Paul Manning (born September 21, 1973), also known by the pseudonyms Paul Wright and the Englishman, is a former

Hamilton Police Service The Hamilton Police Service (HPS) is the police service of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. With 829 officers and 414 civilians employed under the service. It serves roughly Hamilton’s 545,000 residents. The Hamilton Police Service has ...

officer (Ontario, Canada),

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

officer (London, UK) and

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

officer (UK) who worked

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

in an

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...

and Hamilton Police Service joint task force for 18 months, successfully infiltrating the

Musitano crime family The Musitano crime family () is a 'Ndrangheta organized crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as well as Platì in Southern Italy and Buccinasco and Bareggio in Northern Italy. The Musitano family was founded by Angelo Musitano in ...

, Papalia crime family and the Hamilton chapter of

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporati ...

. Manning alleges he was sold out by other serving officers affiliated with organized criminals while working undercover and that an attempt was made on his life by members of the Front Lines

Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, includ ...

. He further alleges years of

police corruption Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers end up breaking their political contract and abuse their power for personal gain. This type of corruption may involve one or a group of officers. Internal pol ...

and cover-ups, most of which remain unproven or uninvestigated.

Biography

Manning was born in

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

, UK, on September 21, 1973, attending

Rhyddings High School Rhyddings (formerly Rhyddings High School and then Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School) is a mixed secondary school located in Oswaldtwistle in the English county of Lancashire. The current headteacher is Andrew Williams, who took over in S ...

. In 1993 he joined the

and the

around 1998, immigrating to Canada in 2005, joining

sometime in summer 2005.

Project Scopa

Manning was recruited to work undercover because of his previous, extensive undercover experience and he was a recent immigrant to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, therefore an unknown. Manning's assignment was to infiltrate the James St North area of Hamilton, a tight-knit community of both residential properties and small businesses with strong Italian and Portuguese influences. Traditional

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

has, and still continues to maintain a grip over the small community. Manning was to penetrate through deception, this historically difficult and extremely dangerous crime group. He was to gather evidence on offences for future prosecution, in an attempt to disrupt and dissuade further criminal activity. Manning spent over a year living in the community, engaging in criminal acts. His cover was consistently tested; he was the victim of an attempted murder and would be subjected to mock executions in an attempt to ascertain if he was an undercover police officer. In late 2006 the operation was compromised due to an intelligence breach suffered by the

. In a $6.75 million lawsuit filed by Manning and his wife, Sabina Manning, Manning alleges he was sold out by other

officers, and that the operation was intentionally compromised to disguise that fact. He describes the uncovering and reporting of years of criminality on the part of serving and retired officers.

Aftermath

In the lawsuit Manning details his years of battling mental illness because of the assault and not only the lack of assistance from his senior management team, but their continued bullying of an officer turned

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

. Manning was subsequently diagnosed with

post traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

related to the attempted murder. On May 28, 2016, a story, which mentions Manning's lawsuit, was published by ''The Hamilton Spectator'' indicating criminality on the part of a senior investigator at

, who subsequently killed himself. This investigator is not only mentioned in Manning's lawsuit, but the story somewhat corroborates what Manning alleges and directly accuses senior management at Hamilton Police Service of covering up wrongdoing. On February 14, 2019 the City of Hamilton were ordered to pay Manning $20,000 because of unnecessary delays in a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

the officer brought against the Hamilton Police Services Board and former Chief Glenn De Caire. The amount awarded Manning and his wife, Sabina, was to cover court costs and as a deterrent to the city against any further delays. On September 17, 2019 the City of Hamilton were order to pay Manning a further $40,000 because of additional delays in the same lawsuit. Ontario Superior Court Master P. Tamara Sugunasiri took the unusual step of striking the defendants defence, meaning the Hamilton Police Service Board and Glenn DeCaire lost their right to keep defending this action. In her ruling Sugunasiri added: "The continued failure to respect the process, the rules and opposing counsel's time and efforts is unacceptable and rises to the level of bringing the administration of justice into disrepute." The lawsuit was filed September 2015 and is still pending.

