The officers have piled into the police van, emotions running high and expletives flying.

It is July 7, 2009, the end of a long shift that saw the Durham Regional Police undercover team make headway in an elaborate investigation aimed at solving the force’s oldest cold case, the 1974 slaying of Beverly Smith.

“Listen, you have done a phenomenal job today,” says a female officer, who has been listening to audio fed in through one undercover officer’s body-worn recorder. “We’re all sitting there going, holy f---. Like, unbelievable.”

“I can’t believe he said, he said some of the s--- that he did,” says one undercover officer.

In the scenario police have staged, he is playing the menacing crime boss, also known as Mr. Big.

Six months into a controversial operation known as a “Mr. Big” sting, police have arrived at the investigation’s culmination. The feeling in the van is that a confession from target Alan Smith (no relation), once Beverly Smith’s neighbour and a longtime suspect in her murder, is not far off.

After gradually incorporating Smith into a sham crime ring, the officers have just convinced him his boss, the operation’s so-called Mr. Big, has killed a drug dealer in a robbery gone wrong. Hours earlier, wearing clothes stained with sheep’s blood, Mr. Big had ordered Smith and another undercover officer — by now, Smith’s partner-in-crime and close friend — to dispose of the “corpse,” a tarp-wrapped dummy.

Smith had taken leadership as the pair drove around frantically, suggesting places to drop the body and giving instructions about washing out his truck.

“It’s like he’s teaching me what he knows, ’cause he’s done this before,” says the cop playing Smith’s friend. (A publication ban prevents the Star from identifying the undercover officers.)

Their plan now is to have Mr. Big shake loose a confession from Smith by saying he needs dirt on him, as insurance against Smith going to cops with the recent murder.

Police won’t wait long; a confession comes within 24 hours. But already they are laying the groundwork for failure, making errors that will undo their painstaking work and later prompt a judge to throw out the evidence gathered in the sting, resulting in Smith’s acquittal this week.

It won’t help that amid the day’s excitement, one of the officers in the van has forgotten to turn off his audio recorder.

***

Beverly Smith was killed inside her Raglan, Ont., home on the night of Dec. 9, 1974 — shot in the back of the head in the kitchen as her infant daughter, Rebecca, slept in another room.

For decades, Beverly’s murder was filed under “unsolved.” Then, in 2008, a break: testimony from Smith’s wife, Linda, that her now ex-husband was responsible for the murder, evidence backed up by a former friend of Smith. Police laid a second-degree murder charge against him later that year.

But the case fell apart when Linda’s testimony proved unreliable. Just months after his arrest, Smith was released. Still convinced Smith was responsible, Durham police launched “Project Fearless,” an undercover sting that produced a first-degree murder charge against Smith in 2009.

This week, amid Smith’s acquittal and a Supreme Court of Canada ruling placing limits on the Mr. Big tactic, an Ontario court released more than 3,200 pages of audio transcripts detailing Project Fearless. Within the profanity-filled chit-chat about Canadian Tire flyers, Smith’s army sergeant dad, and above all else, fishing, is a look inside a failed “Mr. Big” sting.

A STING BEGINS, AND NETS A CONFESSION

Fresh out of the Toronto East Detention Centre — where Smith, in his late 50s, was called “Pops” by fellow inmates — Smith moved into a basement apartment in Cobourg in late 2008.

He was broke and friendless. So when the avid angler won a weekend fishing trip away — a fake contest orchestrated by police — it seemed he had caught a break. During the trip, Smith hit it off with the lead undercover agent, bonding over fishing and speaking freely about his recent time in jail and hatred for Durham cops.

“They’re just going through just a whack of embarrassment down there at the Oshawa Durham Regional Police,” Smith said on Feb. 20, 2009.

“Really, eh,” the undercover responded.

Smith’s new friend, as it happened, was moving to Cobourg, and soon the men were spending days together on fishing trips. The undercover soon revealed to Smith that he was involved in low-level crime, and that he could get Smith in on it.

