Assessment of the SPVM Anti-gang | Criminals on the prowl in 2024

A major investigation surrounding the revelations of a former hitman who hangs over Montreal’s organized crime like a sword of Damocles, another which hovers over a mafia clan in the LaSalle sector, strikes repetition against street gangs, record seizures of cocaine: Montreal criminals have been living in apprehension since mid-2024, says the Police Service of the City of Montreal (SPVM).

“There are a few who have more difficulty sleeping at night. This is what the streets are currently telling us,” says the commander of the SPVM’s Organized Crime Division (Antigang), Francis Renaud.

Since the summer of 2022, a former Montreal organized crime killer, Frédérick Silva, has been collaborating with the police and for almost three years, investigators from the SPVM and the Sûreté du Québec have been carrying out a major investigation called Alliance into around sixty murders, murder attempts and plots that have occurred since the early 2000s, and dissected by the former assassin.

We do not know exactly when this investigation of the decade will end, but the more time passes, the more the criminal community senses the fateful date approaching.

Furthermore, in May, Antigang investigators carried out, as part of an investigation called Americano, several searches at the homes of alleged traffickers linked to a mafia clan in the southwest of Montreal. The sleuths notably seized 2.5 million in money and 12 firearms. They also obtained the blocking of assets worth 5 million. Arrests are expected to follow in 2025.

Also in 2024, Antigang investigators seized more than 300 kilos of cocaine with a total value of approximately 5.5 million, based on the current value of a kilo of cocaine in Montreal, or approximately $18,000.

They also got their hands on 150 kilos of crystal meth, 20 kilos of MDMA, around fifty firearms and 4 million in cash.

“In 2024, we hit different criminal spheres and all that put together made criminals fear the police. Normally, they rather fear their enemies and we are far down on their list of apprehensions. But since the middle of this year, our sources have been telling us that they are afraid that someone will come knocking on their door,” explains Commander Renaud.

Pizzo War: the truce continues

In 2024, Antigang investigators were also involved in the investigation into the arson which cost the lives of a French tourist and her 7-year-old daughter, in Old Montreal, in October. The two suspected arsonists were quickly arrested.

According to our information, an extortion attempt against a restaurateur would be the motive for the crime and since this fire, the war of the pizzo – sum demanded from the merchant by the criminals in exchange for supposed protection – which raged last summer between three gangs and of which owners and restaurateurs in Montreal and Laval were victims seems to have stopped.

“The traders talk to us a lot more than they used to. They are less afraid, they know we are there. We also sat down with the Restaurant Association. The messages have been sent, and communication is easier,” says Mr. Renaud.

The failure of the system

Some information circulating suggests that the fire in Old Montreal and other crimes linked to the wave of extortion were ordered from inside prisons and penitentiaries, by defendants or convicted persons who managed to smuggle in telephones. cells inside the walls.

“It’s a scourge,” reacts Commander Renaud.

“Society has already benefited from putting these people in prison and it makes no sense that they can continue to commit the same crimes they were doing on the outside. It has an impact on our work,” he laments.

“This not only has an impact on the work of police officers but on citizens as well. When you see that, ultimately, the same individual continues the same crimes once convicted, I believe that this demonstrates the failure of the system. He can do even worse, because he has nothing left to lose. There will have to be results quickly, if we still want to believe in this system,” adds his colleague, inspector Jean-Sébastien Caron.

“We are in their face”

The number of armed violence events continued to decrease in Montreal in 2024.

Francis Renaud explains this decline by the work of his investigators, but also those of the regions, the Collectives, the multi-sectoral teams assigned to firearms, the Integrated Firearms Team, the police officers of the Eclipse squad , specializing in the collection of intelligence on organized crime and the surveillance of licensed establishments and patrol officers.

Gang members are particularly monitored.

“Our police officers are committed and agile. Every week, we make unpublicized arrests. We’re in their face, as hockey coaches would say. And that means we get good information. Its quality facilitates our investigations,” says Francis Renaud.

The judicial bulletin

Finally, the commander is also pleased with the results obtained in court this year.

In the wake of several cocaine seizures and dismantling of methamphetamine production laboratories carried out in 2024, several suspects have already pleaded guilty, are awaiting their sentence or have received it, and the duration varies on average between six and nine years.

“It’s interesting, because citizens rarely have a reference. The public may wonder what is going on with the suspects we arrest. Our real bulletin is received at the court,” concludes Commander Renaud.

To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.