Ottawa recordings

Sometime during the week of July 23, 2018 Manning began uploading partial audio recordings to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

that claimed to be of Ottawa Police Association president Matthew Skof in conversation with Valarie Findlay, cyber security expert. In multiple calls, Skof reveals to Findlay information on an active undercover operation targeting El-Chantiry and makes allegations that Eli El-Chantiry, the Ottawa Police Service Board chair is involved in organized crime. The full-length recordings, amounting to several hours, have not been heard by anyone and were not publicly released; these remain evidence to be heard in the criminal trial. In response to the release of the partial recordings, on July 23, 2018 Chief Charles Bordeleau initiated a Chief's complaint asking the Ontario Provincial Police to launch an investigation "focused directly on the origins of the recordings and the individuals involved". The Ottawa Police Service has repeatedly refused to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by El-Chantiry, in the form of land development dealings, bribes and election campaign fraud. At first Skof vehemently denied it was him talking in the recordings and stood by El-Chantiry in a media conference. After Findlay provided evidence to the Ottawa Citizen and agreed to an anonymous interview, on July 30, 2018 retracted his denial and admitted it was his voice on the recordings. Manning then uploaded a further partial recording in which Skof alleged members of the

Ottawa Police Service The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is a municipal police force in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OPS serves an area of 2,790 square kilometres and 1,017,449 (2021 census) people alongside several other police ...

senior management team had tried to obstruct justice in a prior Ontario Provincial Police investigation. On September 27, 2018 Bordeleau instructed law firm Caza Saikaley LLP to request a mandatory injunction ordering Manning to "cease the dissemination and broadcast of any video and audio recordings which implicate the privacy interests of, and negatively impact the OPS and its members." Manning claimed to the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The news ...

'' that it "is a badly veiled attempt to hide tapes from the public of one of their own members alleging criminal wrongdoing against senior management and others." The recordings were removed from social media, and on November 7, 2018 a ‘Notice of Discontinuance’ was filed with the courts. On January 22, 2019 Matthew Skof was arrested by the Ontario Provincial Police and charged with multiple counts of Criminal Breach of Trust and Obstruction of Justice.

Halton Regional Police

On January 8, 2021, through Twitter Manning made the allegation that the Halton Regional Police Chief, Stephen Tanner was vacationing in Florida during a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

Provincial lockdown. Tanner admitted he was out of country and apologized to his officers and the community, stating he had permission from the Police Services Board Chair, Oakville Mayor, Rob Burton. Mayor Burton was subsequently forced to resign from the board. The Halton Police Services Board met several times to decide Tanner's future with Halton Regional Police releasing a statement on January 21, 2021 stating the board expressed its “full and unequivocal confidence” in Tanner and confirmed that they will not be taking “any further action.”

Theories

In an April 30, 2019 interview with ''The Buffalo News'', Manning claimed the FBI assertion that the

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

no longer had an active presence in

Buffalo, NY Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

was wrong. After a spate of

murders in Canada, Manning asserted "There's a massive power play underway and it's tied to Buffalo." Adding he believed Dominic Violi, son of the late Mafia Boss Paulo Violi, was an "underboss" in the Buffalo Crime Family. In a December 17, 2019 interview with ABC's 7 Eyewitness News, Manning claimed recent

Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...

and FBI raids were tied directly into Italian Organized Crime and

Transnational Organized Crime Transnational organized crime (TOC) is organized crime coordinated across national borders, involving groups or markets of individuals working in more than one country to plan and execute illegal business ventures. In order to achieve their ...

