Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) has designated the Manitoba Warriors as being a faction of indigenous-based organized crime (IBOC).
[4] The Manitoba Warriors were formed as a prison gang in 1992, originating as an exclusively Aboriginal criminal organization at the Stony Mountain Institution.
[5] However, according to former president Brian Contois, the Warriors were founded on a code of ethics aimed at bringing some level of morality, pride, and dignity to a way of life that would otherwise be unobtainable to these youth.
[12] In the basement was found the corpse of Thomas Russell Krowetz who had been shot in the chest, right thigh, and buttocks; stabbed 36 times; and his face had been bashed in with a baseball bat.
[12] Krowetz, an "unnaturally" large man owing to his steroid abuse who weighed 250 pounds, was found curled up in a fetal position as he been tortured for several hours before his death.
[18] A number of First Nations leaders such as Elijah Harper and Ovide Mercredi negotiated a truce between the Manitoba Warriors and the Indian Posse in March 1997.
[19] The truce nearly broke down when 8 Manitoba Warriors beat to death with baseball bats an 18-year-old Indian Posse member, Terry Acoby.
[19] The truce held however, and both the Indian Posse and Manitoba Warriors continued to recruit First Nations youth to work as drug dealers; expanded into northern Ontario; and formed alliances with los Bravos and the Hells Angels.
The gang members claimed they had banded together to create a sense of brotherhood or collective security against a world many of them felt had excluded from basic opportunities to learn and work".
[21] Mercredi later apologized for his remarks as he stated that gangs such as the Indian Posse and the Manitoba Warriors were "disastrous" for First Nations communities.
[22] The police then launched Project Octopus after finding out that the Warriors were exploiting Government funding for a homelessness initiative called Paa Pii Wak.
[23] A number of Manitoba Warriors were accused of the extremely vicious gang rape and murder of the 16-year old Brigitte Grenier at an outdoor rock concert.
[23] Another well known case concerned a Manitoba Warrior, Bernard Cook, who tried to leave the gang after experiencing a spiritual awakening, which led to his torture and murder.
[5] In 1998, the Winnipeg police were given the authority to begin a long investigation called Operation Northern Snow to counter the gang's drug trafficking.
[22] Thirty-five gang members were arrested and charged under new federal anti-gang legislation and held in a maximum security court house without the option for bail.
[25] It emerged during the Northern Snow trial that one Warrior, Steven Darren Traverse, forced a drug dealer to knee on all fours and made him "bark like a dog" while using a knife to carve designs into his back.
[24] The ordeal ended with Traverse plunging the knife into the man's back while kicking him in the face with his steel-toed boots for "not barking loud enough".
[24] Langton wrote that the Northern Snow trial "...deal a crippling blow to the Manitoba Warriors and news of the accused's poverty and poor decision making led to a severe loss of credibility on the streets".
[24] For a time, los Bravos biker gang refused to do business with the Manitoba Warriors, cutting them off from their most important source of illegal drugs.
The RCMP alerted the Winnipeg Police that the Manitoba Warriors were exploiting government funding for a "homeless" initiative called Paa Pii Wak.
The investigation was launched in December 2008 and it did not take long for it to become clear that the Manitoba Warriors were using Paa Pii Wak to further their criminal activities.
[27] The Winnipeg Police discovered that Paa Pii Wak had 1200 beds and was supposed to accept all, but that the staff usually turned away homeless people, even in the depths of winter.
[28] James Jewell of the Winnipeg police stated: "When you have a situation when you're empowering gang members or gang-member associates to conduct supervision of people released from our courts, clearly that's a flawed concept.
[28] Paa Pii Wak was cut off from its government funding as a result, which led to accusations of racism being made against the Winnipeg police.