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FRESHY

Outwardly, Albi Aziz's life has all the appearances of normalcy. He has lived at Jane and Finch for five years in a condominium owned by his parents who came to Canada as immigrants from Bangladesh. His father works as night manager at a hotel and drives a taxi on the weekends. His mother works in a factory.

Freshy, as he calls himself, attends a high school outside the Jane and Finch area, focusing on visual arts and multimedia. He's had a part time job at a party supply store; the same girlfriend for almost a year; he has been the Jane and Finch representative on a youth advisory council that helps the City of Toronto create non-traditional recreational programs for kids.

He has never been in trouble with the law and hopes to go to university next year, a wish shared by his educated parents.

But Freshy's life is not as mainstream as it appears. Since he was thirteen, Freshy has gone on 'missions', aiding in fraud and moving counterfeit money.

"I'm a slick guy. You have to know what you're doing, you know. You have to understand. You have to think. You have to think how all the people are thinking, you know. You have to know what's going around in the area. You have to keep your eyes and ears open."

In 2005, he recruited his own crew of fourteen and fifteen-year-olds whom he called the BTC - Brown Town Crew. Using fake guns he brought back to Canada from trips to Bangladesh, they robbed younger kids for money.

Freshy says he likes the freedom and independence that comes from making his own money and worries little about the possible consequences if he gets caught.

"There's a chance for everything, you know. Everybody wants to take a risk. I guess if something actually happens and I get caught then I'll probably realize, oh, why did I do this, you know."

Freshy had managed to escape the violence that comes with criminal activity until it unexpectedly found him one night in the winter of 2006.

Freshy, a fan of Chuckie's music, had sought him out. (Listen to some of Freshy's music online)

"A lot of people try to call me, what, a Brown Chuckie, you know? It's pretty hilarious. I've got to respect anybody who has the courage to pick up their people, and stand up. You know, rep it for the race, this and that. I might be from Jane and Finch, Chuckie might be from Jane and Finch, he's doing his thing. We're tight homies you know?"

But Chuckie, struggling with his own desire to get out of a life of violence, felt that Freshy was throwing away his own opportunities and needed to be taught a lesson: don't go the bad route if you don't have to. In a move he says can only be explained by the code of the neighbourhood, Chuckie arranged to meet Freshy one night. There, Chuckie and some friends gave Freshy a beating that sent him to the hospital where stitches were needed to close a wound in his forehead. Chuckie delivered the first blow.

Freshy decided not to take revenge and holds no grudge against Chuckie for the beating. He did, however, get the message.

"After the incident, I just, I'm thinking more and more cautiously, you know about the consequences. I just don't want any risk at this point. You know, I just want to do everything all right. I don't want any trouble at this point."

Since the fifth estate first broadcast Lost in the Struggle, Freshy isn't Freshy anymore. He goes by Albi now. He dropped his street name and says he dropped the street action as well. He's in his last year of high school and is thinking of studying criminology at university.

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