Charalambos Theologou, an underworld figure often described as the real power behind Montreal’s organized crime scene, headed his own gang, the Chomedey Greeks. He was murdered at a suburban Starbucks on the suburban fringes of Montreal. A 40-year-old woman gunned down in the middle of the day. This disturbing and brazen act has fueled fears of a shift in tactics by the local criminal enterprises.
In 2005 law enforcement started to get wise to Theologou, aka “Bobby the Greek.” This is when he was arrested in June, along with six other people, during a drug trafficking investigation. His criminal enterprise grew quickly. His life spun out of control and in 2009 he was arrested for drug trafficking, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. Soon after, he did plead guilty to other drug-related charges and spent two years in prison.
And the circumstances surrounding the shooting that took Theologou’s life—rather than simply ending his life—was deadly. It further resulted in injuries to at least two others. According to Ian Lafrenière, Quebec’s public security minister, “Everything points to it being an act linked to organized crime.” And yet, as we’ve documented in the past, this statement highlights the continued fears of organized crime’s growing power in the area.
Valentin Pereda, an assistant professor at the University of Montreal’s criminology school, noted that organized crime in Montreal had historically been characterized by restraint regarding public violence and a clear hierarchical structure. He cautioned that the audacious killing of Theologou could indicate a destabilizing shift towards a much more violent landscape in the world of organized crime.
“There is kind of this plethora of small, not super well-organised gangs… that are vying for control,” – Valentin Pereda
In addition to the new challenges facing organized crime, Pereda has noticed a palpable shift in the crime scene of Montreal. Other, smaller gangs have been moving to fill the power vacuums left by the arrests of mafia capos. For years, the Rizzuto crime family had dominated the city’s criminal underground. Their power has ebbed ever since many of their leaders, including Vito Rizzuto, were locked in U.S.-based prisons from 2007-2012.
The arrest of several high-ranking members of Montreal’s mafia in June may have contributed to the instability currently affecting the region. As competing militias and factions of the security forces seek control and command, murders like Theologou’s may be increasingly overt and brazen.
Montreal had been plagued by illicit organized crime activities, especially drug trafficking and gang violence. The… Read More Theologou’s death painfully illustrates that these criminals still pose a constant, deadly threat. It sounds warning bells on the possibility of increased violence as various non-state actors compete to be the next in power.
In their ongoing investigation of this recent shooting, authorities must grapple with the sociopolitical realities behind the growing threat of organized crime in Montreal. If Pereda’s predictions prove accurate, the city is about to enter another cycle of lethal gang-violence. This unprecedented growth has the potential to push its communities even further into precarity.