The man on the other end of the jailhouse phone wondered how Almar Heath had been so reckless.
asserted
Heath → wonder → phone
Heath, 29, was locked inside the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay after he and two teenagers were arrested outside a Toronto jail official’s home in June 2025.
asserted
he → lock → June
Police say they seized a loaded handgun.
asserted
they → say → handgun
Heath and the teens were charged with conspiring to murder the official — an incident that ultimately led York Regional Police to launch Project South, which became a sprawling investigation into alleged corruption within the Toronto Police Service.
Why take “a mission” from someone “in the bin?” the person on the other end of Heath’s jailhouse phone call said, sharing with Heath what another person had told him, according to a transcript by police who were recording the call.
uncertain
who → charge → call
By “in the bin,” police believe the caller meant someone in jail.
asserted
caller → believe → jail
Heath is accused of being part of a network of hired gunmen that accepted a contract to shoot the jail official.
asserted
that → accuse → official
Police believe the contract came from an inmate at the Toronto South Detention Centre, where the jail official worked, and that the official’s address was provided to criminals by a Toronto cop who “routinely” took bribes for confidential information.
The target of the Project South murder plot was a ‘workhorse’ known for his tough enforcement.
asserted
target → believe → enforcement
Some claim it at times veered into cruelty.
uncertain
it → claim → cruelty
The target of the Project South murder plot was a ‘workhorse’ known for his tough enforcement.
asserted
target → know → enforcement
Some claim it at times veered into cruelty.
uncertain
it → claim → cruelty
Speaking to Heath in the jailhouse call, the caller said those kinds of jobs are “Y-O missions” — what investigators interpreted as a reference to risky jobs best suited for “young offenders,” who may be treated more leniently by the courts.
uncertain
who → speak → courts
“Those missions are always crash-out missions, bro,” the caller said, according to police.
uncertain
caller → crash → police
“Youngins are supposed to do sh** like that.”
asserted
Youngins → suppose → that
The transcript is included in recently unsealed court records filed by Project South investigators in January to obtain search and arrest warrants.
asserted
transcript → include → warrants
Most of the document, which is known as an “information to obtain” or ITO, was released Wednesday as a result of an application by the Toronto Star and a coalition of media partners.
asserted
which → know → partners
The ITO is based on what investigators believed at the time the document was filed.
asserted
document → base → time
None of the allegations have been proven.
asserted
None → prove → allegations
Heath’s lawyer declined to comment when reached by the Star.
asserted
lawyer → decline → Star
The new information provides more insight into the gun-for-hire trend in Toronto-area crime, while also highlighting how teenagers are increasingly being recruited — and paid — to commit violence.
asserted
teenagers → provide → violence
Hired gunmen are believed to be behind at least 27 shootings across the GTA so far this year, including a spate of high-profile incidents at the U.S. consulate, the homes of waste management executives and at synagogues and Jewish schools, according to police.
In June, Toronto police officer Marc Pinizzotto — a 43-year-old father of two — was shot and killed during an early morning raid as part of the investigation into those shootings.
uncertain
Pinizzotto → hire → shootings
Police identified four men — all 18 and 19 years old — as part of that alleged network, laying a total of 43 charges in connection with four separate shootings.
asserted
all → identify → shootings
Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Bennett — alleged to have fired the shot that killed Pinizzotto — has also been charged with first-degree murder.
asserted
that → allege → murder
In Project South, investigators allege they have uncovered another network of hired gunmen responsible for their own spate of shootings.
asserted
they → allege → shootings
Relying on extracted cellphone data, recorded phone calls and undercover officers, among other investigative techniques, police amassed considerable evidence of what they describe as a “co-ordinated criminal network … engaged in the planning, facilitation and execution of violent offences.”
asserted
they → rely → offences
In addition to Heath, police arrested several other men they accused of being part of the network, including Keajean Doman, Median Jackson and Dequon Lemonious.
asserted
they → arrest → Doman
Using encrypted messaging platforms and aliases like “Lebron James” and “Danny Phantom,” police say the men “acted in concert to plan and carry out acts of targeted violence.”
asserted
men → use → violence
Police describe Lemonious, who was arrested in March, as a “leader and organizer” of the network while Jackson acted as an intermediary and Doman served as an “enforcer.”
asserted
Doman → describe → enforcer
Heath, Jackson, Lemonious and a fourth man, Devonte Barker-Campbell, have all been charged with conspiring to murder the jail official.
asserted
Heath → charge → official
Lawyers for the men did not respond to questions from the Star.
asserted
Lawyers → respond → Star
Doman was arrested in September 2025, moments after officers say they witnessed him fire more than a dozen rounds into a home on Lady Angela Lane in Vaughan.
asserted
him → arrest → Vaughan
At the scene, police found a handgun they allege was used in six separate shootings across southern Ontario last summer.
asserted
they → find → Ontario
Police allege that Toronto Const. Timothy Barnhardt, the veteran cop at the centre of the Project South probe who is accused of taking bribes to run illegal searches of police databases, had done a search for the Vaughan address three days earlier.
asserted
who → allege → address
Investigators have linked the shootings to the GTA’s violent, long-standing tow-truck turf wars.
asserted
Investigators → link → wars
Investigators have linked the shootings to the GTA’s violent, long-standing tow-truck turf wars.
asserted
Investigators → link → wars
When investigators reviewed Barnhardt’s search history, they say they found he had conducted 17 off-duty searches in the preceding six months, all of which they considered suspicious.
asserted
they → review → which
Many of the subjects of those searches were targeted in shootings, police allege, sometimes within days of being searched.
asserted
police → target → days
The targets include an individual with gambling debts to organized crime groups and a witness to a murder.
asserted
targets → include → murder
Police suspect hit ordered by Ryan Wedding’s accused drug runner
asserted
Police → suspect → runner
Police believe the order for the hit on the jail official ultimately came from Gurpreet Singh, who allegedly transported cocaine for accused drug kingpin Ryan Wedding.
uncertain
who → believe → Wedding
Singh had shown hostility toward the jail official, police allege.
asserted
police → show → official
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
