BETSY POWELL CRIME REPORTER
Sep. 1, 2005

Cigarette dealer was shot in May

$500,000 seizure may have led to death

The spring shooting death of a 36-year-old man may be linked to the seizure by provincial investigators of $500,000 in contraband cigarettes weeks earlier at a home in Maple, sources familiar with the case say.

Sung Woo Lee, known as Jack Lee, had been out with friends at a Bloor St. W. karaoke bar before he was dropped off in the area of Lee Centre Dr., near Highway 401 and McCowan Rd., around 2:40 a.m. on May 15.

The divorced father of two then called his girlfriend and was waiting for her to arrive when he was approached by someone who shot him outside a condominium complex on nearby Corporate Rd.

Police, who have no eyewitnesses to the crime, are at a loss to explain how anyone could have tracked Lee to that location at that time, since his rendezvous with his girlfriend seems to have been unplanned.

But they are looking at the possibility that the killing wasn't a random act.

While police initially described Lee as a self-employed tobacco wholesaler, it now appears he was an unlicensed tobacco distributor trading in contraband cigarettes.

The Toronto Star has learned police are investigating whether his dealings in the illicit tobacco trade cost him his life and what, if any, links there may be to organized crime.

Homicide Det. Sgt. Gerry Cashman said the investigation is progressing but he had no comment on any specifics.

But there is another element in the case and that is the role played by the provincial finance ministry's special investigations branch.

In May, branch investigators intercepted a truck parked at a home in Maple, north of Toronto, and seized $500,000 worth of cigarettes.

It is believed the truck driver transporting the cigarettes did not know he was under surveillance when he stopped to have lunch at the house, nor did he attempt to unload the cigarettes. Details of the seizure are sketchy, sources say, and questions are being asked as to whether proper procedures were followed.

There are also questions about Lee's connection to the cargo and whether his killer targeted him because the money owed for the cigarettes seized by the ministry had not yet been paid.

It's not known why the finance ministry initiated an investigation.

A spokesman for the ministry declined comment.

"Any investigation or alleged investigation under the Ontario tax statues is highly confidential," said Manuel Alas-Sevillano.

"The ministry does not discuss any matter about investigations or alleged investigations out of concern for jeopardizing the ministry's investigations processing."

Concerns about freedom of information and privacy legislation were also raised by the ministry as the reason for not sharing information about the investigation and seizure with Toronto police, despite the fact they are conducting a homicide investigation, said a source.

On the night he was killed, Lee and friends, including the owner of the house in Maple - described by a source as a close friend and business associate - were at the Emerald Restaurant and Sports Bar on Bloor St. W. near Christie St.

His companions dropped Lee off in Scarborough at about 2:40 a.m. His girlfriend arrived and found him on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds just after 3 a.m.

The coroner said the cause of death was "penetrating gunshot wounds to the head and torso."

He was Toronto's 24th homicide victim of the year and is now among the 33 gun-related homicide victims so far in 2005.

The finance ministry has undertaken a major crackdown on contraband cigarettes by increasing fines and beefing up enforcement. The ministry seized 54,800 cartons of contraband cigarettes in 2004-05, compared with 11,600 cartons in the previous fiscal year.

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