NEW CRIME CZARS RULE

A TURF tax for selling drugs enforced by a trigger-happy new
generation of gang leaders can be blamed in part for the city's
spiralling murder rate, police say.

The little-known drug tax has been part of gang culture in Toronto for
some time, police say, and goes in the pockets of ruthless gangs like
Scarborough's Versace Boys and North York's Driftwood Crew.

SECOND GENERATION

The gangs are so entrenched they're now into their second generation
of leaders -- young thugs who took over when their older siblings or
relatives were killed, busted or deported.

"The turf tax has been going on for a few years," said Det. Const.
Craig Peddle, of the Toronto Police guns and gangs task force. "Guys
have to pay a tax for selling drugs in another person's area."

Drug dealers dodging the tax and the vicious young gang leaders are
behind some of the murders, said one insider who works with the
gangsters and didn't want to be identified.

LEADERSHIP VACUUM

"There is a vacuum in gang leadership now because a lot of the older
people are gone," one source said. "One 14-year-old kid is leading a
major Scarborough gang."

The source said the new leaders have a strict code of silence in which
no one talks to police or they're dead.

Sources said many of the new leaders are aged between 14 and 21, have
not been in trouble and are not known by police. "These people are
flying under the radar," one source said. "The police have no idea who
they are."

"The younger generation is starting to appear," Peddle admitted.