Biker busted in RCMP probe once a target of contract killer

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This article was published 30/03/2022 (1302 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A full-patch Hells Angel biker accused of running a drug-trafficking network with links in Manitoba was once targeted by a contract killer disguised in a burqa in Vancouver’s airport.

Damion Ryan, 41, of Ottawa, was arrested in that city Feb. 23, as part of an RCMP probe that infiltrated five Canadian and international criminal networks with assistance from police agencies across Canada, the U.S., Colombia and Greece.

He’s charged with leading one of the networks. Ryan is a prominent member of B.C.’s outlaw motorcycle gangs and is a member of the Hells Angels chapter in Attica, Greece.

The investigation, dubbed Project Divergent, began in 2018 based on criminal intelligence about the flow of drugs into southern Manitoba from North Dakota. It morphed into an international probe and on Tuesday, RCMP Insp. Grant Stephen, commander of Manitoba RCMP’s organized crime unit, announced that 22 people had been charged.

In the bungled airport hit on April 10, 2015, Ryan went to a food court at the Vancouver Airport to meet with Thomas Duong, a member of the British Columbia UN gang, as outlined in a 2018 B.C. Supreme Court sentencing decision involving the man convicted of the attempted hit.

The B.C. Crown attorney’s office believed he had been lured to the airport to be slain.

The two gangsters sat together in the food court. Knowah Ferguson, an 18-year-old Hamilton resident, waited in a nearby women’s washroom clad in the burqa.

Ferguson returned to the food court and sat at a table behind Ryan. He got up, walked toward Ryan, and pointed a pistol at the back of Ryan’s head. He pulled the trigger, but the gun didn’t fire. Ferguson later told an unnamed witness who helped him flee and torch the getaway car the pistol had “fu—ing jammed.”

Ryan ran through the food court and toward the domestic terminal. Ferguson also escaped but was taken into custody weeks later. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder, and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Eighteen of the 22 accused as part of Project Divergent are Manitobans. Police seized significant amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and ecstasy; 14 handguns, five semi-automatic rifles and more than $445,000 in cash.

Ryan is charged with possessing controlled substances for the purpose of trafficking, possessing of the proceeds of crime exceeding $5,000 and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence — namely that he conspired with three named and other unnamed individuals to traffic an illicit substance between Sept. 17, 2020 and Feb. 17, 2022, court documents show.

He’s barred by court order from contacting 23 people, including many of those charged in the probe, and he faces firearms charges in Ontario. On March 14, he was denied bail and remains in custody in Milner Ridge Correctional Centre northeast of Winnipeg.

Another accused is Andre Omar Steele, 42, of Winnipeg. He’s charged with drug trafficking, two counts of conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, possessing the proceeds of crime, and the unlawful transfer of firearms and prohibited devices. In court documents, he’s named as a co-conspirator.

On Feb. 28, officers arrested Steele at Stony Mountain Institution, RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Courchaine confirmed Wednesday.

He’s serving hard time for drug trafficking and firearms offences after being sentenced to 11 years in prison in January.

Court was told on March 20, 2021, that Winnipeg police had executed warrants on Steele’s Portage Avenue suite. They found a loaded .22-calibre rifle, 400 grams of meth, 84 grams of a powder containing fentanyl, 100 Percocet pills, 75 grams of cocaine and four pounds of cannabis.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera