Where the F*#@ Are We??
During the early 80s I was the ASU Investigator in Buffalo Sector
and did quite a bit of "liaison" with Canadian Cops all over the
Province of Ontario and in the city of Toronto. RCMP, OPP, and Toronto
Metro Police all had first class, top flight Officers, many of whom were
also first class, top flight characters. I'm thinking of many
individuals and escapades that are worthy of recuerdos, but one Toronto
Metro Cop is the subject of this story.
Mike King was born outside of London, England and was a tall good
looking cop who had been a member of the Royal Hong Kong Constabulary
prior to joining the Toronto Metro Police Force. Mike spoke fluent
Chinese and when I met him was running Metro's Chinese Gang/Gambling
Unit. The Chinese are avid gamblers and Mike's Unit would conduct raids
on illegal gambling houses in Toronto's huge Chinatown area. I was
invited to accompany the Unit on a few of these raids and they were eye
opening events to say the least. Mike had a VAST array of informants
due to his language abilities and his Unit was involved in raids on an
almost nightly schedule. The Chinatown buildings were a hodgepodge of
additions and alleys and the Unit approached the entrances warily as
they had to spot and grab the lookouts posted on the street who would
alert the gamblers that a raid was coming.
Once inside the door of an establishment you were faced with a maze
constructed by the operators that forced you to run through it before
entering the actual gambling hall. The purpose of this was to allow the
gamblers time to drop their cards, dice, and money and back away from
the tables before Police could actually see them gambling. The object
was that then they could only be charged with being found in a gambling
house (a misdemeanor) rather than illegal gambling (a felony) Everyone
found there would be cited and all money on the tables and equipment
would be seized. The operator was identified, and charged and he was
allowed to collect all the customers citations. The practice was that
the operator pays everyone's fine. (about a $10.00 fine at the time) The
game moves and the same people can be found at the new location the next
night. Mike's unit kept the pressure on and I guess eventually drove the
Operators out of town.
Some years later Mike was at Buffalo Sector for some reason and he
and I (now the PAIC) were going out for a bite to eat when the tone
sounded on the International Railroad Bridge indicating an illegal entry
from Canada. The radio operator determined, from our primitive camera
set up, that two individuals with backpacks had EWI'd. The on duty Agent
radioed that he was on another call and would not get there in time to
intercept the pair. I got on the air and said that I would try to cover
it but when Mike and I arrived in the bridge area there was nobody to be
seen. We continued south on Niagara Street (in the general direction to
Florida) and soon observed two guys with backpacks hot footing it
towards downtown (and the Greyhound Bus Depot). I pointed them out to
Mike and pulled along side them in an unmarked car. Mike jumped out,
pulled out his badge, and in his best limey accent yelled "stop, Toronto
Metro Police, you're under arrest!!" You never saw two more confused
Canadians, standing there, scratching their heads, looking around, and
saying over and over, "Where the f*#@ are we??"