In spring 2009, that undercover officer involved Smith in small drug and gun deals, paying him $100 to $400 for coming along on drop-offs. The undercover soon began telling Smith about his crime boss, the so-called Mr. Big.

In June 2009, Smith was told of the boss’s intention to rob a drug dealer, with their help. The scheme went ahead in July, but not as planned. When Smith and the undercover met up with Mr. Big, the pair got a surprise.

“We got a f---in’ problem here, okay?” Mr. Big said.

“Uh-oh,” Smith replied.

“I met with that f---in’ guy, he tried somethin’, he’s no longer around, okay?” Mr. Big said.

Mr. Big then took a fake corpse — a blue tarp wrapped around a weighted dummy that looked like an oversized Ken doll — and placed it in the other undercover agent’s truck. They were told to get rid of it.

Smith and the undercover officer were left trying to figure out where to ditch a body. They swapped ideas — “I just say we put him in that longer f---in’ grass,” Smith said — until they decided to drop the fake corpse off a cliff.

The duo then headed to Mr. Big’s cabin on Pigeon Lake to do some fishing, as per the original plan. Both were jacked up on the day’s events.

“We did not do the deed. So, number one, extract that outta your skull,” said Smith, who oscillated between offering sage advice and threatening to puke.

The next day, Mr. Big arrived at the cabin with a demand to know a dark secret about each man. “I want that security, knowin’ that you’re not gonna f---in’ rat me out,” he said.

After some convincing, Smith confessed to Beverly’s killing. “I was in on it,” he said.

He admitted to being present at Beverly Smith’s murder, but said a friend at the time, Dave Maunder, was the killer. Smith said he only intended to steal 40 pounds of marijuana from the house.

Officers listened to the confession in a nearby van, already questioning Smith’s confession. But, one officer said, he is “bang-on about all the names, where it happened, where the pot was in the f---in’ house, everything. So we got some true info.”

SECOND CONFESSION AND ARREST

Police pursued leads concerning Maunder, but were soon unsatisfied with the July confession. They were looking for information from Smith that either had him pulling the trigger, or told them who did. The investigation chugged on through the summer and fall.

The undercover friend and Smith had periodically been seeing Mr. Big, and Smith was getting increasingly bitter about being forced to clean up the crime boss’s murderous mess in July. Smith believed the men should be generously compensated for the risky work. Meanwhile, Smith is told that Mr. Big has hired a private investigator to check out his murder story.

In November, Smith told Mr. Big his cabin confession was not truthful, and that he had been extremely fearful of Mr. Big at the time, and was prepared to say anything to please him. The three men agreed to meet again, at which time Mr. Big said Smith’s recant of Beverly Smith’s killing had left him without insurance that Smith wouldn’t go to police about the drug dealer murder.

With prompting, Smith once again took responsibility for the murder. “I did it all myself,” he said, this time claiming he alone killed Beverly to steal drugs from the house and to keep the woman from snitching about an affair she knew he was having.

The new confession got more traction. On Dec. 10, 2009, Smith was arrested.

“You’re under arrest for first-degree murder,” said the arresting officer.

“Of?” Smith asked.

“For the murder of Beverly Smith.”

“Oh, that,” Smith said. “I’ve already gone through all that.”

THE ACCIDENTAL POLICE RECORDING

During the months-long sting, body-worn recorders captured conversations between Smith and the undercover officers. Typically, such devices are turned off when the undercover work is completed.

But amid the excitement on July 7, 2009 — the day of the fake corpse dump — the undercover officer playing Smith’s friend neglected to shut his off, and the accidentally captured conversation provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the sting at a crucial juncture.

Most importantly, it caught a potentially damning exchange between undercover officers describing Smith as being fearful. For trial purposes, police don’t want Smith to be scared; a confession produced out of fear is not likely to stand up in court.

During a discussion about how Smith was scared for his life — “He was talking about getting whacked,” said Mr. Big — the officer playing Smith’s friend commented that he could nonetheless testify in court that he did not know Smith was fearful.

