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."