Toronto Illegal Gambling
According to sources, those links are “mind-blowing” and point to transnational cartels run by China that are operating in Toronto and Vancouver, and which are running a number of illegal casinos. Illegal Gambling in Canada. Several decades ago, illegal gambling in Canada was largely the domain of organized crime. And since most forms of gambling were outlawed throughout the country prior to 1970, these unsavory individuals had plenty of chances to ply their trade. That slowly began to change in 1970, when certain previously-illegal gaming. Responding to spike in shootings, arsons in Vaughan and the surrounding area in 2017, police started “Project Sindicato,” targeting a group accused of operating illegal backroom gambling dens.
The seizure of three development companies in an investigation of illegal gambling operations shows the growing sophistication and status of outlaw bikers, says the head of Ontario’s biker enforcement unit.
Toronto police have charged over thirty people in an investigation that uncovered 33 illegal gaming houses and casinos in the city's east end. Staff Sergeant Andrew Ecklund said officers have shut. Multiple charges have been laid after a police search warrant uncovered what investigators allege was an illegal gaming house operating in Toronto’s York neighbourhood. 4th at around 8.
“I see them (outlaw motorcycle clubs) as almost equal to the mob. They are close in status and stature to the mob,” Det. Staff Sgt Scott Wade, operations manager of the OPP biker enforcement unit, said Friday. “This is high-level organized crime.”
Officers from more than 20 different agencies seized $24 million in assets, including those of three land development properties, in an operation that led to new charges last week against the former head of the London Hells Angels, Robert Barletta.
Barletta, 50, was charged with money laundering and tax evasion. In December 2019, he had been charged with 12 weapons and bookmaking charges, as well as commission of an offence for a criminal organization and income tax evasion, following a two-year investigation of illegal gambling called Operation Hobart. That effort also saw 27 other people charged and police seized $12 million worth of assets.
In the latest Operation Hobart busts on Wednesday, four other people were charged with bookmaking, commission of an offence for a criminal organization, proceeds of crime, money laundering and tax evasion. Three others were charged with money laundering and proceeds of crime. They are all to appear in court in Brampton Sept. 17.
Among those charged was Douglas English, 38, of London. He’s charged with bookmaking and the possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. He is not a member of the Hells Angels, Wade said.
Police swooped down on locations in London, Oakville, Toronto, Pickering, Welland and Thornbury on Wednesday and seized three residences, one vacant vacation property and eight vehicles, including sports cars, a vintage automobile and a Harley Davidson motorcycle, OPP said.
Toronto Illegal Gambling Rules
Officers say they also seized $82,590 in Canadian cash and $23,398 in U.S. cash, about seven kilograms of Psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and half of kilogram of marijuana with a combined value of $66,986.
But the seizure of the financial assets of three land development companies, which included building lots in the Collingwood area and a $7 million, newly-built house on one lot, stand out. None of the residences seized, nor development companies, was in London, police say.
“The violence is because of the profits. If we only arrest people and if we don’t seize the profits, we’re only doing half the job,” Wade said.
Property and violence have been front and centre in Operation Hobart, and Barletta’s name keeps popping up.
Two years ago, a suspected arson destroyed a Blue Mountain vacation property owned by a woman believed to be Barletta’s mother.
That prompted the launch of Operation Hobart, and an investigation into an alleged multimillion-dollar gambling operation police contend was run by members of the Hells Angels and an alleged Toronto crime family. (The Blue Mountain property was not among those seized in this latest round of arrests, Wade said.)
In 2019, during the Operation Hobart investigation, Hell Angels member Michael Deabauta-Schulde, 32, was killed outside a Mississauga gym. Police contend Deabauta-Schulde was a member of the same illegal gambling operation investigated in Operation Hobart. Three Montreal men are charged with first-degree murder in Deabauta-Schulde’s death.
In December 2020, about 12 hours after the OPP announced the arrests of Barletta and a female friend, among others, the woman’s $1-million house on Commissioners Road near Ridout Street in London caught on fire, another blaze fire officials called suspicious.
The roots of Operation Hobart go back to the police bust of the Platinum Sports Book gambling operation in 2013, which police say grossed more than $103 million in five years. Police say Operation Hobart and Platinum are connected, but have not elaborated.
Barletta was charged in 2013 with bookmaking and possessing proceeds of a crime. But the charges against Barletta were withdrawn in January 2017, the same day a co-accused admitted in court he was administrator of the Platinum Sports Book ring and pleaded guilty to a charge of bookmaking as participation in a criminal organization.