Referencing renowned mindreader “The Amazing Kreskin,” the undercover officer said: “Well luckily for us we’re not f---in’ Kreskin’s children and we can’t read f---in’ people’s minds, your honour…”

The conversation, which officers later said they did not know was recorded, was withheld from Smith’s preliminary inquiry. The recording was only discovered later, during a sift through the countless hours of audio — and after officers involved in the sting had testified they did not know whether Smith was fearful.

Earlier this year, at a proceeding held to determine if the evidence gathered during the sting could be used in court, one of the officers, Mr. Big, was called to the stand. The night before Smith’s defence team was scheduled to question him about his actions on July 7, 2009 — at which time the accidental recording was discussed in court — Project Fearless’s leader, Det. Sgt. Leon Lynch, was charged with impaired driving. He was found asleep in his car in Oshawa. (The matter is still before the courts).

Lynch did not respond to a request for comment on whether his impaired driving charge was related to the discovery of the accidental recording. A spokesperson for the Durham police said in an email Thursday that Lynch was not giving interviews about his case.

The accidental tape could have been considered evidence that officers misled the court when they testified they did not know Smith was fearful. But Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Glass, overseeing the proceeding concerning the Project Fearless evidence, ultimately ruled that any concerns raised by “deliberately or inadvertently” omitting the recording were overcome by the fact that it was disclosed to the court after it was discovered.

WHY PROJECT FEARLESS FAILED

Glass ruled in June that the confessions gathered during Project Fearless could not be used. He had major concerns about their tactics and said that allowing evidence obtained during the sting would “shock the sense of trial fairness to Canadian society.” The main issues he identified:

Coercion: Glass took issue with the project’s central tactic of extracting a confession by involving Smith in what he believed was a murder. Investigators “pumped” Smith for information, “basically forced” Smith to become part of the criminal organization when Mr. Big dumped the fake body on Smith, then “pressured him” to reveal a deep, dark secret. “Coercion was evident,” Glass wrote.

Unreliable confessions: You could “drive a Mack truck” through all the holes in Smith’s story, Glass wrote. The location of the gun kept changing, as did the person pulling the trigger. Smith claimed to have stolen 40 pounds of pot, but the evidence indicated there was less than a pound in Beverly Smith’s house that night. The “highly suspect” story, Glass wrote, “is the product of pressure by state agents ...”

Breach of Smith’s Charter Rights: When Smith was released from jail in 2008, after his second-degree murder charge was dropped, his lawyers advised him to stay silent. But the continuing investigation into Smith following his release amounted to a “functional detention” — even if Smith did not know it — where he was being subjected to questions about the murder after being advised to say nothing. “Basically, Alan Smith was not allowed to remain silent,” Glass ruled.

:

THE FIRST CONFESSION – JULY 7, 2009

Below is a portion of Alan Smith’s (AS) confession to an undercover officer, playing the part of Mr. Big. The lines indicate places where the transcription is redacted.

AS: You remember the murder?

Mr. Big: What, the thing that I saw on the Internet there about.

AS: Yeah.

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: OK.

Mr. Big: What happened?

AS: I was in on it.

Mr. Big: You were in on it. What do you mean?

AS: My buddy Dave and I had set up this guy Doug.

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: We were watchin’ for the longest time. So he got in forty pounds of weed. Back then him and I were, we were hurtin’.

Mr. Big: Who’s Dave?

AS: He was my buddy back then, Dave Maunder.

Mr. Big: Well where is he now?

AS: Uh, he lives in Calgary. Okay.

Mr. Big: When was the last time you talked to this f---in’ guy?

AS: A year ago.

Mr. Big: All right.

AS: And we had it set up that when Doug went to work.

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: Okay. At General Motors at 6 at night.

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: That we were goin’ just shortly after to get the, the, 40 pounds.

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: So I went in. I ran upstairs, got the 40 pounds. He was downstairs. He had a .22 with him just for back-up.

