In Gangs in Canada, Jeff Pearce draws a portrait of a crime wave spreading across the country and infecting our youth. He shows how police, ex-gang members and organizations are reclaiming our young people and showing them ways out of a violent, doomed lifestyle. This is the most gripping, up-to-date chronicle of what is happening on our streets:
• Trace the rise and fall of Vancouver’s notorious Bindy Johal, a vicious crime leader who is perversely idolized by up-and-coming gangsters and wannabes years after he was shot dead
• Winnipeg’s Jessie McKay, once known as a crazy punk rocker chick and muscle for the Indian Posse, has reinvented herself as a caring mother and activist trying to save Aboriginal youth
• One Ontario neo-Nazi succeeded in manipulating the media beyond his wildest dreams when he fooled Fox News into interviewing him as a “free-speech advocate”
• Meet a Calgary constable who visits gang members and youth at risk and sees their potential with touching humanity
• Since beating down the Rock Machine and running the Outlaws out of town, the Hells Angels have acquired a near-monopoly over the drug trade in Montréal
• The Marriott and Melvin families of Halifax have been the source of gang related activity—drug smuggling and trafficking—for many years.
Gangs in Canada goes beyond the headlines and news clips. It picks up the discussion over causes, history and media influences and shakes out fresh new perspectives on strategies for intervention.