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Mark Totten, a criminal justice professor at Toronto’s Humber College, says North Preston’s Finest is not as organized as the Hells Angels or Mafia but its members are not bottom-rung street thugs either. They are men who are good at two things: evading police and coercing girls into the sex trade.

The typical profile of a North Preston pimp leans toward the “Gorilla pimp” — someone prone to get what he wants through violence and threats — as opposed to the more laid-back boyfriend-pimp, sometimes known as the “Romeo” pimp, Falle says.

Some pimps will force women they’ve recruited to relocate to another city, away from friends and family, to maintain control over them. They are put to work as online escorts, as dancers in strip clubs and masseurs in massage parlours.

It is not uncommon for North Preston pimps to have several women in their stables. The woman he spends the most time with is known as the “main” or “bottom bitch,” while the others are known as “wifeys.” Sometimes these women will be used to help recruit others.

“They tell girls they are their family now, and that no one else will protect and care for them, like they will,” Falle says. “Most girls come from dysfunctional homes.”

The name “North Preston’s Finest” (NFP) first surfaced in media stories around 2007. But concerns about a national pimping ring originating from North Preston stretch back to the early 1990s.

“Angela” says she was sweet-talked into working the streets for a North Preston pimp in the mid-1990s at a Toronto bar when she was just 18.