Violent Toronto Gangs Show Their True Colours, Leaving Many Youngsters Feeling Trapped
Posted June 23, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
For many, the only thought given to the colour you wear is to make sure it matches your shoes or purse, but something as simple as a red T-shirt or a blue bandana has much deeper significance in certain parts of the city.
A 22-year-old man was stabbed to death during a soccer celebration Thursday night and while police haven’t directly linked the murder to a gang, witnesses claim the victim was killed because he was in the wrong place wearing the wrong colour.
Gang killings over colours are an unfortunate reality south of the border and aren’t very common in Canada, but rival criminal groups here have been known to take a life over trivial things.
“We’re up to homicide eight here in this division already this year and most of that’s gang related,” Sgt. Steven Hicks of 31 Division explained.
Thursday’s murder happened in the Jane and Wilson area – a region that’s had trouble with gangs. Within the neighbourhood there’s the Falstaff community, which residents say is ruled by the Crips. Just up the street is Chalkfarm, which is Bloods territory.
“Here we specifically have Bloods and Crips and different other gangs like the Gators and Five Point Generals and all that kind of stuff, where they use a colour for their association,” Hicks said.
Investigators say many gang members don’t stay loyal to one group for life and they actually switch between gangs or wear a rival group’s colours while they commit crimes to throw off police.
One resident named Janet who’s raising her 12-year-old son in the Falstaff area says children in the neighbourhood are forced to represent the gangs by wearing their colours.
“Even if they’re not in the gang, they have to wear the colours because then if they’re not wearing blue, then they get busted by the (older kids),” she explained.
