After wave of teen arrests tied to organized crime, experts say it's 'nothing new'

After police arrested a dozen teens in the span of a week, parents are worried their kids are being recruited by organized crime groups. But experts say it's nothing new and more prevention work is necessary.

Parents of Quebec teenagers are worried that high schools are becoming "recruitment grounds" after police arrested a dozen teens it believes have ties to organized crime. But experts say it's nothing new and better prevention measures are needed.

Last week, Montreal police arrested seven teens between the ages of 14 and 17 who allegedly belonged to a gang based in the St-Leonard borough.

Police also arrested a 15-year-old in connection with a weekend arson attempt, and this week, three people aged 17 to 19 years old were arrested in connection with shooting up a building in Old Montreal. Nobody was injured in the shooting.

The targeted building is owned by Montreal businessman Emile Benamor, who also owns two Old Montreal buildings that were hit by suspicious fires — one last week and the other in March 2023. A total of nine people died in the two fires.

One of the suspects arrested in connection with last week's fire is 18.

There was also the case of a 14-year-old from Saint-Leonard who died in the Beauce region after reportedly being sent to attack a bunker allegedly belonging to a Hells Angels puppet gang in Frampton, Que.

Pietro Bozzo, head of the Maison de la famille de Saint-Leonard, said although a minority of kids are getting involved in crime, it's been giving teenagers in the area a bad reputation.

"It's been very, very emotional for a lot of the families, and especially because it's a close-knit group, everybody knows each other, and word of mouth gets out," he said.

"Nonetheless, here we are, and parents are really at a loss to see how they can control these gangs going in and trying to recruit their teens."

'Loss of confidence'

On Thursday, Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher called on parents to work with police.

"If officers knock on your door with concerns about your kid being headed for trouble ... don't close the door," he said at a news conference.

However, Pietro said many families might not trust the police or youth protection services.

"There's a sort of a loss of confidence in the ability of the police and the establishment to take care of what they consider pretty serious security problems," he said.

Valentin Pereda, an assistant professor at the school of criminology at Université de Montréal, warns against sweeping statements like "we're seeing more street gangs, more youths involved in crime."

"This increased visibility in youth violence or youth involvement in gang activity is actually a side effect of other factors that are not necessarily related to an increase in marginalization or in youth crime," he said.

Though police might make significant arrests targeting criminal organizations, the root causes of crime aren't addressed, said Pereda.

"If the causes of crime remain, then those people will be replaced by somebody else," he said, like someone younger and more reckless.

Changing the rules

Dagher told journalists Thursday that 30 years ago, when he first joined the police forces, "it was the same," but the players and context have now changed.

"It's disgusting to use kids as footsoldiers," he said.

"These kids want to be heard and loved. They're looking for another vibe and criminal groups know how to trap them. They know how to make them feel important," he said.

Experts agree that with crime leaders getting older, the rules and codes groups and gangs live by are changing.

Maria Mourani, a criminologist and the head of Mourani Criminologie, said organized crime groups aren't "becoming more disorganized," as Public Security Minister François Bonnardel suggested at a news conference Friday.

Kids as young as 11 years old have always been recruited into criminal groups, said Mourani, adding, "It's not new."

She said that from the mid-2000s until right before the pandemic, Montreal's criminal ecosystem had a certain balance because of alliances between the Hells Angels, the Italian Mafia and "OGs." They typically resolved conflict quickly and quietly.

"The new generation is breaking the rules," she said. "They don't want to work for the bikers anymore," and that makes it more likely for them to get caught.

Better prevention measures needed

Bonnardel boasted to journalists that the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government made massive investments in police corps since coming into power, "more than any other provincial administration." These investments allowed thousands of new officers to join the ranks.

But Mourani said that money is going to waste because not enough attention is paid to preventative measures, and the ones in place aren't always targeting the right kids.

She said it's true that schools are recruitment grounds for gangs — and always have been — because that's where kids are, and that's where the resources need to go.

"Kids who are in gangs or vulnerable, they're in schools. Schools have to get specialists in gang activity," she said.

Bozzo of Maison de la famille Saint-Leonard echoed the sentiment. He said that though his organization and others like his set up youth programs, the teens more likely to sign up "are not necessarily the teens that might get involved with the underbelly of the streets."

"Even though we do set up these programs, I don't know if they're as effective as they could be," he said.

Mourani believes that the focus should not only be on schools but also families themselves.

"These kids at age 12 aren't looking for money, they're looking for love. That means the family has failed them, and it has to be said and addressed," she said.

But focusing on repression without giving resources to families or schools is a "fatal mistake," according to Mourani.

With files from The Canadian Press