Group manipulating Tote etc (7)
I believe the answer is:
octette
'group' is the definition.
(octette is a kind of group)
'manipulating tote etc' is the wordplay.
'manipulating' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'tote'+'etc'='toteetc'
'toteetc' anagrammed gives 'OCTETTE'.
(Other definitions for octette that I've seen before include "Group of eight" , "Noted work" , "Eight musicians" .)