Paid police informant to testify in Hells Angel’s drug-trafficking conspiracy trial

The drug-trafficking conspiracy trial of a Hells Angel will hinge on the testimony of a Manitoba drug trafficker turned paid police informant, a judge heard Wednesday.

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 composed of various high-level Canadian gangsters and drug traffickers.

His trial began in front of Court of King’s Bench Justice Chris Martin Wednesday.

Ryan was picked up in Ottawa in February 2022, when RCMP took down five Canadian and international drug networks in a wide-reaching probe dubbed Project Divergent. Ryan, a full-patch Hells Angel, was alleged to have led one of the networks and was among the 22 people arrested.

Crown prosecutors told court the police informant, known as Agent 66, began working with RCMP sometime after he went to jail in 2018 for a drug trafficking offence. His work with Mounties eventually ensnared Ryan, among others, in the RCMP probe.

Agent 66 is expected to testify beginning next week.