San Juan (Puerto Rico), Mar 5 (AP) Last week, phones across Puerto Rico began to ring as members of a private WhatsApp group dedicated to helping others in the US territory stared at their screens in disbelief.

The businessman they knew as administrator of that chat — someone who organised philanthropic efforts such as a Christmas toy drive for needy children and renovations for an elementary school — had just been arrested.

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Conor Vincent D'Monte, who went by Johnny Williams in Puerto Rico, was allegedly a leader of a violent gang sought by Canadian authorities on charges including first-degree murder. He had been on the run for more than a decade.

“It's like a Netflix story,” said Antonio Torres, chief deputy US marshal for the district of Puerto Rico.

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Authorities don't know exactly when D'Monte, 44, arrived in Puerto Rico, but they believe he had been using the alias “Johnny Williams” for a while.

The 6-foot, 1-inch fugitive settled into a rural, eastern mountain community near El Yunque rainforest, living in a working-class neighbourhood on a street with no name, Torres said.

Every month, D'Monte would accompany employees of a nonprofit organisation known as Karma Honey Project to a farmer's market in the nearby city of Carolina, said a woman who lived in the same community and sold goods next to his stall. She declined to give her name out of fear.

“No one knew anything,” she said, adding that she remembers his quiet demeanour the most. “We were surprised.”

Others who met D'Monte said they were struck by his charisma, good looks, and biological knowledge about bees, adding that he was a frequent name-dropper who easily made connections with Puerto Rico's wealthiest residents. He didn't like having his picture taken but didn't make any effort to hide.

He even met with Puerto Rico's agriculture secretary and a local senator and was invited to the governor's mansion last month for his role in trying to save honeybees after Hurricane Maria as part of his involvement with the Karma Honey Project, a nonprofit company created in February 2019. Its president, Candice Galek, is a Miami entrepreneur and former model. Neither Galek nor her company returned messages for comment.

“The guy fooled us all,” said a Puerto Rican businessman who asked that his name not be used out of fear.

He said he met D'Monte in the early days of the pandemic after being added to his WhatsApp group, and that D'Monte was known as “Johnny Teeth,” because his teeth were so white and straight. The businessman described D'Monte as a “tremendous sales guy” who was very jovial.

“It struck me that he didn't have Facebook or any of those things because he truly was a great networker,” the businessman said, adding that D'Monte once called him asking if he could borrow a hammer since he was helping repair a school.

D'Monte remains in federal prison in Puerto Rico as he awaits an extradition process. His public defense attorney declined comment, but she noted in a court hearing on Thursday that D'Monte, who has Canadian and Irish citizenship, requested that the consulates of those countries be notified.

It's unclear why D'Monte chose Puerto Rico or if he knew anyone in the US territory.

He is accused in the killing of a rival gang member at a Vancouver strip mall in February 2009, at a time when that part of British Columbia was experiencing one of the worst gang violence outbreaks in its history, according to a police statement.

D'Monte also is accused of conspiring to murder two alleged rival gang members known as the Bacon Brothers, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The “United Nations” gang that D'Monte allegedly belongs to is considered one of the most powerful ones in British Columbia and is best known for exporting one of the most popular marijuana strains in the US mainland: the B.C. bud.

“Anyone thinking that Mr. D'Monte was a street corner hustler, it couldn't be further than the truth,” he said. “Mr. D'Monte was a fairly sophisticated individual.”

McConnell said it's highly unusual for fugitives to be on the run for as long as D'Monte and to successfully assimilate themselves into a community.

D'Monte, who police said has travelled to Asia and allegedly is associated with a drug network in Mexico, was last seen in the Vancouver area in January 2011. He then fled to Spain and travelled up to Ireland where he obtained a fake passport, said Spencer, the retired detective.

He noted that authorities tried to catch D'Monte by monitoring all calls to his daughter's phone every year on her birthday, “but that never worked out. That tells you how smart he is. He knows not to do that.”

After stopping in Ireland, D'Monte vanished until he reappeared in Puerto Rico more than a decade later.

As D'Monte drove through the popular tourist district of Isla Verde on February 25, the agents closed in.

“He acted surprised,” Torres said, adding that he didn't resist arrest.

D'Monte was alone, except for a 9mm at his side. (AP)

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