References

Sources

* Rankin, Jim; Edwards, Peter; Buist, Steve (21 April 2016
Hamilton Cop Alleges Betrayal By His Force
''The Toronto Star'' * Buist, Steve; Rankin, Jim; Edwards, Peter (21 April 2016
Ex-Undercover hamilton Cop Alleges Betrayal By His Own Force
''The Hamilton Spectator'' * (21 April 2016
Undercover Lawsuit
''CHCH News'' * Bennett, Kelly (10 May 2016
Once Undercover, hamilton Cop alleges Police didn't have his back
''CBC News'' * (21 April 2016
Former Cop Suing Hamilton Police and OPP
''900 CHML'' * (21 April 2016
Former Cop Suing Hamilton Police and OPP
''AM 730'' * Edwards, Peter (21 April 2016
Undercover Cop Alleges Betrayal; worked Hells Angels, Mafia
''Peter Edwards Blog'' * (21 April 2016
Former Cop Suing Hamilton Police and OPP
'i880am' * Buist, Steve; Hayes, Molly; Dunphy, Bill (28 May 2016
Spectator Investigation: Sex, Drugs and Police Misconduct
''The Hamilton Spectator'' * Dreschel, Andrew (1 June 2016
Police Board Asking Tough Questions on Officer Misconduct
''The Hamilton Spectator'' * Edwards, Peter (30 July 2017

''The Toronto Star'' * Browne, Rachel (31 August 2017
Ontario May Be In The Midst Of A Mob War
''Vice News'' * Metelsky, Stephen G (11 February 2018
Illegal Gambling
''Underworld Stories'' * Hepfner, Lisa (26 April 2018
Ruthowsky Challenges Sentence
''CHCH News'' *Helmer, Aedan (24 July 2018
Leaked Ottawa Police Service Audio Recordings
''Ottawa Citizen'' *Helmer, Aedan; Fenton, Drake (30 July 2018
Police Union Boss Admits To Being Voice On Parts Of Leaked Audio Tapes
''Ottawa Citizen'' *Manning, Paul; (14 September 2018
Coroner's Office Directs Police Reopen Investigation
''Exaro News'' *Edwards, Peter; O'Reilly, Nicole (14 September 2018

''The Toronto Star'' *Edwards, Peter; (17 September 2018

''The Toronto Star'' *Manning, Paul; (17 December 2018
Did Premier Ford oversee the Obstruction of Justice
''Exaro News'' *Edwards, Peter; (1 February 2019

''The Toronto Star'' *Taekema, Dan; (1 March 2019
City Ordered to Pay Former Undercover Cop $20K
''CBC News'' *Fairbanks, Phil; (30 April 2019
A Canadian Murder. 'Buffalo's Crime Family.' Is the Mafia Still Around?
''The Buffalo News'' *Humphreys, Adrian (19 September 2019
Hamilton Police Ignored Court Orders, Brought Justice into Disrepute
''National Post'' *Taekema, Dan; (19 September 2019
City Loses right to Defend Itself in Lawsuit Brought by Former Undercover Cop
''CBC News'' *Specht, Charlie; (17 December 2019
Is Strip Club raid a sign of Buffalo Mafia resurgence
''7 Eyewtiness News'' *Pazzano, Sam; (4 March 2020
Trademark Killing Sends Message
''Toronto Sun'' *Edwards, Peter; (8 April 2020

''Toronto Star'' *Collman, Ashley; (25 June 2020
3 Cops watched a fellow officer slowly kill George Floyd
''Business Insider'' *Edwards, Peter; (10 July 2020

''The Toronto Star'' *Humphreys, Adrian; (12 July 2020
Murdered Mob Boss Pat Musitano Symbolized Ontarios Mafia With His Gangster Chic
''The National Post'' *Yuen, Jenny; (9 January 2021
Whistle Blower Claims Haltons Top Cop in Florida Helping Girlfriend Sell Home
''The Toronto Sun'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Paul 1973 births Living people People from Accrington Canadian police officers Undercover police agents Metropolitan Police officers Royal Military Police soldiers English emigrants to Canada