A British Columbia gang leader has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder three members of a rival gang more than 15 years ago.
B.C. prosecutors confirm that Conor D’Monte, who escaped to Puerto Rico for 11 years before being arrested in 2022, entered the plea to the single count on Tuesday.
Police have said D’Monte was a high-ranking member of the United Nations gang in B.C.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Jonathan, James and Jarrod Bacon, leaders of the rival Red Scorpions.
D’Monte was also charged with first-degree murder for the 2009 killing of Kevin Leclair, another member of the Red Scorpion gang.
The BC Prosecution Service says that charge remains "alive" for now, until a sentencing hearing on the conspiracy plea.
The case has been adjourned to Nov. 12 to schedule a date for the sentencing hearing.
The province's gang squad, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, has said D'Monte was one of Canada's most wanted fugitives and it worked with its police partners around the world to find him.
People in Puerto Rico knew D’Monte as a charismatic organizer of charitable drives to buy Christmas gifts for needy children and to renovate an elementary school.
D'Monte also worked for a non-profit group called the Karma Honey Project.
The shooting death of Kevin LeClair at a Vancouver strip mall came during a violent gang war in B.C.'s Lower Mainland that included brazen shootings in public.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Facebook, Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia
