Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON) Copyright: 2007 The Hamilton Spectator Contact: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181 Author: Susan Clairmont Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) GANG MEMBERS MIGRATE FROM T.O. Some Come For The Night, Others Set Up House For a year now, Toronto has had $51 million in provincial funding to throw at its raging street gang problem. The investment paid off. Toronto gang members are setting up shop in Hamilton instead. Unfortunately, the cops here don't have the luxury of any extra government cash to deal with those gangbangers migrating down the highway. Guys like the Crips member and his three associates who were arrested in Hamilton on Thursday for having a loaded gun and dealing drugs out of a downtown apartment they'd rented just for that purpose. A warrant has been issued for a fifth man. Toronto police are making good use of their anti-gang coffers announced last January by Premier Dalton McGuinty, says Hamilton Police Chief Brian Mullan. But there needs to be a provincial strategy to fight Ontario's gang problem. Otherwise, gang members will just pick up and move to smaller communities that don't have the police resources to stave them off. "We have not received any extra funding to put into it," says Mullan. "And there is an influx of Toronto gang members coming to our community." Plain clothes officers from the Gangs and Weapons Enforcement Unit were on the lookout for the four Toronto men after learning they had been doing business in Hamilton for three weeks, says Detective Sergeant Mike Thomas, head of the intelligence unit. At about 1 a.m. Thursday, the officers spotted them in a vehicle driving near Main and Sherman. The cops followed them to a parking lot behind an apartment building at 889 Main St. E. As the officers approached, the driver ran off, tossing a bag containing 23 grams of crack onto the windshield of a parked car as he went. One of the passengers took a more casual approach, trying to simply walk away. He was spotted throwing seven grams of marijuana to the ground. All four men were taken to central police station. One is a known member of the Dawes Road Crips in Toronto. The others are associates. There are Crips in Hamilton and many other cities across North America, but they are not all affiliated with each other. That afternoon, gangs and weapons officers executed a search warrant in one of the units at that building. Inside, they found $375, a 9 mm Sterm Ruger semi-automatic pistol loaded with eight rounds, a cell phone, spoons used for cooking drugs, scales and 11 grams of crack cocaine. The guy who opened the door and let police in was legally able to walk away from the scene. Now police are searching for him. This isn't the first time Toronto gang members have been caught here, says Thomas. "The 407 makes it very easy for them. It's like a funnel. You can come down here and traffick your drugs and be back in Toronto in 35 minutes." Some gangsters come here just for the night. They go to the bars, sell some drugs and "network," according to Thomas. Others rent an apartment and run their business from there. When Toronto gang members start competing for Hamilton drug users, that doesn't sit well with local dealers, says Thomas. Police try to shut down out-of-towners as quickly as possible to prevent warfare between rivals. "There's usually a little bit of jostling," he says, "and the potential for an escalation in violence." The size of the gangs and weapons unit has fluctuated in the past 18 months. At its peak, there were 15 members. At its smallest, there were five. Right now, there are seven full-time officers, along with a staff sergeant and a crime analyst. A pair of Hamilton officers seconded to the provincial weapons enforcement unit are brought in sometimes, too. Officers are added and subtracted depending on the need and availability of resources. Unlike Toronto's flush gangs and guns unit, Hamilton's doesn't have any special funding. Police chiefs in the Golden Horseshoe, including Niagara, Halton, Brantford and Hamilton, have been meeting and moving toward establishing a joint forces unit to deal with street gangs. They're hoping for some funding to make that happen. The one area where there has been money invested in the local gang problem is the appointment of a new Crown attorney who will deal exclusively with gang-related cases in Hamilton. The arrests from Thursday may be among his first cases. An 18 year old from Toronto is charged with obstructing police, failure to comply with a recognizance order and possession of marijuana. A 20-year-old Mississauga man is charged with possession of a restricted firearm without a permit, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, careless storage, possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition, possession of crack for the purpose of trafficking and proceeds of crime, and failure to comply. An 18 year old from Mississauga is charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and proceeds of crime. A 20-year-old Toronto man is charged with possession of a restricted firearm without a permit, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, careless storage, possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition, possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, breach of probation and proceeds of crime. An arrest warrant has been issued for Tristan Landriault, 19, the tenant at the Main Street East apartment but also a resident of Brampton. He is wanted for possession of a restricted firearm without a permit, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, careless storage, possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition, possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, breach of probation and failing to comply. - ----------------------------------------------------------- Gang Activity * In Hamilton, there are the Downtown Crips (est. July 2005) and the Oriole Crescent Crips. Both have ties to gangs in Peel and Toronto. * Last August a Toronto gang associate carrying a loaded handgun, $3,000 cash and 3.4 grams of marijuana was arrested in Hamilton. * A shootout between the Bloods and Crips gangs on Quigley Road left two men wounded in October 2005. * Last month, two Hamilton teenagers connected to the local Crips were charged with attempted murder after a shotgun attack that narrowly missed a father and son. * Two Crips gang members were charged in a double shooting during a home invasion in Hamilton last May. * Hamilton police estimate there are 300 street gang members in this city. * Between October 2005 and March 2006, Hamilton's guns and gangs unit arrested 42 gang members, 11 others with gang affiliations and four out-of-town gang members. The unit also assisted with the arrests of 10 Hamilton gang members in other jurisdictions. * A year ago, Toronto police said gang members are targeting legitimate gun owners for break-ins in that city. Hamilton police said that wasn't the case here, but when guns are stolen during break-ins they have a 90 per cent chance of ending up in the hands of a crack user or gang member. * A jump in the national homicide rate in 2005 is blamed on an increase in gang-related murders, primarily in Alberta and Ontario, according to Statistics Canada. * There are now an estimated 300 street gangs in Canada with 11,000 members, according to the most recent annual report from the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada. It says street gangs primarily involve young men under 30 and are violent, visible and especially dangerous to the public. Guns are their weapon of choice. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman