65 ARRESTED IN TORONTO STREET GANG TAKEDOWN

Guns, Drugs Seized

TORONTO - Calling it the largest anti-street gang operation in
Toronto's history, police yesterday arrested 65 people and laid more
than 500 charges in connection with a guns and drugs takedown they say
has "dismantled" one of the city's roughest street gangs.

Focusing on the violent Malvern Crew, a street gang based in
northeastern Scarborough but which has left its footprints in Barrie
and the regions of Durham, Peel and York, the raids encompassed 59
locations, with police executing 71 search warrants in homes and businesses.

Project Impact, which netted five firearms, kilos of crystal meth and
MDMA, 100,000 hits of ecstacy and other drugs including marijuana,
cocaine and hashish, involved the co-operation of the Toronto, Durham
and provincial police forces as well as the Canada Customs and Revenue
Agency.

Many of the charges are laid under the same anti-gang legislation used
to ensnare Quebec's Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang, including 82
charges of participation in a criminal organization and 25 of
commission of an offence for a criminal organization.

Toronto police have never so extensively used the new legislation,
embodied in the Criminal Code as section 467.1.

Other charges laid include conspiracy to import prohibited firearms,
possession of prohibited weapons for the purposes of trafficking,
conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and the possession of the proceeds of
crime.

"Street gangs are cancers that, left unchecked, consume and destroy
our communities," said Police Chief Julian Fantino during a news
conference yesterday.

The announcement was a ray of light for the embattled chief, whose
police force has recently been in the grips of an embarrassing
shakedown scandal.

The raids, which began at 5 a.m. and included a dramatic chase down
the tracks of the Scarborough light rapid transit line -- forcing it
to shut briefly -- blanketed the north end of the city with several
hundred officers from numerous forces.

Police said the investigation, which began about a year ago, relied
heavily on help from the Malvern community -- though what kind of help
police received remains vague.

Project Impact brought Toronto, regional and provincial police
together with the RCMP.

In addition to the five firearms seized during yesterday's raids,
Canada Customs uncovered 23 more last March near the Windsor-Detroit
border, a cache related to yesterday's takedown, Chief Fantino said.

The anti-gang legislation, designed as a tool against outlaw
motorcycle gangs and ethnic gangs, was created in 1997 but has never
before been used against street gangs.

"The significance of this new legislation is that it allows us to
target the leaders, those who direct and initiate the gang's
activities, those who normally insulate themselves from law
enforcement action," Chief Fantino said.

The legislation also ensures stiffer sentences for gang-related
convictions.

Chief Fantino added that those charged yesterday and released on bail
will be required to join community-based programs providing education
and employment training.

Of the 19 murders in Toronto this year, 12 have been gun-related, the
chief said.

Much of that violence has emanated from Scarborough, leading one local
political figure to threaten those responsible.

"We are going to get you," said Scarborough Centre Councillor Michael
Thompson. "Law enforcement has got your number -- your days are numbered."