United Nations gangster ordered returned to Canada to face murder charge

Judge in Puerto Rico rules Canada presented sufficient evidence to justify sending Conor D'Monte to Canada

For 12 years, United Nations gangster Conor D’Monte has avoided a B.C. courtroom on charges he was involved in the 2009 murder of rival Red Scorpion Kevin LeClair.

But D’Monte may soon be on his way back to Vancouver after a judge in Puerto Rico ordered his extradition  on Thursday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Marshal D. Morgan said in the four-page ruling that Canada had filed material in the case against D’Monte that met the threshold for extradition based on the treaty between the two countries.

“There is probable cause to believe that the fugitive before this court, the same person identified in the extradition request from the Government of Canada, committed the offences for which extradition is sought,” Morgan said. “The evidence before this court is sufficient to justify the fugitive’s committal for trial on felony charges.”

D’Monte was arrested a year ago in a San Juan suburb where he had been living under a fake name and purported to be a wealthy philanthropist.

The Vancouver native was charged in January 2011 with murder and conspiracy in LeClair’s slaying and the broader plot in 2008 and 2009 to murder Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon, as well as other Red Scorpions.

Postmedia covered D’Monte’s extradition hearing remotely on Jan. 27.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julian Radzinschi told Morgan that D’Monte not only plotted to kill the Bacons and their associates, but he was also part of the hunt and even put up some of the reward money.

And he said the extradition package provided by the Canadian government last April highlighted considerable evidence implicating D’Monte, including DNA, surveillance videos and photographs, and witness statements from former associates turned Crown witnesses.

“And as mentioned in this document, the statements of the co-operating witnesses that are in the affidavit of facts are corroborated in part of the interior material amassed in the investigation,” he told Morgan, as D’Monte listened inside the courtroom.

The U.S. government attorney described the bloody conflict between the Red Scorpions and the UN both before and after UN founder Clay Roueche was arrested in the U.S. in May 2008. He was later convicted of drug smuggling and money laundering, and is serving a 24-year sentence.

“After that arrest, as indicated by co-operators, the fugitive was chosen as the leader of the UN gang. And as boss of the UN gang, the fugitive could decide who gets murdered and he pushed UN gang members to ‘get’ the Bacon brothers,” Radzinschi said.

“Under the fugitive’s leadership the attempts to murder the Bacon brothers entered essentially a new phase, a more aggressive phase that included better intelligence gathering, the organization of a hit team that was basically sent to target the Bacon brothers and their associates.”

He said the gang maintained a list of names, addresses, vehicle licence plate, makes and models of Scorpion vehicles, “which was mainly compiled by the fugitive.”

When UN killers Cory Vallee and Jesse Adkins gunned down LeClair in a Langley parking lot on Feb. 6, 2009, it was D’Monte who passed the news around to others in the gang and “then the fugitive arranged for payment to be made to Cory Vallee and Jesse Adkins for the murder,” Radzinschi said.

D’Monte’s lawyer, Andrew McCutcheon, restated his argument at the Jan. 27 hearing that the fugitive should be able to review the actual evidence collected against him instead of relying on an affidavit by Det. Terrence Murphy summarizing the case. Morgan ruled against McCutcheon’s earlier application for discovery in October 2022.

“It’s our view that the introduction of summarized summaries of information through an affidavit of police official is insufficient to meet the demands of the treaty,” McCutcheon said.

“In our view, the Murphy affidavit is highly suspect. Addressing it generally, the affidavit purportedly summarizes summaries of information provided by three co-operating witnesses. The notion of summarizing summaries is almost an impossible and absurd act. The summary is also being provided by a person with a clear agenda who has no desire to include facts and circumstances that may allow for a fair and impartial evaluation over the evidence in the case.”

Morgan rejected the defence position and ordered D’Monte, who has been in custody since his arrest, to be handed over to the U.S. Marshals “pending further decision on extradition and surrender by the Secretary of State.”

kbolan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/kbolan

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