Pickering Bodies are suspected to be that of Indo-Canadians

Bodies of two men were found in the trunk of an abandoned car in rural Pickering, killings with all the hallmarks of a gang hit. The bodies are suspected to be that of Indo-Canadians as a car full of Indo-Canadian men from Brampton paid a visit to the crime scene with one of the men saying in accented English that his brother had been missing for a while and he suspected one of the dead to be the missing man.
"Our brother, he's been missing for the last two days, right?" said an Indo-Canadian man, who didn't identify himself.
It's not clear yet if the family members are related to either of the dead men, Durham Det. Mitch Martin said.
"The act doesn't appear to be random to me," Martin said, trying to calm fears of residents in the rural area.
But although it appears the two victims were targeted, Martin didn't elaborate on the killings, saying the investigation is in its early stages.
"We're looking for suspects, we don't have anybody in custody," he said.
Detectives wouldn't confirm or deny reports the victims were shot and beaten, or comment on a motive in the region's second and third murders of the year
But there was "trauma on both bodies," Martin said.
The bodies, one of a Peel resident and the other whose hometown hasn't been revealed, were found around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday after an area resident reported a vehicle parked on Rosebank Rd., just north of Taunton Rd.
The Ottawa Valley plays a role in the investigation, sources said.
Other GTA police and the OPP are assisting in the investigation, Durham Police spokesman Dave Selby said. Traces of blood were found next to the car. Martin wouldn't confirm reports that the car was a rental from Toronto. Autopsies are expected to be performed today on the bodies that were kept in the vehicle as it was taken away for forensic examination.

One man was killed but another survived after shooting happened outside a restaurant at 1176 Kennedy Rd, just north of Lawrence Ave.

One man was killed but another survived after shooting happened outside a restaurant at 1176 Kennedy Rd, just north of Lawrence Ave.Emergency crews who rushed to the scene found only one victim, believed to be a man in his 20s. Despite frantic efforts to save his life, he died in ambulance.About 20 minutes later, police allege that a second victim walked into Scarborough General Hospital. He had allegedly been shot in the groin.Officers have said the two shootings are linked. Toronto Police are investigating the homicide, the city's 10th of the year. While witnesses reported seeing suspects running south on Kennedy after the attack, there's no word on a description.

Dayne Rose bullet-riddled body found on a busy Toronto highway

Homicide detectives investigating the slaying of a man who was shot and ejected from a luxury car along a busy stretch of Highway 401 have plenty of eyewitness reports of the incident but few strong leads, a police source said Wednesday.Dayne Rose, born in Canada but with ties to Jamaica, was known to Toronto police but had only minor brushes with the law and had no criminal record, a police source told The Globe and Mail.bullet-riddled body found on a busy Toronto highway is that of a 29-year-old man with no criminal record, a police source says.He would have turned 30 next month."He's not a drug dealer, he's not a gang-banger, he's not on the radar," the source told the newspaper.Police were investigating whether Rose was shot before being pushed out of a moving car on Highway 401 in Toronto about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday or whether he jumped out and then was shot, The Toronto Star reported.
Police were unsure if striking the road contributed to Rose's death.
An autopsy was conducted Wednesday night.Police Tuesday seized a luxury Lexus believed connected to the incident and took several people into custody for questioning, but they were later released, The police working theory is that there were three people in the car – Mr. Rose, another man and a woman. But while one witness has described seeing Mr. Rose being shot by a woman who was seated in the back seat on the passenger side, others have disputed that account.
The Lexus is registered to a Mississauga woman whom Mr. Rose knew, and who has been interviewed by police. But she was not in the car at the time and the identity of his two companions remains moot.
“Wouldn't we love to know,” the source said, adding that police are still anxious to speak to anyone else who saw the incident.Tuesday's killing, shortly before rush hour on one of the country's busiest highways, backed up traffic for many kilometres, frustrating tens of thousands of commuters before the road was fully reopened early Wednesday.
The death, Toronto's 49th homicide this year, drew a spirited response from Mayor David Miller, who has long urged the federal government to impose an outright ban on handguns.“People who commit violence in Toronto are going to go to jail and they need to know that. But the sad fact is it is much too easy for them to get guns,” he said.
“That's why this city council is so determined to fight to get handguns off the street.”Premier Dalton McGuinty concurred, saying he too is weary of the violence and that no one should have access to handguns except police.“Handguns are the weapon of choice for the criminal element,” he said. Traffic on Highway 401 returned to near-normal Wednesday as police continued searching for forensic evidence. Cars were at a standstill during the afternoon rush hour and into the evening Tuesday.

Toronto gangland three young men were killed by gunshots

Police in Toronto's west end encountered a gruesome murder scene this morning. As of this writing there is still no official announcement of the cause of the deaths from Toronto police, but media reports confirm three young men were killed by gunshots.
The police found three people shot dead in a vehicle located at Valermo and Lunness roads at 3:40 a.m. They haven't released the genders or ages of the victims, or even how they died. Police said all three suffered "from trauma" and that all three had been pronounced dead. But Toronto radio stations reported that sources with Emergency Medical Services in the city said the three died from gunshot wounds.
It's almost a sure bet these deaths are drug and gang related -- as are almost all the gun killings in major urban centres in Canada.