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: Now she ran toward the cupboard and Dave doesn’t know what she was runnin’ for the cupboard for, whether it was a handgun, a, just a normal rifle…

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: … whatever. So he plugged her in the back of the head.

Mr. Big: Once?

AS: Just once, yeah, and she went, uh, down and that was it. She went out quick.

Mr. Big: That was, who was it that plugged her?

AS: Dave Maunder.

Mr. Big: Dave Maunder plugged her.

AS: Yeah.

Mr. Big: And you talked to this guy a year ago.

AS: Yeah. Dave and I have kept like …

Mr. Big: Has he ever been f---in’, like I mean, you…

AS: No.

Mr. Big: … you’ve taken the f---in’ heat on this. He taken any heat?

AS: No, no. We’ve uh, him and I uh, uh, uh, made an agreement, uh, that um…

Mr. Big: Who was the guy. Who’s the guy? Who, who’d you rip? Like who were you lookin’ at rippin’?

AS: Doug Smith.

Mr. Big: And you got 40 pounds.

AS: Yeah. He just got 40 pounds, yeah. And back then, that was a, a lotta money and uh, uh, Dave uh, pretty well had connections more than I did in the city.

Mr. Big: Yeah.

AS: So, um, but anyhow, uh, yeah. So him and I have kept that uh, that tight now for all these years and every time they’ve uh … Mr. Big: It’s like havin’ a big s--- saying that. Right?

AS: ______ yup.

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Mr. Big: You know?

AS: And, uh, I actually went and did time for it and everything else, so.

But, um.

Mr. Big: You never said nothing. ______

AS: No.

Mr. Big: ______ did ya?

AS: Well ______ I had never to this day and the uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, when uh, I went and did my six months I just sat in the f---in’ corner and went be-da be-da be-da be-da be-da and got my three hots and a cot, waited for my lawyer to get me out cause I knew it was gonna happen because I never did the deed.

Mr. Big: Where’s the gun?

AS: She’s long time buried. Oh yeah. It’s been, it’s been buried now for, for, for eons, like about, uh, I would imagine by now 20 feet down in the quagmire.

Mr. Big: So who buried it?

AS: Swamp, swamp. I did.

Mr. Big: You ever touch it?

AS: No, no.

Mr. Big: How’d you get it buried?

AS: What?

Mr. Big: How’d you get it buried?

AS: It was wrapped, you mean the cloth.

Mr. Big: Yeah. What did you wrap it?

AS: It was an old jacket. An old red, uh, uh, an old red, uh, not fisher jacket, but a red shirt. I just ______.

Mr. Big: Did you throw any bullets in with it?

AS: Everything. Everything’s in the swamp. I’m the only guy that knows where it is.

Mr. Big: Okay.

AS: And, uh, he, uh, he carries on with his f---in’ life and I carry on with mine. Because we’re both…

Mr. Big: Did you talk to him after about it?

AS: Yeah well we’re both under the agreement, eh man, like, uh, how long do you wanna go away?

Mr. Big: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

AS: And uh, so we, I have been, to be quite honest and this is the God’s honest truth, as tough as nails. I’ve, I’ve gone, they’ve queried me.

Oh. Don’t think they haven’t rattled me up and down ________.

Mr. Big: Well f---, I guess. Cause you f---in’ did, uh, you did some time.

AS: Well yeah. That’s right. So anyhow I just uh, I I just said look, you’re barkin’ up the wrong f---in’ tree man. I just got home from f---in’ work. My wife’s sayin’ uh, uh, that, that Doug has called and, and run over there and I did, and da, da, da. And I run back up my wife, and maintained this, hey I f---in’ found her man …

Mr. Big: (laughs)

AS: … and you’re f---in’ around with me? I got no residue, no s--- no nothin’. I’m just getting home from work for f--- sake.

Mr. Big: Did you try to clean it up?

AS: No. I uh, we.

Mr. Big: Did you move her?

