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rfmcdonaldI'm not really surprised by the news coming from Québec--here, sampled from the National Post but see also the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail and the CBC--arguing that, contrary to Canadian stereotypes, Italian organized crime families are as strong in Ontario as they are in Québec. La belle province has a reputation for particularly high levels of corruption and organized crime that strike me as being as much English Canadian stereotypes as anything else.
Plus, when it comes down to it, as far as the demographics of Italian Canadians go the demographics for ethnic mafias are better in Ontario than in Québec: there are nearly three times as many Italian-Canadians in Ontario as in Québec (about 870 thousand versus 300 thousand) forming almost twice the proportion of the provincial population (7.2% versus 4.0%).
Plus, when it comes down to it, as far as the demographics of Italian Canadians go the demographics for ethnic mafias are better in Ontario than in Québec: there are nearly three times as many Italian-Canadians in Ontario as in Québec (about 870 thousand versus 300 thousand) forming almost twice the proportion of the provincial population (7.2% versus 4.0%).
A veteran Ontario detective has testified in a public inquiry that the Italian Mafia’s reach in that province extends to all kinds of legitimate businesses that mask criminal proceeds.
Mike Amato, a detective with the York Regional police, testified Thursday before the Quebec inquiry looking into allegations of corruption in the province’s construction industry.
Called to provide a portrait of the reach and scope of the Italian Mafia in Ontario, Amato described a group that, over the years, has managed to root itself deeply into everyday society.
[. . .]
Amato said Mafia-controlled legitimate businesses in his region include everything from garden centres to financial institutions to banquet halls.
“They need these businesses to launder criminal proceeds,” Amato said. “It also allows them to explain their wealth … you can mask it in a business where you can hide your illegitimate wealth.”
[. . .]
Ontario boasts many of the hallmark Mob industries — smuggling, drug trafficking and bookmaking. Then there are more modern ones such as stock manipulation.
“As we evolve as a society, so too does organized crime,” Amato said.
“They are just sometimes a little bit quicker, better and faster at it than we are.”
What’s noticeable about Ontario, Amato says, is a lack of the same level of visible violence as has been seen in recent years in Quebec and witnesses who are willing to testify about it.
“If there is numerous murders, a lot of violence, if there are a lot of bombings, it attracts attention from politicians, from the community, from police,” Amato said.
“You cannot build a successful criminal enterprise if you’re continually being investigated by the police.”
Any tensions in that province have been mostly resolved quietly or away from the reach of law enforcement.
And in Ontario, that has meant it’s difficult to justify digging deeper, Amato says. Whereas a few dozen police officers may have investigated the Mob in the past, now there might be a handful.
[. . .]
A former RCMP chief superintendent, Ben Soave, told both media organizations that organized crime has infiltrated Ontario’s economy at least as much as it has in Quebec.
