It’s hard to believe that the underworld playground in Quebec is currently taking a drastic turn with street gangs such as the Profit Boyz, STL, Zone 43 and a handful of others starting to lead their own neighborhoods and boroughs throughout many cities throughout Quebec. But there is one place in particular, which serves as a breeding ground for street gangs, and it’s quite obvious that the city we are referring to is Montreal. The days of the Montreal mafia and biker gangs ruling the underworld are quickly dissolving. Needless to say, it is not how it used to be.
One street gang which is growing with flying colors is Montreal-North’s very own Zone 43. After being at odds with the Profit Boys (Profit Kollectaz) at the turn of the decade, sending rap diss-track after diss-track between the two sets, most notably between Zone 43’s White Ghost, who is currently incarcerated and Profit Boyz’ Ali Baba. The microphone isn’t their only tool to fight this beef, but there has also been a hefty exchange of bullets. The only difference between Zone 43 and the other street gangs, is the fact that Zone 43 managed to extend their arm all the way to the other side of the country. British Columbia.
Last week, a 14-month long investigation effected by VPD (Vancouver Police Department) resulted in a very sizeable drug seizure. But before we delve into the recent bust, we’re going to summarize their arrival in Vancouver which happened roughly a year ago.
Zone 43 is a street gang, as we mentioned earlier, that started in Montreal North, repping the color red. As far as we know, it has existed for at the very least 14 years, with rapper and gang member NoGame releasing singles and videos through the internet.
A huge tilt in their history is when they allegedly linked up with the notorious Wolfpack Alliance, which is an alliance that regroups numerous criminal organizations across Canada. Last June, in 2023, media reported how multiple members of the gang were spotted on Vancouver’s downtown eastside, most notably on East Hastings Street.
This alliance with the Wolfpack was most probably their entry-way to deal drugs in another province located thousands and thousands of kilometers away. Authorities fear that since another street gang is trying to gain entry into Canada’s notorious ‘Skid Row’, this might lead to excess violence throughout the province and are determined to get them out of the province.
One notable incident which occurred on June 1st of 2023 which helped authorities confirm the fact that the Montreal street gang was now operating on the West Coast was a shooting which resulted in 8 arrests. The shooting happened in the evening near the intersection of East Hastings and Columbia. This resulted in one victim being rushed to the hospital and the other arriving on his own. Thankfully, neither of these injuries were life-threatening although witnesses described the scene as chaotic.
Moving nearly 10,000 kilometers away to set up shop and sell drugs on the busiest street of the country seems like a bold move, but as they say, the devil is in the details. Being backed by the Wolfpack Alliance might have surely gave them a green light to do so, and a hell of an incentive. This is not the first time VPD has seen street gangs hailing from other parts of Canada pop-up in the Lower Mainland region; Halifax’s North Preston’s Finest has had their go at re-establishing themselves in Vancouver.
Fast-forward a year later, just last week on June 11th, Vancouver Police Department led the way in a 14-month long investigation which had started sometime in April of 2023 in hopes to cripple the lengthy arm of Zone 43 and their reach in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The operation included 5 separate search warrants across the region, most notably Burnaby and Vancouver which took place of May 14th of 2024.
The seizure resulted in 7 kilograms of Fentanyl being seized, as well 11 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of methamphetamine and 4 kilograms of cutting agents, most of which included Benzodiazepines, the active ingredient in Xanax and Alprazolam. All in all 24 kilograms of hard drugs were seized along with 2 handguns. Roughly 150,000$ was seized supplementary to the drugs and firearms. This is surely not the biggest bust in the history of the province, but a bust sizeable enough to run a couple dial-a-dope lines. 5 suspects were arrested in total and later released with a promise to show up to their respective court dates.
The Fentanyl seized were of various colors and the bricks of cocaine were either stamped with ‘Yeti’ or ‘Monster’. As for the methamphetamine, authorities have no clue whether it was produced in Canada, or shipped from Mexico or another country prevalent in the drug trade.
One hypothesis for why several members of Zone 43 ended up in British Columbia is because of the conflict of street gangs, mostly between the Profit Boyz and Zone 43. Some people suspect that members of the Zone 43 gang had a hit on their head, and were tired of the warfare between the gangs in Montreal. Thus, making a change in their lives and moving to British Columbia thanks to the gangs ties to the Wolfpack Alliance.
Although, moving far away and taking to old habits doesn’t necessarily mean they are scot-free, but rather will end up gathering a hit on their head in the West Coast rather than escape the chaos of the gang wars taking place in the province of Quebec.
