The integrity of Calgary's organized crime continues to pose challenges for investigators

Earlier this month, a shooting happened near a northwest mall on a sunny Saturday afternoon. A 23-year-old man was shot in the parking lot. He was taken to hospital but died.

Danny Truong was later identified as the victim, marking the 12th homicide of the year. He also has ties to organized crime in what police say is the third homicide this year.

Police were called to the Market Mall at 2:00 p.m. Saturday for a report of shots fired outside the mall's south entrance. Danny Truong, 23, was shot and later died after being taken to hospital. (Jad Marcus/CBC)

The public nature of the Market Mall shooting is shocking to many Calgarians. But police say they are working behind the scenes to prevent such incidents, and believe those efforts are starting to pay off.

However, as the organized crime landscape continues to evolve under the influence of the illegal drug trade, investigators are facing new challenges.

According to the police, the incident was not prevented during the fight

Last year, CBC News reported on the changing nature of organized crime in the city, with the once airtight loyalty becoming more tenuous.

Insp. Jody Gach with the CPS Organized Crime Unit said it still means people are turning to violence to gain more prestige and influence in the drug trade.

“Historically, we would have had FOBs and FKs, and you would have had a hierarchical structure where this person was in charge and everyone took orders from them. This is not really the case anymore,” Gach said.

Jody Gach with the Calgary Police Service believes police intervention stopped two violent incidents during the Calgary fight. (CBC)

To illustrate how things have changed, Gach cites two incidents that happened during a fight in Calgary in early July.

On July 6, the city's anti-violence unit arrested a man at Hy's Steakhouse on 8th Avenue SW. Police have charged another man with drug-related offences.

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A little more than a week later, the same team arrested and charged three men, two of whom had their serial numbers removed, after finding three loaded guns during a traffic stop.

“I fully believe we have stopped gun violence,” Gach said.

Calgary police say they seized the loaded, semi-automatic, 9mm handgun on July 6 after a violent crime squad searched the busy restaurant and found a man sitting at a table in the 400 block of Eighth Avenue. It was observed that he violated the conditions of release set by the court. (Provided by the Calgary Police Service)

Gach said these unrelated interventions stemmed from the anti-violence team's exposure to various offenders.

The arrests also highlighted the difficulties of managing a situation where gang loyalty is fragile, Gach said. It required investigators to combine data from a variety of sources, including interviews, surveillance footage and interactions observed by the suppression team, among other methods.

“It's no coincidence that we're in situations like this to make an impact before someone has a chance to use a gun,” Gach said.

Organized crime is constantly developing, driven by profit

Stephen Schneider, a professor of criminology at St. Mary's University in Halifax, says Calgary is no different from other major cities when it comes to the evolution of organized crime across the country. He is also an author Iced: A History of Organized Crime in Canada.

“Calgary is very connected to Vancouver. Most of the drugs that come into Calgary come through the port of Vancouver — cocaine, fentanyl, heroin. The same goes for human trafficking,” Schneider said.

According to him, the way of working of criminal groups is developing.

In today's landscape, major criminal gangs like the Hells Angels, which still have affiliates in Alberta, Schneider said, consist of a small core of full-time members.

While partners are fiercely loyal to the group itself, they often act as freelancers, Schneider said.

“One day you might be working with a couple of traffickers and helping them, and the next day you might be working with their competitors,” he said.

“There is no such thing as membership anymore. Very few groups require membership – maybe biker gangs and the 'Ndrangheta (a group active in Ontario and originating from Calabria, Italy) to some extent – yes, organized crime. It's network based.”

Steven Schneider, a professor of criminology at St. Mary's University in Halifax and author of “Ice: A History of Organized Crime in Canada,” says organized crime has expanded in scope over the past three decades to include technological advances and tools. dark web to internationalize their operations. (Submitted by Kirk Starratt)

In the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada's public report for 2022, the interagency organization estimates that more than 3,000 organized crime groups are known or operate in Canada. It says globalization has allowed loose networks to operate internationally and that Canadian criminal groups are expanding their geographic reach.

Drug trafficking remains a major source of illicit profits for criminal organizations, and the power of fentanyl has had a significant impact on the landscape of drug trafficking, Schneider said.

“Organized crime is very entrepreneurial and they will always make better mousetraps. If they see a way to make extra profit, even if it kills their clients, they will make extra profit,” he said.

Given that criminal networks operate beyond local jurisdictions, this makes it difficult to effectively fight organized crime, especially given that organizations are using rapidly evolving technology, Schneider said.

“Changes in organized crime are reflected in the history of organized crime. It's all changes in the structure of groups or product or marketing innovations,” he said. “It's all about constantly moving forward, constantly innovating, finding new markets, increasing profits, reducing risks.”

Calgary shootings are down compared to last year

Gach said investigators are actively working to prevent shootings at Market Mall.

“Last year we had 95 shootings at this time and this year we're up to 67,” he said.

“So while that number is still significant, I'm not discounting it, I can say that we're focusing our efforts where they need to be.”

So far in 2022, investigators have linked 18 shootings to organized crime. This year alone, 10 shootings were found to be related to organized crime. A police spokesman said officials did not have data on how many shootings through 2022 were linked to organized crime.

In addition to Truong, who was shot near Market Mall, investigators believe two other murders this year may be linked to organized crime:

When asked for more details about those contacts, a CPS spokeswoman said she could not confirm them on a case-by-case basis. However, they were found to have an organized connection to the murders “based on the criminal history or association of the individuals involved or evidence discovered during the course of the investigation.”

Doug King, a professor of criminal justice at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the shooting at Market Mall, which police are still investigating, is related to the incident.

“These people often commit crimes in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, head to Calgary, then do something in Calgary, then go to Toronto. That makes it difficult for one police agency to track them down,” says King. said.

“That's why co-operation between police agencies is so important to get any sort of solution to these offences.”