Allegiances within Calgary organized crime remain fluid, posing challenges for investigators

Earlier this month, gunfire erupted outside a busy northwest shopping 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. It also had a connection to organized crime, police say, the third such homicide so far this year.

The public nature of the Market Mall shooting will have shocked many Calgarians. But police say they are working behind the scenes to try to prevent such incidents — and they believe those efforts are starting to pay off.

Yet, as the organized crime landscape continues to evolve, driven by the illegal drug trade, investigators are increasingly faced with new challenges.

Police believe incident avoided during Stampede

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

Insp. Jodi Gach with CPS's organized crime section said that's still the case, with people turning to violence to gain more authority and influence in the drug-trafficking trade.

"Historically, we would've had the FOB and the FK, and you'd have your hierarchy structure of, this person's in charge, and everyone's taking orders from them. It's not really like that anymore," Gach said.

To illustrate how things have changed, Gach cited two incidents that took place around the time of the Calgary Stampede near the beginning of July. 

On July 6, the city's violent crime suppression team arrested an individual in Hy's Steakhouse on 8th Avenue S.W. It's alleged that the suspect had a loaded semi-automatic handgun concealed in a bag. Police charged another individual with drug-related offences.

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

"I fully believe that we stopped violent incidences involving guns from happening," Gach said.

These interventions, which were not connected, resulted from the violent crime suppression team's familiarity with various offenders, according to Gach.

The arrests also illustrated the challenges of managing a situation where allegiances within groups are fluid, Gach said. It required investigators to integrate data from various sources, including interviews, CCTV footage and interactions observed by the suppression team, among other methods.

"It's not by chance that we're placed in these situations to be able to try and have an impact before somebody has an opportunity to utilize a gun," Gach said.

Organized crime constantly evolving, driven by profit

When it comes to the evolution of organized crime across the country, Calgary is not dissimilar to other major cities, according to Stephen Schneider, a professor in the department of criminology at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. He is also the author of Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada.

"Calgary is inextricably linked to Vancouver. A lot of the drugs going into Calgary will come through the port of Vancouver — cocaine, fentanyl, heroin. And the same with human trafficking," Schneider said.

He says the way criminal groups work continues to evolve.

In the current landscape, major crime groups like the Hells Angels — which still have associates all over Alberta — consist of a small core of full members, according to Schneider.

While associates may have a strong allegiance to the group itself, in many cases they act as freelancers, Schneider said.

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

"There's no such thing, really, as membership anymore. Very few groups require inducted membership — maybe biker gangs and 'Ndrangheta [a group which is active in Ontario and based out of Calabria, Italy] to some extent — so yes, organized crime is very fluid. It's very much based on networking."

In Criminal Intelligence Service Canada's 2022 public report, the inter-agency organization says more than 3,000 organized crime groups are known or believed to be operating in Canada. It says globalization has enabled loose networks to operate internationally, adding Canadian crime groups are expanding their geographic scope.

Drug trafficking remains the primary source of illicit profits for criminal organizations, and the potency of fentanyl has significantly impacted the drug trade landscape, Schneider said.

"Organized crime is highly entrepreneurial, and they are always making a better mousetrap. If they see a way to make an extra buck, even if that kills off their clientele, they're gonna make an extra buck," he said.

Given the fact that criminal networks are operating beyond local jurisdictional boundaries, it makes it difficult to effectively combat organized crime — especially given that organizations are utilizing rapidly evolving technology, Schneider said.

"Change in organized crime is reflected in the history of organized crime. It's all about change within the structure of groups, or the innovation of product or marketing," he said. "It's all about constantly moving forward, constantly innovating, finding new markets, maximizing profits, minimizing risks."

Calgary shootings have decreased from last year

Gach said investigators are working proactively to try to prevent shootings like the one that took place at Market Mall.

"Last year, we were at 95 shootings at this point in the year, and this year, we're at 67," she said.

"So although the number is still concerning, and I'm not minimizing that, I can say that we've focused our efforts where we need to."

Up to this point of the year in 2022, 18 shootings had been linked to organized crime by investigators. To date this year, 10 shootings have been linked to organized crime. A police spokesperson said officials didn't have data tracked on how many shootings were tied to organized crime prior to 2022.

In addition to Truong, who was shot outside Market Mall, investigators say they believe two other homicides this year had a connection to organized crime:

• Kensington Safeway shooting in April.
• Martindale shooting of 15-year-old girl in March.

When asked for more details on those connections, a spokesperson with CPS said they couldn't confirm those for each case. However, they said a homicide is determined to have an organized connection based on "either the criminal history or associations of the individuals involved or based on evidence learned through the investigation."

When it comes to the Market Mall shooting, police are still investigating, something that speaks to the challenge at hand, according to Doug King, a criminal justice professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

"These individuals oftentimes will commit a criminal offence in the Lower Mainland in British Columbia and head to Calgary, and then do something in Calgary and then head to Toronto. It makes it really hard for a single police agency to track them down," King said.

"That's why co-operation between police agencies is absolutely central to getting any kind of traction towards solving these offences."