The court result seemed to justify Barletta’s nickname as the “Teflon biker,” someone who had kept a clean record while co-founding and for a time running the London chapter of the Hells Angels.
The only legal setback for Barletta during that time was losing his liquor licence for Famous Flesh Gordon’s, a strip club on Dundas Street.
But sources tell The Free Press Barletta has enemies.
Wade would not comment on any specific threats to Barletta, who has been out on bail since the December arrests and is not in custody on the recent charges.
But “there is a lot of violence in the outlaw motorcycle world and specifically in this organized crime group, within and without,” Wade said, noting the investigation began with an arson two years ago.
Besides several police departments and specialized units, ranging from city forces to the RCMP and Surete du Quebec, the latest investigation included members of the Canada Revenue Agency and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
The complexity of organized crime demands an equally comprehensive response from law enforcement, Wade said.
“They work together. They have no borders. If we don’t share information and intelligence, we’re not going to succeed,” he said.
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Source: The London Free Press by Randy Richmond
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Police have seized a sprawling mansion in a quiet, high-end neighbourhood north of Toronto, along with a million dollars in cash, $1.5 million in alcohol, 11 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition after investigators uncovered the luxury home was allegedly operating as an illegal casino and spa.
York Regional Police unveiled the details of their investigation, dubbed 'Project Endgame,' at a news conference in Markham, Ont., in front of the gates of the 20,000-sq.-ft. estate Wednesday. Police say it was the site of a massive underground gambling operation, complete with slot machines, mahjong tables, a full cash bar with thousands of bottles of top-shelf alcohol and a banking area.
Upstairs was a series of bedrooms that appeared to operate as a bed and breakfast. The owner and operator also had a bedroom in the home, where investigators say they found a fully loaded AR-15 rifle with a 30-round magazine along with a 9-mm handgun.
'This is organized crime truly exploiting and demonstrating their money, their positions and opulence thinking somehow that they are above the law,' York police's Deputy Chief Brian Bigras told reporters at Wednesday's press conference.
Police began hearing about the operations around late 2019, but it was during the COVID-19 pandemic that operations seemed to ramp up significantly, said Supt. Mike Slack.
Investigators first executed a search warrant at a Toronto residence on Midland Avenue on July 3, where five people were arrested for gaming offences, and investigators seized gambling tables, video slot machines and $25,000 in cash.
The investigation indicated that illegal gambling was also going on at the Markham mansion, and on July 17, York police, together with the Durham Regional Police Service and Ontario Provincial Police staged a plan to enter the mansion with tactical teams.
WATCH Police divulge details of massive gaming house bust:
But a helicopter flyover ahead of the operation found several children in the backyard being served by wait staff during what appeared to be a kind of special event. With armed guards stationed around the home, police decided to call off the operation, deciding the situation was too dangerous.
On July 23, a team of 32 investigators and 92 tactical officers descended on the home, where they uncovered what they say was a fully functioning casino operation and arrested dozens of people including the alleged owner and operator, a 32-year-old man.
But the investigation didn't end there.
Following that raid, police also identified another location in Vaughan, which they identified as the personal residence of one of the gaming house keepers. That individual, a 52-year-old man, was arrested along with his wife and daughter. Police also seized $70,000 and another $10 million in assets.
Twenty-nine people now face some 74 charges in connection with the investigation.
Since then, police say, they've executed another five gaming warrants that have led to 47 others being arrested. Those arrests are not currently believed to be linked to the Project Endgame operation, but police say they illustrate that illegal gaming in the area is not limited only to high-end operations.
'Although this location is extravagant and is clearly where the privileged were invited to play ... in the other locations organized crime is preying on the less fortunate, addicted gambler,' said Slack.
Some of those sites were in such poor condition, Slack said, they could be condemned.
Toronto Illegal Gambling Sites
'Instead of providing high-end scotch and wine, gamblers were given methamphetamine and other drugs to keep them awake and gambling,' he said.
Police say they suspect sex trafficking was also taking place at the mansion and that their investigation remains ongoing.
'The money moving through these underground casinos leads to huge profits for criminals that fund other ventures such as prostitution and drug trafficking. This illegal high-stakes gambling also leads to gun violence, armed robberies, kidnappings, extortion and other serious violent offences within our community,' said Chief Jim MacSween.
'We will continue to target organized crime in York Region and use every tool at our disposal, including forensic accounting, to ensure these criminals are held accountable.'