GTA tow truck turf under microscope

Insiders say the GTA towing industry has attracted hard-core groups, including bikers with Hells Angels ties in the east end and immigrant groups in the west. The amount of money to be made is huge — and only a small portion of it comes from towing. Illegal referral fees are part of a greater and more lucrative effort to defraud insurance companies. A task force in 2012 suggested some lawyers and paralegals were involved in the fraud. Along with the white-collar criminals, the industry is orbited by crooked cops and hard-core gangsters.

Three Ottawa cops were charged with taking kickbacks relating to towing. Project Platinum investigators hit four organized crime groups as they seized a machine-gun, 16 handguns, 13 shotguns, nine rifles, a sawed-off shotgun, thousands of rounds of ammunition, brass knuckles, stun guns and a silencer. Drug trafficking in the towing industry is common. Investigators seized five kg of fentanyl, 1.5 kg of cocaine, 1.25 kg of crystal meth and more than $500k cash.

Industry groups say one way to cut the violence and fraud would be to stop rewarding all the spoils from an accident to the first tow truck on the scene. The 'first come first served' approach rewards a criminal.

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