A man testified at his Zoom trial on Monday that he wanted to sell illicit firearms smuggled into Canada from the United States, but that it never actually happened.
Bill Allison, 48, a Toronto man who sold marijuana and owned several businesses, told the virtual court he received only two firearms — which were for personal use, not to sell — from a Florida-based gun supplier.
The prosecution is alleging Allison formed a conspiracy to traffick guns with that supplier, a Toronto fugitive living in Florida named Ernest Wilson, a.k.a. Biggs.
But defence lawyer Reid Rusonik spent Monday asking Allison to explain the content of wiretapped calls with Wilson that defence says are markedly different than what the Crown alleges. Allison and Wilson use a lot of slang that police and prosecutors say is “coded language” for guns and ammunition.
In one call, Rusonik suggested to his client that Wilson was stringing him along because he wanted Allison to continue to sell marijuana in Toronto and the GTA that he was importing from Jamaica.
Allison agreed, adding he felt his reputation had been hurt because the word on the street was that others were selling “Biggs’ guns,” not him.
It “makes me look like a punk, because I’m able to distribute his weed but not his guns,” Allison testified from a small room adjacent to a room where Rusonik was seated.
Allison also agreed with Rusonik that Wilson was “playing him” to make him believe he’d be receiving a shipment of firearms, when Wilson was instead sending them to Harris Poyser. Poyser was intercepted in May 2018 leaving Cornwall, Ont., for Toronto with 60 handguns.
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Poyser has pleaded guilty to firearms offences and is waiting to be sentenced in September. Wilson is dead after being murdered in Florida.
Rusonik told Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly that because Wilson was leading Allison on, “there is no agreement,” and he is therefore not guilty of conspiracy.
Wearing a black suit jacket, matching shirt and thick black glasses. Allison seemed to lose energy Monday as the day went on, perhaps suffering what has been called “Zoom fatigue.”
“I know it’s hot in these rooms. You’ve got to lean in and sit up straight,” Rusonik instructed his client at one point.
In response to Rusonik’s questions, Allison explained he needed a gun for personal protection because people sometimes get “rowdy” at the downtown lounge he owns.
Rusonik played other wiretapped calls for which Allison’s interpretations differed from those of police. “Magnums,” for instance, referred to wine rather than guns, he said, and other discussions that police said were about firearms were actually about food.
During one call, for example, Allison testified he and his friend Otis were talking about cheese.
“I, our culture, Easter time you give like a piece of cheese, and a tin and a bun … it’s a ritual,” Allison said.
Rusonik asked him to translate one passage in which he was speaking patois.
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“Are you actually talking about cheese and buns?” Rusonik asked.
“Yes sir, tasty cheese.”
The trial continues Tuesday.