MS-13 arrests, which resulted from a total of 22 early-morning search warrants executed in the three areas of the GTA, obtained cocaine, firearms

In an effort to crack down on a gang from gaining traction in the Greater Toronto Area, a co-ordinated effort between police forces in Toronto, York Region and Peel Region has resulted in 21 arrests.More than 20 people alleged to be a part of a growing South American street gang, are facing drugs and weapons charges following a series of police raids across the GTA today, including four in Mississauga.
Toronto police headed the large probe, which included raids on homes in Mississauga's City Centre area.So far, 21 people have been arrested. The names of those charged and other details are expected to be released tomorrow morning.
During the spring of 2008, investigators from the Integrated Gun & Gang Task Force, which includes officers from Peel, looked into the distribution of controlled drugs, firearms, and acts of violence surrounding a group of men in the northwest area of Toronto and surrounding region. As a result, investigators identified numerous people and addresses allegedly used to facilitate the distribution of illicit drugs and weapons, according to Toronto Deputy Police Chief Tony Warr. Some of the persons identified are believed to be members of the organized criminal street gang known as MS 13The violent gang is composed mostly of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and people from other Central and South American countries.
The gang has moved beyond its Salvadoran and American origins and now can be found in other nations, including Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Spain, Great Britain and Germany. Police say the gang's criminal activities have included murder, drug smuggling and sales, black market gun sales, human trafficking, theft and assaults.Investigators have seized large quantities of cocaine, firearms and other prohibited weapons and a significant amount of cash related to proceeds of crime, in the GTA probe. The arrests, which resulted from a total of 22 early-morning search warrants executed in the three areas of the GTA, obtained cocaine, firearms and cash related to proceeds of crime, police said. In Toronto, the searches were focused in the northwest portion of the city. The investigation focused on an international gang, MS-13, with ties to the United States and South America.Police made the announcement in a brief press conference Wednesday, June 4, afternoon at police headquarters.

Constantin (Big Gus) Alevizos

Constantin (Big Gus) Alevizos, 45 stumbled into the halfway house late last night with gunshot wounds to either the back or stomach, said Const. Wayne Patterson.
Peel Regional Police received a call around 10 p.m. with a report that someone had been shot at St. Leonard’s Place, a transition house for both homeless men with serious mental illnesses and ex-offenders.
“We do know what he had been in prison for but at this time we need to revisit his past as we investigate,” said Patterson.
Alevizos was sentenced in a Newmarket court to three years in prison last February for his role in a drug conspiracy, the last of 32 co- accused to be sentenced — without a single trial held.
Alevizos was part of a large police investigation that hampered the expansion of the Montreal Mafia into Ontario, shut down one of the largest Ecstasy vendors in Canada and sparked the recent arrests of some of the biggest names in crime.
In an interview last year with the National Post, Alevizos dismissed suggestions he stole any cash and said that he was only afraid of only two things in life: God and his mother.
He was once described by a witness as the "biggest man I've ever seen" and by police as a 6-foot-6 male weighing 460 pounds earning him the nickname “Big Gus.”
One of Alevizos' closest friends, Gaetano Panepinto, was tight with outlaw motorcycle gang members, mafiosi, and high volume drug dealers.
He signed on early with the Rizzuto organization, the powerful Montreal-based Mafia family, when it started moving into Ontario, which gave him tremendous influence in the underworld.
Police do not have any suspects and are asking anyone who may have witnessed the shooting to come forward.
Alevizos had a pulse when police arrived but his vital signs soon disappeared, police said. He was then transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Alivezos was an all-star for the Guelph Gryphons university football team in the late 1980s. He also tried out for the Toronto Argonauts, in a brief career in the Canadian Football League.

Mr. Mao was standing on the street stacking oranges when he was killed.

No arrests have been made, and the only solid lead disclosed by police involves two black men seen fleeing the scene in a small silver car.
The pair is thought to have either witnessed the shooting or to have been the intended targets.
At the time, 6:30 p.m., the street was packed with shoppers and homeward-bound residents, several of whom gave statements to police.
But after the first day of the investigation the flow of information swiftly dried up, much to the homicide squad's dismay.
Now witnesses appear to be responding to a fresh appeal for assistance. Along with at least two anonymous Crime Stoppers tips, four people stepped forward yesterday and will be interviewed, Det. Gray said.
Hours of closed-circuit surveillance tape are also being scrutinized.
Tomorrow evening on Gerrard Street, meanwhile, at the exact time and place of Mr. Mao's death, a Chinese-language flyer will be handed out seeking further help.
Later in the evening, Mr. Mao's family will hold a ritual at the site of his death, stemming from the belief that a soul taken by such violence could remain in a sort of limbo.
At around 9 p.m., a monk will bring to the crime scene a piece of Mr. Mao's clothing that will be used to summon his soul to the Wing Sung Funeral Chapel on Spadina Avenue, where his body has been laid out in preparation for his funeral Friday.
A recent arrival to Canada and the father of two young adults, Mr. Mao was standing on the street stacking oranges when he was killed.
His death struck a public nerve, marking the second gun killing of a bystander in Toronto in under a week: A shooting on Yonge Street in the early morning of Jan. 12 claimed the life of 42-year-old John O'Keefe as he was walking home.
Det. Gray said she remained hopeful the killing will be solved but refused to speculate on what sparked the gunplay.
"It doesn't matter to me frankly, I can't imagine what motivation there might be," she said.
"There was some kind of argument between two groups, but I refuse to speak to motive because then it becomes like an excuse - and there's no excuse, right?"
Yesterday Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair moved to assuage public anxiety over the two deaths during questioning by the Police Services Board.
"It's important to keep these things in perspective," he said.
"There were three such events in all of 2007. So far this year there are two. It is not indicative of a trend. It is worrisome ... but I don't think it is proof that the city is unsafe."
Chief Blair said the federal government does not support his call for a firearms ban in Ontario, but that proposed federal legislation to introduce new offences, increase mandatory minimum sentences and reform bail conditions for gun offenders has "great promise."
He said that while police have made great strides in dismantling gangs and engaging the community, policing is only one aspect of the battle, which includes stemming the availability of firearms and streamlining the prosecution of offenders