TORONTO – The Galloway Boys gang is one of Toronto’s most notorious gangs and have now been implicated by police in the mass shooting at a barbeque on Danzig Street, in Scarborough.
Formed in the 1980s, The Galloway Boys, also known as G-Way Boys, hail from the Kingston and Galloway area of Scarborough, east of downtown Toronto. According to ‘Our Kingston Galloway / Orton Park’ community website, the Galloway area stretches from Scarborough Golf Club Road, east to Manse Road, north to just north of Ellesmere and south to the railway tracks south of Kingston Road.
For years, the gang has had a long-running territorial battle with a rival gang, the Malvern Crew, based in northern Scarborough.
In 2004, the G-Way Boys lost a key member of the gang as a result of ‘Project Pathfinder‘, a joint investigation involving units across the Toronto Police Service.
Tyshan Riley, head of the gang in 2004, was sentenced to jail in connection with a shooting that killed one man and injured another.
In 2011, already serving a life-sentence, Riley was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder for the shooting of that occurred in 2004.
Toronto Police have now linked the Galloway Boys to several murders including the Danzig Street mass shooting in July – the worst case of gun violence in Toronto history.
The Galloway Boys shootings are fuelled by their “propensity for violence, their ability to obtain guns, and their willingness to seek revenge,” police said on Tuesday.
Police say the gang has links to the following cases:
– December 2011 murder of D’Mitre Barnaby in Scarborough
– The September 2011 ‘Domino’s shooting’ at Lawrence Avenue East and Susan Street.
– The November 4, 2011 shooting on Northfield Drive in Scarborough.
– The December 28, 2011 drive-by shooting on Kingston Road in Scarborough.
– Two shootings on Lawrence Avenue East in January and August 2012
– The August 2012 murder of a man at Lawrence Avenue East LRT station.
Police suggest that many of the recent shootings initiated by the Galloway Boys may be part of internal strife caused by those vying for leadership of the violent gang.
Though ‘Project Pathfinder’ netted many arrests in 2004, police say that those who have been released from prison may have been involved with suspects in the recent string of shootings, acting as “…mentors to the young members that we are now seeking today.”
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