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For Subscribers Gta

Murder, extortion and a mass shooting: Inside the tow truck wars and the attack on Scarborough’s Piper Arms pub

Industry insiders say violence carried out over the March 7 weekend, including the mass shooting at Piper Arms pub, can be traced back to longstanding tensions between warring GTA towing factions.

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Murder, extortion and a mass shooting: Inside the tow truck wars and the attack on Scarborough's Piper Arms pub
For Subscribers Gta

Murder, extortion and a mass shooting: Inside the tow truck wars and the attack on Scarborough’s Piper Arms pub

Industry insiders say violence carried out over the March 7 weekend, including the mass shooting at Piper Arms pub, can be traced back to longstanding tensions between warring GTA towing factions.


Abby O’Brien

Abby O’Brien is a Toronto-based general assignment reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: abbyobrien@thestar.ca

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    1. Comment by David.

      So comforting to know such corruption and lawlessness goes on around us, the hard working tax paying citizens that we are. Wound be curious to know if this is all home grown or if involvement with international crime synidcates as we are seeing in the south Asian community in Peel Region.

    2. Comment by Glenn.

      These tow trucks have police scanners and these scanners are illegal

      Yet the police in every part of the GTHA do nothing about them.

      The province can do something about this but have no money left

    3. Comment by Kez.

      It's no coincidence this mess started right after Trudeau legalized cannabis. Organized crime lost a huge and stable source of illicit revenue, and are now pushing into other activities and enterprises to make up for it. Hopefully our judicial institutions can put a lid on this soon, before anymore innocent people get hurt or taken advantage of.

    4. Comment by Philip.

      We need to amend the YCJA such that parents are held responsible for their children’s crimes. Rehabilitate the kids, but fine the heck out of the irresponsible parents. No parent should be so out of touch and hands-off with their minor children that their kids can own guns and go out at night shooting people for gangs. As a parent, I would have thought this is instinctual, but apparently some parents need an external motivation to do their job.

    5. Comment by Orson.

      Tow truck drivers should be given a mandatory annual test and assessment of how they operate. This should include dashcam and black box monitoring. Zero tolerance policy needed to keep these bad actors off the road.

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