A Zone 43 gang member since a young age, Hensley Jean’s life took quite a turn in June of 2019, where he and an accomplice had shot a civilian in a case of mistaken identity. Last week, the court confirmed his sentence in an almost 5 year-long case. Life without possibility of parole until 7 years have been served. This is the maximum penalty a criminal in the province of Quebec had ever received. We also take a look into Zone 43’s drug operation to the west of the country.
Hensley Jean: Sentenced To Life
A vehicle containing two Zone 43 members aged 24 and the driver, 21, was apprehended shortly after a shooting in a residential sector of St-Eustache in June of 2019. The duo had been stopped by police on Rue Dubois. Shortly before being apprehended, they were sitting outside of the house of their opposition, but little did they know, a family had just recently moved in, by a couple days, and their intended target was gone by a far mile.
The 21-year-old driver, Jean Gerard III Sterling, and his passenger, Hensley Jean, a reputed leader of the Montreal Zone 43 street gang, were waiting for their intended target to park his car and enter his house, in which they would shoot the man. Once what was thought to be the intended target, arrived home a little after midnight, Hensley Jean got out of the sedan and headed towards Simon Indig, a 30-some year old, shooting him twice in the back. But Jean wanted to be sure of his shot, walking up to victim and aiming the firearm at his head. The dreaded sound that was produced in the following second had just been a simple ‘click’, the 16-inch, makeshift gun which Jean was wielding that night had jammed. Jean ran back towards the sedan, piloted by Sterling and the vehicle containing the two suspects then fled.
All the while, Indig’s family took no time to dial 911 and emergency services. Thankfully, Simon Indig had made it out alive. The attempted murder had taken place on Rue des Amarantes, where as previously mentioned, Indig’s family had recently moved into the neighborhood. The previous tenants had troubles in the past, in October of 2019, two vehicles had been torched in the parking lot of the residence, alarming neighbors with great worry. They were most likely the intended targets of the shooting.
Only a few kilometers away from the scene of the crime, the two suspects had been apprehended in a traffic stop on Rue Dubois. A heavy interrogation session had then occurred lasting most of the night. Hensley Jean was no stranger to the law, being caught for several charges including assault and possession of drugs. While the 21-year-old driver, Jean Gerard III Sterling was new to this game, being his first offence. This attempted murder took place on June 3rd, 2019.
A massive court case that would ensue in the next few years was taking place with a court case with a feral judge that would take Hensley Jean’s freedom away for the next 7 years at the very least. Jean contested the charge in court, stating that he had been taking a nap in the back seat of the vehicle that was used in the crime, blaming drugs and an empty bag of chips for his nap. This defense had more holes in it than swiss cheese.
He stated to the judge how a supposed friend named ‘Karim Kourbibe’ was supposed to drive him home from St-Eustache all the way to the Saint-Henri borough of Montreal. The prosecutor in his case, Steve Baribeau, smelt the bullshit from an ocean away, stating in court how “you weren’t lucky to be implicated in a shooting while you were taking a nap”, a fairly sarcastic response, but a fair one.
All the while the driver, operating the sedan which was used in the crime, Jean Gerard III Sterling had been sentenced to 10 years throughout this kerfuffle. The duo were convicted in 2021. Hensley Jean was handed a life sentence with no possibility of parole until 7 years were served. The most severe sentence to ever be handed in Quebec, all for one charge of attempted murder
The sentence was handed down by a judge named Helene Di Salvo. The question remains, was this too severe? Does Di Salvo have a Robocop complex? It seems that the incident was a case of mistaken identity, but had Hensley Jean known it wasn’t the intended target, would he have still gone through with the shooting? Seems to me that there has been a past of Quebec criminals and hitmen that have been tangled up in a case of mistaken identity and have actually killed the mistaken target.
To say the least, Hensley Jean and his lawyer tried to dispute this conviction, a court battle which had taken nearly 3 years. This sentence was most likely set as an example for future gang convictions, but was it ‘fair’? Why Hensley Jean? Maybe the Eastern divide of The Dirty News hasn’t been prevalent long enough to judge this sentence, maybe we are missing critical facts that were represented in court.
The verdict was set last week, and favored the Quebec judicial system rather than Hensley Jean. Jean probed the court that a lighter sentence would had sufficed in this case, such as his co-accused, Sterling, being sentenced to 10 years. In the end, the court had shot down his dispute, leaving Jean with a life sentence with no possibility of parole until 7 years had been served.
Hensley Jean was part of Zone 43’s ‘Goonz Squad’ or the ‘3369’ branch of the street gang. Although, nothing is ethical in shooting an individual down in cold blood, there is a level of ‘fairness’ that still remains throughout the court process. Yes, Jean committed an inexcusable crime, but why should he receive more years than another man charged with the same crime?
Zone 43 B.C. Operations
To resume our article, we’ve had a hint from insiders on how Zone 43 operates in British Columbia, being very prevalent in Vancouver, most notably East Hastings.
Dope boys from Zone 43 are operating out of the Hazelwood Hotel, which is a Self-Regulatory Organization or an SRO. Supplementary to operating out of this specific hotel, they also claim certain street corners as well certain corner stores in the area.
Their drug-dealing operations consist of one dope boy selling to people that are passing by, selling out in the open and being pushy to the public walking by. Once the sale is ‘on’, the first suspect gathers the money, in which a second suspect will meet a 3rd suspect who’s job is to stash the drugs and hand the sale of to the second guy.
It’s been reported that since the ‘Project Talon’ drug bust, they have put a whole new set of players on the block to sell their drugs. This new group of dope boys that have been put on the block have a tendency to insist the public that walk by to buy dope. Some of these new Zone 43 dope boys are even allegedly from Toronto, although the majority of them seem to be French Canadian.
This article concludes the most recent updates on Montreal-North’s Zone 43 street gang. We can concur that the criminal activities of the gang in British Columbia are far from over. Even with Project Talon, dope boys seem to be re-spawning in a similar fashion to video game characters.
