Quote:
Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker
You're probably right. I just want competent criminals, no turf war, and minimal overall violence. We've managed that for a long time and I'm not convinced those three things have to change if a mainland gang takes control.
I remember in Winnipeg that people would always say, "Yes, there's lots of crime... but it really only involves one group, and if you're not going to house parties in their part of town, you won't be a victim."
I see that here a lot as well. People credit all of the gang-related crime to Alberta. They've convinced themselves it's just leeching from Fort McMurray. They think the gangs found us via there. They think the locals involved in the more delinquent, amateur (here the term would be skeetish) criminal world where you actually hear about the stabbings and stuff... are 20-something idiot oil workers with Alberta trucks who will smarten up in a few years.
It's like people want to tell themselves it's EXTREMELY transient and temporary and isn't a problem that's going to stay with us. But I think, either way, it will.
Luckily the government and police aren't seeing it that way.
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The problem is that now that the government and police are involved, and there is public exposure to this growing problem, they'll have to go persecute all the gangs equally, mainland and local. All that will do is create an opening for more gangs to pick up the slack, and take over (fight for) those existing preverbal corners while trying to create new ones.
Again, to reference BC, we had the Hell's Angels come in, and pretty much run things relatively quietly throughout most of the 80s and 90s. Sure, there were flare ups with the Triads, Vietnamese, some American biker gangs and the Russians, but all either relented or ended up working with the Angels. The biggest issue these gang wars created for the Hell's Angles was public knowledge that it(they) existed in the first place. The BC government, with helps from the feds, made life very difficult for the Angels in to the 21 Century due to a public backlash against them.
So what do you think happened?
With the HA finding it increasingly difficult to move around, and conduct business as usual, it left a large, unfilled gap for other, less-experienced, more violent gangs to take over. Drive-by shoots are so common now in Metro Vancouver, they don't make the front page unless it's like a quadruple homicide.
Anyway, I could be wrong, and this could just be a blip in St. John's underbelly with everything returning to normal in the near future, but reading what you've written, it all sounds so eerily familiar. We'll see.