By Tom Winter, Dan De Luce and Corky Siemaszko —
NBC News
Two Canadian members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang conspired with an Iranian drug trafficker to kill a pair of dissidents living in Maryland, the Justice Department and federal officials said Monday.
Naji Sharifi Zindashti, aka
Big Guy
, who has ties to Iran's intelligence services, had been communicating with Damion Patrick John Ryan for a month about various “jobs” when, in January 2021, he mentioned “a specific job in the United States.” ” according to a federal grand jury indictment.
Ryan, who was contacting Zindashti through an “encrypted communication service,” said it would be “a challenge” but that he “might have someone to do it,” the indictment states.
That day, the document says, Ryan contacted Adam Richard Pearson, who told him he would need two to three people, including a driver, and that he "could charge more than $100,000 for the job."
Members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, funeral procession for a deceased member, Koblenz, Rhineland-PalatinateAlamy file
Ryan responded that he would “get you whatever you want,” but emphasized that it had to be “about killing lol,” U.S. officials reported.
According to the indictment, Pearson promised to deliver that gruesome message, allegedly saying he would encourage recruits for the job to “shoot [the victim] in the head a lot [to] set an example” and “we have to erase his head from his torso.” ”.
In the end, none of the Iranian dissidents lost their heads or their lives.
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“As alleged, Mr. Zindashti and his team of gunmen, including a Minnesota resident, used an encrypted messaging service to orchestrate a murder plot against two individuals,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a statement.
“Thanks to the skillful work of federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials, this murder-for-hire conspiracy was thwarted and the defendants will face justice.”
Zindashti, who officials believe is in Iran, Ryan and Pearson are charged with conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities to commit murder for hire.
Pearson, who was living illegally in Minnesota at the time of the alleged plot, is also charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a fugitive from justice and one count of possession of a firearm by an alien. who was illegally in the United States.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have identified Pearson and Ryan as members of the Hells Angels gang, which has Canadian chapters that the Justice Department and other law enforcement agencies consider an organized crime organization.
Both are in prison in Canada “for unrelated crimes,” the Justice Department said.
The men used a service called SkyECC to communicate, authorities added.
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Sometime around January 30, 2021, Zindashti messaged Ryan asking for an update on the alleged murder-for-hire plot, the indictment adds.
Ryan allegedly responded that he was putting “things in order” and that he would need money.
Officials say that several days later, Zindashti told Ryan that her organization was ready to move forward and that they agreed to a payment of $350,000 for the “work,” plus an additional $20,000 to cover expenses.
It was at that point, U.S. officials allege, that Zindashti introduced Ryan to Co-Conspirator 1, whom the indictment identifies only as “a resident of Iran.”
“We have a 4-man team ready,” Ryan responded, according to the document.
In a separate press release, the Treasury Department identified the Iranian who allegedly worked with Ryan as a Zindashti associate named Nihat Abdul Kadir Asan, “who has played a critical role in the logistical planning of many of the network's operations, including the network's plot to murder people in the United States.”
Over the next few days, Co-Conspirator 1 provided Ryan with information and photographs of the targets — a man and a woman — and discussed the price of the double homicide, according to the indictment.
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“When RYAN told Co-Conspirator 1 that two targets would cost more than one, Co-Conspirator 1 assured RYAN that this was not a problem,” the indictment added.
In March of that year, Ryan received a first payment of $20,000 “in order to cover travel expenses associated with the plot to murder the victims.”
The Treasury Department has taken “action against the Zindashti criminal network that targets Iranian dissidents and opposition activists to kidnap and murder them at the direction of the Iranian regime.”
The Justice Department said in a statement: “Zindashti and several of his key associates are prohibited from participating in any transaction or dealing involving a U.S. person or occurring in the United States.”
Iran's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Iran has a history of assassinations and kidnappings around the world and has sometimes recruited local criminals to carry out the killings, according to the U.S. and European governments.
In 2018, an Iranian who had lived a quiet life as an electrician for years in the Netherlands was shot dead in broad daylight in Almere, east of Amsterdam.
The victim turned out to be Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi, 56, who had been sentenced to death in Iran after being accused of planting a bomb at the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party in 1981, killing 73 people, including many political figures from high level.
The Dutch government alleged that the Iranian regime was behind the fatal shooting.
Iran denied any involvement in the assassination and has denied being behind other attacks.
Last year, federal prosecutors charged three members of an Eastern European criminal organization with ties to the Iranian government of conspiring to assassinate Masih Alinejad.
Alinejad is a journalist and dissident with a large online following who has long been a nuisance to the regime.