Knight has been with the RCMP for 34 years and works with local, provincial and international law enforcement to monitor organized crime in Quebec. His squad has seen no sign of rival Italian gangs moving to replace the Rizzuto's, as certain media and observers have
speculated.
"We haven't seen attempts or power moves from Hamilton or
Toronto on establishments or persons here. And we haven't received any information on the street to that effect either. It's a myth. I've always heard these things about New York and Toronto controlling Montreal but nothing could be further from the truth."
[...]
"It's very volatile on the street. Whereas ten years ago, if there's one thing that Vito Rizzuto had it was the ability to gather people, negotiate truces and make arrangements that everyone made money. With him being gone, it's more volatile now."
Ironically, this volatility is directly linked to the effective police work done by the RCMP who arrested almost 100 suspected mobsters in
Project Colisée and pretty much every Hells Angels patch member during
Operation Sharqc.
Obviously, these arrests did nothing to curb the demand for drugs and, according to sources who spoke with VICE, all of that demand was absorbed by notoriously unstable Haitian street gangs who are plagued with internal
Bloods-Crips rivalries and have effectively replaced the Hells Angels on the street. Sources also pointed to the fact that the notoriously racist Hells Angels will want their old drug turf back and will not be pleased with the fact that black gangs are now in control. There's trouble a'brewing in la métropole.
"The Hells Angels will definitely become more and more important, that goes without saying," said Antonio Nicaso.
[...]
Last September, the
Charbonneau Commission wrapped up. The inquiry heard testimony from almost 200 witnesses and exposed a
massive criminal conspiracy involving the mob, construction companies, unions and high-ranking municipal employees—a reminder that crime in Montreal was able to fester in an environment of political collusion.
In fact, the findings of the Commission led to the
resignation of mayor Gerald Tremblay and to the
arrests of Laval's former mayor and
Montreal's interim mayor on gangsterism and corruption charges, respectively (all of which makes
Rob Ford seem pretty benign, Toronto).