The violent side of the clothing donation bin industry [Video]

This is part three of a four-part investigative series by CTV W5 into the seedy underbelly of the lucrative clothing donation bin industry. W5 correspondent Jon Woodward and producer Joseph Loiero look into allegations the industry is rife with organized crime activity.

Toronto-area police agencies linked a rash of assaults and arsons to a turf war between rival organized crime groups hoping to assert control over the surprisingly lucrative clothing donation industry, W5 has learned.

And those allegations may only be the tip of the iceberg of what court records and interviews show what could amount to a pattern of violence among some players in the industry that has even caught charities in the middle.

“The job is already hard enough as it is, and it just got 10 times harder because we had to deal with the vandalism and the turf war,” said Sylvia Krampelj of the Kidney Foundation …