Mobsters, Mounties, and Canadian Governmental Responses to Organized Crime, 1965–67.

This article examines the emergence of organized crime as a significant political and law enforcement issue in Canada during the 1960s, focusing on the federal government's response and interjurisdictional dynamics. It highlights the contrasting approaches between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police/Gendarmerie royale du Canada (RCMP/GRC), which emphasized criminal intelligence and surveillance in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Quebec’s Justice Minister Claude Wagner, who advocated for aggressive investigation and prosecution. Despite federal-provincial meetings and increased resources for the RCMP/GRC, the federal government avoided establishing a royal commission on organized crime, prioritizing political expediency and national security concerns instead. Ultimately, these efforts failed to significantly disrupt organized crime syndicates, which continued to expand, particularly through narcotics trafficking and entrenched criminal networks linked to American mafia groups such as La Cosa Nostra.