The Iranian intelligence agency allegedly hired two “full patch” members of the Hell’s Angels from Canada to assassinate an Iranian defector living in Maryland and the man’s wife, the CBC reports, promising to pay the pair $350,000 when the job was completed.
In a statement, US federal prosecutors say Damion Patrick John Ryan, a member of the Rhine Area chapter of Hell’s Angels already facing four weapons charges in Canada, put together a group to carry out the assassinations, including Adam Richard Pearson, a Canadian illegal immigrant and another member of Hell’s Angels living in Minnesota. Ryan was contacted by an Iranian drug dealer who is known to operate with the blessings of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
The drug dealer, Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, reportedly ordered Ryan to carry out the assassination; Ryan then texted Pearson saying, “We gotta erase his head from his torso.” Both men are currently in Canadian prisons, Ryan on firearms charges and Pearson on an unrelated murder charge. The US Department of Justice indicted Sharifi-Zindashti as well, but it’s unlikely he’ll be extradited from Iran.