A longtime member of the UN gang pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to kill his Red Scorpion rivals — Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon — more than 15 years ago.
Conor D’Monte, who hid out overseas for 11 years, entered the plea to a single count before B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes at the Vancouver Law Courts.
A first-degree murder charge that he also faces for the 2009 slaying of Scorpion Kevin LeClair is expected to be stayed after his sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.
Holmes asked D’Monte several questions about his role in the murder plot before accepting his plea.
She read from a document called “basic facts” that had been prepared by Crown counsel Marko Vojvodic and defence lawyer Chris Johnson.
D’Monte admitted in response to Holmes that he formed an agreement with UN gang founder Clay Roueche, Earl Ross, “somebody called Spaz,” as well as others “to bring about the murders of the three Bacon brothers.”
Holmes asked if he “facilitated the conspiracy … by collecting and providing to the UN gang information pertaining to the Bacon brothers and their associates, such as residential addresses, vehicle descriptions and licence plate numbers?”
She added that the information was then “used by the UN gang conspirators to attempt to track and kill the Bacon brothers and their associates.”
“That is correct. I collected and disseminated the information,” responded D’Monte, dressed in a dark suit and light blue shirt.
D’Monte said he was entering the plea of his own free will without “pressure or coercion” in response to Holmes’ questions.
Holmes told him that while his lawyer and Crown may have come to a joint sentencing agreement, “I will not be bound by any agreement that they may have reached, although I will give it very serious consideration as the law requires me to do.”
That agreement is expected to be for a 15-year sentence minus credit for pretrial custody.
D’Monte, now 47, made no mention of LeClair — a former UN gangster who had switched to the Red Scorpions, allegedly enraging his former gangmates. Nor did he name as his co-conspirators any of the eight UN gangsters that have already been convicted in the plot against the Bacons.
Of those D’Monte did name, Roueche has been in a U.S. prison since May 2008 for drug smuggling and money laundering. Neither Roueche, Ross, nor “Spaz” — identified in an earlier indictment as Christopher Chand — have been charged in the Bacon conspiracy.
The conspiracy continued from Jan. 1, 2008, to Feb. 1, 2009, and took place across the Lower Mainland, as well as in Montreal.
D’Monte was initially charged in January 2011 but had already fled the country and remained a fugitive until his arrest in a suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in February 2022. He had been living in the U.S. territory under a false identity.
He then challenged his extradition but lost in November 2023. D’Monte appealed the ruling, claiming that the information provided by Canada did “not satisfy the due process standards applicable in this case or reach the necessary probable cause threshold.” He dropped the appeal in January 2024 and was returned to Canada.
In a statement he released at the time, D’Monte claimed that he disappeared only “to escape certain threats, putting the lives of my young children and family in extreme danger.”
An earlier trial of Cory Vallee, the UN hitman convicted of killing LeClair , heard from ex-gang members that D’Monte had dubbed LeClair “Traitor” for switching sides and had provided money for the hit.
One of those gangsters, dubbed Witness C, testified that on the afternoon LeClair was shot, “he got an email from D’Monte stating, ‘Traitor got it.’ ”
Jonathan Bacon was eventually killed in Kelowna by hit men connected to the UN gang. Jamie Bacon remains in prison until next year after pleading guilty to conspiracy in the 2007 Surrey Six murders. Jarrod Bacon lives in the Lower Mainland.
In Puerto Rico, D’Monte, a.k.a. Johnny Williams , was known as a philanthropist and beach tennis enthusiast who started a bee preservation society and avoided having his photograph taken.
The guilty plea ends an intensive police investigation and series of prosecutions that spanned almost 18 years.
Holmes adjourned D’Monte’s case to Nov. 12 to fix a date for sentencing.
Bluesky: @kimbolan.bsky.social
