Mike on Crime

By Barb Pacholik
Canwest News Service

REGINA — The list of men charged Tuesday with slaying gang leader and killer Daniel Richard Wolfe behind prison walls in Prince Albert reads like a who’s who of Western Canada’s crime world.

Among those charged in last week’s stabbing of the 33-year-old is a man who joined Wolfe in a high-profile jailbreak from the Regina Correctional Centre, another who was serving time for killing a fellow inmate also at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, a Regina teen who called himself the “Boxing Day Killa,” two gang leaders who inadvertently killed unintended victims, and a gang member who was once himself stabbed while jailed in Regina.

Rather than bring the dangerous half-dozen into a courtroom, they are scheduled to appear on their newest charges via video link in Prince Albert Provincial Court Wednesday.

Tristan Lee Raphael, 27, and Jacob Worm, 26, are each charged with second-degree murder in Wolfe’s death and two counts of attempted murder in connection with two other inmates wounded in the same incident.

Ryan John Agecoutay (a.k.a. Bellegarde), 27, Michael Bradley Slippery, 23, Nolan Royce Turcotte, 19, and Francis Paul Yukon, 34, are each charged with one count of manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder.

Several are known Regina members of the Native Syndicate Killers (NSK) street gang. At least two of the six were Indian Posse (IP) members — the very gang Wolfe helped found as a teen growing up on Winnipeg’s streets. Both the NSK and IP are known to be enemies of the Native Syndicate (NS).

During his Regina murder trial last fall on charges stemming from a brief run-in with an NS member at a Fort Qu’Appelle bar, court heard Wolfe told an undercover officer he would rather die at the hands of his “bro’s” than have a rival gang take credit for his death.

Correctional officials have said Wolfe was on a maximum-security range of gang members considered compatible. If his killing were indeed motivated by gang ties, RCMP aren’t saying. That will be for the courts to hear the evidence, RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Carole Raymond said.

Wolfe was killed at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary on Jan. 4 during a brawl that broke out at 12:40 p.m. when all 16 inmates on the range had access to a common area for lunch.