The West End Gang is one of Canada's most influential organized crime groups. Active since the early 1900s and still active today, their rise to notoriety did not begin until the 1960s when they were known simply as the "Irish gang". Their criminal activities were focused on, but not restricted to, the west side of Montreal. Most of the gang's earnings in the early days were derived from truck hijackings, home invasions, kidnapping, protection racket, drug trafficking, extortion and armed robbery.