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VAUGHAN, ONT. — Mobsters started fretting at precisely 9 p.m. on Friday when police crashed into several gambling dens north of Toronto, seizing equipment, paperwork, money. Word then spread among better-connected gangsters that homes of Mafia members were also being raided, their friends led away in handcuffs.

And, then, the big news: one of those arrested was the alleged boss of a powerful Mafia organization with international ties.

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If mobsters thought this was just another periodic gambling crackdown, which they apparently did, the news kept getting worse.

Over the weekend and into this week, raids and search warrants kept coming: real estate offices, accountants firms, a bookkeeper, a loan company, a former banker, construction companies and other businesses were all raided by police.

Even on Thursday, 400 to 500 bank accounts were frozen.

Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

It didn’t feel like business as usual, an underworld source said. It got worse “day after f—in day.”