Towing turf wars escalate after high-profile killing

Police alarmed by dozens of shootings and arsons around tow truck companies

- PETER EDWARDS

Two tow trucks were apparently set on fire by a suspect or suspects in March 2019 in a residential Richmond Hill driveway. Around that time, Paramount Towing owner Alexander Vinogradsky believed there was a threat to his life.

Alexander Vinogradsky knew his days were numbered long before a gunman ended his life.

The GTA tow truck company owner had survived at least three attempts on his life in 2018 and 2019, amid persistent rumours he was a police agent.

At one point, he told police, he was "a dead man with money on (his) head." His killing this spring put Vinogradsky on a list of at least six men connected to the GTA tow truck industry who have been shot to death in less than six years.

Vinogradsky, 39, was shot multiple times around 10:46 p.m. on May 28, as he sat in his car at a vehicle-impound lot in North York. The shooter or shooters fled in a black Mercedes-Benz, police said.

No arrests in his death have been announced.

Since Vinogradsky was slain, there have been dozens of shootings and arsons around tow-truck businesses, including eight shootings on the last weekend of June.

The violence has drawn the attention of authorities and even a special task force, who are trying to put an end to the years of mayhem.

Violence was coming at a high pace immediately before and after Vinogradsky's slaying.

Toronto police in June announced the Organized Crime Enforcement Section was leading a Tow Truck Task Force. "The intelligence we are gathering is revealing some concerning trends," Staff Supt. Joe Mathews of Detective Operations said after the torching of a tow truck outside a residence in Vaughan on June 14.

He noted there had been 24 towtruck-related shooting incidents this year to that point, representing about 12 per cent of the total citywide.

It's not the first time in recent years that GTA police have targeted tow truck turf wars.