The Dirty News has covered several different street gangs that have been very prevalent in the underground in the province of Quebec. Starting off with the Blood Family Mafia and their strife with the HAMC in the nation’s capitol, to Laval’s 24 Gang and Montreal’s 26 Gang and their allies in conflict with each other. We’ve also covered the Montreal-North’s Zone 43, which had expanded their tentacles to British Colombia just recently this year.
One street gang that remains elusive to the news this year would be ‘STL’, a street gang hailing from the Saint-Leonard borough of the city who really only made headlines earlier this year when two of their members crashed full-speed into a tree near St-Zotique in the Rosemont borough. The result of the crash left the two members dead. Moments earlier, these two had caused two separate non-fatal shootings while joyriding on the east end of the island.
But who does STL consist of? How long have they been in the game and on the streets? Are they truly ‘violent’ or has that been a false term used by the mainstream media to incriminate them? This week, we’ll be releasing a character profile of a massive Quebec celebrity rapper and a man who was there at the very beginning of their creation; Samir ‘Enima’ Slimani.
Most Quebeckers with a foot in the door of Quebec rap have surely heard the name ‘Enima’. Enima is a veteran rapper that has been in the rap game since the early 2010’s, you may even know some of his songs such as ‘For The Low’ or ‘Wrist Money’. You may find his raps bloating of ignorance, but in reality, he is a rare rap star who writes about what he lives by.
Immigrating to Quebec as a young child, Enima had adopted the delinquent stereotype and all the factors that go with it throughout his childhood and teenage hood. All which stemmed from simply stealing a pair of shoes which eventually escalated to where he was put in a detention center for the youth. This escalated, massively, as later on in his life, he was charged with major crimes including attempted murder and pimping.
I don’t just mean a little bit of pimping here and there, but Enima was a definite certified pimp throughout not only Quebec, but also Ontario, having raked up charges in both provinces. It even went as far as one of his escorts getting a ‘Team Enima’ tattoo spelt out as a tramp stamp on her lower back. Enima was definitely a ‘player’ in all senses of the term.
Then there was his involvement in an attempted murder which took place in Etobicoke, a borough in the city of Toronto, Ontario. This incident had made him flee the country and seek refuge in Algeria, the country where he was born. Being banned from Canada and ever having a PR (Permanent residency) at the height of his career in, he kept making music and eventually moved to Spain and then France. 2 years later he signed to Capitol Records of UMG (Universal Music Group).
This is a story with high highs and low lows, a story of extradition, escape, pimping, rap careers and attempted murder. We have not written about something as diverse as this since we launched our coverage on the eastern side of the country, but as we once said; truth is stranger than fiction.
Our next STL story will consist of a VT criminal profile, a young rapper which is very prevalent in not only the rap game, but also the streets.
