Paul Manning (police officer, born 1973)

Paul Manning (born September 21, 1973), also known by the pseudonyms Paul Wright and the Englishman, is a former Hamilton Police Service officer (Ontario, Canada), Metropolitan Police Service officer (London, UK) and Royal Military Police officer (UK) who worked undercover in an Ontario Provincial Police and Hamilton Police Service joint task force for 18 months, successfully infiltrating the Musitano crime family, Papalia crime family and the Hamilton chapter of Hells Angels.

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. He further alleges years of police corruption and cover-ups, most of which remain unproven or uninvestigated.

Biography
Manning was born in Accrington, Lancashire, UK, on September 21, 1973, attending Rhyddings High School. In 1993 he joined the Royal Military Police and the Metropolitan Police Service around 1998, immigrating to Canada in 2005, joining Hamilton Police Service 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, 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 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 Ontario Provincial Police.

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

Manning was subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder 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 Hamilton Police Service, 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 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 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 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 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 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 no longer had an active presence in Buffalo, NY was wrong. After a spate of Mafia 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 and FBI raids were tied directly into Italian Organized Crime and Transnational Organized Crime.