AS: No. Never touched her, uh never made uh, uh, uh, no. No there was uh, uh _______

Mr. Big: So you did her in the kitchen?

AS: Yup.

Mr. Big: Like, was it close?

AS: Uh, well from about here to that chair right there.

Mr. Big: Okay so you didn’t f---in’ do one of them.

AS: No, straight in the back.

Mr. Big: One shot.

AS: Yeah. Straight in the back.

Mr. Big: And did you, you f---in’ grabbed the weed and just f---ed off.

AS: Yeah.

Mr. Big: Mm hmmm. Ohhhhhh, f---.

AS: I grabbed the weed.

Mr. Big: Oh boy.

AS: And I haven’t looked back since buddy.

SECOND CONFESSION – NOV. 9, 2009

Below is a condensed portion of the second confession, given by Alan Smith to the undercover officers playing Mr. Big and Smith’s friend.

AS: I did it all myself, I got the ff … I got the … the … the pot, uh … and uh … basically over the course of the next few months I sold that pot off and quietly in bits and pieces and uh … uh … uh … the reason she ended up getting uh … shot in the back of the head was is tha … that I had the gun right behind my back all the time, She never did get to see any f---in’ gun, so Mr. Big let me right in the house just like a f---in’ neighbor and uh … Mr. Big went uh … up to go to the kitchen to get the baby’s uh … bottle, I just followed her right in the back, I took one shot in the back of her head and I went up and I grabbed the 40 pounds and uh … that was it. And then I played stupid after that ever since. …

But I’ve lived this long, I’ve lived this long without having to go any further in jail and uh … I know I’ve got some crosses to bear when I go to see God but anyhow uh … uh … all I guess I’m pretty well asking is that um … uh … I don’t end up back in jail cause it’s too ….

It’s just me. I did a terrible thing uh … when I was a young man uh …

Undercover officer: You paid the price for it though.

AS: And I … I uh … yeah, I have and not only that, I’ve had to consciously have her on my mind all these years, ah … but I’ve managed to uh … deal with it and go and do what I had to do by sittin’ in jail and then I just left … the rest to the lawyers and after 48,000 f---in’ dollars, they got me off. ...

Undercover officer: Hey you’ve a … you’ve a … you’ve … you’ve lived with yourself for this long an … and the day that you told me and, hey brother, I knew long time ago, I know a long time ago that you f---in’ did her, but you know what I … I said it the other day and I said it this morning to f---head, I go, he’s my elder, I respect him, I will never speak for him. I knew way back when, when we talked about northbound ___ ’member we’re goin’ up there and I said, so he did not do this, so you shot her, you’re f---in’ right I did, I never said it again, I never f---in’ went to the bank with it, I just f---in’ said, you know what, when Al’s ready, he’ll tell me and then that was that day we’re driving around I, f--- … I don’t know what came over me, I just f---in’, cause the P.I. and the s--- and this f---in’

Dave guy callin’ and all this other crap I just f---in’ finally said, man, we’re f---in’ ___ cause I just thought, I knew what you said wasn’t true but you weren’t ready and then you gave me the paperwork and that was fine like I said, I just knew you weren’t ready, right.

AS: Yeah, I should be in there right now doin’ 25 to, uh … life. Didn’t work out that way.

Undercover officer: Mmm. So you were jus … you were gonna plunk her no matter what or what happened?

AS: Yeah.

Undercover officer: Yeah.

AS: Oh yeah. (Pause) She had a big mouth.

Undercover officer: Oh yeah, was she chirpin’ bout ya?

AS: Yeah, prior to it all.

Undercover officer: Oh yeah. What was she chirpin’?

AS: About this chick I was banging, a friend of her sister’s.

Undercover officer: Yeah, mmm, and you’re afraid of the ex finding out … hey?

AS: Uh … that an … losing everything. (Pause)

Undercover officer: _______

AS: My whole family thinks I’m as innocent as the day is long.

Undercover officer: Yeah.

AS: And they’re always gonna think that.