Gangs in Canada - By City - Toronto

Toronto

Certain neighbourhoods in all geographic parts of Toronto have experienced gang activity. Many gangs have migrated out of the city limits into the suburbs such as Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Vaughan, Pickering and limited amounts in Richmond Hill, Ontario. This has been attributed to the Toronto Police Services being alerted to their activities and cracking down with arrests. Toronto Police Services work in conjunction with other Toronto area police services such as Peel Regional Police, Halton Regional Police, York Regional Police, Durham Regional Police and Hamilton Police. Police raids in the early to mid 2000s took down many gang members resulting in some being deported back to Jamaica, Trinidad, Liberia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Portugal, Somalia and others.

Toronto has a strong Italian Mafia presence, most notably in Woodbridge and the St. Clair area of downtown. There are also many multicultural gangs throughout the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

There has been a recent rise in gun violence in the downtown core of the greater Toronto area. The two most focal incidents were the Boxing Day shooting, which was a shootout between rival gangs resulting in the death of 15-year-old bystander Jane Creba on December 26, 2005 on Yonge Street, and the shooting that took place at Toronto Eaton Centre food court on Saturday June 2, 2012. The shooting left 25 year old Ahmed Hassan dead and 7 others, including a 13 year old boy struck in the head, with critical to minor injuries. Hassan was considered to be the targeted victim and is considered to be gang-affiliated while others were considered innocent bystanders in the event.

There were several high profile gang raids in the city namely in Malvern, Jane and Finch, Driftwood, Falstaff, Galloway,400 and the largest dismantling, in Rexdale. American gangs such as Crips and Bloods have been part of Toronto's gang scene since the early 1990s specifically in the West End neighbourhoods of Jane and Finch, Rexdale and Lawrence Heights (aka the jungle), Weston Road, Jane St.and Eglinton ave West. As well the East End neighbourhoods of Flemingdon Park, Malvern, Galloway,400 and others.