In the news: Montreal firebombings, or: shadowrun in my town Options

[Backgammon]

So just though I'd share a bit of real-life Shadowrun events in my town of Montreal. In the past few weeks, Italian cafés have been targets of firebombs - 12 so far.

While the police are unsure of exactly what's happening, official speculation is that, because last year a drug lord was gunned down, it has created a power vacuum, and there is now an organized crime battle over the turf. The police call the fire bombs amateurish, so they suspect it is street gangs working for either the bikers (bikers are really big here) or the mob as deniable assets (might be inter-mafia conflicts). In any case, the café owners aren't talking.

So yeah, that stuff from the sourcebooks? Totally bang on (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

P.S. I'd like to some articles, but the best ones are in french only.

[BlueMax]

So just though I'd share a bit of real-life Shadowrun events in my town of Montreal. In the past few weeks, Italian cafés have been targets of firebombs - 12 so far.

While the police are unsure of exactly what's happening, official speculation is that, because last year a drug lord was gunned down, it has created a power vacuum, and there is now an organized crime battle over the turf. The police call the fire bombs amateurish, so they suspect it is street gangs working for either the bikers (bikers are really big here) or the mob as deniable assets (might be inter-mafia conflicts). In any case, the café owners aren't talking.

So yeah, that stuff from the sourcebooks? Totally bang on (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

P.S. I'd like to some articles, but the best ones are in french only.

First, let me thank you for bringing this to my attention. Not only do I find this interesting, I can't wait to read the government whitewashing of the violence. [Every government does this folks, its not a slam on anyone]
Second, please link the articles in French. While *I* may only get one in 10 words, my grandmother can however read fluently. However, I wouldn't know how to search in french at all.

BlueMax

[Backgammon]

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebe...12e-attaque.php

[OneTrikPony]

! wow I'm actually startled by this. I have to laugh at myself for thinking the way I do.
Does anyone else here from the US suffer under the same dilusion that Canada is the north american Eutopia but with more snow?

I recently read Babylon Babies by Maurice Dantec. It's the novel that that crapy vin diesel movie was very loosely based on. Biker gangs figured pretty heavily into the plot. I had no idea that there was some reality behind the idea. I highly recomend the novel BTW.

I think I learned everything I know about Canada from the Red Green show (well, that and Naked News) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif) and I can't wrap my mind around firebombings in Montreal.
Backgammon, don't you think that allowing Canadians to have guns would help with the firebombing problem? HAH! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
"Remember we're all pullin for ya."

[OneTrikPony]

OPPS double post, my fault

[Backgammon]

The problem is that the police has been decimating the Bikers and the Mafia by arresting them all. Now there are power vacuums being filed by more violent people. The criminal status-quo is good for us all, if you ask me. Don't go rockin the boat by arresting the relatively civilized criminals. Well, the bikers got carried away during their war in the 90s. So basically, they got greedy and now we all pay for it. *sigh*

[OneTrikPony]

So it really is true that the Hell's Angels and the (Rockmonsters or something like that) are major syndicates in Canada? I find that Facinating. This would be the model for SR GoGangs.

I've always hated the concept of GoGangs, mostly because the term gogangs is really Gay. (and by gay i don't mean Homosexual I mean Gay as in silly and effeminate.) Why did they use that term when the perfectly servicable "biker Gang" was allready in common use? Somehow the idea of real bikers in Canada being a major part of the underworld makes the gogang concept much cooler.

[Saint Sithney]

Why did they use that term when the perfectly servicable "biker Gang" was allready in common use?

Japan.
Also, Go-Gangs ride Crotch Rockets, not Choppers. It's different.

[Dr.Rockso]

Got to love the good ol' 514.

[Backgammon]

It's funny, while waiting in line for my Subway sandwhich, I read a little blurb in the newspaper quoting an ex RCMP intelligence analyst saying that had they not arrested all the organized crime bigwigs (specifically naming the head of Montreal Mafia), this would not be happening because they would have stopped the violence because it's bad for business. Which is something any Shadowrun player could have told you long ago.

Shadowrun Players: 1
Public Opinion: 0

[pbangarth]

The problem is that the police has been decimating the Bikers and the Mafia by arresting them all. Now there are power vacuums being filed by more violent people. The criminal status-quo is good for us all, if you ask me. Don't go rockin the boat by arresting the relatively civilized criminals. Well, the bikers got carried away during their war in the 90s. So basically, they got greedy and now we all pay for it. *sigh*

Same sort of phenomenon happened in Hamilton (city of 500,000 near Toronto, used to be heavily mafia) a few years ago when Italian shops and bakeries started lighting up. Could have been the same vacuum-filling. I wonder when Toronto will start. Of course, it still has biker gangs, and Russian gangs, and Tamil gangs, and Vietnamese gangs, and Jamaican gangs, and ...

Multiculturalism is wonderful! Not only can I step out from my house and within an hour eat in any one of about a hundred different countries, I can get shot there, too!