Police Report Reveals Pressa’s Dad Spreading Crips Influence
Pressa's father Mark Gardner, a convicted Driftwood Crips member, helped deepen gang ties between Toronto and Vancouver.
Black News 
Pressa isn’t just a Toronto rapper making waves in the drill scene; he’s connected to a sprawling criminal network that’s reshaping how gangs operate across Canada.
According to reporting from the Winnipeg Sun, Toronto police sergeant Andrew Hammond has been tracking how street gangs in British Columbia and Ontario have formed closer ties over the past several years, with the rap music industry serving as a key connection point.
The scale of these operations has expanded dramatically compared to a decade ago, with criminal networks now coordinating across provincial lines in ways that would’ve been impossible before.
The link between BC’s Brothers Keepers gang and Toronto’s Driftwood Crips runs directly through the music world.
Naseem Mohammed, who went by the rap names Cert1x and Wlatt, was instrumental in connecting these two organizations after Brothers Keepers formed in BC more than ten years ago.
Mohammed maintained a close relationship with Pressa, and that connection became a crucial bridge for gang members moving between provinces and deepening their criminal partnerships.
Pressa’s father, Mark Gardner, is a convicted Driftwood Crips member who received a sentence of at least fifteen years in prison for second-degree murder, with a judge calling it a deliberate execution.
While on parole, Gardner relocated to British Columbia, and his presence there strengthened the ties between Toronto and Vancouver gang networks in ways that law enforcement is still mapping out.
The courtroom evidence remains difficult because prosecutors must prove the
Gang violence itself has shifted dramatically, with shootings increasingly carried out as paid jobs rather than direct retaliation between rivals.
Hammond pointed to a series of shootings in Toronto targeting the U.S. Embassy and several synagogues as examples of contracted work being executed by gang members, according to reporting on gang violence trends.
