Man killed Thursday was prominent player in tow-truck turf war
Paramount owner was gunned down in North York
Toronto police’s homicide squad is investigating the fatal shooting of Alexander Vinogradsky, identified by a judge as “at the top” of an organized crime group involved in the GTA’s notorious tow-truck turf war.
On Thursday night, Vinogradsky, 39, of Thornhill, was gunned down in the Finch Avenue West and Dufferin Street area. He was located outside a bullet-pocked dark-coloured SUV.
He had previous attempts on his life, according to a 2020 court decision where he sought a judge’s order requiring the Crown to redact his home address — and that of his parents — from court documents, believing their lives were in danger.
The judge agreed to the request, over the prosecution’s objections. “I am satisfied there is good cause to believe that Alexander Vinogradsky’s life is presently in danger,” the judge wrote in September 2020.
Vinogradsky was the owner of Paramount Towing, which was the centre of a York Regional Police investigation into the tow truck industry called Project Platinum. It targeted four alleged organized crime groups involved in insurance fraud and a violent battle for territory in the GTA area. Paramount was alleged to have controlled a vast territory, including Highways 400, 401 and 404.
Vinogradsky was one of multiple defendants charged with being involved in organized crime, fraud and conspiracy to commit arson. However, his charges were stayed in 2022 as a result of challenges to a wiretap warrant in the case, according to a defence lawyer involved in the case.
When Project Platinum was announced to the public, police said it had disrupted and dismantled a large criminal organization and would put an end to tow-truck-associated violence in York Region and the GTA, which included murders and shootings.
Not all of the Project Platinum charges went south.
In 2021, a judge in Newmarket referred to wiretaps capturing a woman scheming with Vinogradsky about a staged auto collision that put $39,000 in her pocket.
“Intercepts revealed that Vinogradsky coached (Vera) Kasotty on how to report the collision to the police,” wrote the judge handing her a conditional sentence of two years less a day after she pleaded guilty to arson and fraud. “Vinogradsky was candid about not wanting to give details about how to report the collision over the phone.”
The fraud involved fictitious losses and payments of fees for nonexistent towing, repair charges, car rentals and physiotherapy.
In that decision, Justice David Rose noted the countless number of arsons, shootings and possibly murders linked to tow truck industry warfare.
“Tow trucks are set fire to,” he wrote. “Shots are fired. The highways in the GTA are dangerous enough without having this added element.” He added that the case involving the female insurance scammer and Vinogradsky pointed to the “tentacles of corruption” within the industry and said it’s up to politicians — not a judge — “to recommend changes to the insurance scheme, or the unregulated nature of car towing, which will remedy the problem.”
Vinogradsky was also facing a $2.4-million negligence lawsuit filed by the family of a student security guard who was fatally shot in the head with an unregistered handgun while guarding a lot for damaged vehicles.
The lawsuit alleged Vinogradsky was guilty of negligence and breach of duty of care for an employee by supplying the 19-year-old with an illegal firearm, aware he did not have a licence or any training.