MOBLAND: How global organized crime came to call Canada home

“Glorious” has been a byword for mobsters in Canada over the past two decades.

Lax sentencing, little oversight, and a government that has either been a) hopelessly naive; b) stupid; c) cynically playing for ethnic votes; or d) all of the above.

“It was a glorious time.”

— Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), Goodfellas

“Canada has become a hub for organized crime,” Queen’s University professor and globally recognized organized crime expert Antonio Nicaso told the Toronto Sun.

“It is a territory where organized crime can establish a grip. There are very few groups that are not represented here.”

While the problem first emerged during Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, it has accelerated rapidly under the Justin Trudeau Liberals.

Over the past two decades, even the phrase “organized crime” has changed in meaning. Traditionally, Canadians think of mobsters of Italian extraction who are members of Cosa Nostra or the N’Draghetta.

Now, the criminal milieu is a veritable United Nations of ethnicities where the only colour that matters is green.

Canada has become a hub for global money laundering with between $45 billion and $113 billion per year washed through real estate, the big banks, crypto and casinos.

And that cash funds enterprises such as the production and peddling of fentanyl and other crimes.

“Thankfully, violence is seldom used,” Nicaso said, adding that Mexican and Latin American crime groups are the most bloodthirsty.

“Most adhere to using violence sparingly, only when necessary, strategically,” he explained.

Nicaso said that while the casualty rate in gangland is low, corruption in Canada is through the roof. Mobsters need the cooperation of institutions to make the machine work.

“To thrive, organized crime must corrupt the institutions, the straight businesses, the politicians and the police. It infests everything,” Nicaso said.

Organized crime has become increasingly decentralized to protect the borgatas against the cops.

Nicaso said this is a global trend with the Sicilian Mafia deciding not to name a “boss of bosses.”

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One of the harbingers almost certain to play out with bullets on Canadian streets is the 53% drop in the price of cocaine.

In addition, Nicaso said an underground global banking system, 90% controlled by the Chinese triads (read Chinese Communist Party), has vexed law enforcement.

“With this system, criminals no longer have to physically move their money. They get a QR code or the equivalent in crypto,” Nicaso said. “Then they’ll use the money to buy cocaine or other drugs or guns.”

Traditionally, the most effective way to shatter organized crime was to follow the money. The underground bank makes that tougher for cops to do.

Nicaso noted there are several reasons why Canada is so popular with crooks. It’s a low-risk, high-reward jurisdiction with lax enforcement and an indifferent government.

“It is also a perfect place to launder money because there is a lack of legislation to fight back, but it hasn’t just been the past 10 years, it has always been an issue in Canada,” Nicaso said.

But one Rx for the crisis would be a made-in-Canada RICO Act, he said.

RICO is the acronym for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in the United States, which is designed to prosecute criminal organizations. The target can be a crime family like the Gambinos or an enabling bank

“Canada is a criminal microcosm; it is the place to be,” he said. “There is a similar law in Italy, but Canada has never done that, and as a result, nothing happens to criminals.”

Nicaso agreed that Canada’s demographics and the fear of being labelled racist have given gangsters an easy ride.

“It has been considered an ‘ethnic problem’ and politicians have long been very careful not to criminalize some groups,” he said. “I’m of Italian descent … is everyone of Italian descent involved in the Mafia? Of course not.”

“Politicians don’t want to address this issue,” Nicaso said.

The United States has also underscored how the Mexican cartels, Chinese mobs and Eastern European criminals have exploited Canada’s weak borders and financial system to unleash a wave of drugs into North America.

“If you compare our system with the U.S. in risk, detection and prosecution, you are wise to make Canada your home,” Nicaso said.

Wily Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Massino saw the problem and responded accordingly. Busted in a RICO investigation, Massino did what no other godfather had done: He flipped.

“Joe Massino did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison or face the death penalty. He would not have that problem in Canada, but because of RICO, he became an informant.

“We’ve never had a mobster on that level become an informant,” Nicaso said. “In the U.S., you can only bargain (your sentence) down if you have something to offer.

“Why do that in Canada? You can bargain down and get less than 10 years for serious crimes without the need to collaborate. Prosecutors here just give it to you. Keep your mouth shut. Keep the money.”

A made-in-Canada RICO would be a game changer, Nicaso said, adding current anti-gang laws are “Mickey Mouse.”

Only Quebec has effectively used the laws on the books.

Until 1957, most U.S. politicians and the FBI denied the existence of the Mafia.

The same is true of Canada today.

“Politicians don’t seem to believe that organized crime is a problem here,” Nicaso said.