The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

stouffville suntribune b thursday march 3 2005 13 there is a big organized crime presence in york region theyre into everything from street crimes to more serious crimes drugs loan sharking gambling extortion a wide variety of offences from simple assaults to homicides younger criminals play hollywood roles from page 1 the part det stilo said usually the younger members of the organization like to play that hollywood type role the upper level members like to keep a low profile they dont want to attract attention to themselves det stilo said people see an italian guy driv ing an escalade or dressed in a nice suit and they figure hes in the mafia its just like with bikers they see a heavy set guy with a goatee on a harley and people assume hes a member of an outlaw biker gang thafs not always the case it all depends on their role in organization if theyre doing collections or if theyre the muscle if they want to intimidate theyll be more visible those at the upper level they want to keep tilings at arms length antonio nicaso who has written close to a dozen books on organized crime says york region is a major area of investment for criminal organizations there is room for investment in york region it is a good place to invest money legitimate money he said the criminal groups invest money made outside the region in legitimate businesses here mr nicaso said they use front men you would never suspect to be running a business for criminals he said like any business person they are attracted by relatively low taxes and developable land sometimes someone gets too greedy or someone makes a mistake and they are shot dead but thats a business decision sometimes murder is a busi ness necessity from a criminal perspec tive mr nicaso said the face of organized crime has changed says the retiring head of the rcmps organized crime unit chief- supt ben soave these days ethnic boundaries no longer divide organized crime groups instead larger criminal organizations are forged with different criminal groups lending expertise to one another theres no longer turf wars these criminal organizations dont operate in isolation youve got russians italians asians and bikers all working together he said york regions ethnic diversity is partic ularly attractive to this new breed of criminal organization det stilo said you have traditional organized crime primarily in vaughan and asian organ ized crime based in markham where they are geographically so close to one another that they can work together to obtain their goals det stilo said each group seems to be involved more heavily in certain offences like asian organized crime is more involved in marijuana grow houses but were finding as time goes by more and more of them are working together here 22 cops track organized crime york regional police have 22 investi gators keeping a close eye on local organized crime we monitor people weve identi fied as involved in organized crime and gather intelligence on their criminal activity said det david stilo a 13year veteran of the organized crime unit each case is extremely complex and very interesting from a police perspec tive the bureau helps other officers investigate crimes that may have links to organized crime det stilo said well go out in the community to see if any people are having problems with organized crime being extorted or having to pay protection money wherever we think we can obtain infor mation we go he said as a result york police have been involved in some of the largest organ- ized crime arrests in canadian history in july 1998 after a two year investi- gation dubbed project onierta the rcmps combined forces special enforcement unit working closely with york regional police arrested several key members of the cuntreracaruana sicilian crime family one of the most established and largest drug smuggling and money laundering organizations in the world the familys leader alfonso caruana was living in woodbridge at the time he was convicted in 2000 and sen tenced to 18 years for conspiracy to import and traffic in a controlled sub stance mr caruana was ordered extra dited back to italy in 2004 martin derbyshire 6425111 durban steam 8526711 loose rugs r br0adl00m upholstery 3m scotchquard stouflville kinsmen tooniedraw corner this weeks winners brimad tire don schofield widemans auto mike gibson 41 0 auto york goiz win a pool tabe or 1 300 cash provided by nelson billiards visit one of these participating locations- advanced automotive anns fabric bill houston ford boyds sports brimad tire auto bruces auto service casa massimo salon earl of whitchurch fame international 41 0 auto grecco pizza inside out decorating magnum copy centre mm meat shop mickey rats bar grill n a automotive pet value stouffville car care tanning zone widemans auto works pool table draw to be held november 1420p1 pm at nelson billiards lottery ucense 7 mm w newmarkettheme presents michael burgess live on stage saturday march 19 200s h 800 pm 0 all seats 4500 saturday march 26 2005 800 pm k all seats 4500 0 taxesextra the newmarket theatre box office is open monday to friday from l530pm saturday from noon to 4pm 24 hour ticket order hotline 9059535122 reesor orgailic beef we are pleased to be selling certi fied organic beef from lakefield ontario true to organic standards no steroids or antibiotics are used on the animals and they have been fed organically raised hay and organic grain we stock this naturally lean beef as frozen steaks porterhouse rib sirloin roasts stewing beef and extra lean ground beef roastillg chickens these birds are free range and hormone and drug free and come from wallenstein ontario they roast up beautifully and make a great soup these chickens are available frozen and will be available fresh on march 4 5 its good to know your food reesor tuesdayfriday 9- 630 saturday 9 500 sunday and monday closed r- i 100 ringwood dr stouffville 200 metres past randys appliances 905 6402270 wwwrcesorfarmkitchcncom bring in this ad by march 12 and receive 200 off a frozen 32 oz soup i i i