If you think the idea of a Canadian mafia is funny...

You may be positively tickled by the fact that the maple syrup industry is controlled by a cartel like group that may be mafia-adjacent and there have been high-stakes maple syrup heists.

https://www.google.com/search?&q=mafia+maple+syrup

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Hei...

It's no joke, of course. That's precious stuff. And where there's money there's crime...

    Today [2018], a barrel of maple syrup is worth
    about $1,200 — that's around 18 times the value 
    of U.S. crude oil.

The low price of crude oil is amazing given its utility. I remember hearing about how oil (given its non-sustainable nature) should actually be valued a LOT more.

Black-market maple syrup made it into an episode of Elementary (5x13, "Over a Barrel" - while investigating a murder they find a street gang had switched from smuggling cocaine to smuggling syrup because it was more profitable)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_(TV_series)

If you think the syrup cartel is impressive - you should see the Dairy Farmers of Canada (also mostly based out of Quebec - most suffocating organizations up here in Canada end up being QC based).

In Montreal, primarily.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizzuto_crime_family

even makes a location appearance in The Sopranos

Hah, whenever I tell this story that is always the first thing people say.

Mafia like groups are everywhere. The names may be different.

They will sorry you to death, if you don't comply.

My mind went to the A.F.R. from Infinite Jest, surely the most sinister Canadians ever imagined.

Looking at the responses you’ve already received there seems to be plenty. I recently learned of the Tow Truck mafia: https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/w5/this-toronto-area-lawyer-ha...