A dealer-turned-informant was motivated to help police bring down a high level Hells Angel out of anger after his nest egg of drug money, squirreled away to help him get out of trafficking, was stolen in an unrelated incident, court heard.
On Monday, a man going by the pseudonym Agent 66 testified in the trial of Damion Ryan in Winnipeg — a man RCMP have called one of the “most prolific organized crime members in our country.”
Agent 66 initially agreed to co-operate with RCMP for over $380,000 for one part of the investigation, plus about $200,000 more upon completion of the proceedings. He upped his amount after learning about Ryan’s reputation, court heard. RCMP eventually agreed to pay him a total of over $900,000.
“The key players had changed and I felt I was more at risk with moving forward, so I had asked for a bigger payment,” said the agent. “It was Damion Ryan.”
His name is under a publication ban and he remains in witness protection.
Ryan is a member of the Wolfpack gang and a full-patch member of the Hells Angels who was among nearly two dozen arrested in 2022 as part of a multi-year RCMP drug trafficking investigation called Project Divergent, police say. He was 41 at the time.
Manitoba RCMP said they seized $70 million of drugs in a scheme to take down an organized criminal network that spanned provinces with connections abroad.
The trial got underway in front of Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Chris W. Martin last week. Crown attorneys Kate Henley and Janna Hyman are prosecuting the case. Ryan is currently without counsel in court and being assisted by friend of the court, lawyer Amanda Sansregret.
Court heard Monday Agent 66 started dealing cannabis at 12 and progressed to selling cocaine in his teens. He tried to “clean” $368,000 of the money he made as a dealer through a supplier who he says stole it. The agent hoped to cash that out and get out of the drug game.
“I was angry,” he told court. “The whole point of me cleaning it was because I wanted out.”
After his release from jail in 2019, Agent 66 became an informant for Project Divergent in 2020.
Court heard four officers worked with Agent 66 throughout, helping with logistics, payment and coaching him through communications with targets. They paid for his food, housing, vehicle and provided him with a $1,100-per-week stipend through the investigation.
He kept notes, recorded calls and took screenshots of messages on an RCMP-provided cellphone, as well as through encrypted messaging apps like Signal and Whisper.
Conversations shared in court
On Monday, court heard call audio of Agent 66 discussing a drug deal with a man investigators say is Andre Steele.
On the call, the man identified as Steele tells Agent 66 he can provide him with 30 ounces of methamphetamine.
Agent 66 paid Steele $10,000 for allegedly connecting him with a supplier in B.C., audio played in court suggests.
Court heard audio of an in-person meeting between Agent 66 and that contact, identified as Benito B in court. He and Agent 66 work out a deal for the agent to buy three kilograms of meth off of him at $17,000 per kilo, and discuss the possibility of bigger deals in the future.
Audio of an April 2021 conversation between Steele and Agent 66 was played where the agent asks to be connected with “Damion.”
“He’s kind of exclusive…. I’ll hit him up … on Signal,” a man the agent identified as Steele says on the recording.
Agent 66 also inquired on the calls about obtaining Hells Angels or Wolfpack “support gear” or clothing from those organizations to show support on future deals, he told court.
Undercover officers got involved, and in 2021 began buying drugs on Agent 66’s behalf out of province, including a deal for three kilograms of meth, and other drugs, court heard.
Further call audio from 2021 included exchanges between Agent 66 and Steele discussing fentanyl and other deal possibilities, with some of those conversations taking place over Facebook Messenger with Steele or someone communicating on his behalf, the agent said.
Some exchanges with Steele continued while he was in jail at Milner Ridge.
In one audio recording shared in court, Agent 66 and a target discuss concerns about Steele’s Facebook presence while incarcerated as presenting “red flags” that could expose him and put others at risk.
Crown attorney Hyman continued to walk Agent 66 through various additional communications between him, Steele and Benito B, and undercover officers.
In one recording, Benito B claims to be connected to “H-A,” or Hells Angels, and can provide protection to an associate Agent 66 wants to send to the province to pick up drugs, including carfentanil — a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than fentanyl. In another, they discuss a one-kilo order of fentanyl, court heard.
Agent 66 is expected to testify all of next week.
Prosecutors estimate the trial will last into mid-October.
