BURST
Most of Canada’s highest-threat-level criminal organizations are based in the West, with some involved in the B.C. gang conflict, according to the latest report by the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada .
The agency’s 2025 report on organized crime in Canada describes six of the eight most-dangerous gangs as being based in the West — two more than a year earlier.
The western criminal organizations aren’t named in the latest report by the federal agency responsible for collecting intelligence from police across Canada.
But some of the descriptions provided line up with the Wolfpack gang alliance, the Brothers Keepers and the UN gang — all three of which have been involved in the long-running gang conflict that began in B.C. but has expanded across Canada. All eight of the highest-level threat groups have criminal connections across North America and internationally.
“Organized crime remains the pre-eminent threat to public safety , contributing to thousands of deaths annually from overdoses due to illicit drugs, notably fentanyl, and gang violence,” the agency’s director general, Ken Lamontague, said in the report.
“Moreover, international organized crime networks, such as cartels, are now being recognized as national security threats, despite historical ties existing between organized crime and traditional national security threat actors. The merging of public safety and national security threats mean that the law enforcement community must increase sharing with, and leverage, intelligence agencies, and promote alternative means of disruption, despite legal and prosecutorial challenges.”
The highest-level threat groups “use violence as an integral part of their strategy, are involved in the infiltration of law enforcement, security or government agencies, have access to multiple types of business, are criminally associated to several other (organized crime groups) and have an interprovincial or international scope,” the report said.
The CISC assessed and rated 493 organized crime groups for its annual report. In addition to the eight high-level threat groups, 100 were assessed as medium-level threats and 385 as low-level threats.
“The number of assessed groups is not indicative of the total number that remain operational, believed to exceed 4,000 groups,” the report said.
One of the western gangs is connected to Central America and Europe and “is involved in fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, cannabis and pharmaceuticals importation and distribution, homicide and intimidation/ extortion,” the report said. “It is a prominent player in ongoing gang conflicts, with a high degree of violence.”
The second operates in North America, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific and “is involved in cocaine and methamphetamine importation, distribution and exportation, public sector infiltration, firearms, fraud, theft, money laundering, homicide and intimidation,” the report said.
The third has tentacles in North America and the Asia Pacific and “is involved in synthetic drugs manufacturing, importation, exportation and distribution of precursor chemicals, MDMA, ketamine, methamphetamine, heroin, cannabis and cocaine, and financial crime,” the report said. “It is part of a large, closely interconnected and fluid network of transnational organized crime groups.”
The fourth operates in North America, the Middle East and Asia and “is involved in fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine distribution, public sector infiltration, money laundering, firearms and violence.”
“It is a player in ongoing gang conflicts and maintains links with various prominent street gangs.”
The scope of the fifth extends across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.
“Its various cells are involved in fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA importation, exportation and distribution, public sector infiltration and money laundering,” the report said. “It is a prominent player in a gang conflict that has resulted in public violence that extends across Canada and internationally, including shootings, murders, assaults and threats.”
The sixth in the West operates across North America, South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific and is “comprised of high-level criminal entrepreneurs who operate within multiple organized crime groups.”
Three of the six western organizations have links to outlaw motorcycle gangs, as do the two other highest-threat-level groups operating out of Central Canada.
The report also suggests the fact that cartels and other international criminal organizations are present in Canada “may impact the Canadian criminal landscape in the near future. Their potential for expansion is of specific concern, as their operations internationally pose a threat to government and law enforcement officials.”
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