Inside the Tow Truck Mafia: How Organized Crime Took Over Canada’s Towing Industry

[TowNews]

Back alley deals, fake crashes, arson, and even murder—

nothing is off limits in the ruthless world of Canada's towing companies.

BY ROB STUMPF MARCH 23, 2022

 

When most people think of organized crime, they probably picture Tony Soprano’s “waste management” gig, the various drug cartels, or the body counts racked up by the Mafia in cities like New York and Chicago in decades past. But for the people living in Canada's most populous province, organized crime takes a very different but very real form: Towing. Yes, towing. Criminal enterprises have run rampant across Ontario's towing industry since at least the early 2000s, and the situation has resulted in unlawful tows, firebombs, and even murders across the greater Toronto Area.

 

 

To understand why there's so much crime in Canada's towing industry, we have to back up and look at what many local organizations blame as being part of the problem: the way police call tow trucks to the scene of a wreck, and the lack of industry regulation.

 

READ MORE HERE

[Beautiful BC]

Thankfully in small town western Canada,  things are not at all like that.

 

Very calm, peaceful, and a slower pace of life. If halfway through breakfast a call comes in, we finish eating, then head outside and start the truck or trucks up. Roads are narrow, steep, and twisty, with ample wildlife to hit, and 5 months of the year deep snow and ice frequently.

 

We do not rush to calls, but drive cautiously and arrive in one piece. Very often I drive past a scene, and then put out signs, electric strobes, and occasionally drop flares. Then backup past the scene again, doing the same thing, so motorists have enough advanced warning to slow down, depends on the terrain, and how slippery it is.

 

A flagger or sign 200' or 400' before the incident simply is not enough. I frequently have signs up 4000 to 6000' on either side. A logging truck for example, descending a steep hill, needs a mile worth of warning distance. This is the heart of logging country, and steep mountains. When I see flaggers or signs up 400' before a crash, I shake my head and wonder why they bother.

 

I couldn't handle the stress of big city Ontario towing.

 

The hwy I live beside, probably only has 1000 vehicles a day use it, on a busy day. The hwy it intersects with 5 minutes away, probably has 2500 vehicles per day. Where the hwy goes past my place, the speed limit is 60 kms/hr or about 40 MPH, but rarely is anyone going that ffast. A loaded semi is probably doing less by half, be it going up or down the hill. Pulling out of my yard requires that you either go up, or down, a 16% grade. So a typical semi is doing 30 kms/hr, and when there is 20 inches of snow on the road, less than that.

 

Leaving on heavy duty triple chains, on all rear axles for 8 weeks at a time is typical. My personal pickup gets chained up several times a winter, and the loaders are never unchained from November till April. No locals ever use singles, or those wimpy chains sold at elcheapo stores. 8mm studded triples, or stay home. And if you have a tandem or tri drive, you chaiin every tire, and full lockers to.

 

We don't have time nor the inclination out here to fight amongst each other. Damn fools back east in Ontario, they make me shake my head. If everyone gets along, then everyone also benefits from it. Thank God for the slow pace around here. We work long days, and work hard, but not cut throat, or driving like its a nascar race.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Beautiful BC