ORGANIZED CRIME ON RISE, REPORT SAYS

Mafia, Biker Gangs Earning Huge Profits From Marijuana Farming,
High-Tech Fraud

HALIFAX -- Organized crime groups are extending their reach across
Canada by merging with other outlaw gangs, using more sophisticated
technology to perpetrate fraud and expanding lucrative
marijuana-growing operations, according to a new intelligence report.

Mobs and motorcycle gangs continue to rank as the most active criminal
organizations as they move into high-tech, money-laundering pursuits
and increase their involvement in illicit marijuana cultivation, says
the document prepared by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada.

"I don't think in this country people are aware of the seriousness
posed by [marijuana] grow operations," RCMP Commissioner Giuliano
Zaccardelli said yesterday after releasing the report in Halifax. "The
highest level of criminal organizations are involved in this, and
there are huge amounts of money being made."

The lure of large profits from marijuana is attracting a widening
array of groups, igniting violent turf wars and increasing the danger
to police called to investigate, an official said.

Marijuana cultivation is expanding into rural and urban areas across
the country, creating threats for neighbourhoods that sometimes get
caught in the middle of police standoffs or disputes between rival
gangs, the report says.

Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino said the rise of pot operations is
especially frustrating because they are being treated far too lightly
by the justice system.

"The sentences that these people are receiving in the courts are
totally and absolutely inadequate and in no way reflect the
seriousness of this particular and very difficult crime," Chief
Fantino said. "It's almost a casual offence and that's my issue."

He was unable to say what the average fine was for illegal
cultivation, but said sentences were as lenient as house arrest.

The report also highlights the vulnerability of ports and their use by
biker gangs and mob associations to import drugs, firearms and other
contraband, and export stolen luxury cars.

But Yves Lavigne, an expert in biker organizations, said the perceived
threat at ports has been overblown, the police having arrested very
few members of the Hells Angels or other gang members for port-related
offences.

"The message in this report is that the police are failing to stop the
growth in any way of organized crime, and what needs to be done is a
total overhaul of how law enforcement operates against organized
crime," Mr. Lavigne said in an interview from Toronto.

Mr. Lavigne, whose book Hells Angels At War was published in 1999,
also disputed the report's assertion that police crackdowns have
seriously disrupted outlaw motorcycle gangs.

He conceded that the Hells Angels have suffered losses in Atlantic
Canada and that senior members from the Rock Machine and the Hells
Angels in Quebec have been jailed, but he said they continue to build
strength in other parts of the country.

As well, he said, the intense police scrutiny of certain Quebec gangs
has allowed outlaw groups from Eastern Europe to move into Southern
Ontario and Quebec.

"The police have made great inroads, but all they've done is opened
the way for other gangs," Mr. Lavigne said. "This report highlights
the success of organized crime and in doing so the failure of the
police to effectively deal with the issue."

Mr. Lavigne argues police and policymakers lack the will to clamp down
on gangs and enterprising criminals who use computer expertise to
carry out elaborate fraud operations.

In some respects, the job of closing in on criminal organizations has
become more difficult because they have joined forces in recent years
and operate more quietly together, according to organized-crime expert
Antonio Nicaso.

"The Italian Mafia, the Hells Angels, the Colombian [drug] cartels,
the West End Gang in Montreal or Russian mafia in other cities [are]
sitting down at the same table and working together as shareholders,"
he said.

The continuing difficulty is that many criminal outfits are adept at
disguising themselves as legitimate businesses, through which they
launder the proceeds of crime, the report says.

"I believe organized crime is so wealthy now that it skews the
national economy," Mr. Lavigne said, adding he knows of no figures for
the value of criminal activity.