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B.C. Hells Angel charged in Ottawa firearms case

Damion Patrick Ryan, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels Attica chapter in Greece, has been charged with four firearms-related counts.

Damion Ryan, age 40.
Damion Ryan, age 40. Photo by BC-CFSEU /PNG

A longtime B.C. biker involved in the Wolfpack gang is facing new charges in Ottawa while still awaiting trial in a major drug trafficking case in Manitoba.

The charges were announced Friday against Hells Angel Damion Patrick Ryan, 42, by the RCMP’s transnational and serious organized crime section in Ottawa.

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RCMP investigators searched an Ottawa home where Ryan was living in February 2022 and found “12 illegal handguns, a number of prohibited high-capacity magazines, ammunition, and a device used to convert a semi-automatic pistol to fully automatic,” Insp. Islam Issa said in a news release. “Many of the firearms were loaded.”

Hells Angel Damion Ryan blurred his face when he posted this shot with unidentified Hells Angels friends in Europe on his instagram account. From 2017.
Hells Angel Damion Ryan blurred his face when he posted this shot with unidentified Hells Angels friends in Europe on his instagram account. From 2017. PNG

At the time, the RCMP’s Winnipeg federal serious and organized crime team was investigating Ryan, who was living in the Ottawa house once owned by members of the Alkhalil criminal organization.

Gangster Rabih Alkhalil, also a Wolfpack member, escaped from a B.C. jail last summer in the middle of his murder trial. He was convicted in absentia.

“The illegal handguns, which were imported from the United States, were to be used for personal protection and distributed into the hands of criminal organization members in Canada. These types of firearms continue to be in high demand on the streets,” Issa said.

Ryan, a full-patch member of the HA’s Attica chapter in Greece, has been charged with four firearms-related counts, one count of possession of a magazine for the purpose of trafficking and one of possession of ammunition for a dangerous purpose.

The B.C. native is scheduled to appear in an Ottawa courtroom on Feb. 15. A warrant has been issued for 28-year-old Azra Ivziku, his co-accused on all counts.

Issa said the “discovery of illegal firearms and ammunition demonstrates the concerning and pervasive nature of organized criminal activity in our communities.”

“The firearm seizures and arrest of the Hells Angels member is the result of a co-ordinated, multi-jurisdictional law-enforcement effort, that has successfully disrupted the flow of illegal handguns onto our streets, leading to safer communities.”

A long-time B.C. biker involved in the Wolf Pack gang is facing new charges in Ottawa while still awaiting trial in a major drug trafficking case in Manitoba. The search of a residence in Ottawa resulted in the discovery of these 12 illegal handguns, a number of prohibited high-capacity magazines, ammunition, and a device used to convert a semi-automatic pistol to fully automatic, RCMP said.
A long-time B.C. biker involved in the Wolf Pack gang is facing new charges in Ottawa while still awaiting trial in a major drug trafficking case in Manitoba. The search of a residence in Ottawa resulted in the discovery of these 12 illegal handguns, a number of prohibited high-capacity magazines, ammunition, and a device used to convert a semi-automatic pistol to fully automatic, RCMP said. Photo by Ottawa RCMP /Ottawa RCMP

Ryan is still before the courts in Manitoba on charges laid last year after a long investigation.

It started in 2018, when an RCMP criminal analyst there identified links among international shipments of cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and firearms and ammunition.

Ryan was one of 22 people charged — mostly from Manitoba, but also three others from the Lower Mainland.

“This operation began right here in Manitoba and reached from Vancouver to Toronto, to Colombia, Greece and the United States,” now-retired RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy said at the time of the arrests.

Ryan has spent considerable time in B.C. where he grew up. But after he was shot in 2010, he moved to Ontario and became a member of the elite Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels there. The chapter was later disbanded after a dispute with other regional chapters of the biker gang.

In April 2015, a would-be hitman attempted to shoot Ryan in the food court at Vancouver airport, but the gun jammed. That summer, he was charged with several drug trafficking counts in Ontario. The file was transferred to Vancouver, where he pleaded guilty to two trafficking counts and one of possession of stolen property in 2016. He was sentenced to three months.

He then transferred to the Attica chapter, though was turned away when he tried to re-enter Greece two years ago. In May 2021, Ryan was featured on a Vancouver police warning posters telling the public they could be at risk if they were near the biker or several other gangsters involved in the Lower Mainland conflict.

kbolan@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/kbolan

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