Thirty-two people have been arrested and more than $1 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine has been seized as part of an investigation by Toronto police into a decades-old street gang.
Police say they began the investigation, dubbed Project Foxx, into the Jamestown Crips in September 2023. It led them to search 35 homes across Canada, including residences in Toronto, Hamilton, Vaughan, Brampton, Mississauga and Guelph in Ontario and even in Thompson, Man.
“Numerous gang affiliates have been involved in the illegal possession of firearms. Many of these affiliates have engaged in the trafficking of illicit drugs all across Ontario, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador,” Deputy Chief Robert Johnson told reporters on Thursday morning.
“Their traffic operations have included the use of Canada Post to distribute drugs in other provinces.”
In all, Insp. Paul Krawczyk said officers seized nine guns, 4.7 kilograms of cocaine with an approximate street value of $568,000, six kilograms of methamphetamine valued at approximately $480,000 and more than $320,000 cash.
He said that once police realized drugs were being shipped through the mail, they were able to prevent a number of packages from being shipped to St. John’s, Newfoundland.
“There’s many ways, of course, that people traffic drugs, right? Planes, trains, automobiles — Canada Post is just another way,” Krawczyk said.
“In this particular instance, they use Canada Post, but it isn’t so obvious, right? They’re concealing it to make it look like a regular package. And obviously lots of packages are going through Canada Post daily, hourly. So they were trying to conceal what they were doing.”
Police said that 32 men and women are facing a total of 158 criminal charges and while most are from the Greater Toronto Area, two from Thompson and a man from Edmonton were also arrested and charged. There are another five people who police anticipate charging over the next couple of weeks as well.
Police have tied the arrests to the Jamestown Crips, a gang that has been operating out of the Rexdale neighbourhood of Toronto for decades.
“We decided to focus on a gang, that’s historically well-established in the Rexdale neighbourhood,” Krawczyk said. “That neighbourhood has experienced a disproportionate amount of violent crime that’s associated to gangs — shootings, carjackings, robberies, that kind of thing. And so our intention was to focus on that area to help relieve some of this for the community.”
The inspector does not believe that the gang will disappear as a result of the recent spate of arrests.
“Our intention is to disrupt. I’m not going to be up here trying to pretend that the gang doesn’t exist as of this morning,” he told reporters, while also noting that removing guns and drugs from the streets can only have a positive effect on the community.
“I think any time we have the ability to do that and disrupt a gang, I think that’s good for the community. And I think … how the gang looks after that, it’s difficult for me to answer.”
Police noted that the sphere of influence by Toronto gangs goes well beyond one neighbourhood.
“Their criminal networks extend far beyond Toronto, reaching into other provinces and affecting communities across the country,” Krawczyk said. “This investigation affected areas across Ontario and cities like Thompson, Manitoba, and (St. John’s), Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Their reach into these cities spreads violence, drugs and fear, and we must do everything we can to stop them.”