park in their usual spot and a second time because of a police presence in the area, according to the decision. An issue with a tracking device “foiled” the attempt to kill the Surrey man.

The plot only came to an end when the conspirators were all arrested, the decision said.

Leznoff did not have a criminal record when he was arrested for the conspiracy, but the judge said his cellphone records and a search of his home found drugs and other evidence he was “immersed in criminality.”

The impact on the victims was described as “devastating,” and the judge summarized what the female target—who did not know any of the three men charged in the case— told prosecutors.

“As the person or persons that ordered that she be killed are unknown and presumably still in the community, she feels unsafe and always will. She does not understand why anyone would want her killed. She is afraid to leave her house. She does not answer the phone unless she knows the caller. She trusts no one now,” Murray wrote.

“She is understandably in a constant state of fear.”

The six-and-a-half-year sentence was a joint submission by Crown and the defence, and the judge did not find a reason to depart from it. A lifetime firearms prohibition was also imposed.

Sentencing decisions for Raju and Grosskleg are not available online, but the B.C. Prosecution Service provided information on the outcomes of their cases.

Raju was sentenced to 10 years in prison for two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, which worked out to roughly six years and eight months behind bars after credit for time served.

Grosskleg was sentenced two seven years and six months in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit murder, which worked out to four years and three months after credit for time served.