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The audacious daylight killing of a influential Quebec gang leader inside a peripheral Starbucks this week could indicate a new, more volatile and aggressive climate when it comes to organised crime, experts note.

Power Vacuum Emerging

The apprehensions of suspected top-level, veteran members of the local underworld in June has potentially left a vacuum – meaning newer, junior gangs are striving to secure territory.

Shooting Incident Particulars

Law enforcement stated at a news conference that they were dispatched to a Starbucks in Laval, Quebec at about late morning on Wednesday because of reports of a violent incident inside the café. A single individual was fatally shot and two others were injured.

Targeted Person

While police have not confirmed the victim's name, various journalistic sources have indicated the man murdered was a convicted drug trafficker, forty, also known by an street name. The man was the chief of a criminal group operating in the area.

Government Remarks

The Quebec's public security minister stated: "Available information suggests it being an act connected with underworld activities."

The local police chief told reporters that while he could not speak specifically on the ongoing probe, he knows the man deceased due to his "reputation". "The individual was linked to underworld activities," he added.

Criminal History

The victim was first connected officially to criminal activity in 2005 when law enforcement in Montreal apprehended him and multiple associates in a narcotics distribution investigation. He ended up confessing on drug-related charges and was received to a couple of years in prison.

According to reports, the person was detained for a subsequent occasion in over a decade ago, again for drug trafficking, and was afterwards sentenced to another 60 months in prison.

Expert Analysis

A academic specialist noted that underworld activities in the area used to be characterised around maintaining control over public violence and counted on a defined leadership system.

An bold public killing at a popular café suggests there may not be a dominant force maintaining control – as conflict could impact operations when it comes to illegal substance trade, said the analyst.

Structural Collapse

The professor said it is plausible that the faction which targeted the gang leader simply "showed disregard" about the visible exhibition of violence in order to neutralize their target.

But the criminologist thinks more plausible is there has been a erosion of structure and control within criminal networks in Montreal, related to major detentions of the alleged leaders of the city's organized crime made in June.

Major Apprehensions

After a multi-year inquiry, authorities arrested an suspected mafia leader and indicted him with homicide and other connected offences.

Present Circumstances

The latest detentions were seen as the last "nail in the coffin" for the established underworld hierarchy, commented the analyst.

It has resulted in a void that newer street gangs are attempting to occupy. The Wednesday's violence is an indication of an unstable, evolving situation, he explained.

"We're seeing kind of this multitude of minor, not super well-organised gangs ... that are fighting for power," he said.