Would-be Hamilton hitmen miss mark in B.C., get jail

Two Hamilton men are heading to prison after Vancouver courts heard they took a Greyhound bus to Vancouver with the goal of becoming underworld hitmen.

Knowah Truth Ferguson, 21, attempted to carry out a murder while dressed in a loose-fitting clothing style sometimes worn by Muslim women, carrying his pistol in a purse.

Ferguson pleaded guilty to attempting to murder Hells Angels member Damion Ryan and a second man who was not identified in court.

His associate Gino Gavin McCall, also of Hamilton, earlier pleaded guilty in a separate trial to one count of conspiracy to commit the murder of an “unknown” person between April 11, 2015, and June 15, 2015.

Ferguson was sentenced this week to six and a half years custody, after credit was given for pretrial custody. McCall was sentenced to seven years custody.

The name of whoever hired the hit team has not been made public.

Ferguson had just turned 18 at the time of the offences, while McCall was 30.

Crown attorney Mike Barrenger told court in Ferguson’s case that the men travelled together to work as professional killers for a group connected to the United Nations Gang.

The United Nations were fighting with “The Wolf Pack,” an association of some Hells Angels and members of the Independent Soldiers and Red Soldiers gangs of B.C., the prosecutor said.

The attempt on Ryan’s life occurred in April 2015 at the airport food court. Barrenger said Ferguson’s gun jammed when he pulled the trigger on Ryan.

A video played in court showed Ferguson and Ryan bolting from the food court, along with Thomas Duong, who had set up Ryan for the murder, according to a Crown witness in the case who was identified only as Witness X.

Duong was sentenced to 12 years in prison earlier this year for attempted murder in another gang-related case.

The B.C. Supreme Court issued a publication ban on the identity of Ferguson and McCall’s second proposed victim, who was targeted for murder in June 2015.

In that case, the hit squad drove around Richmond, B.C., looking for the man, but could not locate him.

Ferguson and McCall were pulled over by police and arrested because they were travelling in a stolen car.

They were accompanied on their trip to Vancouver by Witness X, also a Hamilton resident.

According to the prosecution’s case, Ferguson got two pistols and a silencer in a meeting in a downtown Vancouver alley, near the YMCA.

He was given an automatic rifle and three semi-automatic handguns for the second murder attempt.

Police said they found three pistols, an AK-47 automatic rifle and a silencer in the stolen car when it was pulled over.