Call me crazy, but casually having so much negative things to say about someone else’s relationship like this is the red flag to me- unless you are extremely close with the wife.

If you are extremely close with the wife then you would have a better understanding of this dude and would have better knowledge of how to handle him than us random on the internet.

And his kind of underhanded behaviour is not the kind of toxic you see growing up in “ghetto”neighbourhoods. The approach of most in “ghetto” environments are more upfront or confrontational. What you are describing is something you would typically see more of in suburban PTAs, for example.

Also, he bullies timid employees but sucks up to naive individuals/ sucks up to bosses but not socially-adept people? That’s a lot of contradiction there. Which one is it? You also mentioned that you are aware of his behaviour which means you are implying that you are that socially-adept individual and think of anyone who likes him as easily manipulated.

Also, why would see someone who is leaving as competition? Are deliberately and constantly antagonising him? Some would say that is bullying. Does he have something on you and you are actually crowd sourcing ideas with this post on how to turn the situation around and make him look unreliable?

Sir, I think you are the one trying to be a dark empath but are just starting the journey so you’re not that very good at it yet.