Manitoba·UpdatedA member of the Hells Angels criminal organization was arrested thanks in part to a drug-dealer-turned-informant and undercover officers who slowly made incriminating connections to the man, beginning with an associate in a Manitoba jail, a court heard Wednesday.Damion Ryan on trial in connection with interprovincial bust that led to 20 arrests in ManitobaBryce Hoye · CBC · Posted: Sep 10, 2025 2:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes agoRCMP officers from multiple police agencies seized more than $70 million worth of illicit drugs as part of an investigation called Project Divergent in 2022. They also seized multiple weapons and Hells Angels paraphernalia, some of which they said belonged to Damion Ryan, whose Winnipeg trial began Wednesday. (Ron Boileau/CBC)A member of the Hells Angels criminal organization was arrested thanks in part to a drug-dealer-turned-informant and undercover officers who slowly made incriminating connections to the man, beginning with an associate in a Manitoba jail.That’s what Crown prosecutors suggested on Wednesday morning, at the beginning of a Winnipeg trial for Damion Ryan.Ryan was one of 20 people arrested in Manitoba in 2022 as part of an RCMP bust of an international drugs and weapons trafficking scheme. Police said at the time they seized $70 million worth of drugs.According to police, Ryan was the only full-patch Hells Angel arrested in the multi-year “Project Divergent” investigation, which spanned multiple provinces.RCMP at the time described him as “likely one of most prolific organized crime members in our country.”He and some co-conspirators were charged with trafficking methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, and conspiring to profit from the proceeds of crime related to his connection to the Wolfpack, an organized crime group, court heard.The judge-only trial, being heard by Justice Chris W. Martin at Court of King’s Bench, has hit several delays related to Ryan’s numerous changes in defence counsel. He’s had five different lawyers, most of whom he has fired, court heard. One went on medical leave.He has also previously opted to self-represent.Defence lawyer Amanda Sansregret was in court Wednesday as an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, to assist Ryan in his questioning of prosecutors and those testifying.Ryan asked for another adjournment to review prosecutors’ evidence. Justice Martin refused.”I have to tell you with a certain degree of frustration … I have a lot of empathy for you in terms of being a self-represented individual,” Martin told Ryan.”I am not coming to the conclusion that you are gaming the system … to delay this matter, but it does have that fragrance to it at this particular moment.”Federal Crown prosecutors Kate Henley and Janna Hyman laid out the beginnings of their case Wednesday, entering multiple thick binders of disclosure into the record that they suggest will incriminate Ryan.Among the evidence, Henley and Hyman said they will draw on accounts, screenshots, phone recordings and logs from jail, surreptitious recordings and more that undercover officers obtained with the help of “Agent 66,” a former drug dealer who became an RCMP informant.While in jail at Milner Ridge, east of Winnipeg, the informant became close to a contact of Ryan’s, Andre Steele, who sold the informant drugs, prosecutors said. Over time, the agent had the contact connect him with B.C.-based suppliers, from whom he purchased larger quantities of meth, cocaine and fentanyl, court heard.Through them, the agent eventually made contact with Ryan — first through encrypted messaging apps, and then in person.He met with Ryan in Montreal in December 2021, where the pair discussed transporting drugs from Ontario, drug prices and getting a vehicle with a hidden carpet, prosecutors said. They also talked about Ryan selling firearms to the agent, they said.Ryan shipped five kilos of cocaine to the agent in Winnipeg via a courier in January 2022, the Crown said. Police made the Project Divergent busts the next month.On Wednesday afternoon, the Crown called witnesses effectively to establish how investigators monitored and reviewed communications between agents and investigation targets.Manitoba Justice employee Brittany Gunnlaughson, who works at Milner Ridge’s preventative security office, was part of the monitoring.Court heard her duties include speaking with inmates, investigating incidents, completing production orders, safety and reviewing surveillance and telecommunications. She said she was issued a production order to download recorded calls Steele made from jail between spring and fall 2021 and forward those to RCMP.The second Crown witness to testify, Eric Berrard, is a 15-year civilian member of the RCMP who works as a field support technician for the special investigations unit. He often programs devices used in investigations, including setting up wiretaps.He helped Project Divergent investigators set up wiretaps on Agent 66’s devices with his consent.Sylvia Labelle, the third Crown witness, is also a civilian member with the RCMP investigation unit as an intercept monitor analyst. She monitors and reviews intercepted messages from numbers associated with investigations and liaises with telephone companies made to comply with investigations through production orders.She exported data, including call audio and text messages, and passed them on to RCMP investigators as part of Project Divergent.Prosecutors expect the trial could take six weeks. Agent 66 is expected to take the stand next week and be on the stand for a week or more.ABOUT THE AUTHORBryce Hoye is a multi-platform journalist with a background in wildlife biology. He has worked for CBC Manitoba for over a decade with stints producing at CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and Front Burner. He was a 2024-25 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is also Prairie rep for outCBC. He has won a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for a 2017 feature on the history of the fur trade, and a 2023 Prairie region award for an audio documentary about a Chinese-Canadian father passing down his love for hockey to the next generation of Asian Canadians.Selected storiesEmail: bryce.hoye@cbc.caFacebookMore by Bryce Hoye
Dealer-turned-informant helped RCMP bust Hells Angel in international drug trafficking scheme, court hears
