Learn from the crooks,

police told at summit

 

By Tom Blackwell Southam Newspapers

TORONTO -- Canadian police trying to fight organized crime
should learn from the mob itself by putting aside turf wars and
working as one, a conference run by the
Ontario
government heard
Wednesday.

Groups ranging from the Mafia to the Russian mob and Columbian drug
cartels have been joining forces in
Canada
, experts told the
organized crime summit.

But police trying to fight them can still be hampered by
territorial barriers, especially when it comes to sharing
information they gather on criminals, the meeting was told.

``One of the problems is our own behaviour,'' said Giuliano
Zaccardelli, an RCMP deputy commissioner. ``We've got to be able to
overcome this territorial aspect of our business, to not use
information as power . . . The enemy is set up to operate this way.
We have to work together to defend ourselves.''

The problem is not just within Canada. A recent international
police operation against the mob was threatened by a dispute between
units from two of the countries involved, said Antonio Nicaso, a
journalist and widely recognized authority on organized crime.

The conference convened by the Ontario Attorney General's Ministry
also heard more general warnings that organized crime is a growing
force in the province. Experts said its pervasive effects include:

- Widespread telemarketing scams that typically bilk senior
citizens.

- The danger of a Quebec-style biker war here.

- Ecstasy labs full of volatile chemicals that could level a city
block if they explode.

- Threats against prosecutors and police.

- Money laundering that helps keep international drug-dealing
networks running smoothly.

Nicaso said the mob in Canada is different than in the United
States
and some other places because crime groups -- except for
biker gangs -- tend to keep a low profile and work collaboratively.

About a dozen organizations have formed various alliances, said the
author of several books on the topic.

``With the exception of the motorcycle gangs, we have a unique
situation,'' he said. ``In
Canada
the major organized crime groups
are not territorial . . . There is co-operation between groups in
order to slice up the criminal profit.''

Police intercepted communications in Montreal between the local
bosses of the Sicilian Mafia, the Irish mob, Columbian drug dealers
and the Hell's Angels in which they agreed on a cartel that set the
prices of illegal drugs, he said.

In Toronto, investigators have recently detected similar contacts
between Eastern European criminal groups, the Chinese Triad and
traditional Mafia, said Nicaso, citing confidential police sources.

``They're integrated vertically and horizontally,'' Murray Segal,
Ontario's chief prosecutor, told the meeting.

But Solicitor General Dave Tsubouchi warned that turf battles
between outlaw bikers could pose a greater threat here.

Ontario is already home to 11 outlaw gangs with more than 600
members but with the Hell's Angels trying to set up chapters here,
the kind of violence
Quebec
has seen since 1994 is possible, he
said.

The Sault Star, August 3, 2000