Manitoba Warriors

The Manitoba Warriors were formed as a prison gang in 1993. They originated as an exclusively Aboriginal criminal organization at the Stony Mountain Institution.[1] They created the MW to protect Native and Metis inmates and to rival traditional prison gangs. As incarcerated members were released, they recruited disenfranchised, young Aboriginals from their neighbourhoods. Unlike other Aboriginal gangs, they chose a structure similar to that found in outlaw biker culture. Each member holds a specific ranking, similar to the ranks found in outlaw biker clubs.[1] 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. This gang lifestyle promised them employment, money and brotherhood.[2] By creating this place to find their identity there was a boom of recruitment, which might explain the variations in the MW's actual size. There are 300 active members listed in the City of Winnipeg’s gang unit database and a further 140 inactive.[2] They first caught the attention of the police in 1993 and have since become a focal point of police investigation due to the volume and intensity of their activities. There have been three major operations against the Manitoba Warriors starting with Operation Northern Snow in 1998.[3] The police then launched Project Octopus after finding out that the Warriors were exploiting Government funding for a homelessness initiative called Paa Pii Wak.[2] One of the Warriors most recent setbacks was a raid, labeled Project Falling Star, resulting in the arrest of 57 members and associates. As the Warriors expanded out of prison into Winnipeg and the surrounding area they also expanded their prison network. Their main territories are in the Central and North End neighborhoods of Winnipeg.

The patch or insignia of a criminal organization is an important visual representation of the group. The patch of the Manitoba Warriors is an eight-pointed sun with the head of a Native American Warrior in the center. It is also often customary that a gang is represented by a colour, and for the Warriors it is black. Besides their patched vests, there are jerseys, sweaters and tank tops displaying symbols of the Manitoba Warriors as is common among similar organizations.

The Manitoba Warriors often refer to their gang as 1323, and those numbers have become synonymous with the MW. The numbers 13 and 23 stand for the location of "M" and "W" in the alphabet.[4]. These numbers have become common in reference to the Warriors and is common in tattoos of their organization.

The Manitoba Warriors began rejecting the structure of similar rival gangs and instead their organization is structured similar to outlaw motorcycle clubs. Senior members' ranks are indicated by tattoos and titles including a president, vice-president and sergeant-at-arms.[1] Prospective members are apprentices before they become a fully fledged members, analogous to the process of "striking" in biker gangs. After the police operation Northern Snow the Warriors changed from classic biker culture and formed three distinct cells the Ruthless Warriors, Central Warriors, and Notorious Krew.[1] The strategy behind this was that if one of the cells is compromised by a police interdiction it would not affect the other cells. A short time later they scrapped the three-cell strategy and returned to a single cohesive organization, because rival organizations were expanding too quickly for the three separate cells. The Warriors reinstated leadership titles and a new "council" of high-ranking members was created to make decisions and pass down orders to other members in a way that protected the council from direct involvement in crime.[1]

The Manitoba Warriors are typically located in the central and northern suburbs of Winnipeg.[4] Other organizations that have adopted the "Warriors" banner such as the Alberta and Saskatchewan Warriors, helped spread the gang's influence to other cities. However, their turf is not exclusive to these areas, and the Warriors also have a substantial prison network.

The Manitoba Warriors have been known to work with and align themselves with other criminal organizations. The Saskatchewan Warriors, Alberta Warriors, Rock Machine, CENTRAL, Loyalty Honour Silence and MOB Squad are some of their more well known affiliations.[2] An interesting thing about the Manitoba Warriors is that they created the Warriors banner that was adopted to create new criminal organizations. Criminal Organizations like the Alberta Warriors and Saskatchewan Warriors originally adopted this banner under the Manitoba Warriors and have since separated and expanded.[2] Saskatchewan Warriors originally worked for the MW but have become a separate affiliated criminal organization. The SW is also an Aboriginal street gang that are active mainly in the Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert areas of Saskatchewan. Although MW and SW are in separate cities with similar street codes the AW SW gangs, they have been known to work together from time to time.

Due to the nature of criminal organizations, it tends to be easy to make enemies, and the Manitoba Warriors are no exception. Indian Posse, Native Syndicate, Terror Squad, Manitoba Blood Family, PK Mobsters, Redd Alert, Mad Cowz, Bloods, Hells Angels, the Zig Zag Crew, and MOB are all known rivals of the MW. The Most Organized Brothers or MOB squad was once affiliated with the MW but due to an unspecified "blow out" the alliance fell apart. This falling out has caused an air of bad blood between the two organizations to exist even today.[1]