Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jun 2007
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Rob Lamberti, Sun Media
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

GANG 'TAKEN DOWN'

11-Month Operation Ends With More Than 80 Arrests

In the fifth campaign against highly organized street gangs, Toronto 
Police took down the Driftwood Crips early yesterday.

Though the gang that took years to build its criminal organization, 
police needed a little more than 35 minutes to arrest the bulk of 
more than 80 people, dismantling a group that was brazen and 
emboldened by the silence of an intimidated community, Chief Bill Blair said.

"I hoping today that they are feeling a little less bold and a little 
less brazen," he said. "I hope they realize the communities they 
terrorized are fed up and have had enough, and are going to help the police."

'Significant Threat'

Blair said there are about 25 gangs in Toronto that are considered 
criminal enterprises dealing in drugs and firearms. The Driftwood 
Crips are in that category, he said.

"We believe we have removed a very dangerous element in that 
neighbourhood (Jane St.-Finch Ave.)," Blair said. "The group we have 
taken down are a significant threat, or were a significant threat, to 
that community.

"We are getting a lot more co-operation," he said, citing speedy 
murder arrests and successful gang investigations.

A police source said the Driftwood Crips were an "active criminal 
organization" busy ripping each other off. Different factions were 
staging home invasions against other factions, stealing cash and 
drugs, the source said.

"They fall under the same umbrella ... but they're money motivated," 
the source said. "With the amount of shootings and criminal activity, 
there were next on the list (to be dismantled)."

Blair said police have taken away the gang's weapons and hopefully 
their wealth. He expects the arrests to garner the same boost in the 
quality of life in the community as occurred in other neighbourhoods 
where police dismantled local gangs.

About five hours before police launched their 5 a.m. attack on the 
Driftwood Crips and its rival internal factions, a number of shots 
were fired in the neighbourhood. No one was injured as far as 
authorities know, a police source said.

The .22-calibre revolver used was recovered in the afternoon from a 
Driftwood Ct. townhouse, along with a .38-calibre revolver that had 
been recently used, a pellet gun with a blue bandana tied to the 
handle, and 40 rounds of ammunition.

Also seized yesterday was a sawed-off shotgun, a .357-Magnum pistol, 
a .38-calibre handgun and a 9-mm handgun.

The Jane-Finch community is divided into two main gang camps, the 
North Side or Up Top, which is Crips, and the South Side, or Down 
Bottom, which is Bloodz, divided by Finch. They in turn are further 
divided into neighbourhoods, where the North Side has areas known as 
G-Side, Courtz, Shoreshot and TB. The lower part is divided into 
areas such as Y-Block, Connectionz, Palis and Lane.

The Crips and Bloodz are avowed enemies, although some officers say 
there is growing co-operation among some members.

"This was the gang that represented the greatest threat to the 
greatest number of people in the City of Toronto," Blair said.

It was a role that other organized crime gangs had taken in the past, 
such as the Galloway Boys, Ardwick Blood Crew, Jamestown Crew and Malvern Crew.

700 Officers

The Driftwood Crips "put their hand up and said, 'Pay attention to 
us, we're a group that needs to be dismantled,' " Blair said. "This 
was a criminal enterprise investigation."

Blair said 700 officers from services including OPP, RCMP, Peel, 
Durham, Halton, Niagara, Barrie, York, Waterloo, Guelph, London, 
executed 134 search warrants, 82 at homes and the rest vehicles.

Led by 33 heavily armed tactical teams from southern Ontario, the 
addresses police struck included homes on Stong Ct., Martha Eatonway, 
San Romanoway, Jane St., Tobermory Dr. Two townhouses on Gosford 
Blvd. had been raided May 27 in relation to the shooting death of 
Jordan Manners at C.W. Jefferys high school.

Police said 81 people were arrested in the raids yesterday and they 
expected that number to grow to 90 by the end of the day. More than 
100 charges were laid.

Among those apprehended were three brothers who police consider to be 
the leaders of the Driftwood Crips.

Two brothers were already in custody. One, Michael Johnson, was 
arrested about two weeks ago for possessing a 9-mm pistol, while 
Peter Philip Johnson, 23, was charged in January with second-degree 
murder in the July 2006 shooting death of Jeffrey Lewis outside 
Whispers nightclub on Weston Rd.

A police source said the trio face gangsterism charges.

A source added intelligence gathered in the probe has been passed on 
to homicide investigators dealing with "more than one murder."

Blair said the project began about 11 months ago, taking up "tens and 
even hundreds of thousands of man-hours of evidence gathering," and 
so far police have seized 18 firearms, 30 kilos of cocaine, nine 
kilos of hash oil and several pounds of marijuana. The street value 
of the drugs is more than $3 million, police estimate.

First Of Its Kind

Guns and Gangs Insp. Mike Earl said "there is no doubt the arrests 
prevented violent crimes and possible homicides." He said the gang 
expanded out of the neighbourhood and grew in sophistication over the years.

"It is the first project of its kind ever conducted from our new 
Integrated Gun and Gang Provincial Operations Centre," Blair said, 
describing it as organized justice against organized crime.

He said the gang's cache of firearms and "the willingness of the 
alleged participants of this criminal enterprise to use them, has 
forced many fearful citizens into silence.

"We are hopeful that the removal of these gunmen and their weapons 
from the neighbourhood will reduce the fear."

Blair said the seizures and arrests will "deal a significant blow to 
this source of misery for our most vulnerable neighbourhoods."
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