Project Corral

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 4, 2010, more than 1,000 police officers executed 105 search warrants throughout the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa, resulting, so far, in 71 arrests. In the course of executing these search warrants, police officers from numerous services across Ontario, including 36 tactical units, were used.

Officers have, so far, seized:

– 10 firearms
– $30,000 cash
– $10,500 in casino cheques
– diamonds
– cocaine
– crack cocaine
– marijuana
– hashish oil
– Ecstasy pills (more than 10,000)
– body armour
– vehicles

Project Corral started in August 2009, under the direction of the Gun and Gang Task Force – Major Project Section. It focused on a number of violent crimes in the northwest area of Toronto, believed to be a result of conflict between the area’s criminal organizations. The suspected causes included territorial control, criminal-organization hierarchy, and drugs.

Project Corral became a joint-forces operation, with the following agencies joining the Toronto Police Service: the Ontario Provincial Police, the Peel Regional Police Service, the Hamilton Police Service, the Canada Border Services Agency, and the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

The investigation identified members of the Falstaff Crips and the Five Point Generals. They allegedly trafficked in cocaine and marijuana at street level and were responsible for firearms trafficking and possession of firearms between various gang members.

As a result of the investigation into the Falstaff Crips and the Five Point Generals, it emerged that members of the Shower Posse were allegedly controlling gangs within Toronto, specifically the Five Point Generals and the Falstaff Crips.

The investigation showed the Shower Posse were allegedly responsible for a significant part of the drug trade, not only in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, but as far north as Sault Ste. Marie, west to Windsor and east to Ottawa.

Two homicides are being investigated that are related to Project Corral. These investigations are still ongoing:
Homicide #55/2009; Aeron Grant, 19; December 3, 2009; 30 Falstaff Avenue
Homicide #7/2010; Tyrell Duffus, 22; February 8, 2010; 20 Falstaff Avenue

From January 1, 2010 to May 3, 2010, Project Corral investigators, in co-ordination with other police agencies, seized:

– nine firearms
– 73 kilos of cocaine, 72 of which were seized in the Dominican Republic, allegedly destined for Toronto
– 1.5 kilos of marijuana and a quantity of hashish
– $314,000 in proceeds of crime

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It is expected that charges laid will include:

– instructing commission of an offence for criminal organization
– commit criminal offence in association with a criminal organization
– participate in activities of criminal organization (trafficking firearms, trafficking drugs)
– trafficking in firearms
– possession of prohibited firearm with ammunition
– traffic in illegal drugs
– robbery
– possession of proceeds of crime
– living on the avails of prostitution

Among the more than 1,000 officers in Project Corral, there were approximately 340 tactical officers, from the following:

– Toronto Police Service
– Ontario Provincial Police
– Peel Regional Police Service
– Hamilton Police Service
– Ottawa Police Service
– Durham Regional Police Service
– York Regional Police Service
– Sault St. Marie Police Service
– South Simcoe Police Service
– London Police Service
– Barrie Police Service
– Waterloo Regional Police Service
– Kingston Police Force
– Guelph Police Service
– Halton Regional Police Service
– Belleville Police Service
– Peterborough Lakefield Community Police Service
– Niagara Regional Police Service
– Royal Canadian Mounted Police