Pubdate: Thu, 13 May 2004
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A13
Copyright: 2004, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Jonathan Fowlie / With files from Katherine Harding
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
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POLICE RAID CRIPPLES GANG, FANTINO SAYS

Neighbourhood Residents Credited With Helping Target the Malvern Crew

Community members who were once reluctant or afraid to speak with police 
about crime in their neighbourhood came forward with enough information to 
help authorities assemble one of the largest anti-gang operations in the 
history of Ontario, police said yesterday.

Hundreds of officers on the Project Impact task force arrested as many as 
65 people across the GTA and Barrie in predawn raids yesterday, disbanding 
a violent Scarborough-based gang called the Malvern Crew, Toronto Police 
Chief Julian Fantino announced yesterday.

"I feel very confident we have dismantled a very significant street gang 
operation in this city and beyond," Chief Fantino said at a press 
conference at police headquarters, just hours after the raids took place.

Police say the Malvern Crew has been operating for several years and that 
its members have been involved in everything from drug trafficking to 
shootings.

More than 500 charges have been laid in the operation so far, and over the 
past month 28 guns and various drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and hashish 
were seized, police say.

Most importantly, however, police say they were able to arrest 15 people 
they believe were in the upper echelons of the gang and who were managing 
its activities.

"I think we have been very successful in disrupting this organization and 
taking the parts down so it will be extremely difficult for them to operate 
as they have been operating," said Staff Superintendent Bill Blair, who 
oversaw the officers on the project.

He said officers used a new section of the Criminal Code, initially 
established to fight biker gangs, to help take down the leaders of the 
Malvern Crew, who may not have been carrying drugs themselves, but who are 
alleged to have been orchestrating the group's activities.

Police did not name the people charged yesterday, but said more information 
will be released in the days to come. Everyone arrested in the raids will 
be prosecuted at Scarborough Court by a team of three prosecutors, police said.

While the implementation of the new portion of the code was an important 
element of the investigation, Staff-Supt. Blair said one of the key 
components in the 14-month investigation was the information and assistance 
from the members of Malvern, a community he said has been "under siege."

Of 19 killings this year, eight have taken place Scarborough.

Malvern -- an area of Scarborough around Neilson Road south of Finch Avenue 
- -- was listed as an at-risk neighbourhood in Mayor David Miller's community 
safety plan.

Staff-Supt. Blair said co-operation did not come right away, however, and 
that it took a great deal of work by police officers to give people the 
confidence to come forward. "It's all about trust and confidence, and the 
community has to trust that we will do the right thing and that we are 
truly committed," he said during a phone interview last night.

"You don't get that trust as a right, you have to earn it," he said.

Scarborough Centre councillor Michael Thompson said he, too, has seen a 
shift among people in the community, and said even some gang members have 
approached him in the last few months with information.

"People are getting killed. They recognize it, and many of them are 
afraid," Mr. Thompson said. "It's a mean street out there. . .They are 
looking at ways to extricate themselves from that environment."

When asked about the arrests, Mayor Miller said he thinks it is "very good 
news for the city."

While he applauded the police, however, he added a warning, saying "the 
next challenge is ensuring that by taking out this gang that nobody moves 
into the vacuum."

"The police service has a real role in the next few months in keeping the 
peace," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager