Dealer who became RCMP informant ‘Agent 66’ key witness in trial of Hells Angel accused in international drug-trafficking operation

The trial of a powerful Hells Angel accused in a massive drug-trafficking operation is expected to hinge on the testimony of a Manitoba cocaine dealer turned paid RCMP informant — known in court only as “Agent 66.”

Damion Ryan, in his mid-40s, is accused of conspiring to sell cocaine, meth and fentanyl and possessing the proceeds of crime for the benefit or under the direction of the Wolf Pack Alliance, an organized-crime group comprised of various high-level Canadian gangsters and drug traffickers.

A full-patch Hells Angel, Ryan was picked up in Ottawa in February 2022, when Manitoba federal RCMP took down five Canadian and international drug networks in a wide-reaching probe dubbed Project Divergent, which began in 2018.

Ryan is alleged to have led one of the networks and was among the 22 people Mounties arrested.

At the outset of Ryan’s trial on Wednesday, federal drug Crown prosecutor Kate Henley gave an overview of the case to Court of King’s Bench Justice Chris Martin.

Agent 66 began working with Mounties sometime after he began serving a sentence for cocaine trafficking at Milner Ridge jail in 2018, Henley said.

While in jail, Henley said, Agent 66 met other drug dealers and eventually began meeting with the RCMP and providing information.

“Upon his release from custody, Agent 66 continued to provide the RCMP with information on various targets and, eventually, in July of 2020, he signed an agreement to become a police agent for Project Divergent,” Henley said.

“The goal of the project was to target mid- and high-level drug traffickers in the province of Manitoba who had inter-provincial and international connections.”

Agent 66 signed an agreement allowing his phone calls and text messages to be intercepted under a wiretap, beginning in August 2020.

His in-person meetings with targets of the probe were also sometimes recorded on audio or video, while conversations on encrypted messaging apps were recorded with screenshots.

Agent 66 got close with a contact of Ryan’s while in jail and began to buy drugs from him in June 2020, when both had left Milner Ridge, Henley said.

Eventually, Agent 66 had the contact connect him with larger-scale British Columbia drug suppliers from whom he bought cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl, Henley told court.

In 2021, Agent 66 had the contact put him in touch with Ryan after a B.C. supplier died, she said.

The agent and Ryan first communicated through encrypted messaging apps before an in-person meeting in Montreal in December 2021, Henley said.

In Montreal, the agent and Ryan discussed shipping drugs from Ontario to Manitoba — rather than from B.C. — the prices of drugs, and obtaining a vehicle with a hidden compartment for drug transportation, Henley told court.

Ryan also offered to sell Agent 66 firearms at the Montreal meeting, which was videotaped and the audio was recorded, Henley said.

Henley alleged Ryan used a courier to ship five kilograms of cocaine to Agent 66 in Winnipeg in January 2022, a month before RCMP took down their investigation with arrests and a slew of search warrants across Canada.

Mounties seized 110 kilograms of cocaine; more than 40 kilograms of methamphetamine; three kilograms of fentanyl; 500 grams of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly; 19 guns and more than $445,000 in cash.

At the time, it represented the largest seizure of drugs in Manitoba RCMP’s history.

Agent 66 is expected to be called for as many as seven days of testimony, beginning Monday.

Henley said the prosecution will also rely on wiretap and encrypted message evidence as well as audio surreptitiously recorded by Agent 66 and undercover RCMP officers, who will testify using pseudonyms and from behind a screen in the courtroom to protect their identities.

The trial, scheduled for six weeks, is being held in a courtroom equipped with metal detectors.

The trial had been scheduled to proceed in January and September last year, but was adjourned twice after Ryan fired multiple lawyers and another had to cease representation due to medical issues.

Ryan is currently representing himself, with defence lawyer Amanda Sansregret assisting him as what’s known as a “friend of the court.”

Martin denied a request from Ryan on Wednesday morning to again adjourn the trial over Ryan’s concerns with his ability to review evidence disclosure while jailed in Manitoba.

The judge said he discussed the issue with the superintendent of the Winnipeg Remand Centre over the noon hour to ensure the outlaw biker is able to get sufficient time to review evidence.

Crown prosecutor Janna Hyman said it’s reasonable for corrections officials to have concerns for security while holding Ryan.

She highlighted the fact that one of Ryan’s associates in the Wolf Pack group, British Columbia gangster Rabih “Robby” Alkhalil, escaped from a B.C. jail where he was being held on murder charges in 2022.

Ryan was accused last year by American justice officials in a thwarted murder-for-hire plot in which two Iranian dissidents in the United States were to be targeted.

American federal justice officials allege Ryan was working on behalf of an accused Iranian drug trafficker — at the direction of Iran’s government — to recruit hitmen to kill the dissidents in 2021.

Ryan is also facing firearms charges out of Ottawa, with a court date scheduled for later this month.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca