GANGS HEADING FOR CLASHES: POLICE

Competition for drug trade to stir conflict, says report

MANITOBANS can expect police to uncover more hydroponic marijuana operations
and increased conflict between outlaw motorcycle gangs as organized crime
flourishes across the country, a national report says.

The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada's 2004 report on organized crime
across the country was presented yesterday by Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli at a CISC meeting in Vancouver.

Zaccardelli said police across the country will focus this year even more on
the activities of Asian-based and Eastern European-based organized crime
groups, both of which are active in larger Canadian cities like Toronto and
Vancouver.

The other threat posed by groups like the Hells Angels is their continued
use of marine ports, airports and land border areas to smuggle drugs,
firearms and stolen cars.

Manitoba RCMP spokesman Sgt. Steve Colwell said police understand the threat
posed by organized crime and last year set up a joint task force with the
Winnipeg Police Service and Brandon Police Service to better disrupt gang
activities and prosecute gang members.

The most prominent organized outlaw group in Manitoba is the Hells Angels,
but an Asian-based crime group is also well-entrenched and involved in the
street drug trade. The report added that traditional crime groups like the
Mafia have a reduced influence in Canada because of recent law-enforcement
activities, but continue to have a hand mostly in the drug trade in Quebec,
Toronto, Hamilton, the Niagara region and Vancouver and Calgary.

The information for the report was complied from 380 CISC member agencies
that include federal, provincial, regional and municipal police departments
and various law-enforcement, intelligence and regulatory agencies.

The report also noted four trends in organized crime across Canada:

* All crime groups have easy access to illicit firearms. Gang members often
possess guns of various types, such as handguns or sawed-off long-barrelled
firearms.

* There is no indication that organized crime has infiltrated Canada's
growing diamond industry, although diamonds are often used as currency as
they are easier to smuggle than large amounts of cash.

* Technological advances are facilitating the sexual exploitation of
children through the increased availability of child pornography in Canada
and internationally. Police believe crime groups in Eastern Europe may be
behind the proliferation of child pornography. * Emerging technologies also
offer new potential means of committing established crimes such as money
laundering and fraud, like stealing debit card personal identification
numbers to empty bank accounts.

In Western Canada, the report said, Asian-based crime groups will continue
to set up clandestine residential marijuana grow-operations. More than 70
large-scale "grows" have been found in the Winnipeg area so far this year.
It's believed the marijuana is grown here to be smuggled elsewhere in Canada
and into the United States.

As well, the report details the ongoing relationship between aboriginal
street gangs and the Manitoba chapter of the Hells Angels. In Manitoba, the
primary aboriginal gangs are the Manitoba Warriors, Indian Posse and Native
Syndicate.

Members of the Indian Posse and Native Syndicate have recently been in
conflict with each other at Stony Mountain Institution over turf and
personal grudges.

Aboriginal-based street gangs are also involved in street-level criminal
activities, like break-and-enters, robberies, assaults, intimidation,
vehicle theft and drug-debt collection.

The report also said Asian-based crime networks and the Hells Angels are
known to supply a number of aboriginal street gangs with low-level
quantities of illegal drugs -- including marijuana, cocaine and
methamphetamine -- to traffic.

However, Colwell said police officials believe the influence of the Hells
Angels in Manitoba and other provinces is beginning to wane because of
recent anti-gang prosecutions, internal conflict and pressure from the
arrival of rival gang the Bandidos in Quebec, Toronto and Alberta.

In Winnipeg, police sources say the Hells Angels' heavy hand -- they are
known to enforce payment of a street tax from independent drug dealers who
do not sell the gang's drugs -- has upset a number of local criminals who
welcome the arrival of the Bandidos.

The Manitoba Hells Angels promoted three people last month to deal with the
recent threats, including competition from an Asian-based drug gang. Still,
the CISC report noted the Hells Angels remain the largest and most powerful
outlaw motorcycle gang in Canada, with 34 chapters and about 500 members.

The CISC report also said many organized crime groups will co-operate with
each other if it benefits them financially. However, some crimes remain
unique to each group. For instance, Eastern European-based crime groups
specialize in debit card fraud and identity theft to rob unsuspecting
victims of money from their bank accounts.