Key witness in Hells Angel trial became paid police informant after losing $400K in drug money, court told

A career criminal who helped police dismantle a massive drug-trafficking operation and bust a full-patch Hells Angels gangster became a paid police informant after he lost nearly $400,000 in a money-laundering scheme, a trial heard Monday.

The man, who is in witness protection and can be identified only as “Agent 66,” is the Crown’s star witness in the case against B.C. Hells Angel Damion Ryan, the alleged leader of one of five Canadian and international drug networks taken down by Manitoba RCMP in February 2022.

Agent 66 — who court heard is in his 40s and has been involved in the drug trade since he was 12 — said he enlisted his drug supplier to “clean” $368,000 in drug proceeds and “never got it back.”

“I was angry,” he told court. “The whole point of cleaning it was I wanted out of (drug dealing).”

The man said he was in a Manitoba jail in 2018 and 2019 when he became an informant for an unidentified police agency that later introduced him to the RCMP.

“They wanted to know who I was connected with and who I was able to get drugs from,” he told court. “I gave them everybody at that time I thought I could.”

Agent 66 was released from jail in early 2019 and a year later signed an informant agreement with RCMP, becoming a key part of an investigation dubbed Project Divergent, which would eventually lead to his introduction to Damion Ryan.

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.

Project Divergent netted Manitoba RCMP the largest ever drug seizure at the time: 110 kilograms of cocaine, more than 40 kilograms methamphetamine, three kilograms of fentanyl, 500 grams of MDMA, as well as 19 guns and more than $445,000 in cash.

Under his initial agreement, Agent 66 was to be paid $1,100 a week, with police paying for his housing and car, and a total of $580,000 after he testified in court and all legal proceedings had been completed.

Agent 66 said he renegotiated his payout to $900,000 after Ryan became a target of the investigation.

“The key players had changed and I felt I was more at risk moving forward, so I asked for a bigger pay,” he testified.

Agent 66’s cellphone conversations and in-person meetings with criminal targets were recorded by police. The agent took screenshots of text messages he received from the targets and kept notes of his dealings, both of which were quickly provided to his police handlers.

Agent 66’s first target was Project Divergent accused Andre Steele, who he had met while in custody in 2018.

“I knew that he dealt with cocaine and other drugs,” he testified. “He was also very verbal on the (jail) phone when I was there, making deals loud enough within earshot.”

The man said he later became aware of Ryan and his connection to the Hells Angels after he “liked” one of Steele’s Facebook posts. He showed the post to his police handlers.

Agent 66 and Steele were both out of custody on Nov. 23, 2020, when, in a cellphone conversation recorded by police, Agent 66 discussed purchasing 30 ounces of methamphetamine and pressed a man alleged to be Steele to connect him to his supplier.

The man resisted the request, telling the agent: “My guy is part of the Wolf Pack”

“The guy that we work for is a full-patch gangster, and I’m not dying for anybody,” the man told the informant.

After further prodding, the man alleged to be Steele agreed to connect the informant with his supplier – a man further up the criminal chain, but not Ryan – in exchange for $10,000.

The agent met the man Dec. 16, 2020, outside a Vancouver restaurant, where the agent brokered a deal to purchase three kilograms of methamphetamine.

In a conversation recorded months later, the informant asked the man alleged to be Steele if he could help him “hook up with Damion” so he could purchase Hells Angels support gear, clothing that signalled support for the biker gang.

The man said he would contact Ryan on the informant’s behalf, saying Ryan was “kind of exclusive.”

The informant is expected to be on the witness stand until at least the end of the week.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca