Winnipeg Gang Wars

This has been cross posted to the Western Standard Blog, The Shotgun

An article over at CBC provides a picture of the current gang turf war going on in Winnipeg. Organized crime investigators report that the African Mafia has splintered into three factions and is expanding into Alberta.

These gangs are involved in black market goods to fund their activities, such as the drug trade. The ONLY reason they are able to do this is because the government prohibits the drug trade from existing legally, so it then gets pushed into the black market. The article says;

The African Mafia splintered off from another Winnipeg street gang called the Mad Cowz after the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy by members of a rival group in 2004.

African Mafia members were upset the Mad Cowz didn't properly avenge the boy's killing, Howanyk writes.

A battle then ensued over the drug trade in Winnipeg's West End neighbourhood as the two factions violently competed for turf.

The tensions between the two groups led to the death of Phil Haiart, a bystander who was shot while walking in the West End in October 2005. An errant bullet fired in a shootout between African Mafia and Mad Cowz members struck Haiart, killing him.

"The African Mafia, like other street gangs, need turf to survive, and like other gangs, the African Mafia uses violence and intimidation to expand their turf," the report says.

Their turf is the geographical area that they control with regards to black market goods. Yet, on the very same day as this news items, so also appeared this news item;

Police take down marijuana grow op

Busting people that are growing marijuana does nothing to stop the drug trade, in the 40 years since the ‘war on Drugs” was created drug use has not gone down, there is a demand there and if it can’t be met legally then people that are in black market will meet the supply, and kill people that get in their way. And not only do the people involved have the risk, so do the general public who are innocent bystanders that risk being killed in gang wats, such as Phil Haiart.

If you want to see gang violence reduced and take away a large source of their income and power, repeal prohibition, now.